Petite Camargue

Tour Carbonniere

The Saint Gilles lock is one of those that performs that neat trick of transporting you, if not instantly then in the space of ten minutes or so, from one type of landscape to another which is completely different. (Very occasionally a lock may go one better and act almost like the Tardis. You might enter from a modern bustling river and exit onto the canals of a medieval town for example). On this occasion the top lock gates closed on the winding Petite Rhone -a river overhung with shady trees and whose banks are thick with rampant shrubbery -whereas the bottom gates opened onto the dead straight canal Rhone a Sete, the banks of which are neatly trimmed and lined with tall reeds whispering in the wind. Beyond the south canal bank, flat marshland stretches away toward the Mediterranean sea with the occasional etang (small lake) dotted with birds; possibly flamingoes but at this point they are too far away to tell. Small groups of the famous wild horses of the Camargue graze freely at the canalside (although I did see one wearing a halter so I am not sure quite how wild they really are). The foals are born dark and gradually become white by the time  they are about 5 years old.On the northern side the land rises up slightly and there is the occasional farm or small village but it is a wild place quite different to anything we have seen so far in France.

We made our first stop in the small, slightly run-down town of Saint Gilles. The town was busy preparing for its annual bull running festival- the railings to seal off the sidestreets were being erected -but we the prospect of seeing that wasn't enough to persuade us into paying another 20 euros for a further night's mooring.
The next day we moved on to Gallican, a small, nondescript village with moorings (21 euros), a cafe and a couple of shops. Here we had our first close (very) encounters with hire boats struggling to moor in the strong winds. August is the main holiday period for hire boats (and everything else) so we may just try and find somewhere out of the way of danger and lie low for a couple of weeks.
At Gallican is the beginning of a rather splendid new bike track leading to the medieval city of Aigues Mortes and then the Mediterranean - part of a bigger project I think. From the bridge over the canal you get a good view over the marshland (part of which was burning when we were there) and also all the way to the Tour Carbonniere which marks the entrance to the medieval citadel of Aigues Mortes and which we would head for the following day.