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Dana & Mathias on Tour

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Spring 2006: First Time in Beauduc

There are still open wild places left in Europe. Behind the quiet city of Arles, a narrow road winds in the rice fields and pastures. Occasionally, we spot wild white horses and bufallos grazing. After some 40 kilometers, we reach the deserted village of Salin de Giraud. We take a guess and turn right. After a few hundred meters of gravel road, strings of exotic birds start filling the big blue skies. We are at the heart of the vast protected area "Park Régional la Camarque".



Hundreds of flamingos visit from Africa. Perhaps the delicious meal of French "crustacés" was worth the long flight.



The road follows the water channels for a while before turning into the dunes. We are looking for a rather well hidden beach of Beauduc. We cross a couple of salty water streams (welcome the rust!) before the long, wild beach spreads in front of us. The solitude is absolute..





..before we spot a couple of kiters..



..or the European kiters get-together (;-)



The Mistral is blowing its best. Some 35 knots! We meet Olivier Caillet, former Swiss champion in kiting, who chose the right place to give kite lessons here. The beach is some 15 kilometers long, pure sand, one can walk for a hundred meters before one looses ground under the feet. But today, there is almost too much wind for the beginners. People are jumping 15 meters high. Our 7.5 meters Takoon is too big for me. But Olivier suggests a new kite recently developped in the Dominican Republic, the Ripper. After a couple of hard crushes, I start to understand the real potential of the Ripper. Great! Big fun!!! Speed!!! But gentle at command, even in the best of Mistral.

The evening walk in the desert again reminds us of Africa.



The feeling of peaceful eternity is deceiving. This place has an exceptionally turbulent geological history. Where today one could easily come to believe the earth is flat stood mountains as high as the Pyrenees!



Some 35 million years ago, tectonic movements created huge cracks and the mountains collapsed.

After the fault swallowed a big chunk of the mountains, the ocean filled the gap and stayed for 20 million years. Later, the ocean withdrew for a million years but came back and stayed for another 3 million years. During this time, thick layers of clay formed at the sea bed. As the ocean pulled out again, the waterproof clay layers formed the base of the numerous ponds, water channels and rivers of the Camargue.

Two big rivers were born at the time, the Rhône and the Durance. The layers under the Camargue plains continued to bend and sag, to the point of changing the course of the mighty rivers. As recently as ten thousand years ago, the course of the Durance changed for the last time, and it became a feeder of the Rhône.The melting of the glaciers kept changing the level of the sea. The sea level finally stabilized some five thousand years ago. At the geological scale, that was yesterday!

Today, here we sit. Wild, peaceful place.



We will find this beach again.

Summer 2006: Back in Beauduc

Plenty of good reasons to drive eight hours to Beauduc again. We leave the grey, rainy Switzerland behind and follow the sun and the wind. We were not alone who had this idea..





But Beauduc is so wide it is still possible to relax.



The next day, the termal wind is slowly dying off. But Mathias still has a nice session. At some point, his kite falls from the skies and has trouble to restart. The jet ski brings the dragon back.



The four years old Gastra did not survive the radical kite loop (,(



It is brunch time and a French family scratches the sand to offer us a selection of the most delicious "telines".





It just needs a bit of wine and herbs to melt on the tongue..

Before midday, Mathias is on the water again. This time with the Ripper.



The beautiful colors of Camarque do not disappear as the sun sets.





Van Gogh would be pleased.

Beauduc 2007