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Published: October 22nd 2017
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Geo: 43.3142, 3.13947
(The hasty last posting was due to finding a free wifi hotspot at the Carrieres de Lumieres in La Baux on Sunday. The wifi at this site is on the pricey side so we are being frugal.)
Sunday night was bottle bingo night at La Bienheureuse so although it is not our usual cup of Earl Grey, we decided to mingle with fellow campers, particularly as one of the staff, David from Scotland, had called by to personally invite us. Eyes down was at 9.00pm and there were about forty or so players of all nationalities and ages, with the numbers called by David in both French and English. Some of the bingo phrases were known to us, such as 10 'Downing Street' or 21 'key of the door', some were clearly French ones which meant nothing to us, but it all added to the fun and we were made to feel most welcome.
Some games were over relatively quickly when it was 'house' for four corners or one line, but imagine our surprise when David's numbers came right! Prizes were mainly bottles, and we came away with two after giving one away to a group of French people who shared
our table.
Monday, we headed off to nearby Arles as it was on our long-term wish list of places to visit on the trip and it was impressive, primarily for its well-preserved Roman and medieval architecture. First stop was the amphitheatre, dating back to the first or second century BC, and very well preserved as part of an ongoing programme aimed to keep it accessible as a monument to be visited as well as used for a programme of events. David, as a fan of the film 'Gladiator' was in raptures over the building!
Next stop was the classical theatre, much of which is not still standing since over the years stone has been removed from the site to construct other buildings. Despite this, you can still get a flavour of what it must have been like, and even today it is used for performances. Indeed, they were setting up lighting and sound on the day of our visit, though we never got to find out what for.
Entertainment that night was for the kids which was heralded by a child's scream. Our first thought was that someone was hurt, but thankfully it was a case of sheer fright. The little girl had
View across Arles
Taken from the tower on top level of amphitheatre come across 'Scottish' David dressed in brightly coloured clown costume complete with makeup. Appropriate given that the activity was face painting. He is proving to be a good sport, and we shall regretfully have moved on for his 'paella' night on Thursday. Turns out he hails from Edinburgh and has lived in France for fifteen years, now with a young daughter.
Tuesday, we ventured into the Camargue and headed to one of its two towns Saintes Maries de la Mer. We found it to be very touristy and not as we had expected, so after a stroll along the sea front drove back inland to the wild bird reserve at Pont-du-Gau where we spent a pleasant few hours following the paths around the shallow lakes and swamps. Along the way are several look out points and hides from which to study and photograph the birds and other wildlife, but favourite was the flamingos. There's a simple cafe from which to buy sandwiches and drinks, with the tables set out under a large canopy with nesting boxes attached to the eaves. The one nearest to our table was in use by a family of sparrows (as far as I could tell) and
on several occasions witnessed 'mum' popping back to feed crumbs to her babies - we could even see a couple of tiny expectant heads through the hole.
Wednesday - we had three thunderstorms in the space of 24 hours, and the mosquitoes were particularly dreadful so we were relieved to be moving on! They had us for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Whoever comes up with a remedy to keep them away or relieve the itch and pain will be a millionaire.
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