Tour Bike Tour, Languedoc, France (Guided Groups)

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Wine-tasting fees at vineyards are included.

Accommodation

We go to a lot of trouble to choose our hotels. We stay in mostly 3*** hotels, and occasionally (in France) in 2** hotels if I particularly like the hotel or the owners. Stars work differently in France; if a family-owned hotel won’t have 24-hour staff, they stay at 2**. I have personally chosen every hotel we stay in, and a Chain Gang guide accompanies every group, so we really can’t afford to arrive at hotels and have our customers dissatisfied. In every case, these are hotels that we’ve worked with for years, and that makes a huge difference. We’re staying with old friends, so we’re always assured a warm welcome, but just as important, if any Chain Gangers need anything, our hotel owners will bend over backwards to help.

Meals

All evening meals and breakfasts are included. Lunch is either taken in local restaurants or picnics that we organise on the way. The cost of lunch is not included.

Not included:

Flights

International flights not included.

Optional

Entrance fees and drinks with meals are not included.

Insurance

Travel Insurance is not included

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Day 1 Languedoc Itinerary Day 1
12:00 am - 11:59 pm

Languedoc Itinerary Day 1

Our start point is Villeneuve les Avignon, on the banks of the River Rhone.

We start from the Hotel Les Cedres, our local hotel partner for the whole of this century!

There is a local airport, although connections are the exception rather than the rule. But connections via fast TGV trains to Paris and London are fast and regular.
Day 2 Languedoc Itinerary Day 2
12:00 am - 11:59 pm

Languedoc Itinerary Day 2

We begin in Villeneuve Les Avignon, at Hotel Les Cedres. Today we’re headed for Arles. Arles is the gateway to the Carmargue region, the delta of the Rhone river, and we’ll be following the Rhone for much of our ride today.

There are some great cycle paths, and we’ll follow one of them downstream to visit the amazing troglodyte abbey of St Romain in Beaucaire. Here we’ll cross the river, in sight of the castles of Tarascon and Beaucaire, and cyle through farmland into Arles.

Arles is well-known for its links to Vincent Van Gogh. He spent two eventful years here, cutting off his own ear and ending up in the asylum in St Remy, but also painting such famous pictures as The Yellow House, Starry Night Over The Rhone and the Langlois Bridge at Arles.

But Arles also boasts a brilliant market, full of traditional French foods, fruit and vegetables, and spices. There is a Roman arena, still used to this day for bull fighting, as well as a Roman theatre.
Day 3 Languedoc Itinerary Day 3
12:00 am - 11:59 pm

Languedoc Itinerary Day 3

We’ll carry on our exploration of Arles this morning - we’ll make sure during our time in Arles that we visit the arena.

We’re on our way to Aigues Mortes in the Camargue. We’ll cycle through Saint-Gilles, with its UNESCO-listed ancient Abbey, and we leave this gentle plateau and enter the Camargue proper. This is an extraordinary landscape. Flat, obviously, about a third of the Camargue is made up of brine lagoons. Designated as a Regional Park since 1927, it has become an amazing haven for birdlife. Most famous, of course, is the flamingo, but there are 400 other species. Can you believe that some flamingos have measured more than 6 foot high, as much as 74 inches?

We finish our day in Aigues Mortes. We’ve already seen lots of memorable stuff on this tour, but you can forget all that. Aigues Mortes is amazing.

It’s an ancient settlement; it underwent some development by Charlemagne the Great in the 8th Century, but came to look as it does today by works undertaken by King Louis IX, in the 13th Century.
Day 4 Languedoc Itinerary Day 4
12:00 am - 11:59 pm

Languedoc Itinerary Day 4

We spend two nights in Aigues Mortes, so today is a circular ride - albeit a weird-looking circle. Our plan is to explore the Camargue, and we’ll start off with a swim in the Mediterranean, at the Plage de l’Espiguette. It’s about 8 miles along canals and cycle paths, a perfect start to the day.

We’ll have lunch in Le Grau du Roi. This is still a thriving fishing port as well as a beautiful seaside town (the Daily Telegraph listed it among the best unsung beach resorts in Europe).

On our way back to Aigues Mortes. we’ll find out what the huge white mounds are that we’ve seen over the last 2 days - it’s mountains of salt. They produce 500,000 tons of salt every year in the Camargue, and the process is a fascinating one, that takes up 14,000 hectares of man-managed lagoons.

