Gorges and trains - Day 19

Anduze, Uzes

Tuesday, 9 October 2012
After a simple breakfast we stopped to snap a few more photos of Sainte Enimie and then headed off towards Saint jean du Gard. I had found a train called the Train a Vapeur des Cevannes which runs fro. Saint jean du Gard to Anduze and return. It was closed on Mondays but today was Tuesday so we were all go! The scenery on the way continued to be spectacular. It amazed us how many bike riders (I mean push bikes not motorbikes) we saw up those huge hills and scarily, most without helmets. We also saw numbers of people on the side of the roads gathering something - we assume it was truffles.
We headed into Saint Jean du Gard just after 12.00. It was a bigger town that we expected and it was market day so roads were closed. After a bit of back streets driving we found the train station. We can't really comment on the town itself as our main experience of it is those back streets and around the station.
The morning train hadn't been in long and the engine was being moved from one end to the other - so Bruce was off taking photos. We got out tickets and headed over the road to a restaurant for some lunch. Salads were a good option especially as it was getting reasonably hot.
The train itself was a nice journey. It's a very smokey train so I'm pleased I wasn't wearing white. On the way form Saint Jean to Anduze there was a couple on the carriage from England who are camper vanning. They spend 10 months of the year out of the UK - but I admit I can't see the delight in the little dirt air beside the tracks in Anduze. Each to their own. Our carriage was near the back but would have been at the front on the way back...so to avoid ending up completely black we changed carriages for the return journey.
Then some more lovely scenery until we found our way to our Chambre D'Hote near Uzes. This place is really great! It had a pool and given it was hot Michael had a swim. The pool temperature was 19 degrees so I not paddled but it was good to cool off. We had a lovely room upstairs (more stairs for that luggage!). I think it wins the award for best bathroom we have had. There is also a guest lounge next door which is shared with the other guest room but we had it to ourselves. The view is out over the vineyards and then to the Cevannes. Danielle and George are lovely. We headed into Uzes for dinner and ate at a nice outside restaurant in the Place des Herbes. One disadvantage - there are lovely trees which contain birds. I was under a sun umbrella (I think it is really there to protect from the birds) so after getting a wee deposit Bruce moved.
The restaurant was mainly non French people. There were two groups of Australians doing biking holidays. One was a family of four but they were finding the distances a bit much - I think 40 to 60 k's in a day is a lot!

	View from our room [Map]		Last minute snaps of Sainte Enimiie [Map]
	Sainte Enimie [Map]		Scenery from the train [Map]
	Sunset from our room near Uzes [Map]		Cute villages on the way to Saint Jean Du Gard [Map]
	villages [Map]		More villages [Map]
	Bruce doing what he does on trains [Map]		View from the train [Map]
	Train [Map]

---

Sent from my iPad by My Vacation HD app (www.myvacationapp.com)