Sur le Pont & Tour De France....

We loved Arles. Around every corner is a pretty square, ancient arch or shuttered houses. The church in the Place Major (Notre Dame) was closed to the public but the caretaker arrived & invited us in for a private tour! Lovely simple stone vaulted ceilings & coloured marble altars & font. Everthing of interest in the city is within easy walking distance including cafe & garden scenes familiar fron Van Gogh paintings. The Roman coliseum reputedly held 20,000 people, & the ampitheatre 10,000. The Rhone is an impressive size, here on a vast bend.

As we walked back to our tent after strolling the sites, we met 3 male Tasmanina touring cyclists (Greg, Chris & Nigel) who replaced the departed desmoiselles. They are going on to take the boat from Nice to Corsica to tour the Island. We would be really interested to hear how they get on, & gain advice on quiet cycling roads & camping there - send us an email guys.

We took the scenic route to Avignon via pretty pristine villages, Fonteveille & Mausanne Alpilles. Les Baux de Provence area is a spectacular oolitic limestone (like Bath Stone) landscape of escarpements & weathered features. The ancient village of Les Baux is almost carved directly from the hillside. There are as many olive groves as vineyards & some very grand chateaux. The fruit in the cherry orchards is just turning to red. For some reason there are also quite a lot of donkeys.

The Camping Pont D'Avignon where we stopped was on an island in the Rhone, well recommended by the Tasis. Our pitch was directly opposite the old Pont D'Avignon & the Popes Palace behind. The Pont was originally built in the 12c but kept getting washed away by the flooding Rhone. What remains is mainly 17c. We enjoyed an evening promenading in a park on the opposite bank. Very long cruise boats passed by. Conveniently there is a free foot & bike ferry from the island to the city. Before we set off N. on Sunday morning, we cycled the beautiful old streets of Avignon before the coach parties arrived.

We take a detour on the way N. to camp at the village of Bedoin at the base of Mont Ventoux. This is a famous cycling mountain, as we are sure Mike Murphy will confirm, that often features in the Tour de France. The summit is 1912metres. After days of heat, black clouds collect over the mountain, & we have just erected the tent when there is thunder & lightning with a heavy downpour. Later we stroll round the village & read of its history. In the Revolution, a guillotine was brought in to execute some locals, & the village was burnt down. It was later rebuilt, & is now an attractive cycling centre including 3 bikeshops, & lots of posing visiting american cyclists! Many of the gardens & roadsides are filled with purple irises, & the campsite was really pretty with lots of wild flowers.

Early Monday morning we pass through Bedoin & discover it is Market Day. The best market we have seen by a long way, with all local produce including wine, cheese, fruit, veg & meat in abundance, & no tacky stalls! We start our 14mile ascent of the mountain, passing cherry orchards, vineyards & then pine woods. The road surface is kept in excellent condition, with a cycle lane on the last third of the way. We are passed by 'Lycras' on racing bikes & groups of touring motorcyclists. There are encouraging remarks painted on the tarmac; 'Allez, Allez', 'Go, Go' & 'Courage'. There was also encouragement in English most of the way for someone called Audrey, celebrating her 40th birthday. Once beyond the treeline, above 1400metres, there are small snowdrifts alongside the road & very tall snow poles at the edges. Near the top there is the memorial to Tommy Simpson, the British cyclist who dropped dead at this spot in 1967 whilst competing on the Tour - this was less encouraging. Just before the Weather Observatory on the summit, we had great views E. to the snow-covered French Alps. As we stopped at the top, cloud enveloped us & the temperature plummeted. Our hands froze on the first few seconds of the descent, so we stopped & adapted a pair of socks to cover our hands, & then whizzed back to the warmth of the lower altitudes. A celebratory litre of 1euro red wine restarted the circulation, after achieving our highest point yet with the bikes, & our biggest single climb in one day (1600metres).

We are now at Orange (is this where the mobile phone was invented?) on our way N. up the Rhone valley.