Thursday 14th to Monday 17th October Nimes to Gensac, near St Emilion and back ( Not by bike!)
We had a bit of a weekend off for a party in Gensac, which was very good fun. We hired a car as the trains from Nimes to Bordeaux and then back out to Bergerac were just too complicated for us with the bikes, so we stuffed them into the back of the car and drove for 6 hours. This route was almost identical to the one we had followed last year on our Great Escape by bike but on that occasion it took about 2 weeks! We had a very social time and returned to Nimes on Sunday night completely exhausted! We had visited the area around St Emilion last year so the scenery was all quite familiar and it was a pleasure to travel by car along the roads that we had pedalled so hard along. Quite by chance we also ate out at the same good restaurant in the square in St Emilion and visited Chateau de Pressac for a wine tasting. The weather was perfect, the golf good fun and the rock band who entertained us were amazing and our legs ached more after so much dancing than they do after 30 miles on the bikes.
Pretty damn good party and this was only the beginning!
We decided whilst we had the luxury of a car that we would visit the Pont du Gard quickly, and we were so glad we went. It was quite breathtaking as it is so enormous and you can’t believe that the Romans could have built it all without any machines. It’s purpose was to provide water for the city of Nimes carrying it all the way from Uze – about 30 miles.
We went as the sun was setting and were pleased that there were not too many people around. That night we stayed in a very comfortable Logis up in the hills in the village of Collias, it was only right after such a spectacular weekend!
Monday 17th October Collias to St Gilles (Vivi’s birthday)
There was much rootling around in Alec’s bag this morning and I thought that might mean a card, however he was rather too distracted about having left something behind to remember this most important date, so I gave him a bit of a hint at breakfast and all was well!
We dropped the car off in Nimes at the station and then once again took our life in our hands getting out of the city. We have decided to explore the Camargue area as that is where the Rhone flows into the sea - well the Petite Rhone anyway as it has split by now. It was a very easy day’s biking to start with, as there were very few slopes, not too much wind and pretty countryside We had a rather good goat’s cheese salad shared between the 2 of us in a bar at Caissargues
I know how to give a girl a good time!!
a small village south of Nimes, the excuse being that we had missed the boulangeries so couldn’t have the usual baguette. A very friendly lady propping up the bar made us try a piece of Fougasse, a local speciality, mainly pastry with any old remains of meat or veg rolled up in it. It was all very jovial but the small glasses of Rose which we washed it down with did not make for a good afternoon’s ride. We got lost and ended up doing some mountain biking around some chap’s orchards. All was well eventually but it added a few bone rattling miles to the day. We did however in the midst of this (minor) diversion meet up with a covey of French partridge which always lifts the spirit. Anyway we rode the last few miles into St Gilles down the main road because there seemed to be a massive fire coming in the direction of the little road we should have taken and we didn’t fancy our chances in this stiff breeze of getting past it without being singed.
St Gilles is a pretty and very old town but seriously down at heel and this can be immediately seen from the state of the streets, the shops, the people (unemployed males hanging about) and the quality of the boats in the marina. Added to this the church which is a stopping off point for ‘Pellerins’ on their way to Santiago de Compostela is pretty exciting from the outside (to get inside you had to buy a ticket in the tourist office and get their 30 mins before the church closed) with spectacular friezes depicting religious scenes but many of these had been defaced presumably by Saladin’s lot who at some stage must have dominated the area.
For no apparent reason Vivi was not allowed into the church!!
After our cultural tour we celebrated Vivi’s birthday in the very comfortable Logis we are staying in with an extremely good dinner.
We had a bit of a weekend off for a party in Gensac, which was very good fun. We hired a car as the trains from Nimes to Bordeaux and then back out to Bergerac were just too complicated for us with the bikes, so we stuffed them into the back of the car and drove for 6 hours. This route was almost identical to the one we had followed last year on our Great Escape by bike but on that occasion it took about 2 weeks! We had a very social time and returned to Nimes on Sunday night completely exhausted! We had visited the area around St Emilion last year so the scenery was all quite familiar and it was a pleasure to travel by car along the roads that we had pedalled so hard along. Quite by chance we also ate out at the same good restaurant in the square in St Emilion and visited Chateau de Pressac for a wine tasting. The weather was perfect, the golf good fun and the rock band who entertained us were amazing and our legs ached more after so much dancing than they do after 30 miles on the bikes.
Pretty damn good party and this was only the beginning!
We decided whilst we had the luxury of a car that we would visit the Pont du Gard quickly, and we were so glad we went. It was quite breathtaking as it is so enormous and you can’t believe that the Romans could have built it all without any machines. It’s purpose was to provide water for the city of Nimes carrying it all the way from Uze – about 30 miles.
We went as the sun was setting and were pleased that there were not too many people around. That night we stayed in a very comfortable Logis up in the hills in the village of Collias, it was only right after such a spectacular weekend!
Monday 17th October Collias to St Gilles (Vivi’s birthday)
There was much rootling around in Alec’s bag this morning and I thought that might mean a card, however he was rather too distracted about having left something behind to remember this most important date, so I gave him a bit of a hint at breakfast and all was well!
We dropped the car off in Nimes at the station and then once again took our life in our hands getting out of the city. We have decided to explore the Camargue area as that is where the Rhone flows into the sea - well the Petite Rhone anyway as it has split by now. It was a very easy day’s biking to start with, as there were very few slopes, not too much wind and pretty countryside We had a rather good goat’s cheese salad shared between the 2 of us in a bar at Caissargues
I know how to give a girl a good time!!
a small village south of Nimes, the excuse being that we had missed the boulangeries so couldn’t have the usual baguette. A very friendly lady propping up the bar made us try a piece of Fougasse, a local speciality, mainly pastry with any old remains of meat or veg rolled up in it. It was all very jovial but the small glasses of Rose which we washed it down with did not make for a good afternoon’s ride. We got lost and ended up doing some mountain biking around some chap’s orchards. All was well eventually but it added a few bone rattling miles to the day. We did however in the midst of this (minor) diversion meet up with a covey of French partridge which always lifts the spirit. Anyway we rode the last few miles into St Gilles down the main road because there seemed to be a massive fire coming in the direction of the little road we should have taken and we didn’t fancy our chances in this stiff breeze of getting past it without being singed.
St Gilles is a pretty and very old town but seriously down at heel and this can be immediately seen from the state of the streets, the shops, the people (unemployed males hanging about) and the quality of the boats in the marina. Added to this the church which is a stopping off point for ‘Pellerins’ on their way to Santiago de Compostela is pretty exciting from the outside (to get inside you had to buy a ticket in the tourist office and get their 30 mins before the church closed) with spectacular friezes depicting religious scenes but many of these had been defaced presumably by Saladin’s lot who at some stage must have dominated the area.
For no apparent reason Vivi was not allowed into the church!!
After our cultural tour we celebrated Vivi’s birthday in the very comfortable Logis we are staying in with an extremely good dinner.
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