On the previous episode of "Andrew doesn't know what he's doing" we found our protagonist aimlessly wandering a tourist-laden city with a twisted ankle and nowhere to call home. This was followed by a train ride to Marseilles where every hostel was booked and he had nowhere to call home. Dropping mad cash on a hotel room only revealed that the hotel was in a different city and the booking nonrefundable. Dropping more mad cash on a tram, train and taxi got him to his new and unwanted home for the night. Which brings us to episode 2.
The original plan was to stay 1 night in Marseille and then take a bus into Gorge du Verdon, amongst nature and friendly climbers and hikers. Now in Vitrolles, I learned that the bus doesn't run through this town and I need to get to Aix-En-Provence to catch it. Finding no bus available to get me there in time to catch it, I dropped mad cash on an Uber to get me there. With a half hour to spare I go to buy my ticket. This is when I learn that that particular bus doesn't run on Sundays. Cool beans. Guess I'm staying the night in Aix-En-Provence. Once again all of the hostels are booked. Screw it, I'm going to hobble to the outskirts of the city and sleep in the nearest patch of trees I can find. I hobble for about 50 minutes and find a nature trail that's unfortunately quite busy, but should do the trick. I stash my annoying 45 pound pack under some bushes and head back into the city.
Fortunately Aix-En-Provence is big and interesting enough to keep me occupied for the 10 hours I need to kill before it's dark and late enough for me to sleep. It had lots of nice pedestrian only streets to wander about on. I switched back and forth from walking aimlessly to sitting and watching tourists do whatever it is that tourists do.
At one point a marching band passed by playing old school flutes and drums. Apparently I caught the festival of the tambourine (that's my translation of a flier I spotted).
I also found a really beautiful and massive church that provided shade and cool air. A perfect place to read and take a nap.
Towards the end of the night I decided that a cold beer was justified and found a bar on the outskirts of town full of locals and a decent selection of brews. At first I received plenty of stares. But as the crowd dwindled and the remaining few got drunk, I found myself in an engaging conversation where I spoke little French and they spoke little English. It was a relief to finally have a conversation, especially with locals. And it turns out that the bartender's brother lives just outside of Boston. Neato.
A few hours and maybe a few too many beers later I decided I needed to go find my bag and figure out where I was sleeping that night. Luckily the bag was still there and I made it 50 or so feet before I plopped down on some grass and fell asleep.
The next morning I made the 50 minute hobble back to the bus station, ate some really bad muesli out of a used ziplock bag and boarded my bus. On the bus I met a couple that was backpacking together and discovered they both went to UMass Amherst. This marks the first time on this trip that someone knows of my hometown of Belchertown. Sweet as.
And I finally made it to Gorge du Verdon!! And it's pretty decent. Here's the lake just before the gorge, as taken from my seat on the bus.
I found a campground for the night and only paid 3€70 since I don't have a tent. Not bad at all. Day 1 was spent relaxing and picking up groceries. Day 2 started with breakfast and some sink laundry. I then found a good looking hike that should occupy most of my day. It was a nice hike that went halfway into the gorge and then traversed the northern hillside for about 8km.
After that it climbed out of the gorge and up into the hills above it. From there I was surrounded by pines, birch and elm trees, not too different from the landscapes I know from home. A warm comforting feeling swept through my soul. The best part was that in the entire 16km hike, I saw but 6 or 7 people.
Upon returning to town I celebrated with a cold beer (they say hops are a natural anti-inflammatory, so it was more like a medicine for my ankle).
I then had dinner and read until it was dark enough to fall asleep. Today I did more laundry and am now waiting for Camille to make her rendezvous and save me from my stupidity and inability to plan ahead. I think we'll stay in the gorge for a few days, do some climbing and hiking and then make our way to the Alps.
Au revoir!
