Avignon & Villeneuve

Day 9: Friday 21st September
We had a wonderful lazy morning today, going to the markets again after breakfast for a couple of expressos & buying pate and cheese and bread for lunch. We then managed to pack up our room quickly, send a few final emails on the free wifi we had in the hotel room (Selina has accepted a job in Edinburgh so we are trying to plan the next few months around moving to the UK in mid-November). Then we packed up our bikes and rode across the river (actually, we rode and caught a ferry across the river!) and had lunch on the grass looking at the Pont d'Avignon (finally, we've seen it!!!) which was very peaceful. We then checked in to the campground, set up the tent & then rode across to Villeneuve-les-Avignon, which is further across the river which was established by the French crown to keep and eye on goings-on in the papal controlled city across the river. We rode around the (quite hilly) town for a bit and came across the incredible 14th-century Fort St-Andre - we had a good wander around here and enjoyed the views. Then after afternoon tea in the lovely small town square we went to the Chartreuse du Val de Benediction, which was once the largest and most important Carthusian monestary in France. It is massive and took us a long time to wander around, but was interesting and quite well preserved. For dinner we again sat on the banks of the Rhone looking at the beautiful view of the papal palace and the bridge until the sun set & the tourists left and it was just us and the evening view!

Day 10: Saturday 22nd September
We did some yoga on the banks of the Rhone this morning before breakfast, only disturbed by the pigeons and the street cleaners! We had an awesome view, overlooking Avignon bridge and an ancient Pope's palace-fortress. After breakfast we left the campground and rode through the countryside to a small town with a big hill where we had fantastic lunch - possibly the winner for the best baguette, but the lunch-dessert wasn't quite as good as the other day :-P. We rode on through small lanes and orchards, on narrow roads without many cars at all. Except for a few trucks and a police van. We actually had a good giggle as we saw the cops pulled over on the side of the road grabbing apples from a tree! We had thought about doing something similar but had decided it was unethical!
We ended up at Cavaillon, which was a bit skanky. Full of jumped-up little boys in noisy little cars. Even the woman in the Office du tourism was unfriendly. We went to the camping ground and did a full circle following the signs - it was pathetic. Then there was noone at the desk. We went in anyway, figuring we'd pay later, but decided to put that crappy town behind us and move on. We rode another 5km to Le Tailledes, and stayed in a Gîte (kind of an ad hoc room, rented out by the owner). The fella gave us home grown eggs, and fruit: golly - I swear they are the bestest grapes i have ever tasted!
We were sitting on this rather nice patch of grass, eating a helluva lot of cheese, a baguette, aforementioned grapes, and drinking beer and softie, when we started to hear a beeping of car horns. We wondered if it had something to do with the rugby, but figured we'd know soon enough, because it was getting louder and louder. It turned out to be a wedding, and the whole procession (more than 25 cars, beeping + alarms) turned into exactly the area that we were sitting - I made eye contact with the bride as she went by - very exciting. Anyway, after the mirth passed, we decided we'd better nick off, before a posse of angry young frenchmen came and kicked our butts.