We boarded our home for the next week at 6pm Saturday and were surprised to see Marco, our guide from 2 years ago in Italy helping people come on board.
After being shown our room, bigger than our one on Zwaantje thankfully, we went on deck for the introductory briefing. We met Skipper Peter and his wife Sheena (chef) and Dita (kitchen and serving). They had been aboard the Soleo when she hit the unmarked submerged object and sunk 3 weeks previously. In that time Girolibero had bought a new barge in Burgundy, cleaned it up, prepared it for us and got it here in 3 days. There are a few teething issues but so far nothing too serious so the company has done a good not disappointing clients looking forward to their holiday. Marco then told us a bit about the bikes which were only 4 weeks old and had an internal hub with variable gearing. For my non biking friends this makes them easy to use and no crashing of gears as you go uphill. Our group is made up of 4 other Aussies, 4 Americans, 1 Brit and 11 French speaking Belgians. As Marco does not speak French fluently it is lucky that the Belgians include a professional interpreter.
On Sunday we headed off for a 47 km loop around Avignon. Our first stop was Sorgues where there was a market. From here we rode through quiet country roads through the many vineyards. Next was Chateauneuf de Pape where we had a talk and taste of the wines from this region.
The French carefully protect their wines through the AOC (Appellation d’origine Controlle) system that stipulates what grapes can be grown and how wines are made. This region for example does not produce Rose. Lunch was at Roquemarue (where the AOC originated) and the day finished recrossing the Rhone and returning to Le Caprice.
