June 25, 2023
Aix-en-Provence to Cadenet
Tobias' new favourite game is using the camping mattress as a ramp for his cars which bought us a bit of time packing this morning. Dropping my full drink bottle on his toe however hindered our getaway.
We started with a big surprise climb out of Aix-en-Provence. James has taken over more of the route planning role now that we are underway (I had most of the route to Ljubljana planned before we left) so I wasn't really prepared for this. And neither was he really. We stopped for a banana break almost at the top and had a better look at the route to see what else was instore for the day. Nothing so steep, but we did have another long climb before descending down into Le Puy Sainte Réparade. It was actually a really nice gradient, and eventually we were shaded by big pine trees. We managed to find one spot that wasn't plastered with private property signs to have a picnic under the pines.
After the descent we turned west and headed towards Cadenet. The route was quite conscientious about keeping us off the main road, but there were some fairly rough sections which jiggled Tobias awake earlier than usual. We thankfully found some water at a town tap because it was really hot again and we were almost dry. Being a Sunday, nothing much was open. James has started setting an alarm on his phone on Saturdays to remind us to get enough food for the next day.
After a short stint on the highway we left it again to bike alongside a canal. I was a bit suspicious about how difficult it was to get our bikes under the heavy chain, but James pointed out it is a bike route so it must be okay. It was another rough section of overgrown path, but it was nicer than traffic. It reminded me a lot of Central Otago - hot, humming with cicadas and a faint smell of thyme.
After we crossed the river about 3km from Cadenet we stopped to try and decipher the instructions from our warm showers hosts. They weren't available until 6pm but we don't usually ride so late so they suggested that we stop by a shady spot at the river for a swim. We didn't quite get the starting point for the direction correct though and ended up going through some very tough terrain before we reached the spot. I went first to check that it was okay because with the trailer James wouldn't have been able to turn back on the narrow trail. It wasn't really okay for biking - I had to get Tobias off several times to stand at the top of the hill while I pushed up. But by the time I got through to the end and messaged him, he'd given up waiting and already started. Eventually we did make it to the spot which was shady and cool as promised. And it killed about an hour which was great.
After a quick paddle and of course throwing some rocks in the water we headed up to Cadenet to meet Caroline, Bruno, and Colin. We told Tobias we'd be staying with another kid tonight and he was so excited all day talking about Colin. Colin is a bit older than Tobias and they have a similar set up to us, except they tow their dog along in a second trailer. Tobias was entranced by some new toys and didn't even notice that dinner and bedtime were significantly later than usual. We had a fun evening talking about trips with toddlers and routes through France.
Tomorrow is forecast to be 36°C and we are planning on camping again. Let's hope we can find some shade.
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Today's ride: 37 km (23 miles)
Total: 1,762 km (1,094 miles)
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