Along the Via Rhona to Tournon

September 25, 2015

The Via Rhona showed itself to be a fantastic cycle way today. Yesterday I had been growling about the lack of signage to get us on to it near Givors. Today it was perfectly signed all the way and even without any sort of map or idea of the route it would have been next to impossible to get lost. But still it is a real pity that in Givors they give you no idea at all where to get on to it. I had expected that it would be an easy ride beside the river, slightly boring after a while with the river on one side and scrubby bush on the other. It was anything but and was full of variety. Out of Vienne you come into what can only be descibed as a Garden of Eden. It is the most lush vegetable growing area I have ever seen (and I live near Pukekohe!) there were cabbage, cauliflower, silver beet, spinach, celery,aubergine, tomatoes, courgettes, artichokes, peppers and masses of lettuce of all colours of the rainbow. Where there weren't vegetables growing there were orchards - apricots, plums,cherries, apples, pears and one lot of peaches and the slopes above where full of vines. The track led us through all this bounty and it made me want a salad for dinner tonight.

Leaving this we were over a little bridge and into the the protected wild life site of the Ile de Beurre - according to the information boards there are lots of rare birds and an extremely rare Otter - I am afraid that we just rode through. After this we crossed over a bridge on to the large island of La Plantiere formed when the Rhone splits into two branches. This was the least enjoyable part of the trip it was on an extremely bumpy track (the rest was perfectly smooth) with long straights through rather scruffy trees.

One of the highlights of our day is always having morning coffee. So at Sablons spotting a very attractive little village of Serrieres we crossed over the river and sat drinking our coffee as we looked out over the Rhone and watched the residents going about their business. Ken also made a visit to the Boulangerie and made a very yummy and perfectly wrapped purchase. I can remember my sister saying may years ago that the French make an art form of everyday life. She was certainly right. Back over the old suspension bridge we were in the Department of the Drome. The have invested a lot in the cycleway in this Department and it shows. It helped also that for the first time on this trip we had a strong tail wind so I felt like a real cyclist! This was helped further by the fact that we came upon a group of middle aged rather hesitant cyclists clearly on a day trip - I was able to speed past thinking that things get better with age.

Tonight we are in Tournon in a old ivy covered hotel looking out across the river at famous vineyards.