Uzès to Pont du Gard to Avignon

October 27, 2018

Our last ride in France: the beginning of the end

Today was the last ride of our tour and took us back to Avignon where we began over four weeks ago. It was still very windy here in Uzès as we rode a short ways back north toward town to pick up some lunch at the local shops. But the sky was blue and temperatures still warm.

Turning back south, although the wind was now to our backs, we wanted to get off the busy D 981 asap. About two kilometres along we found a quiet country road full of vineyards that would take us to Vers-Pont-du-Gard. It was an actual marked cycle path! We haven't seen many of those lately. A ways along this fairly rough road we stopped for a coffee in Vers.

A rare selfie photo with both of us riding together. We have just left the busy highway and are enjoying this quiet backroad.

The surrounding landscape is full of vineyards.

Unfortunately, this restaurant did not offer cappuccinos. It is becoming a rather challenging drink to find but it seems that there is a reasonable espresso everywhere. Scott thinks that Pat should not be so fussy!

Interesting door mat. Obviously does not like Paris Saint-Germain FC. No cappuccino here either.

We carried on caffeine free across the highway we had been avoiding to a small backroad that took us to the Pont du Gard. The little, somewhat hidden bike path going in to the famous bridge took us almost right there. We discovered later that we had bypassed the main entrance with car parking and fare gates set up to collect admission for viewing. Well planned on our part we thought. The Roman engineering and history of this amazing artifact is well documented so I need not add anything here, but it is an amazing sight and we are glad to have come this way.

The truly amazing Pont du Gard. Boy, those Romans!

View from a road bridge that was built beside the aqueduct in the 18th century. Pat recalls visiting the bridge when she was in her 20's. At that time they allowed foot traffic on the very top of the Pont du Gard and she walked across the full length.

Standing on the bridge looking up at the archways provides a bit of scale to this massive structure that is almost 50 metres in height.

A view from the other side. A wonderful fall day with relatively few visitors today.

Looking a little too relaxed. Only included this photo as Pat says that I am underrepresented in this blog.

We rode on to the next town still looking for that elusive cappuccino. There was a busy lunch time crowd at a couple of local restaurants in the small town of Remoullins, but no cappuccinos there either, so we carried on. Scott was now going through severe caffeine withdraws. Next stop we climbed up to centre ville in Theziers. No cappuccino again - surprisingly we did not even find a single cafe. Back down again the same route we took up.

We carried on and quickly reached the cycleway V17 that we are familiar with as this was the same route we took on our first day riding out of Avignon. The ride was well marked and the surface was a fine gravel. Interestingly, the path was strewn with lots and lots of tree limbs and branches deposited by yesterday's wind. Some were so large we needed to get off our bikes and push them across the fallen branches. As we approached Avignon we passed 3 different groups of cycle tourists going in the opposite direction. This was more than we had seen on our entire tour.

Coffee options had dried up and we were now looking forward to a beer in Avignon which was less than 10 kilometres away. We soon crossed Pont Edouard Daladier into Avignon and settled in to a couple of chairs in Place de l'Horloge as the sun began to retreat for the day.

We finished our "end of tour" celebratory drinks and headed on to Paul's airbnb. By good fortune he greeted us at the front door of his building, making the key transfer seamless. Somewhat sadly, we unloaded the bikes for the last time and parked them in the courtyard. We headed out to a familiar restaurant for some warm zucchini and potato soup with tomato, pesto, mozzarella toast. We felt like we were back home.

Today's ride: 56 km (35 miles)
Total: 953 km (592 miles)

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Keith KleinHi Scott and Pat,
I enjoyed reading about your tour. I've ridden on many of the same roads (not in Corsica, though) and it was fun revisiting them.
About cappuccino: not served in France, generally. You should ask for "café au lait" instead.
Cheers,
Keith
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