The route from Nîmes to Aigues-Mortes took us through the Camargue, flat marshes formed by the Rhône River delta as it reaches the Mediterranean. The Camargue is home to the sturdy white horses used to herd bulls; our cycling group had the good fortune to ride some of them through the marshland. An important industry for Aigues-Mortes, whose central portion is still surrounded by its Medieval walls, is the extraction of sea salt, about 500,000 tons per year!

The next day we cycled through more of the Camargue, en route taking a short ferry, Bac du Sauvage, along one of the Rhône tributaries, and continued on to Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer, once a fishing village and now a seaside resort town. We arrived just as Gypsies from around Europe were gathering for their festival to honor their patron saint, the Black Sara. Leaving the village, we cycled against headwinds, but with views of the local flamingoes (protected with a nesting island within the Camargue), to Hotel Cacharel, a ranch converted to a hotel, where the award-winning Crin Blanc (White Mane) was filmed in the 1950s (available on YouTube--in French, but mostly action with stunning B&W images; a terrific view of the horses of the Camargue and well worth watching its 38 minutes).

The Mistral continued intensely, with persistent winds and gusts to about 90 km/hour. In the morning, we left the hotel and cycled into the wind on our way to Arles.