Quick spin on my Ninja Z250 to check new kit that I’ve brought back from Marseille. Also to forage for fuel and keep the battery happy as the bike’s been in the garage for a month whilst I’ve been in Marseille. It’s a nice bike for the little roads round here but a bit worrying on mud and gravel wash-outs after the rains. Still thinking of a trail / rally bike.

• Test ride: Honda CRF300 Rally 2021
• Test ride: Honda CB500X 2019
• Corsica 2: Stand up and enjoy the sights

A day at the races at the Circuit Paul Richard at Le Castellet, between Marseille and Toulon. Pascal and I went for the final hours of the 2021 Bol d’Or, the 24-hour endurance motorcycle race.
The sound of screaming engines first hits you in the checks at the gates - passe sanitaire required as well as ticket - and then becomes the soundtrack to the day, with the sunshine and the breeze of the Mistral.
The bike of each team rides the whole race, it’s the riders who switch, mostly they are teams of four riders. The racing continues through the night so the bikes have headlights although this was also a nearly full moon.

More photos: Bol d’Or 2021

Barjols

Earlyish start from Marseille to ride through vineyards of the Coteaux Varois-en-Provence, through to Aups, then high above the Lac de Sainte Croix and on to the South Rim Road of the Grand Canyon of the Verdon.
The South Rim Road is the more sportsbiker of the rim roads and it’s possible to get past the traffic reasonably. As well as the Red Mist opportunities on the access roads, there are the tunnels, the classic views down to the rivers far below, the bridge that sometimes gets used for bungee jumping. And plenty of hard straight runs down towards a rock face and a hairpin turn or a catastrophic overshoot into oblivion. Maybe it would be good to still fear those. I’m reminded this instinct is also triggered by the famous Aragón Wall at the Ciudad del Motor de Aragón, visited by MotoGP last weekend.

More phone: Grand Canyon du Verdon - South Rim Road

Riding around the Alpilles, the little limestone ridge hills that border the Camargue, the delta of the River Rhône. Pines, olives and the midday heat of Provence. Landscapes here have inspired Vincent van Gogh, Paul Cézanne and others.
Just as you have to get your eye in to ride a sportsbike to its potential, you have to get your eye in to see the all the colours in the rocks and vegetations here, as those artists did. My photos are usually intended to be clean and sharp but that style underplays these particular landscapes so I have used some distortions and filters to highlight how I see and feel about these scenes I’ve seen today; these are my views, I’m not intending to mimic anyone else’s style
And great to be riding somewhere that Barcelona is signposted! Why not ride on?

Read more: Les Alpilles