Well I sure called it wrong about the quiet night in the municipal camping. The people in the adjacent trailer came along after dark, with their two shrieky kids. It was not the kids that were a problem for us, though. Rather, the people spent a long long time with mysterious noise making activities.. Ordinary noise making, like playing a radio or clanking dishes may be disturbing, but can be coped with. But when you are lying in a tent and have no idea what all the whirring, crunching, and trundling is about, it is truly nerve wracking. Plus, because we arrived late and had selected the spot on our own, we felt no authority to go tell the people to quit it, whatever "it" was.
We were able to make our way through the next two towns, just from road signs, and arrived at the river side, perhaps 20 km out of the centre of Lyons. Lyons has some major hydromworks along the river, and the rivere bank is well managed, with a path the whole way and many large explanatory signs. Except that we had to unload and carry our expediton down some steep and long steps at the unmarked entrance to the path, it was a pretty good run. One major exception was where the path was blocked by construction. But here, again, a road angel popped up for us. Eric was out for a spin on his bike and noticed us puzzling over where to go around the construction. In the end he guided us through a major park and put us back on the right path.
These steep steps leading to the riverside path near Lyon was nuts!
Now we followed the river into Lyon itself. We did see one Via Rhona sign through all of this, but that was the one and only sign!
Along the river but at the centre of Lyonwe had a city like Paris or London, with many bridges, elegant buildings, and couples by the romantic banks. There were many restaurants floating at the bank, and we found a great quality daily special at one.
From here things went downhill rapidly (except it was mostly uphill). The elegant city andq riverside path gave way to traffic filled streets with litle bike room and no signage. One good interlude was when we passed into an obvious immigrant area. There were quite a few African people here, either from north Africa, or west africa. The people seemed energetic and good natured, and all spoke French well.
Good nature ran a little thin, as we battled traffic and no signage, as we escaped little by little fromthe city centre. Evening found us pushing the bikes up a long hill, with almost no shoulder between us and fast traffic, and many kms from any camping. So along came Benoit. He stopped his car and walked back to us. Would we like to come stay at his place? You bet!
Benoit and Amandine and children lived a few kms further on, and with some further hills in those kms. Benoit went on ahead, and came back to check on us, with the kids along for the adventure. He threw a lot of our bags in the trunk and explained the next turns towards his place. We carried on a bit, and then Amandine came around in a second car, to help guide us in.
These angels turned out to also be Warm Showers hosts, and world travellers. They thoughtfully put us in a bedroom to recuperate and sort our stuff, and left it to us when to emerge. They asked if we would like to wash clothes, and they showed us the shower. We shared supper with them and enjoyed a wide ranging discussion of everything from cheeses to bikeway development (Amanadine's dad works in Via Rhona design). Benoit is from the Haut Savoie, and supper included pasta and sausage typical of his region.
Now I have been left undisturbed to do the blog. Benoit and Amandine have been masterful in being so open and friendly, while giving us space to do our thing. They turned a likely wild camp into a cultural and personal big plus!
The one and only Via Rhona sign we found near Lyon.
We found this little store with good fruit. Lots of kids came to ask us UQs, but the owner shooed them away, saying we must be tired from all the cycling. He was a very sweet man.
Benoit pulled over to rescue us. He offered us a place to stay, and put our bags in the car so we could better tackle the hills between here and the turnoff for his house.
