October 17, 2021
Avignon to Saint-Gilles
We traded distance for the ability to camp. The weather is so pleasant that we couldn't pass up the opportunity. We had planned to camp tomorrow as well, but that fell through due to train schedules and my stubborn desire to start the final stage of our tour at what we think is the beginning of pavement on the canal route to Bordeaux. Add to that a small chance of rain Tuesday morning. We'd rather not look like muskrats when we arrive at the train station.
I'm trying to ignore the weather forecast for the rest of the week. It doesn't look great. I figure that as long as the rain is light, we can get our daily distances in and still have some fun. We have Wednesday in Toulouse scheduled as our zero day. Lyon, our last stopover, feels like a distant memory. The ViaRhôna hasn't been difficult, but we've earned a break. Our legs are feeling it, especially when climbing stairs. Yowza. Better to take the rest day and be fresh for our last push of the tour.
Besides, we have our first Warmshowers host lined up in Toulouse! Warmshowers is such a fickle beast. Just when I'm ready to give up on it, someone comes through and lays out the welcome mat. Some people view it as a niche version of Couchsurfing, where only young people use it in "guest mode". Our most memorable experiences touring have always been visits with hosts. We will continue to show up on strangers' doorsteps from time to time as long as there are curious and kind people willing to greet us.
We woke before sunrise and walked to what I think was the only boulangerie open in the old city early on a Sunday morning. We were rewarded with the best-tasting and least-expensive croissants of the trip! The only downside was that they didn't serve coffee, so we returned to our room and enjoyed breakfast with instant.
Leaving Avignon was pretty easy. We loaded up our bikes, hugged the old city wall for a spell, crossed the bridge over the Rhône, and were instantly on a low-traffic road. The pavement varied, but hey, at least it was pavement. We only passed through two towns today. The first, Aramon, was our Sunday morning boulangerie stop. We ate lunch on a big rock on a dirt trail outside the second town, Beaucaire. We took a shortcut through it rather than to ride along the waterfront as the route did. Maybe we missed something pretty, maybe not.
After that, it was farm roads all the way to Saint-Gilles. It was fine riding. We no longer had the wind at our backs, as our route started to bend to the west. We reached the pivotal spot on the ViaRhôna, where you can choose to follow the Rhône through Arles to the river's mouth, or follow the Petit Rhône, which winds its way much more leisurely towards the sea, forming the western boundary of the Camargue natural area.
| Heart | 0 | Comment | 0 | Link |
A short section of that last 17km to Saint-Gilles was a rocky dirt road. It was just enough to make us grateful for some of the second-rate pavement we'd complained about earlier in the day.
I had accidentally left our backup plan on the phone's GPX track, ending up at what looked like a nice hotel:
The campground was just a few blocks past here, so no harm, no foul. It's a great little place with a tropical theme, and the little privacy hedges we like so much:
One objective of camping today was to give our bikes a thorough field cleaning and chain lube. Wow, our drive trains were really gunked up! Surprising considering how little dirt riding we've done in the past week.
It really is starting to look and feel more like Spain than France. We spotted an orange tree, a lot of oleander, and business names that I'm guessing are Occitan, so closer to Catalan than to French. One reason we chose to take in a big chunk of France in one go was to gain a sense of the regional differences. This is pretty exciting!
Today's ride: 65 km (40 miles)
Total: 2,468 km (1,533 miles)
| Rate this entry's writing | Heart | 7 |
| Comment on this entry | Comment | 2 |
Aire de Service Port-Lauragais Sud" along the A61 west of Castelnaudry. The closest train station is Avignonet-Lauragais, which is about 1km to the west of where the pavement starts. From the train station, you can just ride down to the canal and it will be obvious. If you're going to take the train to Toulouse, you can ignore this info. :) The towpath is paved all the way to at least La Réole. I haven't explored farther west than that. Good luck and have fun!
3 years ago
3 years ago