The top of the food tree here is the pink Fleur de Sel de Camargue, with its famous pink colour. In the final stages of production, you can see vast pink lakes, the colouration caused by tiny shrimp feeding on bacteria, the same shrimp that give the pink colour to Camargue’s flamingos.

Even the Wall Stree Journal called the salt works at Aigues Mortes ’gorgeous’. We’ll learn all about the process on a little train journey, and even hike up a giant salt dune.

The salt works are just a few hundred metres from Aigues-Mortes, so we’ll cycle back to our hotel for a short, but amazing day.
Day 5 Languedoc Itinerary Day 5
12:00 am - 11:59 pm

Languedoc Itinerary Day 5

Today we leave the Camargue and head for Nimes. A major Roman town, Nimes boasts another spectacular Roman ampitheatre, and a beautifully preserved Roman temple facade, the Maison Carré. We visit them both, they’re amazing, but first we have to get there!

The first half of the day is almost completely flat as we leave the Camargue, and just before we start our first little climb, we’ll visit the source of Perrier water. As you can imagine, they’ve built a very interesting musuem and visit around the source, and we’ll stop and explore.

This afternoon we cycle through beautiful farmland along tiny roads, passing through Genérac and Caissargues, before arriving in Nimes at the hotel right next to the Arena.
Day 6 Languedoc Itinerary Day 6
12:00 am - 11:59 pm

Languedoc Itinerary Day 6

We’ll start this morning with a visit to the spectacular Roman arena, the best preserved Roman arena in the world. We’ll also visit the Fontaine de Nimes. This natural spring provided water for the young City, but as Nimes grew, so they had to bring more water into the city. Most famously, this included the waterway that crossed the Pont du Gard, which we’ll see tomorrow. So we’ll start our mini water adventure with a visit to this beautiful park with its natural spring. Don’t think a tap with some grass around it - think beautiful park, sculptures and landscaped water gardens.

We’re in completely different countryside today, typical of much of Languedoc. We’ll cycle along tiny country roads as we climb gently out of Nimes, and descend to the valley of the river Gardon. We’ll continue on tiny back roads through Blauzac, and into Uzes.

This is a beautiful medieval town with a memorable centre. We’ll spend a bit of time in the town centre before we cycle to the Hotel St Genies about a mile away.
Day 7 Languedoc Itinerary Day 7
12:00 am - 11:59 pm

Languedoc Itinerary Day 7

The start point of the Aqueduct de Nimes is right here in Uzes, so we’ll start our day with a quick visit to the source of this 50 Km aqueduct. We can visit the Haribo musuem and factory on our way (it’s just a bit of fun, and you get some sweets!), but the main event today is the Pont du Gard, the most spectacular feature along the route of the aqueduct.

Wary of hyperbole, I honestly think you can’t over-state the splendour of this Roman aqueduct. It’s huge, and in spectacular condition. Originally constructed in the 1st century AD, it was built as part of a 50 Km water course to take water to Nimes as the city outgrew it’s natural spring (as we discovered yesterday!). We reach the Pont du Gard along a new cycle path that takes us almost the whole way from Uzès. Wonderful,

It hasn’t naturally stayed in this condition, it’s been restored in projects dating back to the 18th Century, including major renovations undertaken by the state which included closing the aqueduct to traffic in 2000.

We’ll have a picnic lunch under the Pont du Gard, then follow the river downhill, crossing at Remoulins. Then we’re on tiny back roads until we meet the banks of the River Rhone at Aramon. We’ll follow a cycle path all the way along the Rhone into Villeneuve les Avignon, and return to the Hotel Les Cedres.
Day 8 Languedoc Itinerary Day 8
12:00 am - 11:59 pm

Languedoc Itinerary Day 8

Today is our sad farewell.

Typically our cyclists will take trains from Avignon TGV train station, to Paris, to London, to Charles de Gaulle airport - wherever you like.

Avignon TGV train station is only 15 minutes from the hotel, we can organise transport to the train station for you.

8 days tour

Bike Tour, Languedoc, France (Guided Groups)

This tour includes:

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Itinerary of your trip Bike Tour, Languedoc, France (Guided Groups)

Languedoc Itinerary Day 1

Languedoc Itinerary Day 2

Languedoc Itinerary Day 3

Languedoc Itinerary Day 4

Languedoc Itinerary Day 5

Languedoc Itinerary Day 6

Languedoc Itinerary Day 7

Languedoc Itinerary Day 8

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