Last night in Avignon didn't go quite as planned.
Due to its tourist appeal (This is one of the few French cities to have preserved its ramparts. In addition, its historic centre, the Palace of the Popes, Rocher des Doms, and the bridge of Avignon are well-preserved), the hotels were all full: no room at the inn. So we cycled west for a few miles until we chanced upon Hotel Lemon. It was clean and cheap (€34 incl. brekkie). It was mostly full of Poles and Spanish men who were playing football outside when we got there. And BBQing at the side.
We caught a bus back into Avignon to look around and eat. Unfortunately we got on the wrong bus home. Luckily for us it was generally in the right direction so we were able to sort ourselves out with the aid of Google maps on the iPhone.
Looking at the places we've been on this tour, we seem to have described a question mark shaped route. Taking in Belgium and France, with Marseille being the dot at the bottom.
We've kept tally of the number of (recently) dead cats along the way; six so far. That's about 1 road kill cat for every 200km. Considering that France has over a million miles of roads, this seems a terrible statistic. 1,000,000/200= 5,000 dead cats per day. Plus all the injured ones. I guess it'll be a similar number in the UK.
Today we went further west to see the Pont du Gard. Built in the 1st century AD, the Pont du Gard is the highest of all Roman aqueduct bridges and is the best preserved. An amazing piece of Roman design and engineering. It was part of a 50km aqueduct designed to supply the water-starved population of Nimes (from where we get the word denim - de Nimes) with millions of gallons if water per day from a spring. They engineered a 'drop' of just 1 in 3,000! There's some very good info on it on Wikipedia. ..
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pont_du_Gard
The reality of visiting the Pont du Gard well exceeded expectations. A stunning achievement, considering it was built some 2,000 yrs ago. To get an impression of its enormous size, look closely at today's pic: there are people visible on the bridge. ie the first level. Well worth a visit if you are anywhere near.
After the Pont, we sped down to Arles. Arles is the gateway to the Camargue: the land of salt marshes and wild white horses.
Cycling into Arles (on the rivets again, battling a stiff headwind), we came to a roundabout where the only signposted route to the town was via an Autoroute. Confused as to the direction to take, I saw a French kiddy (~12) on a bike and asked him. He said that none if the roads from the roundabout led into the town! But said to follow him. Apparently the only way from this point into town by bicycle was via a small, unmarked, track that started behind a bush! We followed the lad (Sebastien), turning this way and that, along various tracks, towards the town. "Gauch!" he called to us as he disappeared off in a diff. direction. Five mins later we were lost again. At that moment a car pulled up alongside: it was Sebastien's family, with him on the back "Suivez-moi" (Follow me) the mother called. Then some youth on a bike rocked up -"Suivez-moi" he said. Then an old lady, walking along the pavement, shouted "Suivre!" Pointing to the car. So off we sped, following the car and biker as the old lady waved her stick! Between the lot of them we rolled into town. I don't know what had gone on between them to get them all looking out for us because they then all vanished.
Tomorrow we will explore the Camargue, before heading for Marseille...