Day 57: Charmes to Meysse (mid day) to Viviers

September 13, 2013

Our immediate neighbour may have been messy, but he was ok. So were the others, except the one who turned on blaring music at 4 a.m.! Oh well.

We left in good order at 8 a.m. (it's hard to get up early now that it is dark until 7). After just a bit of circling, we found our way onto the D86, which heads fairly directly down the right bank and has a small shoulder. However, not to leave well enough alone, we mutually decided to try a quieter road closer to the water. This road lead to a Y junction, and our choice there lead to a dead end.

Conversation turned to the possible benefit of having a GPS device running, or at least on standby at all times. Dodie waxed a bit eloquent about her requirements for such a device, which ruled out the two we have with us. The discussion came to an abrupt end here:

Obviously we backed out, and soon came to an abrupt end here:

Dead end #2, but this one had great tarte aux pommes.

Now, that's more like it!

Chastened, we then stuck dutifully to D86. Except, we actually came out on D86e, which is the business spur, through Lavoulte. This was a lucky break, because there was a market going on. It's unfair to the region you are in to say, oh, now it looks like (some other region). But at this market was stuuff we expect to see in Provence. That is, piles of aromatic, moldy cheeses, piles of aromatic, moldy, sausages, and heaps of olives, not to mention fruits and vegetables.

We circulated through the market, characteristically getting lost while still inside it. However we had strong landmarks in the form of stalls we had seen and stall we had not yet seen. A Grampie never forgets a baker, farmer, or dairyman.

So we were surprised when a man came out fromm behind a cheese stall and addressed us as Steve and Dodie. The mystery was quickly solved - the baker had already passed him our blog coordinates.

Looking at the market was made a little harder by the attention we attracted. Lots of people asked about our trip, and lots wanted to tell either abouut where in Canada they had been, or wanted to go, or had relatives in. We were finding too some difficulty in understanding people. The accent is changing now, and the speach becoming more slushy.

People agreed that the Via Rhona was not finished enough to trust, on the other (left) bank of the river. So we stuck to D86. The shoulder ranged from a foot to just the white line, and traffic was "moderate". This is being written almost opposite Montelimar, so obviously we have made it that far. After hopefully filling up on nougat (clearly, nothing learned at chocolate land in Tain!), we will try the other bank.

Have a look at the great stuff at the market, in the next few shots

It was hard to leave the market, in part because of the interest we attracted.

Good material for photographers, and painters.

A spectacular open mine. They seem to get bauxite and gypsum here.

Rochemaure is on the opposite bank from Montelimar. The town, itself full of character houses, rests below a ruin with towers and wall climbing up a steep hill. It's a spectacular thing. Even more spectacular is the fact that literally every town here has a substantial ancient relic of some type.

The Via Rhona puts in an appearance at Montelimar, but we crossed over it as we headed intomtown to check out the nougat scene. Nougat is a confection made from whipped egg whites, honey, and seeds, nuts, or fruits. Here it is made by artisans, but in the USA you can find poor imitations in things like Mars bars. Nougat has been in Montelimar since the 1700s, but it was probably invented in Italy in the 1500s. Still, Montelimar is nougat central.

Making nougat artisanally is not much different in scale from baking or fudge making, so a "factory" can be quite small. We photographed several stores or factories, but there are dozens. We started out at the Palais des Bonbons et du Nougat, which does produce nougat but which is more like a candy theme park. Without doing a whole lot of research, the one we liked best was Savin, for their artistic packaging. They also sell something called calissons, which has candied fruit and marzipan. These were really good.

The lady at Savin was interested in our trip, and gave us some extra free samples. Dodie said she would squirrel them in her bag, to help keep us alive when out on the road. But when Dodie opened her bag, it revealed a wealth of cookies, already enough to see us through most winters! The lady was not put off, though, and used the occasion of the open bag throw in even more samples!

Montelimar has this shady long street in addition to the old town

Another Bonbon figure at the Palais shop

There is a large variety in Nougat, this is just a bit of what they hadq at the Palais

This was a lycra cycling outfit, both top and shorts. Nougat powered cyclists could go very fast!

So, we had bought a lot of different styles and flavours of nougat. Now we had to get rid of it, by mailing it home (sorry Sandra!).That launched a run through Montelimar downtown to find a post office. We entered the old town, which has narrow streets choked with shoppers. Seemingly the main object in trade was low quality clothing on outdoor racks.

Crowds shopping mostly for clothes in Montelimar old town

The old old town contrasts with a newer old town that has cafes and nougat shops under a canopy of trees. Outside the old old town, though, as in all these towns, low speed but heavy traffic makes life hard.

We backtracked all the way out to the Via Rhona (about 5 km and over a scary bridge) to proceed south from Montelimar. The beautiful new path went down an island, and there were abundant picnic table sites that would have made great wild camps. We decided to hold out and get to Viviers, because our materials showed two official campings there.

The scary, windy, bridge back out to the Via Rhona

Could be a good camping place, on the Via Rhona

Our wild camp spot packaging - with tourist info on the left!

Viviers features a standard impressive ruin and picturesque streets. But the municipal camping was closed and locked tight, and we could not find the other one. We thought about going back fo the island, but instead, ironically, pitched our tent in front of the closed Tourist Information. So there! (Actually it's a very picturesque site).

Today's ride: 81 km (50 miles)
Total: 3,871 km (2,404 miles)

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