Saturday September 7th

There was a fresh breeze against us as we drove along the coast to the 13th century town of Aigues Mortes (which translates as Stagnant Water – lovely!) 

Charlemagne (him again!) had granted this part of the coast to the Benedictine monks in 791 where they built up a thriving salt business from the stagnant water. In 1240, Louis IX of France was fed up with having to use the maritime Italian states to launch his crusaders to the Holy Land and his brother, Charles of Anjou, wouldn’t let him use Marseille, so he persuaded the monks to swap their land for some better land near Paris. Louis started building the port and launched the seventh and eighth crusades from here in 1248 and 1270, which included English crusaders who had marched and ridden down through France. By the time of the eighth crusade the port had silted up and a canal had to be dug to allow the ships to reach the sea. The silting up continued, and the port fell into disuse until the 18th century, when intensive work was carried out to try and control the flow of the mighty Rhône River and the dirt it was carrying.

Today Aigues Mortes is a quaint as Carcassonne with the added advantage that it is still a place where people live and work and not just a glorified tourist shopping mall.

From here we moved on to Saintes Marie de la Mer that styles itself the capital of the Carmargue. Our campsite for the next couple of days, Camping le Clos du Rhône, is right on the beach and the breeze was no longer fresh but a howling easterly around 40knots the sand was stinging our faces, arms and legs as we walked to the small beach and the sea was très agité, sending the waves crashing over the breakwaters protecting the beaches and the spray falling on us below.

It was going to be a rough old night. We provided plenty of entertainment for our fellow campers as we wrestled with a windbreak to provide some cover for us to dine outside.