Day Five - Thursday

Heading south from Uzes, and skirting the city of Nimes,
we found more dramatic, rugged scenery before sweeping
out into the plains which reach the Camargue and the
Mediterranean. On the way we crossed the Pomt Du Gard,
this time on two wheels, as in over and not under

From here we had easy cycling through a series of
villages, each with a church and wrought ironwork
belfries so characteristic of the area (it would have
been much easier if a low speed rear end collision
with my 'canoe wife' Rebecca hadnt gravelled my
knee and slightly bent the deraillier arm, but a liberal
dose of betadine after my shower has fixed the knee,
and hopefully David had applied some pressure
to the deraillier arm on the bike - the betadine hurt
 more than the fall, although apparently there's an
interesting set of photo's going around showing the
aftermath and of me being hauled back to my feet)

A picnic lunch was followed by a wine tasting at the
Chateau Morgue du Gres, a prestigous winery of the
Costieres de Nimes appelation.

After lunch, we rode back through the northern fringes
of the Camargue, through paddies growing the red rice
of the region, and fields of the black bulls which are bred
for the bullrings of  Arles and Nimes (didnt actually see
any bulls, but smelt evidence aplenty that they were there)

We then crossed the Rhone to our hotel in the heart of Arles.

Arles has an immaculately preserved Roman ampitheatre, or
next doors's equally impressive Roman Theatre, or a short
walk to the Alyscamps Roman Cemetary or the 15th Century
St Trophime Cathedral, with its shaded cloister.

Elsewhere in Arles there's a Van Gogh museum, but, I felt
like a beer, so it was back to the hotel for pre-dinner drinks
for this little black duck.

Total distance 56km, gps said we did 56.99