Roman tunnel then driving up the Rhone

We woke up in Saint Bonnet du Gard where we had driven to after the Pont du Gard evening - only 7 minutes away. It’s a lovely little village - all ancient of course.

We decided to go for a walk while it was still cool in the morning and check out another part of the Roman water course connected to Pont du Gard - a tunnel through rock.

We walked up through ancient houses and down a narrow road.

There were lots of people arriving and parking up. One man told us there is a ‘tour’ coming through at 11am. We thought initially of the Womens Tour de France - but after looking it up it wasn’t near here. We decided to continue our walk to the tunnel up a dusty hill and found it. It is a hand cut tunnel through rock - one part of the 50km flow of water from Uzes to Nimes. We visited the tunnel of Perrotte - you can see below where it fits into the flow of water on the hillside.

Apparently there were 8 teams working on this at different points - some by drilling down from the top to create intermediate sections. It is estimated it only took them 2 months.

They also lined it with lime and clay to make it waterproof.

There was also a quarry area where they had cut stone for other areas.

We walked back to see what all the fuss was about at the road and there was a large cattle truck with people on horses, police, ambulance and lots of other people around.

They were having a running of the bulls!!

They took time to unleash the bulls and then let them out the back of the truck - with many cyclists following. We couldn’t get any good photos - it was all a bit mad!

We then walked back to the village checking out the 12th century fortified church on the way.

We then walked down into the village through many buildings looking like farm buildings in the bottom with living quarters in the top.

We arrived down in the village and the cafe was open so we sat down for a rest and an early lunch.

Glenn enjoyed a ginormous banana split!

It was a lovely spot in the shade beside a big water feature - appropriate for the history of the area.

We then had a bit of a drive to go north towards Lyon. After 2 hours we stopped in Tournon for a break and a drink. It is on the flat ground beside the Rhône surrounded by wine terraces.

We found an old wooden bridge now only for pedestrians. There were good views of the Rhône with one of the long river cruise boats in the distance.

After our drink break we then drove 10 minutes to a free motorhome area in a little village just north of there for the night. It was a very quiet night.