Bicycle Touring France 2001

The Three Rivers of France

A cycle tour along the Dordogne, Lot & Tarn Rivers

Part 4 - the Corniche des Cevennes & a petit peu de Languedoc et Provence

Day 21- Florac to St. Jean-du-Gard - 55km

It drizzled with rain on and off all night; just enough to wet everything. After packing up the wet tents, we rode out of town in a light rain. We knew that today was going to involve a lot of climbing in the first part of the day's ride, but hadn't expected the climbing to begin as soon as we left the town.

It was dull, wet & cold as we climbed from Florac to the Corniche des Cevennes

The road climbed steeply for about four kilometres before dropping down to cross the Tarnon River. Then the serious climbing began as we started our ride over the Corniche des Cévennes. The road climbed very steeply with the steepest climb of the trip coming after five kilometres as we rode through the hamlet of St. Laurent-de-Trèves. We crossed our first col, the Col du Rey at 992 metres. Shortly after the col, the road levelled out for a while. Then it was a short climb to the Col des Faïsses, 1,026 metres, where we had magnificent views over the mountains in spite of the clouds and the drizzle that continued to linger. A cold wind blew and we didn’t want to hang around looking at the view for long. We didn’t notice the Col de Solpérière at all as we rode along the ridge of the mountains with spectacular views on both sides. The road reached its high point of 1,040 metres near the hamlet of l'Hospitallet and then it was steeply downhill to la Pompidou where we stopped for lunch. The village café made wonderful and cheap hot, hot chocolate that we drank while eating our bread, cheese and sausage.

The view towards Mont Aigoual from the Corniche des Cevennes

The road climbed out of the village before undulating to the village of St. Roman-de-Tousque. The climb out of there was very steep up to the Col de l'Exit. There was a lovely down hill and then a short gradual climb to the Col de St. Pierre. The climbing was over for the day and we dropped steeply for several kilometres to the junction with D907. We were down to an altitude of 206 metres and the weather had changed dramatically. It was so much warmer than the last week or so. We were now in the western part of Provence.

It was an easy run into St. Jean-du-Gard. When Robert Louis Stevenson walked through the Cévennes with Modestine, a donkey, St. Jean-du-Gard marked the end of their walk. The town now has a Robert Lois Stevenson Square, a Robert Louis Stevenson avenue and the hotel in which he stayed is marked by a painting of a donkey. We stopped for coffee while we made up our minds about where we were going to stay. We ended up riding a short distance out of town to a small gîte-d'étape.

Day 22 - St. Jean-du-Gard to Uzès - 67km

David and Noelene had been kept awake during the night with mice scampering around in the ceiling but Helen and Lyn slept through it all and hadn’t heard anything. After breakfast at the gîte, we left St. Jean and followed the wooded valley of the Gardon-de-St. Jean River through Corbès to the busy town of Anduze. From there, the countryside changed as we left the wooded hills and mountains of the Cévennes and entered the flat vineyards of western Provence.

We had a fast ride through the vineyards before stopping at the café in the village of Cardet for coffee. The vendange, the grape harvest, had started and the co-operative wineries in the villages we passed through were hives of activity. Large mechanical grape harvesters were busy making their way up and down the rows of the vines. Occasionally, we came across groups of people picking by hand but the majority of the grapes were harvested by machine. It was easy to tell the way to the nearest winery from the sticky grape juice spilt along the roads.

As we approached the extremely busy N106, David followed a sign-post to Uzès that had us heading onto the "Cars Only" highway instead of the quiet back road he had planned on taking. We quickly back-tracked and enjoyed an almost traffic free ride to Moussac. We planned on having lunch at a café but when we arrived in Moussac, we couldn’t find a café or restaurant. The map shows Moussac as the largest town in the district but Brignon is now the main commercial centre. We passed the turn off to this town a few kilometres earlier and didn’t feel like heading back there. Lunch ended up being biscuits and cheese in a small park on the outskirts of town.

We followed the D982 through grape vines and olive groves through the villages of Garriques and Arpaillargues. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky and it was quite hot. In a couple of places the tar on the road was starting to melt. We were definitely in a much warmer part of France compared with the Tarn valley.

There was a campground a few kilometres before Uzès and another one a few kilometres on the other side of the city. We decided to stay at the first one but when we arrived at the turnoff at about two o’clock, there was a sign that said it was full. An English couple in Florac told us that they had found several of the campgrounds in Provence to be full but it seemed strange that one away from the main tourist areas would be full so early in the day at this late stage of the season. We rode into the campground and after a few minutes found the son of the owners who explained that they had a large number of campervans and caravans arrive unexpectedly a couple of days before. At this time of the year, they run a skeleton staff only and were run off their feet, so they put the full sign up and had forgotten to take it down. He was just back from a year travelling around Australia and when he found out that we were from Australia, he was most helpful and friendly.

