Salin-de-Giraud is a company village at the southern tip of the Camargue, built around salt, and the salt shapes the whole place. All around it, the flat land is cut into vast evaporation ponds, shallow basins where seawater is let in and left to the sun and wind. In summer the water turns pink and then almost red, a result of tiny algae and bacteria that thrive in the salty brine, and big white mounds of salt, the camelles, rise like miniature glaciers beside the pans. The effect, in clear light, is surreal, as though someone has dyed the landscape.
The village itself grew up in the nineteenth century with the salt works and, later, a large chemical plant, and its streets of neat workers' housing still show the planned layout of a company town. Today the Salins du Midi still harvests salt here, including the fleur de sel, the fine crust from the surface of the pans that cooks prize. Birdlife is rich, and flamingos feed in the shallows in their hundreds, standing on one leg and looking affronted by the world.
The ride is flat, open and straight. From Arles or from the Vaccarès, the road runs across the delta through rice fields and salt marsh, with the pans appearing on both sides, and the main variable is the wind. The mistral can make the final approach hard work, so brace the bike and lean into it. The surface is generally fine but narrow, and lorries from the salt works share the road. Summer is hot and glaring, and the midges are not kind, so spring and early autumn are the better seasons. The best light is early morning and evening, when the pans reflect the sky and flamingos glow pink.
From Salin-de-Giraud you can head to the wild beaches of the coast, such as Beauduc and Piémanson, where the track runs across dunes to long empty sand, and in summer informal camper camps spread along the shore. To cross the Rhône, there is a small ferry, the bac de Barcarin, that carries cars and bikes across the Grand Rhône towards Port-Saint-Louis-du-Rhône. There is a fare, and the crossing takes just a few minutes.
For practical needs, the village has a bakery, a café or two and shops. Port-Saint-Louis, about eight kilometres across the river, has supermarkets and fuel, which is the safer place to fill up. Bring water and sun protection.