July 14, 2006
Day 16: Valence - Pierrelatte - Valence: Encounter with the Tour de France
July 14th is Bastille Day, the French national holiday celebrating the storming of the Bastille in 1789 during the French Revolution. We have tailwinds and a happy-go-lucky feeling for the day.
Pretty villages and interesting scenery make for an interesting ride. Sometimes we can detour off the N 86 and ride through the villages, but mainly we just keep pedaling.
In the early afternoon we are in Pierrelatte and think it would be a nice place to stay. It is very sobering to hear that there are no rooms to be had in Pierrelatte and that we probably won't find anything within a radius of 75 kilometers. We hadn't taken into account that the Tour de France is now in Montélimar, 40 km north of us. The Tour de France and its entourage of thousands has the whole area booked out.
We decide to hop a train to Avignon, surely we could find accomdation there. Very naive of us. After a long wait for the train at the train station of Pierrelatte, we arrive in Avignon in the early evening. It's hot, it's teeming with tourists and there are no rooms to be had. This is a new situation for us.
Janos has a saving idea. We have the telephone number of last night's hotel and call. They have just one room free, they will reserve it for us, even if we get in very late. Back to the train station - fortunately the train line also follows the Rhone - and around 8 p.m. we are back where we started this morning, at the Park Hotel in Valence.
Today's ride: 78 km (48 miles)
Total: 1,006 km (625 miles)
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