Since leaving Voie Verte, we have been riding mostly on “D” roads without cycle lanes or shoulders. Because we are in France where drivers are incredibly patient and respectful of us, we are managing fine. Even when roads are busy, drivers give us space and as they go by, it is not uncommon for them to wind down their window and cheer us on or ask where we’re from. Only once has a car honked in frustration to get the car visiting with us to move on. As we pass people on the street, we often see a thumbs up and hear “bon courage” or “bravo”!
We don’t take it for granted how lucky we are to cycle tour in Europe. Experiences like this reaffirm the wonderful opportunities that come our way.
It’s funny, but “budget” doesn’t necessarily mean less. We preferred and enjoyed staying at the Ibis Budget over the flashier Ibis next door. The rooms are more spacious, comfortable and best of all, the staff are friendlier and so much more hospitable. It always comes down to the people.
We know that we will have some challenges today as we will be climbing one of the small mountains - about 600 metres and the elevation profile shows that it will be very steep. Thank goodness we have new brakes and that “touch wood”, the bike is functioning well. I won’t go into how extremely dirty our bike is. The elements have not been kind to Seavo and the mud makes our e-motor look like a bulbous growth under Mary Ellen’s bottom bracket.. The upside of rain is that it helps to clean our bike!
Jasmine and her staff are incredible. As we were loading up our bike, she offered to open up the breakfast bar to help ourself to coffee, juice... We always make our own breakfast in our room (unless it is included) and this has never happened before. Needless to say, we took her up on her offer. Merci, Jasmina.
We have read in other cyclist’s journals about the beauty of the small medieval village of Trevoux. We spent some time walking and riding the cobbled lanes of Trevoux taking it all in. The church, pictured above and the village are perched up a hill and have a commanding view of the Rhone River.
Madison Therme is so named because of its original owner, and is notable for the gold on its window frames and the design of the building to fit the landscape.
We decided to take advantage of the view of the Rhone Valley from a park in Teroux. Barry went to the bakery for a few buns and returned with shopping bag full of goodies. We shared a salad, savoury tarte of roast vegetables and an apricot tarte with flaky, fluffy pastry! And all of this for 7 euros.
Steve Miller/GrampiesBakery lunches are the best. We usually have quiche or share a sanwich and finish with a pastry and some fruit if we have found a fruiterie. Gotta love France.v Reply to this comment 5 years ago
Near the top of our climb we came upon this impressive statue of Andre-Marie Ampere, a French physicist and mathematician and one of the founders of electromagnetism. There is also a museum around the corner, but we are ready to go downhill, so off we go.
Looking down at the mammoth city of Lyon. It is an impressive and fearsome sight at the same time. We will not be going in to the centre of Lyon, but we can see that we will be on busy roads at the bottom.
Steve Miller/GrampiesWe spent a wonderful day last year exploring old Lyon. It is really teŕrific. BUT, we took a train from Macon and also out of Lyon to Valence the next day. It made the whole thing very doable. This year we rode in and out of Lyon, and promised ourselves, never again.sk Reply to this comment 5 years ago
We had chosen to ride the mountain on a D road (secondary road) rather than following our GPS track and that was a good thing. However, the problem was we had to figure out how to get back to our track and the beginning (for us) of the Via Rhona at the bottom. The network of freeways and busy roads gave us a taste of the headaches of riding in Lyon. After a crazy time of navigating heavy traffic and using the GPS to painstakingly circumvent the labyrinth of freeways to find our way back to the route, we became concerned about accomodation. Hotels are very expensive in the area and camping is some km away.
We were tired. After declining a hotel that would cost over 100 euros, we pulled over to a DIY superstore and sat in front of the store at a picnic table searching on our phone for ideas. And then a magical thing happened. A man, Roland, came up to us and asked if we were ok and if we needed a place to stay. We were surprised and he explained that his wife is a cyclist and they love hosting cyclists. It turns out they are also members of Warm Showers. Wow, we do love the hospitality of French people. This is not the first time that people in France have spontaneously asked us to stay with them when we come through their town. And they’re serious, as they often follow up with emails. We are humbled by their generosity.
Camping was in the back yard at the home of our Warm Showers hosts, Martine and Roland.
We had a wonderful evening with Martine and Roland. Hot showers, lots of great conversation sharing stories of our travels (Martine is also an avid cycle traveller), and incredible local food and wine. It was an evening we will always cherish. What a day we have had- discovering Teroux, climbing a mountain, successfully surviving the traffic of Lyon and making new friends.
Today's ride: 61 km (38 miles) Total: 1,258 km (781 miles)
