Day 20 - Tue 19th Montpelier to Avignon 87km

Last night was a still, frosty half-moon night and the sky was clear and starry. My entrecote steak was just about to be flipped in the pan when I must have spotted by the landowner (it's that searchlight-like headlamp I have......I've stuck 5 layers of Steristrip bandage over it but it is still bright). He paid me a visit with his 4 x 4 and a very large dog which was slavering over my steak. I explained I was English (it always works!) and had arrived in the dark (both true) and he was OK about it......said fine as long as you leave as you find; which I always do. Good.....I could relax for the rest of the evening.

I feel I've been really lucky with the weather so far. The morning is spoilt by the traffic though, I'd hoped to find the 'B' roads quieter but the roads are really busy and the hard shoulder is intermittent and where it exists it is puncture-territory.......broken bottles, the remnants of accidents and a surprising number of wheel studs, nails and bolts. I wear my HI-VIZ jacket and helmet and if I'm holding up a HGV that wants to pass for more than half a minute I pull off onto the grass. It takes a lot of concentration to ride on that white line at the edge of the road as you are buffeted about. I vow to get a small scale map and follow some country lanes.

The 11th Century castle in Beaucaire - a pretty town

A well-earned but pricey hot chocolate in Beaucaire

The afternoon is better, I pick up the D32 out of Beaucaire (lovely town) which is traffic free and newly tarmac-ed......heaven! I bowl along watching the farmers spraying their apple trees, listening to Queen. 'It's a Kind of Magic' is my perfect 'get a move on' music, just the right cadence (bpm), 20km/hr in 11th gear......Freddie - what a talent!
PS All you boy racers - 20km/hr is 'getting a move on' for me : )

I finally get my photo of a TGV train, they're so fast by the time you've got your camera out - whoosh - they've gone. Hopeless for trainspotting. I only got this one because it was just leaving Avignon station.

OK...I admit it......I'm a train-spotter

At last! Sur le ponte d'Avignon...da de dada....da de dada. Not quite 'sur le pont', I wasn't in the mood to carry 'Big Bertha' up the steps! Now where's that hostel?