Nice – Feyence – Aups – Aix en Provence – Salin de Giruad – Montpellier: 440 km

I’ve been happy to just cycle lately. There are no cities or other places I particularly like to visit or stay at for a longer period of time. Being on the saddle, watching the world pass by, hearing its sounds, seeing its colours and absorbing its smells is enough for me right now. Asphalt tuns to gravel, turns to forests, turns to swamps and dunes. I ride along the Cote d’Azure along the shores and the villages, the rivers and the lakes. The sun is setting later and later, summer seems to be around the corner, eager to release its dry dusty heat in full force. That’s all you need to know about the road itself, for this story is a little different than the others. On every stop lately I’ve enjoyed the warmth of total strangers, who let me into their house, let me eat their food and simply welcomed me as their kin. This story is a collection of descriptions and experiences of these people. Also, you cannot tell me that French people are not hospitable!

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Feyence: Lionel & Miriam

In a small hilly village lives a man. His name is Lionel, the name of the village is Feyence. The love of his life is bikes. Although his girlfriend Miriam comes pretty close. His children are grown up, have moved out, the free space their leaving has left behind is occupied with a selection of rare and funky bicycles. Lionel and Miriam share a childlike laughter. She makes fun of his bike obsession, he makes fun of her for living in nearby Cannes. They tease the way the couples in love do. They laugh off the silly jokes. It’s sweet to see behaviour in them usually so reserved for the youth. We share dinner over a mix of their broken English and my broken French. But we laugh nonetheless!

The next morning Lionel takes out one of his many, many bikes and rides with me for about 50 kilometres. He shows me the way and I don’t mind we deviate from my planned route. I’m with a local now and get to see the hidden roads and train-tracks-turned-cycle-paths.

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Aups: Athony & Nicolas

In Aups (pronounce like you just dropped something; Oups!) lives a twin. Anthony and Nicolas. Both (obviously) in their early twenties, they just traded the countryside of the Alsace for this tiny village. They don’t like the city life. They don’t like alcohol, they don’t like sugar, they don’t like to go out, they don’t smoke, they don’t do drugs, they don’t care what their peers are into. They just like their rest, their year-round shorts and their bike trips. Once a year they do one. On a budget. During their most recent trip in Switzerland, they spend € 25. Together. For a full two weeks. That’s crazy, especially in Switzerland. They tell me they’ve done so by asking for produce that would’ve been thrown away after a long day of sitting on the shelves in (super)markets. It makes me feel like I’ve been travelling in an extreme amount of luxury. Ahh, everybody their style right? 

First of all, I have a wonderful time with them. They prepare the heathiest meal one can think off, and the breakfast the next morning lasts for over 50 kilometres. Yet in my mind I want to scream at them to have some fun, live a little. At the same time I think who am I do decide what's fun? Who are we all to set a standard of how to live? Maybe the world is wrong, and Anthony and Nicolas are right.

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Aix en Provence: Xavier, Cécile, (Lucie, Noémie) & Amélie

The Domenach family live in the outskirts of Aix en Provence. A surprisingly nice city, where very bend leads to an idyllic square with a fountain, water splashing down from the mouths of fantastical beasts or the torches of legends. Students roam the streets, giving an optimistic sense of life and energy to this place. Not too far from all this, a great old house is the home of the Domach’s, not quite in the city, not quite in the countryside. I’m welcomed like I’m one of theirs. Two of Xavier and Cécile’s daughters have moved abroad for a couple of months, their youngest doing homework upstairs. In the meantime Xavier is finishing some work in the study, while Cécile and I prepare dinner. A true family setting that makes me feel incredibly at home. I sleep in their garden house, which is more of an apartment than anything else. I feel welcome here, lucky to have found their warmth, especially since I’m the first cyclist they host.

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Salin de Giruad: Frédéric & Agnes

Frédéric has changed his life during Corona. He bought a big old farm in a flat, sandy and grassy national park that reminds me of the Dutch dunes, and started a bed & breakfast. My last host, Xavier, did something similar. He traded in his job in mining for opening up a bike shop. He now owns two. I can see the similarities to my choices. A general reflection upon life during the pandemic, when it gets more and more nihilistic and reduced to the essence of what you’re doing. The perks disappear and you start to wonder if the true essence was, or is, enough.

Technically my stay with Frédéric is not trough Warm Showers. He’s an old friend of Xavier, who called him and asked if I could stay over. That also means that the usual rituals, or expectations a Warm Showers stay do not apply. So I text him to ask if they want to have dinner together. They have guests tonight so they can’t. I wonder if that means that I’ll eat alone in my room without access to the kitchen. I hope not, but do prepare for that. Once I’m there I understand they run a bed & breakfast, and I’m perfectly able to cook for myself. But I don’t need to because the second I arrive they invite me to join dinner. Which is consists of great food, a multitude of advices on how to continue cycling, and too much wine. I leave drunk, and a little ashamed of it. But they don’t seem to care, maybe they’re a tad tipsy too.

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Montpellier: Zajac & Hugo

Then, after stringing together small villages and even smaller towns I arrive at Zajac and Hugo’s. It’s great spending time with families and people who have their life a bit more together, just because they’re older and have had more time. Zajac and Hugo however are the same age as me. Which is also cool. Hugo shows me around the city and we have a beer in the centre whilst Zajac is at her boxing class. An extremely relaxed couple that treats me like I’ve been there forever.

But the second night in Montpellier I have booked an Airbnb. Because Donna is coming today and I couldn’t be more excited. Today Donna is coming! We’re planning to ride from here to Valencia together. A face from home, and one that I know and love intensely. I simply can’t wait to pick her up from the station.