Day 55: Communay to St Vallier

September 11, 2013

One of the topics of conversation last night with Benoit and Amandine was the different preferred breakfasts in Germany, France, England, and Canada. Dodie waxed eloquent about porridge (which I don't prefer, even with raisins and brown sugar), and this morning Benoit came up with some.

It was so great, sitting with Benoit and Baptiste, because I knew that it would be a long time before we would ever see them again. We had taken an instant liking to them, so now each moment was precious.

Too soon Benoit got in the car and slowly guided us out of town.

Last night, Benoit and Amandine prepared this pasta, and sausages, all from Benoit's regionof Haute Savoie

These sausages were really good. They are Diot, mostly meat and
Pormonier, meat and vegetables.

The family reviews the Via Rhona website, to see what the way ahead holds for us.

Out of town did not mean back on the Via Rhona, though. There is no dedicated path here, though we think the designated safer road is on the other side of the river. So we fought traffic until Vienne. Even at Vienne, we found a traffic choked town, with the street facing the river particularly hard to negotiate.Vienne claims a great old town, plus Roman ruins, but it did not particularly click with us. Still, the cathedral of St Maurice was interesting, no less because one side is gothic style and the other more Roman.

At Vienne the biggest thing was that we got a map of the Via Rhona covering the next 30 km in reasonable detail. However the initial signs were vexing. They pointed from one side of the river to the other, and back again. On the side shown on the map, there was no access to the river bank and the shown route, and certainly no signage. So we noodled around and eventually found it.

A great piece of religious statistics. The chart shows the density of churches named for St Maurice by region. We are clearly in a hot St. Maurice area! St Maurice by the way was a Roman soldier and Christian who refused to fight other Christians. The Caesar ordered his legion decimated (10% punatively killed off) but Maurice refused. Another decimation was ordered (so that would make 19%, right?), but Maurice refused. Eventually they were all killed, including Maurice. So he is a martgr and a saint.

Now the good times could really roll. What followed was 60 km of mostly dedicated, mostly well signed, gorgeous riverside cycling. We passed villages oozing character, and wine villas that seemed more like our image of Tuscany. We tested the dark, almost black grapes for them and declared them just about ready to harvest! We tested abundant Russet apples, and declared they need more time.

Pedalling along, we remarked briefly that since Germany was long behind us, so was the chance of any erdbeere schnitte (strawberry slices). Then we came to a patisserie. The window was full of meringues, and you can see the hungry cyclists looking in. But what we actually chose were fruit cups, mine with a shortbread crust and custard, holding the raspberries in a glaze. We don't feel quite so bad about Germany now. p.s. Dodie let me have some of her fancier one. I hadn't even thought of ordering one so fancy, but Dodie sneakily got one! Dodie justified her choice based on the health benefits of fruit. True. The figs and melon on there were great!

Look afthe hungry cyclists in the window

We rolled in to St Vallier in late afternoon. There we found a Via Rhona trail head with info panels, one even in English. Right behind was the camping, so we felt very supported. The camping cost was 10 euros, and we have our own shrub defined space. Boeuf Bourguinon for supper, with hot coffee and misc stuff also bought at the patisserie!

Now we have the good map/pamplet for the Via Rhona section coming up, in the Drome region. The pamphlet is even in English, and describes the various sights coming up town by town. Drome says they have spent 10 million euros on the route, so it should be good.If the next 60 km are like the last, it will be super.

For a while, the path was marked with green on non dedicated sections, but that unfortunately did not last

Read this Via Rhona summary, if resolution permits

Here again are the regions we are passing through. Right now we are in Drome

Via Rhona trail head with camping behind.

Right now we are saying Yeah, Via Rhona!

Today's ride: 69 km (43 miles)
Total: 3,724 km (2,313 miles)

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