From Mallorca, we have a reservation on a ferry to France. It leaves Port d'Alcudia and goes to Sete. That is set for April 10. It will then be a little over 50 days into our 90 day trip. But the trip will not be over - not in terms of time, with 40 days remaining, and not in terms of interest. The interest, in fact, could ramp up, because there are at least four mini tours making up the closing section.

The first mini tour is the Camargue - the estuary where the Rhone river meets the Mediterranean. The Camargue is famous for the white horses (the ones we insist are really unicorns), the black bulls, the flamingoes, the salt works, sand wine, giant water rushes, and the quirky church at the Saintes Marie.  Yes, we have been there before, but we are guaranteed to love it every time.

The second mini tour is Provence. Ever since Peter Mayle's "Year in Provence", we are in love with this region between the Luberon mountains and Mont Ventoux. It's famous for the villages sitting atop small mountains (like Bonnieux, Lacoste, Roussillon, and many others), for lavender and cherries, and for the bright quality of the daylight, that inspired Van Gogh during his stay at St. Remy. Again, it's a place we will always love.

The Rhone River, with its much improved and now super Via Rhona bike route, is next in line, but we will not have the time to cycle it. Instead we will catch a train from Avignon, and hop to Macon.

Macon is the start of the "Voie Bleu" cycleway, that we will follow to Chalons. At Chalons is an intersection with the famous EV 6 route, and we will take that to Mulhouse. Mulhouse in turn is near the Alsace Wine Route, and this we can call the third mini tour. Between the Vosges mountains and the Rhine are the super cute wine villages of Alsace. We'll cut through them, before turning to Strasbourg. Strasbourg is on the Rhine, and its there that we will follow the river to Mainz.  Macon to Mainz then, is a chunk, or complete mini tour for us.

From Mainz we have the river Main cycle route, past Frankfurt, and a swath of picturesque German villages, including scenic Wurzbug, to Bamberg. We won't quite make it to Bayreuth, which is mostly the end of the line for the Main cycle route. From Bamberg, we will rush by train to Leipzig. At Leipzig we will quickly visit with friends - Jo and Karla - and then rush by train back to Frankfurt for our flight out.

These four sections are among our favourites in Europe, and we hope for 100% fun as we cruise though them. Nothing is ever sure, and there could be some "adventure" along the way. But we want to come away with lots more in terms of appreciation of horses, lavender, fachwerk houses, and bakeries, etc. We are really looking forward to all of that!

The total route looks like this:

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