L'Ardèche - Rhône

Fabien suggested we follow some back roads to avoid the main highway out of town. We put on our new layers of wet weather gear and headed out.
The map showed lots of S bends and we were not surprised to find it climbed a ravine to a plateau at the first village. Then it climbed again to the next village. Very hard work but the views were amazing. We descended at a great rate of knots and stopped off for our usual hot chocolate at a Tabac to warm up. We followed the main road for about 10 kms and were very pleased to get away from it, as it was full of large trucks and speeding cars.

The smaller D route lead to Viviers following a stream all the way. At Viviers we found a small chambre d'hôte where we dried our gear on the heater overnight ready for the next day. The town was from the middle ages built on a large rock, and our chambre d'hôte dated from the 13th century. Breakfast was in an old restaurant which was due to open for the season the next day. It was like something out of a seventies movie - you could envisage the wonderful evenings whiling away the hours eating and listening to live music. After eating our way through a whole baguette and croissants we were offered another baguette which we also happily ate.
There was a hint of sun in the sky as we set off down the Rhône Valley towards Chateauneuf du Pape for our next stop. The Mistral aided our progress with a steady 15 knot breeze on our backs and the sun finally reappeared after 6 days of rain.
At one point someone had placed rows of beehives just below the road and for about 1 km we both had to dodge vast quantities of bees flying across the road. We were passed by the third cycle tourists we have seen on our trip and later we caught up with them as they sought instructions from a passer-by. We sat on their tails for about 10 kms before they finally left us behind.

Along the way we crossed the Rhône and there aside the road was a dead beaver. I never knew they lived in France nor how big they were.
Our Chambre d'hôte for the night was run by a very formal lady of 85 years. She was born in the house and it was clearly still her pride and joy even though its upkeep was now a bit beyond her. She said, “Hello how do you do” in perfect English and the rest of the conversations were a melange of French and English. The upstairs bathroom had shutters which Sally took a liking to.
We ate dinner on the terrace for the first time this trip enjoying the sunshine. We were warned not to go out after 10 pm as that was when she released the dog. It did its job because twice in the night it

barked furiously at who knows what.

The next morning we had breakfast in her dining room and we discussed the fact that as land is very limited in Chateauneuf du Pape, the grape growers are buying up even the smallest of parcels of land. This mono culture paysage disturbed her a little as she had a good chunk of land which was covered in trees, gardens and just a few grapes. There was no way she was going to sell up and watch her paradise disappear into someone else's bottle of wine. It was a delightful way to spend an stopover in the south of France.
Chateauneuf du Pape was yet another beautiful village , if a bit touristy on account of its very expensive wines.

On her advice we backtracked to the bridge over the Rhône and took smaller roads to Avignon. Sally stopped off at a chateau and sampled a which is from just outside the Chateauneuf du Pape appellation. We bought a bottle for our hosts for the night and it went down a treat. Philippe had cooked a casserole of wild bull from the Carmarque region which was just superb, along with a very kiwi style salad. YUM. We finally got to wash all our wet and very smelly clothes and hung them out to dry the next day.
We visited the Palace of the Popes in the morning and the gardens in the afternoon. The Catholic Church had its seat in Avignon for long time before a schism in its ranks lead to a revival of Rome as its capital. The Palais was built and added to over many years and after the revolution served as barracks and a prison. A fascinating part of French history.
Of course we got to view the famed Pont D”Avignon which for hundreds of years was the only bridge across the Rhône River.
Avignon itself is surrounded by still complete walls with Portes at regular intervals. After the invention of the canon they effectively became useless as a defensive mechanism , but even today they still

serve one useful purpose. They do a very good job of keeping floods out of the city. In 2002 the portes were boarded up an sealed to prevent the Rhone from inundating the city.

After another wonderful meal of salmon (guess Phillipe's former profession) Sally gave a concert on her guitar and Phillipe gave us a concert on his piano. In front of the fire it was a delightful evening.