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To me, this has been the most thrilling and exciting cycling day of the trip, possibly of all our trips, so Neil asked me to write today’s blog as I’m still bouncing around with enthusiasm. He reckons this could be because I found yesterday tough, … maybe so, but the cycling and the views have been absolutely spectacular.

We chose not to follow the book, but left Villefort on the D51 which turned out to be a dramatic deep gorge. The road twisted its way along a contour, across beautiful old arched stone bridges, passing a huge hydroelectric plant and through an 1800s derelict mining town. We came across mile upon mile of sweet chestnut trees which had been the locals’ staple food in past centuries. Neil was very understanding of my ‘WOW’ at pretty much every single turn, and my constant stopping to take photos or videos. After endless bends, the road finally reached Les Vans which was a pretty little town. The rain kindly stopped to give us just enough time to eat our picnic in the town square. Even with the gentle rain, the temperature was rising. The alpine features had given way to oaks then fig and apple trees. Down we descended through such pretty scenery until we reached the Ardeche. Suddenly the land was flat and smothered in vineyards. Such a contrast to most of our day. Admittedly, the heavens did open quite a few times, but even that was fun as we dived for cover into barns or coffee shops. We successfully avoided some cloudbursts but not all, and we arrived soaking wet. So here we are in Vallons Pont d’Arc , chilling out with our possessions spread all over our kind landlady’s garden, hopefully drying.

By the way, did you know that the Mediterranean dried up millions of years ago? The straits of Gibraltar closed and the Med evaporated, so the Rhone and the Ardeche carved out deep canyons as the water ran down into the empty space. We’ll be cycling in these dramatic canyons tomorrow. AND …… the forecast for the next few days is SUNSHINE. WOOHOO!!!

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