October 6, 2024
Day 58: Tournon to Le Pouzin
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Our fantasy about having jumped by train into the Mediterranean climate froze and washed away today, as we put on all our warm stuff plus rain gear, to carry on down the Via Rhona.
We took a look up and down our rainy street in Tournon, and called it good enough, before heading out on the trail.
With the cold rain and wind, the camera had to stay mostly hidden away. It was too bad, because the river, with the Ardeche hills on one side, was scenic, and the wonderful Via Rhona path was also worth recording. We are sure the major town of Valence would have been worth a look, but oh, the weather!
One thing about Valence, weather or not, a major market had been set up. We couldn't miss it, because it was in the road that was supposed to be our track. We weren't miffed by have to manoeuvre through all the stalls and people, but we also felt too cold and wet to linger, or to stop to take out money or make a lot of photos.
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The first year we came on the Via Rhona, 2013, it was rather undeveloped, and we were working from just a sort of artistic sketch map showing the route. In 2018 it was a lot better, but now - it's fabulous. A huge investment has been made not only on direction signs and on the path surface, but also in info panels. The info panels are absolutely everywhere, touting the attractions of each little town or region as it came up.
Two major tributary rivers entered the Rhone over the length of today's ride. They were the Isere and the Drome. Both come from the east with the Isere originating in the direction of Switzerland. Both of these rivers have cycle ways along them, and these were covered by those Via Rhona info panels. The photo below is a good illustration of both the existence of the Isere cycle way, and the typical Via Rhona info station:
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That Isere route interested us, for next year, so we recorded some of the route's own signage as well:
An exciting interlude, and reason to take out and risk the camera, was provided by a gaggle of Cattle Egrets - the most we have so far seen in one place. Dodie noticed them first in a tree, and thought they were puff balls, like on a Kaypok. But they took off, and then came back. Lots of fun.
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And then, like you, I thought they were little egrets. I was wrong though. I think they’re cattle egrets, which do gather in large flocks like this. Note the yellow bills and the yellowish smudge on their foreheads. Little egrets have black bills.
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The track did a lot of crossing of the river - switching between the Ardeche and the Drome regions. Soon the two sides will be occupied by Gard and Vaucluse. Rolling in to La Voulte sur Rhone, we could only see the riverside area, which today featured a large number of boules players (maybe petanque?).
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Soon we crossed the Drome, which gives the region its name. The Drome turns out to be fairly short, and it comes from Provence (not Switzerland). There is a new 40 km veloroute along it, nicely named the Velodrome.
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We had booked at the "Ibis" hotel, outside of Le Pouzin. I remembered this configuration from a previous trip, where I thought it so strange that two identical concrete buildings stood by each other, one labelled Ibis and one Ibis Budget. We are more used to Ibis' strange product differentiation strategy now (also including Ibis Styles), but in the day it warranted a photo.
Today, just looking at the rather high 94 euro cost, Dodie walked into the not Budget, and announced as usual in hotels, that we have a reservation. The girl demanded to know at which of the hotels this was. Dodie replied that she assumed it was here and why not look in the computer and see. The girl came back with why not Dodie look in her phone and see. Everyone (but the snippy girl) knows you don't ask Dodie to do anything with a phone, and she will maintain forcefully that the thing hanging from her neck is a GPS and connects to nothing (which happens to be true). So the snippy girl looked in her computer and confirmed that we had a reservation there. Was that so hard?
Meanwhile Dodie had long ago switched to English, which she does when irritated, and discussions about where to put the bikes, and were we taking the overpriced breakfast, and how did the wifi work, did not go well.
Amazingly for this being the not Budget, the room featured almost no electrical outlets, and it still had that Ibis special washroom, cribbed from an Airbus for size and luxury. I got sent down to see if they had a power bar we could use, and to my dismay they did. Dodie had primed me to tear a strip off the girl.
But look, the room is dry and relatively warm (warmer, if we figure out the thermostat!). We will be in good shape for tomorrow. The forecast is for a little warmer temperatures and only periods of rain. Meanwhile Valencia is clear and 33 degrees right now. Hang on Valencia, we're coming (if slowly)!
Today's ride: 60 km (37 miles)
Total: 2,924 km (1,816 miles)
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