Having been to sleep at Cremieu without having had a look at the town we woke and got on our bikes to have a tour of the medieval town. Having been cycling on the flat for many days. we set off up the first hill we came to to get to the ruined 12th Century Chateau at the top. Not surprisingly, at 9.30am on a Sunday, it wasn’t open but we did enjoy making the effort of the climb up narrow cobbled streets.
The town was very old and stone built...very different from the Alsace towns...the walls were still in place and there was a very old covered market with an art market taking place. I was more impressed by the building and the wooden rafters and tiled roof than I was in the art work on display. The town had a ruined chateau on each of the three hills surrounding it. I didn’t drag Janice up the other hills we still had to move on further south.
We started to track the Rhône river southwards (makes a change from the Rhine), we passed Vienne and crossed to Tournon-sur-Rhône for a walk around.
The Chateau was quite imposing and the river was just as majestic as the Rhine...we wouldn’t have known the difference. There were plenty of cyclists around, which made me think that maybe we should cycle down this river next year? It would be a warm climate even in the spring or autumn.
I know our plans change from day to day but we are aiming to spend a few days in L’Ardeche region. That is to the west of the Rhône and it is a large National Park area of hills, forests, gorges and rivers. I think it will be stunning and the cycling should be good (hilly) too. We wildcamped by a football pitch near the town of Coux, near a town called Privas. It doesn’t sound very rural but it is off the road, down a cul-de-sac track and over a very narrow bridge. There really is no-one around and the football pitch doesn’t look as if it’s been getting any use this season. The temperature has got up to 21 degrees, so coming south seems to be ticking the right boxes, although it is still pretty cloudy. Still, it’s just right to sit out with a bottle of beer.
We enjoyed our teatime meal, till Janice accidentally slid a pot of Greek yoghurt to me and it went a little bit on me and the rest on the van floor (fortunately mainly on the lino floor, not on the fabric). I am changing my name by deed poll to Zorba!
Monday was Janice’s birthday....so for a treat I took her shopping to Lidl. We then drove along a very windy steep road and whilst going round the bend the tomatoes we bought at Lidl jumped off the shelf and splattered on the floor...whoops. We arrived at Vogüé, a town of character according to the tourist blurb. The bridge over the river at Vogüé was closed so it was in fact a cul-de-sac and nice and quiet.
We found a place to park outside the town and walked in for a celebration ‘menu de jour’ for Janice’s birthday. It was lovely and it reminded us how good small restaurants are in France at a sensible price (at least the ‘menu de jour’ at lunchtime). We walked back to the van and took our chairs to the riverside down a little footpath and we sat out in the sun for the rest of the afternoon. At one point I popped back to the van to get a bottle of Rosè fizz and I think I disturbed a weaselly looking motorbiker who was about to break into the van, although I can’t really be 100% sure. He was standing next to the van facing the road and I approached him from behind unseen. He turned towards the van and then saw me...he looked sheepish and then stepped away. He claimed not to speak English but I told him to “bog off Froggie”, he pretended to make a phone call and drove away on his motorbike. I must have got back to the van at the right time...thankfully.
It didn’t spoil our lovely afternoon on the banks of L’Ardeche...
We had a simple bread, cheese and tomato supper. The tomatoes were the ones we squashed on the journey and we sung the alternative words to the Happy Birthday song, although we didn’t have any stew tonight....maybe tomorrow coz we have got some Toulouse Sausages that will be good in a stew.
I have a new scheme whilst writing the blog. I put earphones in my ears (where else would I put them.......don’t answer that!) and whilst I am not actually listening to anything, Janice thinks I am, so she stays quiet....what a good tactic!
Tuesday .
We went to the Tourist Info to report our incident with the Weasley motorcyclist and it turned out that the husband of a lady in there was a policeman and she took all the details and reported it. Old habits die hard, I couldn’t have forgotten about the incident. We have moved the van to a car park in the village centre, probably a bit safer.
We went on a bike ride down the valley on a lovely new cycle track. We went to Balazac....very pretty.
...and Roums and Grospierre. All very pretty places and on the way back we couldn’t resist having a tasting at a wine cave.
As you can tell the weather has been great. We got back to Vogue (if I stay any longer I might come back into fashion) and sat out by the river again....you’ve got to take advantage of days like this.
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