I was up early ready for a long day; I had my essential coffee and usual pan au chocolate before gathering my stuff and loading the car. Departed the Gîte at around 1000am and left the small country side roads and joined the A6 in the direction of Lyon and was soon speeding south to my next destination. My pleasure was soon curtailed as I approached Lyon which took me through the town centre along the river with the rest of the Paris population heading to the coast for their August holidays. Traffic was terrible and I could only travel at an average speed of about 30 mph and even that was stop start. Finally I reached the other side of Lyon after about 45mins in slow traffic and got on the A7 known as the sunshine route, which means that every August Paris empties and everybody heads down the A7 for the coast, especially on a Saturday like today. The traffic just got bigger and bigger and slower and slower, I tried exiting and trying the route national between Valence and Montelimar but that was even slower as many had the same idea. Back on the A7 things speeded up a bit but still came to a standstill, frequently in a Mexican wave style of bunching. Finally stopped for a break near Marseille and thought it a good idea to call the hotel Ibis as it was now 1900, far later than I had hoped to be at this stage of the journey, to my horror they said that as I did not arrive before 1800 the reservation was cancelled. They had arranged for me to stay at nearby hotel for the first night instead. I continued along my route and passed Marseille to join the A8 which finally brought me to Cannes arriving around 2100. I checked in to the replacement hotel called hotel Florian just around the corner from the Ibis where I was originally due to stay. The hotel Florian was actually a little closer to La Croisette and the rooms much smaller but none the less very clean and functional. Excellent air conditioning that was reasonably quiet was a delight in the warm air of Cannes. I was assigned Rome number 9 on the second floor with a window to the rear which ensured I did not get any noise from the outside road. I rested for a few minutes to allow my wheel legs to change back to real legs, I then went for a brief walk along the Croisette at night, it was completely full of people of all types, from locals wearing shorts and t-shirts to glamorous ladies in expensive sequin designer dresses and high heels. It was too much and I was so tired so I went straight back and to bed and fell into a wonderful deep sleep that removed any remnants of the days long drive.