Tournon-sur-Rhône

I was supposed to ring the owner of the Gîte before we left so he could do an inspection .Christine was most indignant ! Did he think we would ride off with the TV? Anyway we don’t have a phone. That’s something I need to do, buy a French SIM card .

We’ve only planned 44kms today to Tournon-sur-Rhône as the worst of this heat wave is today and tomorrow. It’s pleasantly cool right now but we really should have been gone half an hour ago

Sablons was the first village. He had a 6 metre pole but I don’t know what he was hoping to catch

The forest is mostly poplars which is great for us but must look deadly boring from a cruise ship

I find it interesting that it is grown and milled for timber.

Coming into Andancette. *I don’t keep stopping ! I just fire away as I’m riding most of the time.*

And at the other end of the bridge is Andon. I stood under this bridge and watched the expansion gaps as a heavy truck went over it. I was amazed to see it move by at least 100mm.

Villiers. There’s only one way into town off the bike path and that’s up these steps

It’s 12.00 o’clock and my stomach thinks my throats cut. We haven’t seen a single shop yet so we head down to the Intermarché to stock up. Thank goodness for the basket I fitted to my bike ,as I got stocked up for breakfast tomorrow as well.

Hell I even got butter and cheese ! I know it won’t keep but it makes the fresh baguettes so much nicer

We must have stopped in Villiers for an hour and a half which we were going to really regret later

The Arras power station. The river splits in 2 above it with the ships going down the other way

We are now on a Voir Vert. It’s an old railway line which along with many other old lines in France were going to be made redundant . This was just after WW2 but thanks to some brilliant intervention by Roger Lapebie (1937 Tour de France winner) they were put aside for future cycle ways. What a hero !

We are stopping in the shade every 10 minutes now just to take on more water and cool down.

I booked this place because it said it was only 44kms away. It ended up 50 of the hottest kms we’ve done. It’s 2pm and after booking in we showered and lay in the AIRCONDITIONED room. Bliss!

At 5.30 we thought we would pop down town for dinner. OUCH ! If anything it was hotter so we hopped from shade to shade down to a Turkish joint for a salad. At 6.30. we headed back home again and the chemists electronic thermometer showed 39 degrees

This time we took a shorter route through the old town. More shade ! It’s a cute little town tucked up against the back of the castle

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Published by Wallis Don