Flamingoes, Bulls and White horses

Day 23 Friday 19/05/2017 Our morning was filled with an off road 'safari' for just the 2 of us with a Frechman called....Jerry Perkins! He was very French but had an English father, hence the name. He took us all around the local Camargue area in his 4x4. He explained the dykes which separates brackish water on the sea side (in public ownership) from fresh water on the other (privately owned and available for hunting). We saw lots of flamingos starting to turn pink, some avocets, black stilts, lots of carp in shallow water, bee-eaters and a stork on its nest. The Camargue horses, quite small and all white, were everywhere, both grazing and being ridden on the beaches - Kay was jealous! As a local man Jerry seemed to know everyone. This was one of his mates who passed us on the road - the rider was on the phone at the time! 

Jerry, among many things that he does, is a Gardian - a rider working with the Bulls whenever required. He took us to one of the bull farms where he works to explain more about these special Camargue bulls. 

In between the information on flora, fauna and local history Jerry told us that the village is no longer happy with the Gypsy festival, apparently the "good" gypsies no longer come but lots of "bad" gypsies do. Two days before, a group of gypsies cut the fence round the tourist caravan park and ransacked some of the caravans, thus explaining the strong police presence in town.

The Camargue thatch (they export a lot of it) and the Camargue Cross

Cross for faith, anchor for hope, heart for charity

 

After lunch we drove to Aigues-Mortes to view the pink salt pans! The salt is not actually pink but there is a red algal bloom which colours the pans. We dropped by the Salins du Midi and bought some of the raw product.                     

Then on to Villeneuve-Les-Maguelone to watch a Course Camarguaise. Jerry told us about the "jeu" this morning when we were looking at the bulls. Essentially it is a Camargue specific competition with men trying to pluck tassels from the bull's head and then strings from the base of their horns. There are games on almost every day, all over the Camargue. NO BULLS ARE HARMED! 

We arrived in Villeneuve early so had a coffee and a chill in a cracking little cafe called Le Petit Troc in the Place d'Eglise. We had been toasted on the way here with the top down so we spent at least an hour in the cafe planning the next couple of days of our trip.

At the arena we got good seats, let's be honest the crowd was not enormous - all local folk out to watch the Friday night 'game'. There was a bar and all ages were there - this was a very local event. The arena is quite small so we got a good view of the action.

And the action was spectacular! We saw 3 bulls in action and 6 runners with 2 "rodeo clowns". They have 15 minutes in the ring, and there are 3 Bulls in the first half of the event. The bulls were aggressive, especially the second one which jumped over the inner fence a couple of times to pursue the runners. The bravery and athleticism of the runners (and the bull) was stunning.

The team

This bull meant business

See! 

After the competition we headed straight back to Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer and went into town for dinner. Most places were shut but we found Lou Planet Provençal which offered a 3 course menu for EUR15.80 with a great selection of quality dishes.         

 

My starter of 'tellines'

 A full and exciting day and another big day planned tomorrow.

Round trip to Villeneuve-les-Maguelone 81 miles. Total 2314 miles