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| Beautiful light on the Alps this morning. |
It was such a peaceful spot to camp…that
was until last night when there was a function at a nearby hall. There were
mixed ages there so thought it would finish early, but it didn’t really start
until 9pm and was still humming by 2am with very loud music, and a very
distinctive base! Ended up putting ear plugs in and managed to get to sleep but
Ian didn’t have a very good night. The joys of being on the road!
We were up surprisingly early and
were on the road by 9am and had a really nice drive through the countryside and
more small towns. Today I didn’t give Jilly a chance to go wrong, I followed
the map and apart from one small hiccup we managed much better.
We stopped in the town of
Hauterives after noticing a festival of sorts was going on. It was a real
upbeat town and found that there was a festival of Barrel Organs. It was only
just starting and people were setting their organs up around town. All rather
delightful and such characters. Called into the info centre and started off
with a few words in French but very soon realised she was English girl and had
been living in France for 40 years. Ended up having a good conversation, it is
one thing you miss when travelling in a foreign country as talking with just a
little bit of French is very hard.
Called into a really nice
boulangerie for our daily baguette – getting quite used to this!
Then down to the Rhone and
crossed over to the western side. It really is one of the cleanest rivers we
have seen. We had been looking for somewhere to stay that was on the river and
with bike paths and found an Aire in the town of Tournon, it was pretty basic
with no views but near the river so pulled in. It was very hot, over 30 by
lunchtime and the Aire was already ¾ full. Found a spot and had some lunch and
resigned ourselves to a less than attractive overnight spot. Got the bikes out
and headed off to the river but on the way spotted a “proper camp” overlooking
the river with shady trees. It looked so inviting and when we saw a spare space
rode in and checked it out. Spoke to the people next door and they were very
nice, so left our bikes on the site, walked back to camp and came back in the
van. Just perfect and so much cooler. It was €20 a night, a little more than
the €5 Aire, but just so much better.
So off on our bikes and had a
great ride. Bikes paths along to a footbridge over the Rhone and then right
along the river on the other side. Even though it was in the heat of the
afternoon, we really enjoyed out 15kms ride.
Sat outside under the trees and
enjoyed watching a small amount of river traffic – a blissful way to spend a
hot Sunday afternoon. Went for a walk
into town around 8, the river was flat after the day’s wind had dropped and the
streets were busy and the café’s humming. I think I am falling in love with
France!
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| Crossing the Rhone at St Vallier |
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| Crossing the Rhone by bike. |
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| Bike trail signs are everywhere. |
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| A canal boat on its way down the Rhone. |
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Interesting sight this evening, these cats had collars and were
tied together. |
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| Beautiful evening. |
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Two little Spanish girls were showing me the roses
they had found. |
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| Lovely evening in town. |
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| Evening light on a chapel at the top of a vineyard. |
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