Day seventeen

 A rest day in Avignon at a great campsite. Fine weather, cooler than the last two days. By 10:00 I have done some clothes washing, showered and had my croissant breakfast, with jam from the local shop. Meanwhile I am sat outside at a restaurant table tapping on my laptop, happy that I can update the blog in a more relaxed way using roaming. This is the most civilised campsite so far and also the cheapest, just 8 euros (1 person, 1 tent) plus 2 euros extra for electricity.

Sur le pont d'avignon ... well not quite, it turned out to be too much hassle to visit.

Later I tour Avignon or at least the touristy part. I aim for the bridge with a view of taking a selfie. I negotiate the narrow cobbled streets and arrive at the entrance. They want a Covid pass and you must wear a mask, which is fair enough. I enter and make for the stairs to the bridge when I am stopped and told to buy a ticket for 5 euros. There is no mention of this at the entrance. I join the queue and sort out my loose change to reduce some weight. I see a free ticket booth and begin laying out my money on the counter to count the change when I am told it is shut and the go to the next booth, which I had been standing in and now has a queue of 15 or more people. Not sure how to push in, having once been in this queue, I walk down the queue until a friendly old lady lets me in, no doubt having observed my error. Then to my horror I see people filling out forms and producing IDs, slowing the whole process down. OMG what is going on in the world, this obsession with collecting data! They have already scanned my Covid pass, which gives my name, country and god knows what else. Why do they need to know which country we are from and show IDs. I throw my arms up in despair and leave, saying it's only a f**king bridge, saving myself 5 euros and who wants a selfie of me on the Avignon bridge anyway, I certainly don't, in fact I am sure I already have one but how I got here before I no longer remember.

A small watercolour that caught my eye along side another with a sleeping cat painted inside a leaf.

I tour the cobbled back streets instead, which are full of tourists and touristy tat, but also some very nice crafts. The buildings are impressive and I really need to read up more on its history. I have seen enough tourist places in my time and return to the campsite happy with my brief tour and loving riding the bike with reduced weight, now I'm ready for a siesta.

Inside the city ramparts with a bike selfie leaning against the wall (bottom right).