South of France Day 3

After breakfast the plan was to ride to St Remy de Provence and sleep the night returning the next day to the same hotel in Isle sur la Sorgue. The ride as about 46km but with detours and getting lost I ended up doing around 50km. Todays ride was easier as the weather was slightly overcast and the route did not have as much elevation gain as the previous ride.

I arrived at St Remy at about 14:00 and the place was a bit of a mad house. Market stalls had taken over what appeared to be the town centre and traffic was at a standstill on the narrow streets. I only had a very poor map of St Remy so I got completely lost and circled around and around the central part of the village without finding the hotel I had booked for the night. I asked so old dear if she knew the direction of the hotel and she yabbered away in French for ages without me comprehending was say was trying to tell me. She waved her hand vaguely in one direction so I headed of that way.

Finally, after much frustration I found the hotel. The village has a maze of narrow streets running in all diferent directions and to make matters worse waht appeared to be obviously the town centre complete with roundabout, fountain, statues and a plaza was in fact not the town centre or centreville as the area I was to stay in is known.

The female at the hotel I was staying in that night did not speak a word of English so it was an amusing time as I attempted to indicate I had a reservation, I needed to pay by credit card and I needed to lsomewhere to lock my bike up for the night. Somehow we both figured it out in the end.

The hotel was a jumble of old farm buildings together with new or renovated buildings that formed a square around acentral courtyard and terrace compelete with pool. The entrance to the hotel was guarded by huge iron gates that were framed by a stone arch and pillars either side. The hotel appeared to be made up of apartments like mine and units with private balconies. You could sit on the central terrace lined with poplars with the swimming pool to one side whilst drinks were served from the bar housed in an renovated barn behind you. The terrace was also the area where breakfast would be served in the morning.