After setting up camp and having refreshingly hot showers, we rode into the city to do some sightseeing. Situated on the top of a steep hill, the old part of Uzès is a very attractive place. Dominated by the huge palace of the once immensely powerful Dukes of Uzès, the old city has a number of attractive arcaded squares. Old Plane trees provided welcome shade and relief from the hot sun as we sat at one of the many large cafés and enjoyed a cool drink. It was a pleasant city and we wished that we had more time to stay for a few days to enjoy it.

A cafe in the delightful town of Uzès

Day 23 Uzès to Avignon - 61km

We left the campground and rode towards Uzès before turning onto quiet roads towards the hill top village of Blauzac. We didn’t find the small lane we planned on following but left town on the quiet D736. After a couple of kilometres we turned onto the D112 towards Sanilhac. The road wound its way quietly through the vineyards where the harvesters were busy at work picking the rich red grapes.

Suddenly we were being passed by lots of brightly clad cyclists on lightweight racing bikes. We started talking to some of them as we rode along. They were part of a large group of mainly Canadian cyclists from Quebec on an organised tour. The previous night they had stayed in Nimes and were heading on the same route as us to the Pont-du-Gard and Avignon. The difference was that they were staying in three star hotels and all their bags were transferred for them. They were paying several hundred dollars a day for the privilege and that didn’t include the cost of all their meals.

We stopped at the patisserie on the outskirts of Sanilhac where we bought rich, cream-filled Paris-Brest pastries which we ate outside while talking to some of the Canadians.

Four kilometres after passing through the small village of Collias, we turned onto the very busy D981 for the last three kilometres to the Pont-du-Gard. We turned off the main road and followed a bike path into the huge car park that seemed to cover several hectares. A large new entrance pavilion dominated the approach to the famous aqueduct. Built nearly 2,000 years ago by the Romans to bring water from a catchment near Uzès to Nimes, the aqueduct was considered to be one of the engineering wonders of the ancient world. The Pont-du-Gard which carried the water high over the valley of the River Gard is one of the most spectacular Roman remains in France. We could see the car parks, we could see the entrance pavilion and large numbers of people heading down a wide path, but we couldn't see anything of the Pont-du-Gard.

We followed the crowds and after a kilometre we had our first glimpse of the famous bridge. Three tiers of honey-coloured sandstone rise 49 metres above the river to the 275 metre long channel which used to carry the 20,000 cubic metres of water a day to Nimes. It is a most impressive structure but it was not until we viewed it from the southern side of the river that we fully appreciated its size and scale. There is a roadway on the lowest level of the bridge but this is now only available to pedestrians and cyclists. We sat under the shade of huge plane trees and ate our lunch with a spectacular view of the magnificent structure.

The spectacular Pont du Gard built by the Romans in 19BC

From the Pont-du-Gard we had a fast ride to Remoulins from where we followed a roundabout route through quiet vineyards to Aramon on the banks of the Rhone. Major highways dominate this area and there are very few small roads available to cycle on. The route we followed seemed to be the only practical route and we were pleased to find that it was the one used by a number of the commercial bicycle tour operators. From Aramon, we had to follow the busy D2 along the bank of the Rhone to Avignon. The traffic was heavy but there was a wide shoulder for most of the way and all the vehicles gave us a wide berth. There was a rough path along the top of the levee bank that could easily be converted into a lovely cycle way with not a lot of expense.

After eleven kilometres we were in Villeneuve-les-Avignon on the opposite side of the river from Avignon itself. After some confusion from the poor signposting to the campground – Villeneuve is in a different department from Avignon and doesn’t display signs to Avignon’s campgrounds – we reached the campground on the island in the Rhone. There was a superb view of the city and the Papal Palace from the terrace of the café and after sitting there with a cool drink for a long time we decided to return for dinner that evening.

After setting up camp and having showers, we wandered back to the café to enjoy the view. While we were having our pleasant and cheap dinner, dozens of tourist coaches stopped on the esplanade for a few minutes to allow their passengers a brief opportunity to enjoy what must be one of the best views in Avignon.

The view over the River Rhone and the Palais des Papes in Avignon from the balcony of the café at the campground

Day 24 - Avignon -4km

Carousel on the Place d'Horloge, Avignon

Today marked the end of the ride. We had spent three weeks cycling from Périgeux to Avignon through some of the prettiest and most spectacular countryside in France. Helen was fortunate in that she had extra time to cycle north from Bordeaux before joining the rest of us in Périgeux. It had been a great bicycle ride. Freda White concluded her book on the region of the three rivers with the statement:

"The Dordogne is a romantic river. The Lot is a magical river. The Tarn is a breathtaking river. Oh, happy traveller, you have the choice of three."

Back to Part 1 - the Dordogne

Back to Part 2 - the Lot

Back to Part 3 - the Tarn