It’s Sunday and I had originally planned as a day off to visit Aix-en-Provence. However, I changed my plans and decided to walk the what I thought was 26km to where I ended yesterday, 10kms after Salon-de-Provence. It turned out to be a few kilometers longer. Today was cloudy and rain was scheduled for 3pm, whereas tomorrow is supposed to be sunny. As we plan to take a day in Aix-en-Provence tomorrow, I hope the forecast holds up.
It was quiet when my wife and I left the hotel and walked through Parc Saint-Mitre with its Japanese garden and theatre, Nô.
We split up and I walked through the outskirts of the city, along the railway line and passing several very nice houses. It was a very quiet road with more runners than cars. At one point I passed a town sign that I was entering Aix and 20 meters later a sign that I was already leaving Aix again (you can just see the leaving sign in the picture above). Odd. I was back on the D17, as I think I have been everyday so far, and continued on the road towards Eguilles, passing a coupe of vineyards and climbing uphill before turning off towards Les Figons and a climb towards Eguilles.
There were many people out and about and some spectacular view, not least to a a couple of train bridges in the countryside, and at one point a TGV train crossing the bridge. I stopped at the square next to the Town Hall and church and enjoyed the views, which seems to be the villages biggest attraction.
It was downhill from the perched village, again largely along roads for 3 or so kilometers, followed by paths through forest for the remaining 15kms. It was a pleasant and relaxing walk, but nothing particularly spectacular.
I was making good time. I had expected to meet my wife at 2pm at the spot I finished yesterday, despite having to make a small detour at one point as the path I was supposed to follow had been blocked. There were some nice views, and at one point I could see the Etang du Berre, a lagoon intaking water from the Mediterranean.
I crossed yet another canal, this time Canal Marseille, before walking downhill towards the D17 (again). I reached the road at exactly 2pm and saw my wife drive by, with a car tailgating her. The map I had drawn up from home indicated that reaching the D17 was where I should end today’s walk. Unfortunately, I could see that it wasn’t where I ended the day yesterday and it turned out that I still needed to walk more than 2kms before I made it to the same spot I ended yesterday. Luckily my wife had taken a book with her, as I was 30 minutes late.
I had experienced a few drops of rain as I neared the end of the stage, and five minutes after getting into the car, it started to rain, at times fairly heavily. This was the second time that it had rained heavily just as I had finished the stage.
We drove back to the hotel, but the rain continued. At one point my wife ventured out to buy a cake – and got soaked. The hotel had a washing machine and dryer, so we sorted clothes and washed. Unfortunately, the dryer only blew cold air so it took almost 1,5 hours to dry the washed clothes. “Luckily” the rain hadn’t stopped, so we probably wouldn’t have been doing anything else.