D138

Marcoule

Leaving Pont St. Esprit at 9 am, we joined the D138 - an ideal cycling route which soon finds the west bank of the river Rhone and clings to it for a few kilometres of small villages, fishing piers and excellent river views. This idyll is interrupted as Marcoule nuclear power station looms into view. We pedalled steadily towards it along an unusually straight stretch, wondering what contamination it was emitting. Reaching it, we discovered that this is an immense complex, much more extensive than the power station itself and employing many people judging by the number of cars parked. It presumably encompasses fuel reprocessing and/or research facilities.

D138

Caderousse

Eventually escaping the nuclear sprawl, the D138 crosses the Rhone via two bridges and a large island before passing the gate of the walled town of Caderousse. Of course we decided to halt for a cup of coffee and a short tour of the town. The town's walls are not the usual defensive structure - they were built in 1856 as a flood protection measure, but they certainly add character. The town hall is earlier and its walls bear marks at head height showing the levels of flooding reached in the pre-wall periods. Today of course, the Rhone is well-controlled by dams and such flooding is a thing of the past.

D17

Chateauneuf du Pape

Vaucluse, 84

We were now travelling away from the Rhone towards the east,through continuous vineyards and we soon reached Chateauneuf du Pape - a small village renowned of course for its wine. It is clearly prosperous as a result and has a big ruined hilltop chateau from which it derives its name.

D192

Bedarrides

We stopped in Chateauneuf only to buy supplies for a picnic lunch before continuing through vineyards and several unremarkable villages, stopping near one for our first picnic since day 1. We much prefer to picnic, but the cold weather had prevented it up to now.

D16

Le Thor

We stopped for a while at le Thor, a little town with bridge over the river and romanesque church.

D98

Cavaillon

Cavaillon is a town built close against a chalky hill with a steep escarpment that seems to loom over the town. After an unsatisfactory encounter with the tourist office (they vary immensely, this was one of those that seems to run entirely for the benefit of its staff), we looked more closely at the Hotel du Parc across the square and found that it was a charming and indivdualistic hotel with a beautiful internal courtyard garden and hand-painted decorations in the rooms.

Cavaillon is another town that has probably seen better days, but despite that it offers an interesting ancient centre and some eating and drinking establishments of character. The Fin de Siecle bar and the Cuisine du Marché restaurant both turned out to be good choices for us. The latter is one of those family-run individual restaurants that one so often finds in France with a highly-trained and imaginative chef, even in off-the-beaten-track spots such as this. The son of the family seemed to be having his first day of serving at table with his mother hovering, but he managed well. The meal was exceptional. The grilled white fish with a 'sesame crust' is worthy of description - the chef explained the recipe to us: mix some sesame seeds with egg yolk and melted butter and spread over the partly-grilled fish. Grill until the crust is firm. And to crown the evening, the chef's wife noticed our Canondale cycling jackets and told us her husband was a keen cyclist - they were interested to hear about our tour.