September 5, 1997
To Anduze
For the first 10 miles we backtracked south along the Rhone to Aramon, where we left the highway for empty, quiet roads through sunflower fields, olive groves and sleepy villages, aming or the great aquaduct at Pont-de-Gard. Shortly before arriving at the aquaduct we raided the small, noisy town of Ramoulin (another one-road town ruined by the automobile), acqquiring picnic materials to enjoy by the ruins. We sat by the river, enjoying both our food and the site, and then returned to our bikes - where, irritatingly, we discovered that one of our cyclometers had been stolen. This is the first theft we've ever experienced overseas (an interjection from the present: as of 2014, this is still the only time anything like this has happened to us). For the rest of the day, I glanced down regularly to check out our speed and distance, only to be reminded again of our loss.
The remaining miles to Anduze were fairly uneventful, and very hot. We kept up a good pace the whole way and were happy to stop at the hotel and escape the 90 degree sun at day's end. We had dinner at the hotel restaurant - which proved to be a bit of a letdown for Rachael, who was troubled by the pregnant shrimp in the salad. The most interesting part of the evening was a conversation with an older couple from Amsterdam - they struck up a conversation with us after we had been reading on the patio for some time (we had been chased outdoors by a power failure in the hotel) and discussed their travel preferences (France has everthing - there's no real need to go anywhere else) and those of their bicycling son - Alaska, Death Valley, Syria and Lebanon.
Today's ride: 56 miles (90 km)
Total: 220 miles (354 km)
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