Mt. Biking - Les Baux de Provence – Fontvieille Roman Aquaduct.

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Forces-of-Nature » Personal Diaries » Mt. Biking - Les Baux de Provence – Fontvieille Roman Aquaduct.

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Owner: squiz
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10th October 2014
Mt. Biking: Les Baux de Provence – Fontvieille Roman Aquaduct.
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Weather: sunny periods
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Distance Covered: 20 (Nautical Miles - unless stated otherwise)

Friday 10th October – bike ***** Les Baux de Provence – Fontvieille Roman Aquaduct. 20 n.miles – sunny periods

We had more of that strange lightning in the night – no thunder just lighting up the whole sky. It was doing it when we went to bed, in the night and this morning! It was cloudy to start with but we did our exercises outside because it is still over 20 degrees! The old boy on a road bike who has been biking up the hill and down several times every morning we have been here was here again but today he went up and down for at least 2 hours!!! Bonkers or what! After breakfast we set out on the bike ride we were keen to do before leaving the area. We went along the up and down GR6 track again then turned down the track which we hiked to Les Baux on last Sunday. It was very steep and rocky with loose stones in places but great fun:) We even saw the same lady walking her dogs that we saw last week but she takes the even steeper path down so our paths didn’t cross. When we reached the bottom we carried on on the road through olive groves and vines and across the Domaine de Manville golf course. How they keep it so green when there doesn’t seem to be any water about is a miracle. It only opened this year and it has taken them 4 years to make it! On to Mausanne des Alpilles and a short distance on the main road to the village of Paradou where we went onto a back road and suddenly there was lots of water running at the side of the road in a rill. A field of brown sheep made us stop as not only did they have the most beautiful tiny lambs but 5 of them also had cattle egrets standing on their backs!! As we approached the egrets flew off and we spent the next half an hour waiting for them to get back on for a photo! A Magpie had fun landing on one sheep and jumping over to the next but the egrets were otherwise engaged being butted out of the way by the sheep while standing in the field. It was great fun to watch and we also had a chat with a couple of blokes on bikes who were staying in Avignon and had come to Arles on the train for a days cycling. When an egret finally did us proud by jumping back onto a sheep we took the photo and set off towards the roman aqueduct. No fanfare but suddenly the road went between two ruined walls and there it was. Although a ruin it is amazing and you can see how it worked. It ran to a mill (also ruined) and the view from above the mill across the agricultural land below was terrific:) We had our lunch sitting on the rocks above the aquaduct, watching a man with a model glider flying it and trying to retrieve it from the rocky shrubbery and having a marvellous display from a peregrine – swooping and seeing off a buzzard and also looking like it was going to dive down on my head at one point!! Back on the bikes and on to Fontvieille where we visited the Moulin de Daudet which was quaint and although it had its sails on they are never going to move again. Biked along the footpath to the Chateau Montaubin and had a look at that. Quick shop then a cycle round the town and visit to the tourist information. Then it was a big push back to the van! The first bit was on the busy D17 road then we turned off towards Les Baux and the steady incline was hard work especially at the end of the day and it was very hot too! We were out for 5 ½ hours and did about 23 miles. This definitely warranted getting the solar shower out (filled by boiling the kettle and topping up with cold to make it the right temperature so nothing to do with solar!) Attached to the roof rack and bliss even if a lady in a van did pull into ‘our’ spot to park and walk down the road just as I was about to dive underneath!! I had a bloomin puncture in my new bike which I managed to sort out before the bike ride but went flat again this afternoon when we got back, so I had to repair that (don’t think the bike shop put the slime in as they were supposed to and I paid them for!!).

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