Postcards from Provence and beyond

After a glorious evening on the boat we had rented for the night,  watching the sunset along the Rhone-Sete Canal, at Beaucaire, we woke this morning to grey skies.

They weren’t enough to dull our spirits, and after a slow morning, enjoying coffee on the ‘poop-deck’, watching the day start around us, we loaded everything into the panniers and Andy somehow managed to get everything off the boat, whilst I stood on the quay watching.

I have realised (after one night) that the boating life is not for me!

We loaded the panniers onto the bikes, and set off on the route I had planned, taking us away from Beaucaire, along a well-made path running by the Rhone-Sete Canal.

This route is part of both the Via Rhona and La Mediterranée Eurovelo Routes, and follows the canal, away from the town.

Within minutes of leaving the town behind, it was gloriously peaceful, with just the incredible soundtrack of Nightingales that stopped us in our tracks.

The surface of the water reflected the trees on the banks, and the first yellow waterlilies were in flower above their floating leaves. It really was a perfect start to the day.

We followed the canal-side path, as far as Bellegarde, where we left it behind and set off along quiet back-roads, starting to make our way across country towards tonight’s stop at Sommières.

We followed the roads through towards Saint Gilles, where we had stopped for coffee on our first long ride home from the UK in 2023. I remember it well, as just after Saint Gilles, we crossed a bridge and passed a sign telling us that we were entering the Provence Cotes-D’Azur Region. This left me in an utterly soggy mess at the side of the road, as I never imagined that I would be able to cycle that far through France. So it was nice to revisit the memory, without the tears, this time!

On the way towards the town, I heard the distinctive sound of a Hoopoe calling, and spotted it, as it flew across the road just in front of me. I do get ridiculously excited, when I spot one of these quirky, characterful birds, and bizarrely Andy was filming just at that moment, so caught my child-like joy for posterity. It will always make me smile.

We carried on into Saint Gilles, which (off the main road) is a beautiful little place, with an ancient Abbey in the heart of the town.The Abbey is on the Saint Jacques De Compostella Pilgrimage Route. We hadn’t seen it, last time we visited, but found it today, and the 12th century facade is exquisite.

We took the opportunity to buy lunch from a local boulangerie, finding a bench to sit on, while Andy got out his favourite new toy (the Jetboil), and set about making us a roadside coffee, with the ground beans we had bought yesterday, in Cavaillon.

It proved to be the perfect coffee stop, and we munched a second breakfast with our coffee, as the 1200h, lunchtime rush of cars swept past. By the time we slurped the last of our drinks, the chaos was over and we set off again, on quiet roads.

We left the town, heading through the expansive vineyards of the Costières de Nimes. We always think that there are a lot of vines around us, in the Luberon, but they are tiny in comparison to the ones here, with their neatly planted rows stretching across undulating fields, for as far as the eye can see.

It was a beautiful road, but the beauty was marred, just before we reached the next village, when a white van overtook me, at high speed, into the face of 2 oncoming cars. The driver pulled sharply across in front of me, missing me by inches, leaving my heart racing, and me screaming a series of expletives in just about every language I could think of that could probably be heard in Nimes, 10km away. Andy saw it all from behind and the drivers of the cars coming towards us, which had been forced to take avoiding action slowed to check I was OK. It was a bit scary.

We love cycling, but at moments like these, we realise just how vulnerable we are. For the sake of what would have probably been 5 seconds of delay (10 at a push) for the driver of the van, he/she was willing to risk my well-being and safety, and the ending could have been very different.

My knees were wobbling for quite a while afterwards, but we carried on, determined not to let it ruin the day. We did though find an even quieter route, and stopped for lunch by a lake, where I replanned the next stage of the ride to Sommières, checking and rechecking the roads on mapping apps, to make sure that they were quiet and weren’t possible ‘rat-runs’ around villages and towns.

Having re-mapped a route and after checking that my knee-caps (and Andy’s) had stopped wobbling, we set off again, following a quiet backroad, which ran alongside the TGV line and a lake. It was a lovely road, with a very occasional car passing us. It said that the road was closed after 1km, but after cycling 2km, we felt we had passed the possible blockage, which must have been cleared. Then 500m further on, we found that the road was still flooded, after the past heavy rains.

No problem, said Andy, who decided to see if it was passable, or if we would need to take off our shoes and socks & wheel the bikes through.He took a gentle run up, and rode elegantly through the water, which came halfway up his wheels.

Not a problem, I thought, so I did the same. Or at least, I tried to do the same. Where Andy had gone through elegantly, with barely a splash, I must have gone at it like a bull in a china shop, somehow creating a bow-wave, and having my feet in the wrong position. So where Andy was totally dry, I ended up with shoes full of water (happily without any of the tadpoles that we had noticed swimming there). It could have been worse!

From there, the ride was a delight. We followed empty roads, passing poppy-filled fields and pedalling through pretty villages, as we cut across country to Sommières.

You can Watch a video from today’s ride here

As we passed through the villages on the edge of the Camargue, we noticed many doors and gateways decorated with stencils and wondered what they were.

We have now discovered that they are called Empègues, which symbolise that the household has contributed to groups of youths who gather funds for celebrations that are held each August. It is said that they date to the early 20th century, when the local young men would be conscripted into the army, and the tradition has continued.

Seeing these little symbols and marks of life is what make travelling through France (or anywhere) by bike, such a great experience. By travelling slowly, we tend to to notice the little details that we would miss, if we were in a car.

We also passed other signs that we were skirting the edge of the Camargue, saying hello to white horses

And passing a field of rather beautiful black bulls too.

Finally, we arrived in the beautiful town of Sommières, taking a moment to sit by the river,

before pushing our bikes through the narrow back-streets, to where we are staying for the next couple of nights.

We wandered out to find a laundrette to wash our kit from the last couple of days, now happy to add this to our daily tasks, after our experiences in Japan; collecting our clean clothes after doing the shopping for a roquefort and lardons salad supper.

We have a real soft-spot for this stunning medieval town,

and will enjoy spending a couple of nights here, enjoying exploring a bit more of the area tomorrow. Depending on the weather, we will either take a nice (pannier-free) ride out around the villages, or pull on our coats and walking shoes to explore the paths and trails.

Whatever the weather, we will undoubtedly have a rather lovely day.