Wednesday 4 September 2019 - Toulouse to Marseille

We rolled out of Toulouse just after 8:30 am, fuelled by hot chocolate, coffee and pastries from the night before. The sky was overcast but mild—perfect for another day on the autoroute. By 8:50 am we were heading east on the A61, bound for Carcassonne.

Just before 10:30 am we turned off onto the D6009 and arrived at the foot of Carcassonne’s medieval walls. The place was buzzing with tourists but still felt surprisingly authentic. We wandered through the Porte Narbonnaise, then climbed the narrow, cobbled Rue Cros Mayrevieille up to the citadel. The towers and ramparts date back to the 12th century, but the restoration work gives them an almost fairytale quality—like walking through Game of Thrones (sans dragons, sadly).

By 12 pm we’d explored the Château Comtal, strolled the chemin de ronde for panoramic views of the Aude Valley, and ducked into a tiny café inside the walls for cassoulet and rosé. The cassoulet was hearty—white beans, duck confit, sausage—exactly what we needed to fuel the next leg.

We hit the road again at 1:30 pm, rejoining the A61 then linking up with the A9 and finally the A54 towards Salon-de-Provence. Fields of sunflowers and vineyards rolled past as the motorway hummed beneath us.

Just after 4 pm we pulled off the A7 and rolled into Marseille. Check-in at our hotel next to the Orange Vélodrome was swift—and tick another upgrade lol, we scored a room overlooking the stadium. From our balcony we could already hear distant chants from a training session or local match warm-up.

The evening light cast an amber glow over the roof of the Vélodrome, and we capped off the day with a stroll along the avenue that rings the ground.