I went on a bike packing trip that started and ended in Avignon.
Sometimes all what a man needs is just a bike and some open roads. I have a plan, but I think I don’t have any plan at all. So, friends, there’s a plan. And for the rest, I’m just going book the trip, get out, get [ __ ] That’s what’s life all about. Just some pine trees. Wow. How beautiful. The scenery literally changes every couple of kilometers. Every turn you take. There are rocks, water, pine trees, everything you can think of. The south of France is just literally amazing. Like, come on, guys. I’m just going to be trying to be silent for this frame because it [Music] fine yards left. They’re already gone grapes. It’s uh I think 15 16 of September. So they already making wine with it. Some mountains like over there I guess over there somewhere. A little town. Don’t know what’s called. And this is the view from behind from where I came. Pretty damn nice. And over here I found some some still hanging. Look at this. Ready to be harvested. You’re more than you think. Look. Beautiful. Yeah, they’re ready. They taste like like wine, I guess. Well, well, well. What do we have here? EA. It’s just a zero. Every corner you take, every place you go, old castles, beautiful ruins, all just things like that all around the corner without sign to it. Just figure it out. I love it. Look at this. It’s like a flag tower. uh the flag towers out of Berlin, Germany. But uh I don’t think it’s it’s exactly that. Uh but it looks like that even from a far distance. I was not able to to film it because I was on the on the bridge and the cycling path is the same as the the road. But uh if you look at it, you will see that uh at the top of it there are not bullet holes but but holes from an impact. um some bigger cannon shells or something like that. So I think the the function must have been something to protect the city to protect the surroundings. And just beside that we have a church. So it’s kind of ironic. Maybe uh they went to the church every day and then went to shoot the [ __ ] out of each other. But it looks nice. It’s a a nice piece of history. Look at that nice old car. Look at this. How peaceful. It’s totally different from this morning. This morning there were hills, rocks, pine trees, a lot of people, a lot of cyclists actually. But in the last two hours, I feel like I’m alone. Maybe I passed 10 cyclists. Uh I passed a big city over here, but I just went straight through it. It was too too damn crowded, too much cars, people, noise. It was just one damn piece of misery. Um I don’t like those big cities. Um and over here it’s quiet. You’re alone. I still have about 30 km to go till my uh end point for the day. It’s 20 4. Uh and I feel like I’m in the Netherlands. It’s also flat on the farmland. and then a bit of water uh to cycle past and just follow it for 30 more days. And then I hope I find a camping a spot to sleep, put my head to rest and uh call it a beautiful day. So a slight change of plans. I had a look at the map. There was one camping where I was going. Um, and that was just for dumping cars and not a camping car obviously. So, there should be a camping uh half an hour 35 minutes from here. I’m going to see what that has to offer. Good morning and welcome to the second day of my trip. Um, I’ve been cycling for like 15 minutes so far. Uh, the night was freaking terrible. But, um, look over here. This is something that I’ve been passing along for, uh, four or five times right now. These are man-made channels to irrigate um, the fields in the neighborhood. They divert it from big rivers just in these concrete uh man-made things and then uh they irrigate their fields with it. Farmers can use it uh over there. I don’t know if we can see it. Uh but some water is flowing over here as well. So that’s going down downream. So, these are the things they do to keep everything lush and green around here. I like it. The sound of of water in the morning, running, streaming water. It’s uh it’s very nice. So, uh welcome to day two. Let’s get on the road. And look at this. Just around the corner, I find these cacti. Cactus. I don’t know the the English word, but they are very stingy and those wet like dots on top of them. Looks weird to me. I don’t know the name of the the red parts but uh do they become flowers like in summertime or do they store vitamins or anything like that? I don’t know. I noticed a sign down the road that said aqueduct. So here we are an old abandoned a new stock aqueduct. And over here you perfectly see the the beautiful arch they made uh like a concrete base path that’s a little bit thicker and then everything on top the nice arch with stones from in the area. So, right now I’m on the top of it and you see it’s a perfectly made channel for the water to flow through. The water comes from upstairs somewhere over there. You see the last resemblance are like right there and they go downstream in this nice perfectly made channel. Should be nice to see one of them still in use in these days. I think that should be nice. Don’t you think? This is like the old stone they used to grind the the grain. So you see in the middle of the hole for the the wooden pole. Then over here, all these little cavities were used to literally green the green until they had flower. Look at that small old windmill on top of the hill surrounded by pine trees. Apparently, I went off road a bit. Yep. These are the surroundings. I’m climbing some kind of a hill. It was on the map and I just wanted to give it a wing. So, that’s what I’m doing. switching from right to left depending on which side of the road is is is higher because uh the water from up top takes with all the all the rocks and the the lower side has more rocks on it. So you have to switch from left to right and vice versa uh depending on which side of the road is is higher um to make it a little more easy on yourself and a little more easy on the bike. But I love it so far with this views. You can’t complain. You just keep the chain tight. Over here we have three nice murals. One is just of them driving house to a new prairie. The second one got my