Municipal French Campgrounds - not always good, but good for meeting people - A Grand 3 Month European Tour on an E-Tandem

May 17, 2018

Municipal French Campgrounds - not always good, but good for meeting people

We typically enjoy camping at Municipal Campgrounds in France as they are well situated, basic with necessary amenities and offer reasonable prices. This trip we have experienced good and bad.

Last night we found a great one, right on the Rhone River in St-Vallier. Only 13 euros in a well cared for camp, great facilities and wifi. The ones that we don’t enjoy are often rated 3 stars as there is a restaurant onsite and that is where we ended up at the end of the day. Plus, due to the higher rating, it is way over priced.

Note the Quebec license plate in the window of their motor home. We met this couple at the campground and they are indeed from Canada and they come to Europe every year and store their motor home in France for the rest of the year. They like to come and travel for several months. We had a great time chatting with them.

Packed up and ready to go - we enjoyed it here.

We have been riding through cherry orchards for days.

And today, we gave in to temptation and tried a few - yummy.

We left the route to sightsee in Tournon sur-Rhone. This memorial for those who perished during the War is notable for its size - the largest in France. The large square sculpted panel was carefully transported down the river and then mounted on the stone cliff. The art work is quite striking with the figure looking sadly at the names of the deceased with laurels in each of her hands.

Tournon sur Rhone - full of character filled medieval buildings.

We really love these pedestrian/bicycle only bridges.

What we don’t love are the gates in this region. We watched a young fellow ride through on his single bike (without any panniers) and he simply rolled through with his feet braced on the 2 platforms. Seavo wasn’t having it though - our underseat racks and gear make it impossible.

St-Vallier sur Rhone is a small village and they have made an effort to make their village appealing. We liked the fountains and bridge in the centre of the village.

A happy dog enjoyed this sunny day, but oh...the drool.

We are having a great ride today and have enjoyed making detours to see some of the villages along the way. Valence was a particularly lovely city with wide boulevards and places to gather. This fountain was lovely.

Gracious, old apartments above the shops in Valence.

There are many references to Napoleon in Valence. This mural shows him during his time here in 1791

We finally broke down and got some ice cream....and it was so good. Mary Ellen had chocolate, butter caramel swirl and Barry had a vanilla caramel swirl.

Valence has a beautiful park with a great view of the surrounding hills. Like the wide boulevards and walkways, this park was huge with extensive areas for relaxing.

We liked the intricate stonework on the front of this bookstore.

Valence - this gazebo is in a large square by the park. We noticed a military presence in Valence, and later as we were riding, we saw a sign on the road advising drivers that there would be road checks due to suspicious activity in the area. A chilling reminder of the unfortunate reality we now live in.

We got to the Municipal camp at Charmes sur Rhone and there was nothing charming about it - except for this cat who was wary of us, but wanted affection.

The good thing about camping here was meeting a couple from Switzerland who are riding new, e-bikes that they bought to start their retirement travels together.

Paula and Stefan were good camping neighbours and we enjoyed getting to know them. We had seen them riding earlier in Valence and they arrived after us.

Today's ride: 65 km (40 miles)
Total: 1,391 km (864 miles)

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