Anduze and Surrounds
Distance – 60km
Overview. Two trips to Ales to
have John’s bike serviced and a steam train ride up to St Jean du Gard.
Early Risers . . .
Today turned out to be a touristic rest day even though there are a zillion magic roads within easy cooee. . . everything just naturally fell into place as Tim and Sylvie are such good hosts. I was of course up and about quite early doing this and that, had a shower and wandered around the property. Eventually Tim got up and we took the dogs in the van for a walk down to La Pontiére only a few kilometres away - and we bought some croissants and bread on the way home.
Today turned out to be a touristic rest day even though there are a zillion magic roads within easy cooee. . . everything just naturally fell into place as Tim and Sylvie are such good hosts. I was of course up and about quite early doing this and that, had a shower and wandered around the property. Eventually Tim got up and we took the dogs in the van for a walk down to La Pontiére only a few kilometres away - and we bought some croissants and bread on the way home.
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| Walking the dogs at La Pontiére |
Red Ranger’s Tyre . . .
We have been deliberately not looking at John’s rear tyre since the ‘flat’ in Pamplona last week for fear of realising it was unsafe! It adopted a most strange profile – sort of rounded on top but scalloped flat on the important bits when you are leaning over to corner.
Still, the bike was so heavily loaded it probably didn’t make any difference.
We have been deliberately not looking at John’s rear tyre since the ‘flat’ in Pamplona last week for fear of realising it was unsafe! It adopted a most strange profile – sort of rounded on top but scalloped flat on the important bits when you are leaning over to corner.
Still, the bike was so heavily loaded it probably didn’t make any difference.
Nevertheless we were all very relieved when the bike
appeared at the end of the day with a brand new rear ready for even more
action.
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| Mmm . . . that’s unusual! |
More Risers . . .
Everyone was getting up in stages . . . but Tim, John and I took John's bike across to the place he bought it from in Ales (B) for a service and the new rear tyre. On the way home we called in at a lookout to enjoy the view. This whole area was a coal and steel region and Ales was the local regional centre.
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| Evidence of a history of coal mining |
At some time during this all of our soggy motor cycling gear from yesterday was laid out on the concrete so it would dry off properly - it looked a bit like a Chinese laundry for a while!
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Power Rangers’
gear
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Planning the next Power
Ranger mission
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All Aboard . . .
Everyone was 'nearly' ready by the time we got back and we planned to take the 11:30am steam train up to St Jean du Gard (C) - which we did. Tim is a real train nut and he was able to explain every detail of all the locomotives and carriages. And the rural scenery was a treat. Sylvie and John had gone to the shops and met us up there with a picnic lunch . . . so that was special as well.
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Slow train up the
hill
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Viaduct on the way
to St Jean du Gard
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Thanks for everything Tim and
Silvie!
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Local Tour . . .
Once back at 'home' Lorraine, Tim, John and I headed off to get John's bike - which all seems fine now. Tim took us for a bit a walk around Anduze, which is a delightful old place and very tourism oriented now. We also had a beer at a local bar and got chatting with a very interesting young French woman who had worked in London and Ireland - and whose parents were from Morocco.
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Tiled ancient
well
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Anduze market
square
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Relaxing Evening . . .
Back home we sorted out all the clothes and prepared some salads and dessert ready for tonight's barbecue - which was steak and sausages. It was just delightful sitting back and enjoying the lovely evening with friends and good food. Tim and I have quite a bit in common so we had a lot to talk about in the way of planes and other things.
Back home we sorted out all the clothes and prepared some salads and dessert ready for tonight's barbecue - which was steak and sausages. It was just delightful sitting back and enjoying the lovely evening with friends and good food. Tim and I have quite a bit in common so we had a lot to talk about in the way of planes and other things.
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The expert cooks
at work . . .
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. . . and the
expert drinkers also at work!
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