After a reasonably good nights sleep on the parking lot of the Bambouseraie, we do our meditation in bed and get up at 8:15h. It’s fully light and since we are in a public place, I have to wait until 9:30h when the Bambouseraie opens its doors to use the toilet. I make it, but it’s a close call.

The Bambouseraie

We enter the Bambouresaie at 9:30h. After using the toilet (such a relief!), we start with a guided tour, which turns out to be a private tour. For at this hour, we are the only people there. It’s a very informative tour of half an hour by Eva. She is very nice and knowledgeable, and we learn quite a bit from her.

The Bambouseraie is magnificent and well worth the € 11,20 per person. It was founded 160 years ago and many trees are thus approximately 160 years old. There are sequoia’s of that age, which are thus relatively young trees, for they can reach a respectable age of 1200 years! The Japanese garden is like a dream. No raked pebbles, but greens, water, trees and flowers. There is even still a lotus flower blooming. Since we have no fixed goal for today, we take our time to really explore the Bambouseraie and thus spent almost 4 hours there, leaving at 13:15h.

We had prepared the car before entering the garden, so once we exit, we immediately take to the road and go to Anduze, to the place where we went skinny dipping yesterday. Because there are picknick tables there, and there is even shade. So we have lunch there and leave in the direction of the Gorges du Tarn at around 2 o’clock.

Les Gorges du Tarn

The road is beautiful. We drive from one superbe landscape to another. The Gorges du Tarn are a miracle of raw beauty. We would love to one day explore them in a canoe. Maybe taking several days and go camping on the way.

As it happens, the Gorges du Tarn are, from where we are, in the opposite direction of Ambialet. I spent the summer holidays of my early childhood near Ambialet. My grandfather had bought an old farmhouse there and renovated it so that his offspring could use it. It is situated at the bank of the river Tarn and I used to play and swim in the river all day every day. We want to visit the place, so tomorrow we still have some ways to go, but it was worth the diversion.

Sleeping in the middle of nowhere

We end up finding a very remote spot to spend the night. It’s what you would typically call the middle of nowhere. There isn’t a house in sight and it is dead quiet. At sun set, there are some cicades singing, but now, it is dark and absolutely silent. The half moon in a cloudless night sky provides a bit of light, but other than that, it is dark all around. Just the way we like it 🙂