attention. It’s o fight in an arena and there some arenas around here like in Arle and other parts of this uh this area. So this is quite quite famous for things like this. And then we’re going to check out the dirt. I have no idea. Just passed by. Oh, the horses. the horses over here, the the wild white horses of the kamar. And then over there, the flamingos, the pink flamingos. This is really, really nice. Look at them. When they are adult, they are white. But when they are born and when they are young, they are like this this gray color like like over there. Gray, a little bit brown. And then the older they get, the whiter they become. See, there are quite a lot of them. They’re not shy. And over here they have some water. You see this one is like more brown. The others a little bit more gray. But uh yeah, they turn white. All the moms, you want some attention as well? Hey Dave. All the flies. A lot a lot of lot of flies. You going to come, my friend? Yeah, of course you are. Good morning everybody. Day three. I’m already 21 and a half kilometers in. It’s 20 minutes before 11:00 11:00 a.m. Stumbled up on a across a nice old abandoned bridge. Um, it’s closed. I don’t know if it is a like an old cycling bridge or if trains used to go uh along this road, but uh have a look yourself. Not going to enter it because there are some people right behind me. But uh looks quite nice actually. Looks still doable on the sides, but uh I’m not going to cross it. Today is the third day, the last day of my cycling trip. Um so let’s make a couple of extra miles. Without today in I already have about uh 175 kilometers in two days. So I would like to go towards 230 something like that. That would be quite nice. Catch you in the next one. [Music] Came out of the forest. have another uh abandoned old castle on the hilltop over there. And if I look in the distance, I don’t know if it will uh open up over there somewhere. Show on the camera. That’s Molon. Uh still 63 km from here. Not going to climb it right now. Uh I don’t have any time anymore. Um it’s,99 m high. Uh I would like to climb it one day. Um, and uh, yeah, get off of the bucket list, but uh, you see it all around here. When you turn around, you see the big giant uh, leaping up on you. It’s uh, it’s quite nice to see the surroundings of the hill. Uh, it’s not just uh, a line like that up and then like that down. It goes like this and it’s a nice silhouette. Um, so yeah, looking forward to do that one day in the future together with you guys. Just like that without me knowing I just passed by the castle. Uh, you can’t visit it. There’s a there’s just no way to visit it. In a lot of other countries, this would be an attraction where they ask 1520 euros to enter it. Over here, it’s not possible because there are so freaking many of it. So, just had a little break and I want to show you the soul around here because look at this. all stones, big, small ones, and all sizes. That’s why you don’t see a lot of soya beans or corn or potatoes or actually none around here because try to plant something in here. You [ __ ] up your equipment just by trying to get something in. That’s why it’s more like trees and um grapes that grow here because these things grow in this type of soil. And uh you don’t have to disturb the soil every time. You don’t have to plow it because if you plow it and you do it once, I think your equipment is is literally gone. Um just about all the stones in it. So uh every country, every every place has its own unique kind of soul, sandy, stony, and everything in between. And uh this is what they’re working with in the s of France. Uh just off outside of Avenue, outside of Damar. Uh you see the hills in the distance. Uh I’ve been cycling on a nice cycling path. Uh going to continue for a couple of more kilometers and then turn back to Avenue because I have to turn in the bike in uh in about uh 5 hours, 6 hours, something like that. And then my trip is over. But over here, I’m going to show you the bike because I didn’t do that yet. So, it’s a track uh FX 35 mm tires. This brakes uh my first time driving with this brakes works very well. I think seven um seven speed or how do you call it? seven, eight, something like that. Uh, it does a trick. I’m actually thinking of buying one myself. Um, breaks fairly easy. Nice, uh, array of shifting gears. Uh, nice bags. I have kind of the same at home, but these are not my bags. Uh, good lock on the back. Uh even a a bag with all the necessities if I have a flat tire or something like that, bike pump over here. So yeah, nice little smooth setup. I’ve been driving for 3 4 kilometers with a view like this on a Thursday. Well, I can tell you nice day at the office, guys. You think I would skip on this opportunity around 30° 28 29 in a small little stream. You’re stupid. Port lights do it. Wow. Oh my god. I would like to just sit in it. I’m just going to walk it for a minute. Yeah. Enjoy life, guys. Enjoy life. I have no idea if you guys can see this from the sun, but like over there in that ridge, they’re all like walls in this white white um rock. It’s amazing to see. It’s like some kind of terraces. Very beautiful. And over there we see the power lines going up. I can’t imagine the the moment they built that, the workers that had to go up. Uh maybe with a helicopter or something like that. It should have been amazing to see. So yeah, the last couple of kilometers to go and then we’re done for this trip. So there you go guys. Um the video ends here train station right in front of you. This is the parking. Uh I’m going back home. Look at how dirty these cars are just because of all the the dust in the last couple of days and also because there are some works over there. Uh but I’m going home. It’s a bit before 10 a.m. right now. And I will be home at about 5:30. So, a 7 and a half 8 hour uh journey ahead. Sitting on train, waiting on another one, sitting on a train and repeat, repeat, repeat until I’m home. Thank you all for watching. Uh maybe over there if you see it. I don’t know the last view on the mountains. Uh that’s it. Thank you guys for watching and until the next one.