Gorge de l’Ardeche

May 12, 2023

What a treat to ride with Susan. We met in town and she had the maps uploaded, knew which way to start out and even suggested where to buy a sandwich for lunch; I almost thought I was on an high-priced, professionally guided tour!

It was a lovely day. We rode up and up the side of the gorge, stopping at most of the viewpoints for photo ops, grateful that it was forecast to be a rainy weekend so the regional tourists stayed home. The Ardeche is a deep, limestone gorge with a crystal clear river snaking its way along the bottom. Fortunately it is protected so there is no visible human settlement, but we did see a few boaters, hikers and even a couple of brave swimmers.

Susan said this might have been a recent Tour de France route, which would explain the new pavement. The smooth surface, the gentle gradient, the lack of traffic and the good conversation made the 30+ km ride up seem easy and we made good time. My only complaint was the lack of a picnic table at the top viewpoint, so we ate our simple lunch sitting on a parking lot barrier and watched the Dutch tourists get out of their cars to take photos. The ride down was easier, but still had 300m of climbing out of the side valleys, and the forecast rain never materialized so we made it back to town still dry. A superb ride!

After looking at the menus and the the dining rooms of every restaurant in town, we chose to mark the occasion with a five course dinner at the oddly named, Le Drillo. The light rain leaving our campground had become heavier as we met Susan in town and then turned to a soaking deluge as we walked across the suspension bridge. Despite not looking our finest and dripping all over the floor, madame welcomed us warmly, and we needn't have worried about bothering the other diners as we were the only ones there. The food was delicious, the handsome chef (who was married to the beautiful waitress/maître d') came out to discuss a second fish course substitute for Ann's vegetarian taste and we ate like royalty talking away about life, travel, France and, of course, cycle tour routes. Much as Ann & Steve like each other's company, it can get a little stale being on tour so a CycleBlaze meet-up is always nice and we were especially glad of Susan's lively company. After a fabulous day and dinner, the rain had let up and we bid au-revoir until our paths cross again.

Susan’s write of this day is terrific if you would like to check it out here:

https://www.cycleblaze.com/journals/321tour/les-gorges-de-lardeche/