Cycle Tour Canal des 2 mers - Mediterranean route - Cycle route Switzerland-Mediterranean

The showmen have dismantled the rides at night and nothing of the funfair is any longer noticeable. Instead, there was now a Provencal market. All sorts of things were offered, but apparently no food. On the way out of the city we passed the château, which presented itself in the best light in the early morning.

Then we cycled north, not far from the Rhône, for about seven kilometers along the main road to Vallabrègues. On a side road we cycled through fruit plantation and a few vineyards. So we got to Bourbon without much traffic.

High above the village are the former Château and a windmill. In the village, the houses cling to the narrow alley. Through the former "city" gate, we left village.

It followed a section on a paved road, on the left fruit trees, on the right rocky terrain.

Thereafter, an increase of 80 meters begun. The vegetation was changing fast. Meagerly grass, pine-trees and other conifers, more and more isolated standing and growing ever smaller. At the top we were at the Abbaye Saint-Michel de Frigolet. The buildings of the abbey are not particularly beautiful on the outside, the more the interior of the abbey church Basilique de l'Immaculée-Conception.

From the monastery, it was a long way down road D35E to just before Barbentane. Past a small windmill, which was active until 1845, we came to the upper city gate of the village and to the Tour Anglica. Through narrow alleys with one-way traffic we cycled through the old village to the church square. The old Town Hall, the Maison des Chevaliers de Malte Notre Dame and the church Notre Dame border this square.

Back in the plain, it was still ten kilometers to the hotel in Avignon. Initially the traffic was lesser, but from the bridge over the Durance it was heavier. We could soon leave road N570 and meandered over quieter back roads into the city.

Our hotel was great. Although it has only two stars, but it is just outside the city wall in the southwest, has a beautiful green garden and from traffic noises around you get nothing. The bicycles were parked in an underground car park, which only offers long-term rented parking.