May 5, 2019
(Click on photos to embiggen)
Bit breezy.
This wind is known as the Mistral. They say it will blow the ears off a donkey. Or the roof off a house. Today, the average windspeed was 42 km/hr, with gusts up to 70. Since we intrepid cyclists ventured out north, and returned south, we battled headwinds on the the first leg, and used our jackets as sails on the return. Really, it was brutal. Tomorrow is supposed to be better. “I promise,” says the wayward child.
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| I'm not exaggerating |
The bikes are beautiful, silk on the road, just the right amount of cushion on the saddle. The gear changing is seamless — I have no idea how that works, but there’s no clanging of chain from sprocket to sprocket — though I’d have appreciated some much lower gears today.
Today, not for the first time, I’m missing my mirrorless DSLR camera. My fancy new iPhone just doesn’t cut it. Not when the Famous Bulls of the Camargue graze in the distance, and the Famous Flamingoes of the Salt Flats refuse to flit closer. I could post photos of these creatures in the distance, but you’d have to take my word for it that the black smudges are bulls and the white dots are flamingoes. We did see them, though, which was great, and might have even been thrilling had we not been thrilled enough already with trying not to be blown off the road.
We rode through the Camargue, the fertile delta of the Rhône River south of Arles. We rode past orchards and olive groves, melon plantations and lavender fields (not yet in bloom). We stopped to gaze at bulls and flamingoes and the beautiful white horses this region is known for. We stopped at a couple of village café-bars, where we could have a coffee and use the toilets. I practiced my French by telling the proprietor of one establishment that the ladies’ needed toilet paper, thus saving the day for my fellow travellers.
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| Bike blows over in the wind, fender breaks, repair crew consults |
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Listen to the wind!
We are 16 cyclists, plus our guide, Carlos. Wonderful, interesting, funny people. We are from Canada, the US, the UK, Australia, and New Zealand, as young as 40 something, and as old as who knows. Some don’t look fit, but ride like the Mistral. At times I was last but for the sweeper, the guy who rides at the back to sweep up the fallen bodies. I didn’t mind.
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| Camargue landscape. Not out of focus, just moving in the wind |
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| Famous White Horses, begging for greens |
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| Our Barge |
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| Bikes on Board |
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| A hair-raising day |
1 comment:
Sounds like a perfectly beautiful spring day, complete with wind. We just returned from the SE USofA and found Arizona to be particularly breezy - apparently so more in the spring we were told.
Lovely photos.
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