Oct 25, 2019 - People come, people go

Bonjour mes amis, I hope you are well and enjoying your warmer weather while France is a little more wet and dreary. I've been suffering with a lung infection which has made it difficult to breath or exercise much. Also the cough is giving me the pip! I thought I was better after a few days of taking over the counter medication but then it all went wrong. I've had to go to the doctor and get some antibiotics and new ventolin which I'm hoping will kick in soon. It's always an experience to see the doctor here, partly due to language and...

Oct 11, 2019 - Day 42. A day in Avignon

Highlights - waited for the host’s friend to come and solve the washing machine problem (the programme selector knob was jammed. Required more force than we were prepared to do. ) - Then visited the city on foot. - Climbed up to cliff top gardens. Nice views across the Rhône and surrounding countryside. - Spent a long time in the Papal Palace learning the history and looking at the rooms. Had no idea Avignon had once been the Holy See and it was moved from there to Rome - Walked on the famous Pont D’Avignon and watched an interesting...

Oct 10, 2019 - Day 41 Pont du Gard to Avignon

PHOTOS TO BE ADDED Highlights - A long good bye from our hosts who were very keen to see us back again. Friendly lovely people - Rode back along the bike route that we had gone on to Pont du Gard - Returned to the tunnel with all the lights for Tom to make a video. After ‘playing’ there for awhile we returned back on the track and took the viaRhona path north. This was all on roads and when we got to the town of Montfrin we got off track and followed another route up a very steep climb. Luckily not too long! - Google (me!) then took us...

Oct 9, 2019 - Day 40 Uzès Pont du Gard Loop

Highlights - we had a no rush day. Wonderful! - After breakfast in the chambres d’hôtes we left our panniers in the room and rode off to explore the region and have lunch at Uzès. A little medieval town that was touristy but interesting. - Passed through several other nice little towns on the way, following back roads that we often lined with wonderfully made flat rock walls. - Tom continued his grape vine investigations and finally found a few grapes that hadn’t been harvested. - The final part into Uzès was quite a steep climb. The...

Oct 8, 2019 - Day 39 Arles to Le Pont du Gard

Highlights - followed ViaRhona path (more or less) - including a huge levy path , to Beaucaire. Briefly met a German couple cycle touring. - Beaucaire was a nice looking town with lots of boats on a canal, which met the Rhône - We had coffee stop in a lovely shaded old square (where I’d been 2 years earlier) - Took a great bike path all the way to the Pont du Gard. Included an old train tunnel with fabulous coloured lights that changed as we rode through. - Had picnic lunch by side of trail just before going into the park to see the...

Oct 8, 2019 - Riquewihr, France

AHHH. Riquewihr!! One of our favorite places!! We have fond memories of it!! We bought our crystal wine glasses here!! It's pronounced Re Ke Vere. You'll see from the pictures that it's a beautiful little French village. We took a million pictures of it but they all won't fit here, so we just gave you a sampling. There's also a great Christmas shop here. On the way, we visited a Stork Park where they are reintroducing storks back into the area. There used to be lots of them but they almost became extinct. Today they are back to the old...

Oct 7, 2019 - Day 38 A day in Arles

PHOTOS TO BE LOADED Highlights A very quiet day in Arles. We decided to look around following the theme of Van Gogh Rode out to the bridge that he painted then followed a trail which showed a few other areas / items that he had painted. Some of these we were successful in finding. Others not so successful! But it was a good way to see various other bits of the city. Called in at train station to find out about train timetables to Lyon but were particularly successful with that either. Had lunch at a cafe in the square where van Gogh...

Oct 7, 2019 - Strasbourg, France

Early this morning, we docked in Strasbourg, France, where we joined a local guide for a tour by streetcar, traveling along the city's famed canals. The capital of the Alsace region of France, melds the charm of half-timbered houses with the cozy warmth of a Parisian cafe. The result: an extremely inviting and unique city that is equal parts German and French. Strategically important since ancient times, Strasbourg became a free imperial city of the German Empire in 1262, and then was occupied by France in 1681 and again by Germany in 1871....

Oct 6, 2019 - Day 37 La Grande-Motte to Arles

Highlights - had a longer ride today so left early (after desperately trying to find someone who. could give us the key to the bike lockup - Again lots of riding on thin stretches of land between water bodies. - Had morning coffee in a cafe in Galician Lent our pump to a local needing to pump his tyres! - After leaving the canal we rode for most of rest of day through the swampy Camargue area. Lots of water the occasional horses on farms. - Eventually found an acceptable place to picnic by the side of the road - Got to Arles at 1500....

Oct 5, 2019 - Day 36 Frontignan to La Grande-Motte

Highlights - very flat riding - Lots and lots of water again - Nice short day - Bike paths almost the whole way. Often with a tail wind. - Navigation through some of the towns was tricky as the sign posts were missing or confusing - Arrived at La Grande Motte to find it was totally different to the other holiday beach towns we have passed through in France. The others were lots of high rise apartments in the usual style right up to the beach - This place was designed and built in the 60s/70s and quite ‘futuristic’ looking. With lots of...

Oct 4, 2019 - Day 35 Béziers to Frontignan

Highlights - During breakfast, from our window, we watched the city of Béziers cleaners empty the garbage bins, machine sweep the streets and square , pressure clean the roads and all exposed items such as bench seats, then hand sweep any remaining hard to get areas. Amazing. And indeed the city was always totally clean! - I’m leaving the apartment we rode back to the interesting ‘nine’ locks (6 working) and studied it in more detail, watching a couple of day cruise barges move through the 6 locks. - Continued on the EV8 to the aqueduct...

Oct 3, 2019 - Day 34 A day in Béziers

We could sleep in today. Yay! Then did a self guided walking tour around town. It’s a lovely town with a good vibe. The covered market was interesting with lots of places to eat. But at that stage of our walk we weren’t hungry! But we did buy some caponata which we ate later and it was delicious. Had lunch at a cafe in a leafy long park/avenue. Returned to the apartment and spent time cleaning the bikes ready for our departure tomorrow. Lunch - emmental omelettes with salad Dinner €25 for 2 - galettes and cidre in a restaurant...