Day 5 - Chateaurenard - Avignon.- Nimes

It rained last night.  And our tent did NOT leak. All our patches were great, and no holes were missed. That's comforting. 

We started the day making new friends. 

On our way into Avignon, we saw a young boy carrying baguettes, on a quiet Sunday morning, so we turned off our route to find his source, what was open?  It was a bit of a rough area, but we found the patisserie, and stopped for croissant and cafe au lait on and got chatting. The guy doing the peace sign, a fellow cyclist, taught us about the trains and bikes. And he had some good ideas - cover your bike with a garbage bag and just say it is luggage 😉. He also doesn't like France, Europe, or North America and wants to move to New Zealand... And he also slipped in the 10 years he spent in prison. 🙃  He carries no pannier, he wears his backpack, today it was 9 kilos, some days it is 25 kilos, and wears his bike lock as a belt..  All this in about 10 minutes ☺️

The other gentleman, from Algeria, was super friendly too, and has a brother in Ottawa 🇨🇦. I must say, everyone here has a very positive impression of Canada. ♥️ He said the only month his brother told him to visit Ottawa is August. Ever other month is too cold 🤣

And then we explored Avignon (beautiful old walled city, home to the pope in the 13th century)

And then (drum roll please)... Sur le PONT D'AVIGNON!!!! Everybody sing....

Sur le Pont d'Avignon
L'on y danse, l'on y danse
Sur le Pont d'Avignon
L'on y danse tous en rond.

Les beaux messieurs font comme ça
Et puis encore comme ça.

(The fine gentlemen go like this (bow))

Les belles dames font comme ça
Et puis encore comme ça.

(The beautiful ladies go like this (curtsy))

Les filles font comme ça
Et puis encore comme ça.

Les musiciens font comme ça
Et puis encore comme ça.

*We couldn't take our bikes on the bridge, pedestrian only but we still danced!  

Along the easy ride, everything was quiet on Sunday morning, until we found a small village and everyone was out on their main street, and it was like a giant garage sale - everyone was selling odds and ends, it was really quite something! 

We stopped for a picnic in a vineyard under the shade of a tree, and enjoyed the easy ride along D roads and quite villages. 

No campgrounds around Nimes, so we are living large and in a hotel room tonight! Of course along with our bikes, there isn't a lot of extra room, but alas, a bed, and a roof! 

Another hot and sunny day..

Note, we used Google maps today and the route said "mostly flat". Haha. Look at that "mostly flat" hill at the end!  Yikes.