Day 12 began with Grizzly's alarm beeping, though he is usually pottering around before then. My day begins when my alarm goes off, 'we alright Woody', it goes. If only I could stop it going off at 6:45 every morning but it seems it only has one setting!
We had our brekkie on the terrace, before packing the bikes up and swinging out, once more, into the Frejus traffic. Our destination today was the historic Roman city of Nimes, some 149 miles north westish. More westish than north, if truth be told.
Suffering a bit of Neptune's revenge, those mussels getting there own back, I was feeling a tad delicate today. I took a couple of tablets to calm things and they seemed to do the trick. A bit of stomach cramp rather than anything more unpleasant.
The ride was uneventful. We have left the coast now and doesn't it make a difference. Even with the usual stop for fuel and a drinks break at a supermarket, we were in Nimes by 14:00. The drinks stop provided some amusement, as the auto doors were playing up and some old lady on the inside couldn't get out, whilst I was trying to explain, using hand gestures, to wave at the infra red thingy. Eventually she got out though. The weather was scorching once more, so a nice cold bottle of water was more than welcome.
When we arrived at the hotel, there was a slight situation. I handed the young lady my booking.com confirmation. She looked at it, asked my name, then said our room was 31 but not ready just yet. We waited. After 10 minutes or so I was handed the key. Up the stairs we went, opened the door and were greeted by, yes you guessed it, a double bed!
Back downstairs, a chap now inhabited the front desk. He looked in his file. Room 31, Mr Duguay? Nope, DeVall. He looked down his list. No DeVall. Another flick through his file. "Ah, DeVall. Neill?" Hoorah! "Double room". "Twins please". A little bit of rearrangement and we were sorted, Room 4. Not sure how the girl thought Duguay was DeVall but there you go.
We freshened up and made our way into town. There was no town map available so I was relying on the fact I'd viewed the map months ago and my memory, to guide us to our target, the Roman amphitheatre. We found it no problem. Unfortunately, there was a concert inside, so we couldn't go in it but took a few photos around the outside, before settling down for a beer. Thirst quenched we had another wander about, across some newly laid tarmac, which we sussed was there for the Tour de France, due in town on 20th. There was also a Roman temple in the city somewhere, so we set out, down the back alleyways to try and find it. And find it we did. How good am I?
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| The Amphitheatre, Nimes |
We took some photos of the outside but decided not to pay to go in, instead, our attention was drawn to a demonstration taking place, Palestinians marching against the Isrealis. The police led them on a march through the town and we went in search of dinner.
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| Maison Carrée |
We sat ourselves down and were approached by a charming blonde, though not young, waitress. A bit hands on, clearly taken by yours truly, whenever we asked her for beer her hand would go to my shoulder. I guess some of us just have it ;-) For dinner, Pat had a beef steak, chips and salad option, whilst I went for the kangaroo steak instead. It was very nice too and a first for me. We kept up our quota of 3 beers per night, settled l'addition and made our way back to the hotel.
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| Kangaroo and probably the only salad I ate all tour! |
The sun was still beating down and it had been a good day. After the frustrations of the slow Italian/French coastal traffic, it was a pleasure to be on some nice French roads, with a sensible speed limit. There's a little less concentration required when there's less going on around you, so whilst sweeping through the long open bends my mind wandered and I realised, though I was having a great time, that I was also missing Cath back home. Still, won't be many days before we are re-united.
Tomorrow we head north to Villefranche-de-Rouergue, with an interesting stop en route.
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