Day 9 – The Camargue | Up with the lark

We are now bikeless and our party is down to two

We’d long wanted to visit the Camargue and took the train to Arles with the intention of lunching in the town and then taking the bus to a nature reserve.

However, a chance conversation with a local over the bus timetable, initiated a change of plan. As a result, we caught an earlier bus, deliberately overshot the reserve and had lunch in the white-washed seaside resort of Saintes-Marie-de-la-Mare.

It was a bustling place, with markets, shops, huge church and a bullring.

We took the opportunity to paddle in the Med’ and ate a picnic on the front. The bullring was gearing up for a show and bulls were being delivered by truck.

We watched pétanque being played, very seriously, on a sandy public square. The teams of two wore team-specific tops. All the players were men and the skills they showed were impressive, even if the precise rules were a mystery to us.

Returning to the nature reserve by bus, we enjoyed a warm couple of hours wandering around some carefully curated lagoons, on which numerous flamingos were feeding.

Egrets and herons were also abundant. Phil also scanned the surrounding marshes and spotted a number of more obscure species. The full list can be found below the images.

With our return train delayed by fires, we ate in Arles after viewing some classic cars parked by the station then caught the first available service at 9pm. It was packed with grumpy locals who were clearly not impressed with the resolutely upbeat tannoy announcements, both in the station and on the train.