Day 14 - Valence to Bourg Saint Andéol - Gorging in France ...Then Basquing in the Pyrenees - 2023

May 1, 2023

Day 14 - Valence to Bourg Saint Andéol

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Every tour has these days. For the last week we’ve had day after day of thigh busting climbs followed by the adrenaline rush of the downs through gorges or along precarious balcony roads. After that we indulged in a few decadent days of very high brow dining.

And then there was today.

We’re moving on to new gorges, next up the Nesque on the south flanks of Mt Ventoux. Getting there however involves a few days of relatively pedestrian riding along the Rhone valley. It’s pleasant enough, but after what we’ve just had, it’s milk toast compared to a fiery Calabrese pizza.

There is quite a lot of interesting things to see in the towns along the way, but our focus today was to put some km’s behind us and take advantage of the strong tail wind we had. We had previously ridden this same section in 2018 into a brutal headwind, so we didn’t want to waste the gift we received today.

Speaking of gifts of the day, it was the 1st of may, Labour Day in France, which means almost nothing, and I mean NOTHING, was open.

We had anticipated this and K had bought some basic ‘camp’ food that was going to supply us tonight at our destination of Chateauneuf du Rhone. We were all prepared for our first of what we hope will be many nights of camping.

Well we thought we were all prepared until we were catching up on Ann and Steve Maher-Weary’s current journal, where Ann causally mentions that they remembered to pick up a vital piece of camping equipment - a gas canister.

Kirsten and I looked at each other, and with that non verbal communication common to most couples, realized that we were screwed.

It was on our list … getting a gas canister … but it didn’t get done. And remember my previous comment about this being 1st May. Without a functioning camp stove we were faced with a meal of raw macaroni. That’s what kindergarten kids glue on coloured cardboard paper as their first art projects, it is not what adults eat for dinner.

We took a few detours along our route today to visit closed Decathlon and other sporting goods stores in search of the elusive LPG canister before we finally ended up in originally planned destination, Chateauneuf sur Rhone. One of the three campgrounds in the area was open, but not a single restaurant or shop of any sort where we could get food was open in a several kilometre radius.

Thanks to our great tailwind it was still early in the afternoon so we decided to head further south along the Rhone, and along tomorrow’s route, to the larger town of Bourg Saint Andéol. There didn’t appear to be any campgrounds there, but there were several hotels and restaurants that appeared that they might be open. With that, we booked a cheap-ish hotel (that was listed as having a restaurant) and continued another 20 kms or so down the Rhone.

We arrived a few minuted before 4 and found out that the hotel reception didn’t open until 5. OK, we’ll go find a bar to have a cold drink as it was a beautiful sunny and warm afternoon. We saw two guys having a beer in front of a bar a few hundred metres away so we headed that way. As we pulled up on our bikes, the proprietor pulled the curtains on the door!

With a little pleading (she was actually very nice) we negotiated that we could have a beer on the patio in paper cups while she closed up the bar and headed home for the day. We took this as a good omen and in a way it was.

We got into the hotel, pretty basic and very old (several hundred years and right along the Rhone) and found out that their restaurant was not open, nor was it likely that any in the town that would be!

Undaunted, we ventured into the town centre where we did find an open bar - no food - and across the main square, a food van selling Pizza - Pat’s Pizza to be precise.

We now had dinner, and in the grand scheme of things, it was great!

You never know what your going to get, but you have to keep going out to look.

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Morning start shot outside our apartment Air B&B in Valence. Not a very salubrious outside, but the apartment was fabulous as the host.

1st May, Labour Day national holiday. I think there were planned protests today (re Macron’s proposed pension reforms) and the police were out in preparation - lined up en force along the bridge across the Rhone leading to the town centre. K’s not too impressed with me taking this picture!

The village of Rochemaure overlooked by the ruins of its eponymous castle. It’s supposed to be a beautiful and interesting village, but we were on a mission to use our tailwind and just got the picture.

We crossed the Rhone 5 times today I think, most of them on narrow pedestrian / cycle bridges. This one was using the support structures of an old suspension bridge with a new metal roadway. Quite a bit of swaying and wave motion as you went across and not helped with the ~40 km /hr sidewind

That’s K in the red up ahead, having managed to maneuver by a few foot soldiers

Our penultimate crossing at Montelimar, in search of the elusive gas canister

Although there was a lot of riding in built up urban areas today, there were some very pleasant sections as well, like this!

…. And this lovely forest and field section just before Bourg Saint Andéol

On every tour the dinner pendulum swings wildly! Thanks for being open Pat… and the pizza’s were made fresh

And then we sauntered across the main town square to the only open bar for a beer in a real glass and a nice outside table. All is good.

SOTD - Still Can’t Find What I’m Looking For by U2.

Never thought I’d use this about trying to get an LPG canister for our camp stove, but life takes some strange turns sometimes.

Today's ride: 92 km (57 miles)
Total: 544 km (338 miles)

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Scott AndersonType 2 fun!! You’ll treasure this memory years from now, if not today. Pizza sounds SO much better than raw macaroni.
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1 year ago

Kirsten KaarsooTo Scott AndersonYou sure got that right Scott. We are on the hunt today for a gas canister and a lighter!!!

I hope you are feeling better.
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1 year ago

Scott AndersonTo Kirsten KaarsooThanks, Kirsten. Yes, I’m fine. Once an episode ends I’m basically back to normal again, until next time. It’s the unpredictability that makes it frustrating. Yesterday was a terrific day.
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1 year ago

Kathy ChaseThe scenery is stunning! I just finished reading the past 10 days of your travels and I am amazed by all the roads that seem to be on the edge of a cliff. Looking forward to future posts.
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1 year ago

Kirsten KaarsooTo Kathy ChaseKathy,we are happy that you are following along. The ‘balcony’ roads are definitely unique although the photos barely do them justice. Apparently, the up coming gorges are beautiful too. We will have to see.
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1 year ago