Canadian girls and Avignon

From the previous post it may have appeared that I was slightly stretched and a little stressed. This was a correct deduction. It is mainly due to the fact we had not stopped in a campsite for longer than one night for 12 days straight up until reaching Avignon on the Friday 22nd May. Despite deciding to miss out Millau and cutting down our distances, we arrived in Nimes on the Thursday as flat as a French crepe. We cycled around their beautifully preserved amphitheatre (but having been in Rome's Colloseum, did not go in). Having decided to eat out for a change we spent about 45 minutes trying to settle on a place that was not too expensive and bikes could be parked conveniently, not an easy find, particularly when we were feeling as decision making ability had evaporated into the heat.

We contemplated over lunch heading straight for Avignon but ended up going with our original plan of going the picturesque way (according to Michellan maps who have a green line accompanying any “picturesque” roads), via a town called Uzes and the river Gardon. As we headed out of town on the road to Uzes we were greeted with “parlez anglais?” by two Canadian sisters on bikes. They were not trying to head anywhere near where we were going, but were keen to follow us on our green road. They seemed as keen as us for some company and it was fantastic meeting these girls as we have had pretty limited interactions with cycle tourists. None have ever been heading our way or been within a decade of our ages. Shanlee and Allanah were 19 and 20 years old, (“Irish twins” they told me), and they had plenty of much needed perkiness that was contagious. Within 5 minutes of chatting with them I was ready to cycle another 30km which was good because that what I needed to cover to get to the next campsite.

I have struggled with hills most of the trip despite the fact we haven't had that many. There was a big climb coming out of Nimes soon after we met the Canadian girls. Somehow having 2 very fit women in front of me keeping up with Nic gave me the motivation that got me up that hill faster than any other hill thus far. We then all enjoyed the descent down to the river and a beautiful bridge (Nic has cultivated bridge appreciation in me - he is pictured on this one with Allanah). The campsite in Uzes was nice enough once we had followed all the signs to it and we discovered that sharing a campsite between four is much cheaper.

That night we exchanged cycle touring stories over a 3 L cask wine that Nic and Allanah had found. We learnt from Allanah who had been cycle touring by herself through Spain and North Africa for ~4 months that there are 3 classes of cycle tourists. We have been slightly dismissive of the credit card tourists who cycle with minimal gear and stay in hotels (although this is something I do aspire to in future). We feel superior in the knowledge we have everything we need on our bikes. The third class of cycle tourist is the “hippy”, go and stay wherever, which is what Allanah had been doing and what I cannot manage due to my addiction to a daily shower. I felt slightly weak confessing to my weakness that requires utilisation of campsites that come with a price and a shower block.

The next day we set out down the valley stopping by a town that did kayak rental for 25 euro a day. As we had only 40km to cover to get to Avignon we decided that 5 hours of kayaking would make the day suitably challenging and jumped into a van to be taken up river to start paddling.


Thanks to the heat this was a mix of paddling, drifting, swimming, jumping off rocks and for the Canadian girls – yoga poses on the kayak -it was an amazing break from the bikes. We then jumped back on stopping off at the Pont du Gard, an amazing Roman aqueduct. The 4 of us on fully laden bikes wheeling through were quite the spectacle as well in this large tourist attraction. An American family walking past with slightly rounded daughters did not seem able to understand what we were doing let alone why.


We arrived in Avignon with some debate about accomodation types. Despite the perfect weather we had been enjoying I was keen on another little chalet (mainly so I could sit on a chair) for the next 3 nights we had planned in Avignon this was not possible but we were happy to share a campsite in a campground with a pool. Nic and I had a great wander around Avignon the following day in the 30 degree heat. I bought a dress and changed into it as a way of coping with the heat. Swam in the pool before cycling off to the TGV station to meet my brother who had missioned it down from Amsterdam to Avignon that day to meet us. Slightly frentic conversation at the train station before sending Nic off to get a new tent for us (upgrade!!!) and a sleeping bag for Michael so that he could inherit our old tent and join us. He then spent the next couple nights sleeping under the stars by preference. Our new tent is luxuriously big and no longer requires acrobatics to get in and out of. Our campsite looked amazing - 3 tents!

The Sunday Nic decided to spend his day of rest climbing Mt. Ventoux by bike - over 1800m in altitude and 130km return journey. I wisely decided this was one challenge too many.

Monday was a logistical exercise that only 2 engineers could come up with. Michael had bravely decided to join us on our final leg to the gite and was off to get wheels. He set off first thing on foot followed by Nic on bike with plans to rendezvous at a bike hire place with the likely destination being our mecca of Decathlon – the sports store that provides everything and that Michael was to bus to. I was off on a 6km walk to meet Mum (2 thirds of my family have followed me to France!) who was to pick up her hire car from the TGV station. We were then to meet back at the campsite, hopefully all with the appropriate forms of transport to re pack and head off. These permutations seemed to work, despite a mix up with bus stations, and difficulty starting the hire car and I arrived with Mum back to the campsite to meet my brother who was now a proud owner of a 150 euro bike and lycra shorts.

We lunched and then Michael, Nic and I set off by bike in the heat towards Orange.