August 3, 2016
Down the Rhone to Morel: It is great to be back on the bikes!
Our keenness to get cycling meant we gave the steam train a miss. What a wonderful day we had. Because we were following the Rhone downstream we anticipated an easy day but we were wrong. Although we only did 40 k it was certainly enough. Oberwald is on some flattish land so the track started off very easily and we were feeling as if we would reach our hotel in Morel embarrassingly early. It was great to be on the bikes again with the air rushing past us. The day was glorious with a blue sky and no wind at all. The views of course seemed unreal with steep forest glad mountains on either side, the milky blue glacier feed Rhone in a rush to get to the sea on the left and in front of us the snow capped Alps. The lovely little wooden chalets that are dotted around on the slopes completing the picture
After a few kilometres however the Rhone enters a series of gorges and it was then our euphoria of easy slightly downhill riding disappeared. Now the track became a series of very steep downhills followed by equally steep up hills. If we had been sensible enough to look carefully at our map we would have anticipated this as they are covered in thick arrows. It continued to be just as beautiful and we were passing through the charming little villages we had seen from the train yesterday. In this area it is exceptionally rare to see a fat person as everyone seems to be involved in some sort of physical activity there are climbers, walkers, skate boarders and cyclists. We really didn't see any other touring cyclists just lots of day trippers. The rather suprising thing is that virtually all of the bikes were ebikes, I imagine none of the cyclists wanted to post on CGOAB ! It would certainly be a help to ride one on this route.
Around midday we crossed to the other side of the river and had our usual cycling lunch of bread cheese and peaches. Now the route was on a narrow busy road with fairly heavy traffic. The first uphill bit was particularly uncomfortable and we chose to walk rather than wobble into the traffic. After this there was a long steep downhill which took us all the way to our hotel here in Morel. It lacks the charm of last night's hotel but the room is big and we have a very good view off the river
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Today's ride: 40 km (25 miles)
Total: 40 km (25 miles)
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