Valence - Culoz - Geneva - European Divide Trail

May 5, 2023 to May 7, 2023

Valence - Culoz - Geneva

Stage 13

I am delighted to advise the gluten experiment has not produced any pain or other symptoms. I plan to proceed on a plan of steadily increasing the croissant intake to 5 a day, perhaps supplemented with lemon tarts, pizza, and filled rolls - all items I haven't eaten in ten years. Ooh, and they are so good here, it should not be a difficult challenge to meet.

At the end of 6 weeks of riding all of my clothes are too big, so I am clearly not matching energy input with output, and this is another reason the prelim results of the gluten experiment are so exciting.

At the moment I can pull my trousers on without undoing the waistband - and it's not elastic!

More beautiful riding from Valence to Voiron (with the exception of another motorway experience, on the D1085, this time without any shoulder space to stay out of the way of trucks!) and on to Culoz, mostly on Via Rhona and pretty D roads. The photos are real, that's how green and lush it all is!

Leaving Voiron on the D1075 was not nearly as scary are coming in on the D1085 - do those numbers even mean anything?

I have enjoyed the Rhone so much I've decided to head on up to Geneva and spend my birthday there, before continuing to Lausanne and rejoining the EDT at or after Rochejean. I will miss a whole stage, but I'm sure Dorian will send photos of the mtb tracks I'm missing out on.

My Stage 13 has been 272km and 2690m of climbing - and LOTS of insects! In NZ I have ridden for several years without safety glasses, but here the insect population is so healthy, I'm constantly being bombarded, and some of the hits hurt!

EDT Stage 13 ended in Culoz, and then headed off into the mountains - see the next entry for a comparison with my actual track.

Today's ride: 272 km (169 miles)
Total: 2,913 km (1,809 miles)

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