22. 07. 08 Tuesday. Stayed at Claire’s last night so that we could get an early start this morning. Arrived in Marseilles at about 9 and stopped and had a coffee and croissant in a café where Claire received the results of her degree in 1974! We tried to get the ferry for the Chateau d’If, an old prison offshore made famous by Dumas in the Count of Monte Christo, but the water was too rough so all trips were cancelled. Plan B – we rented bikes. This required a degree in IT to finally get the machine to release the bikes but after much consultation we were successful – this is definitely a two-person task! The bikes are extremely sturdy and heavy but work well. We left the old port and started around the corniche and stopped at l’Anse des Auffes which is stunning little harbour hidden within the larger port. There do not appear to be any designated bike lanes in Marseilles so it quite exciting riding along with cars and scooters whipping by at high speeds. After a couple of hours we dropped the bikes off and found a restaurant for lunch. Not the greatest resto but we were hungry and when Claire offered to pay by cheque or carte bleu she managed to negociate the price down from 24€ to 20€ cash so we were quite pleased. After lunch we drove out to les Calanques which are rocky shores strangely lunar in appearance with hardly any vegetation. We visited Sormiou and Cassis before taking the autoroute back to Montpellier. I had a cup of tea chez Claire before heading back into the wind on the scooter to Clermont. Marseilles is a huge, muscular town (second largest in France) with architecture reflecting its former glories as a jumping off point for French colonies. The population is quite exotic and varied witnessing its history. I shall definintely come again, next time not in high tourist season and preferably when it is not so windy. There is much to explore.