May 11, 2023
Arles to St Martin d'Ardeche
The train system is yet another reason to cycle in France. We could have made it a big ride to get all the way to St Martin, but it was so much more pleasant to make it a short cycle and train ride to our destination, which then meant we could squeeze in two more sights in Arles; one old and one brand new, having been completed in 2021.
From our campsite it was less than 4km to the Langlois Bridge, a double-beam drawbridge, the subject of several paintings by Vincent van Gogh in 1888. The original bridge was demolished some time ago but a replacement of the same type and vintage was found and installed for the tourist trade. It didn't appear to be functional but it was a bucolic, quiet spot in the warm morning sunshine to set up the tripod and amuse ourselves posing in front of the bridge.
Next we detoured to get a closer look at the imposing 56 metre tower that looms over the city. The Tour Luma, which Frank Gehry, the renowned Canadian architect, designed as the centrepiece structure of Arles' arts centre. Its distinctive twisted facade is clad in 11,000 irregularly arranged stainless steel panels, broken by numerous protruding glass window boxes. According to the architect, the form of the base was informed by Arles's Roman amphitheatre and its upper levels recall painter Van Gogh's Starry Night. We took more pictures of this amazing building and thought how it could become an iconic feature of Arles, hopefully in the same way that Gerry’s Guggenheim Museum has become for Bilbao.
Next was another easy train trip: buy the tickets and ten minutes later roll your bikes onto the train car for the 20 minute ride up the Rhone to Avignon, hop off for a 15 minute wait before getting on to the next train to Pont-Saint-Esprit. Twenty minutes later we were cruising through the countryside for the ten km to St. Martin d'Ardeche. We were now in a distinctly different part of France from the Mediterranean. Everything is lush and verdant; vineyards on rolling hills and most importantly the small roads of France we love to cycle on. Our son Rob phoned en route and we tried to describe to him what we were seeing; shades of green, blue sky, the Rhone river delta in the foreground and we were pretty sure we were looking at majestic Mont Ventoux towering in the background.
From this high point we cycled down and up and down again to the cute, cute town of St. Martin d'Ardeche for a planned meet up with fellow Cycleblazer, Susan Carpenter. We had dinner reservations for 8pm and were very much looking forward to seeing Susan again over a relaxing dinner. The conversation flowed; we ate a huge and delicious meal, talked trips past and future and managed to solidify plans for tomorrow's ride up the Gorge d'Areche.
Today's ride: 25 km (16 miles)
Total: 678 km (421 miles)
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