A Sticky Problem in Arles

We have known Carol for long enough to know that her brain works on a completely wavelength to the rest of the human species. Somewhere in the tortured process of human evolution, it is obvious that Carol's branch of the tree went in the opposite direction to the rest of humanity. This morning we discovered that she has passed this unique way of thinking to her daughter Samantha.

Samantha apparently enjoys chewing gum. The only things that she has not yet grasped is that it has to be disposed of in a logical fashion. Unfortunately the words "logical" and "Yates" can never be combined in the same sentence. Following the ride yesterday, Samantha decided that the best place to leave her left over gum was on the handlebar of her bike. Although I have been sometimes known to bend the truth just slightly, in this case that is precisely and exactly what she did. I cannot understand what her reasoning was - maybe she planned to reintroduce it to her mouth and continue the chewing. All I know is that was were her lump of gum spent the night.

Unfortunately Arie (our cyclimg guide) was not privy to this key information. When he proceeded to unload Sam's bike onto the shore, he immediately found himself entangled in a disgusting, sticky web of stale chewing gum. Of course he was both surprised and furious in equal measures. Carol and Samantha still thought that it was an entirely sensible place to leave such a foul booby trap.

About 20 minutes later Arrie had managed to remove some of the sticky mess from his fingers and the front of his shirt, and we were ready to finally get underway. Our first stop of the day was the centre of Arles. This town is one of the best preserved Roman towns in Europe and is also well known as being the place where Van Gogh lived and produced some of his most famous masterpieces.

Although I normally hate guided tours, I did try to behave myself and follow our appointed guide as she led us through the narrow streets and pointed out the most interesting sights. It might have been even more educational if I could have understood some of what she was saying. In spite of the language problem, it did give a fascinating insight into just how extensive and advanced was the Roman constructions in this region. The central arena is very similar to the famous Colloseum in Rome and it is still used for regular bull fights and other performances.

Van Gogh was apparently mesmerised by the colours and light of Arles and this provided the inspiration for many of his remarkable artworks. Unfortunately genius and madness are often closely intertwined and his tortured soul finally found peace at the extremely young age of only 37 years . In his entire working life as a painter he only sold one painting.

After exploring the city for the morning, we climbed on the bikes for a glorious ride to Saint Gilles. The day was significantly cooler than the previous days and this made the cycling absolutely delightful. We even enjoyed a helpful tailwind for some of the way. The group were all in high spirits, demonstrating just why we had come so far to do this.

Around 3 pm we reached the boat and then settled down for an extended cruise along the canals to the town of Aigues Mortes (dead waters). That will be our final mooring as tomorrow's ride will be a loop ride starting and finishing in the same place.

The cruise also gave us our first glimpses of the famous white horses that the Camargue region is famous for. To our surprise we also discovered that there were fish in the canals that were obviously attracted by the wake of the boat and seemed happy to surf along with us. Another magic moment.

For me the time on the boat also gave me a chance to tune into the fourth test match, currentlty being played in Manchester. When Smith scored his epic 200th run, I was listening in the dining room of the Estello. That will be something I will remember for a long, long time.Read more