“Merd il pleut”, were the first thoughts this morning, with the sound of the rain beating on Regs head.  On the positive side we have a 4 hour drive through the gorges of the Cevannes  national park, and where there are gorges, there are rivers and when there’s rain and rivers there are waterfalls, it will be beautiful we said as we headed off. Our destination today is Orange, barely 50 kilometres from pont de Gard, where we were on day 5, but we were more concerned with our artificial schedule then to detour.  We have done almost a full circle in this region and believe we now recognise people as old friends. 

 As we headed on the beautiful scenic routes through the Cevannes National park we were rewarded with magnificent views of the limestone crags and the raging rivers below, we peaked at 1019m, higher than any road that is drivable in the UK and gave use the first taste of what we had to come when we finally reach the alps.  Stopping to pick up the daily baguettes and a packet of Gauloise for the journey, the roads continued to wind, pulling over to let faster cars through, we felt that we were truly on our way.  The smell of the eucalyptus and pine trees were exacerbated by the rain and became the primary sensation …and then..disaster ! The Haribo were finished !, looking around for the person who ate the last one, our eyes were drawn to a guilty looking black figure licking his lips..we had found our culprit !

Arriving at Orange, we were greeted by our host Patrick, who, despite us waking him from his afternoon nap, was very pleasant about our arrival. Picking up a local city map from him, he was very complementary about my French linguistic skills ( in actual fact I only understood about 20% of what he was saying but have appeared to have mastered the French art of shrugging shoulders and blowing my mouth out !)

The reason we returned to this area was:

A) it is between where we were and Italy and ,

B) that having already seen how the romans got their water, I wanted to see how they got their kicks and Orange has the best preserved example of a 1st century stone theatre in Western Europe, which is still used today.

Exploring the theatre, which in its prime could hold close to 9000 people, segregated by social class of course, we could imagine the thrill, the heat, the dramatic activity on stage from exotic actors from all over the Roman Empire, the stone construction offering avenues where drinks were served and people could meet and socialise during what we’re all day plays.  We could imagine the heady smells of mead and the beer brewed from wheat and barley blends, as well as the wine flowing – a far cry from an ice cream during the interval at the cambridge corn exchange! Interestingly, the best views, was from the back of the theatre which appeared to be the are reserved for foreigners, slaves and prostitutes.  I wonder where I would have sat in those ancient times ?

Why is this post entitled oranges and lemons ? The lemon of course was in the Gin and tonic.

One other thing we noticed today was an unusual crêpe filling, it will mean different things to UK and Canadian/US readers, but I’m not sure I want either in a pancake !