Pyrenees Day 2

Well, Karl made it up the Col du Tourmelet! For those of you who are interested the stats are an 18km ride, climbing to an elevation of 2115m. I can't believe he can ride that far and that steep. Very impressive! I drove down the other side while Karl enjoyed the (freezing) breeze in his hair (helmet), stopping to take a few random photos of cows, sheep and beautiful views. 

We then drove back to our B&B accommodation (just gorgeous and much more cultural than Ibis! See below) via St Bertrand de Comminges cathedral. Set high on a hill, the cloisters were just amazing (and so was the little staircase)!

Today we drove to Avignon in the Provence region of France. We stopped off at the Pont du Gard, a Roman aqueduct built around 19BC. That is incredibly hard to believe! Equally amazing is the ingenuity of it…it is part of a 30 mile canal that, by dropping a mere inch per 350 feet, supplied the town of Nimes with nine million gallons of water per day. I cannot believe that the Romans had the expertise and equipment to do that so long ago!

Avignon is a beautiful ancient walled city and once again we are in Ibis Budget…which meant we could slightly splurge on a lovely slow baked lamb and veggies meal at a gorgeous restaurant in the central square. More on Avignon tomorrow!