Off for the Grande Tour of France.....no idea whats going on....but it appears to be a walnut....must have been south somewhere...
However....I know where this is...Lascaux...we must have headed south quite quickly as this is quite a way down south western area.....
The original caves are preserved and no one goes in them...but they utilised modern technology to re do the whole thing and its amazing....what an experience...
The Dordogne.....
You wouldnt stand much of a chance if someone lit the blue touch paper with this interesting gun...!
We reached the Med at La Grande Motte....and whilst trying to get to the beach we passed a few interesting carvings.....like this fabulous shark
Lets just say the beach was crowded....urgh!....
This model was in the middle of a roundabout....
These are the very impressive medieval walls surrounding the town of Aigues-Mortes....
...nearby are these amazing salt pans...and in the salt pans, apart from salt....are Flamingoes....
....and ice cream.....
Heading back north...though not that far.....we stopped at Arles where there is an amazingly impressive amphitheatre that they still use for bullfighting....
....and right next door was the theatre where they staged plays....
Arles is probably best known I suppose for Van Gogh where he spent several years enjoying 'the light'.....
Still near the Pyrenees....Roussilon....the ochre-red village famous for the towering red rock formations....
....and this is Gordes....
....Abbaye de Senanque....unfortunately they had already picked the lavender which features in all the famous photos....
Thought I had missed the famous lavender crops...but on the way to a very famous mountain...here it was before us...
....and here it is....the Ventoux....one of the most famous mountains in France thanks to Le Tour....one of the most intense climbs in cycling...a bit misty to start....
....but at the top...which must be a relief for anyone to reach on a cycle...the sun was out....
....back to the red ochre....
Im not quite sure what the French think of this....I know what I think of this...some kind of ice cream with mental issues...
This might just look like a hole in the ground....and indeed it is a hole in the ground...but its the Fontaine-de-vaucluse....a fabulous village and nice walk....
We made the treck to Italy....as it wasnt far to go....and just to prove it....
More Le Tour fame....off to the Galibier from the Lautret.....absolute shrines to cycling....not that you will catch me cycling up any of them when theres a perfectly good car to ride in....!
On the mountains of the Lautret....
....and heres the top of the Galibier....
La Grave.....and here I am in the chair lift up to the top of the mountain....
....what a view....WHAT A VIEW.....down there somewhere is my tent....
