April 25, 2025
Vienne to Saint-Désirat
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We woke up to a beautiful day looking forward to a moderate ride to Saint- Désirat ahead of us. The breakfast was the usual Ibis fair (they do a pretty good job for a budget outfit) and we took our time because we only had a 43 km ride planned. The previous night at dinner we decided to do some errands in Vienne before we left and Dave had drafted up a short google maps route around Vienne to hit the places we needed to go.
One of the new changes for the year is that Dave acquired hearing aids this fall. Jill was thrilled because she had been gently prodding/beeseching/nagging him to get his hearing checked for awhile. Dave had been mildly resistant to the idea until he read an article in the Washington Post that reported unaddressed hearing loss can lead to dementia. To Dave’s credit the day he read that article he messaged his doctor to get a referral to an audiologist (dementia scaring him more than deafness, apparently) and he was duly fitted this fall with some blue tooth-enabled aids. It’s mostly been great but not without drama: the potential for loss is pretty great with us and we are skeptical we will get through the summer without the loss of one or both. We suspect it’s not “if”, but “when.” The hearing aids have a “find my aid” function which we utilized successfully this winter. We lost one outside Backporch Coffee in a snow bank in Bend and went back five days in a row to search for it. We learned the GPS signal on the “find my aid” lasts about 2 days but we knew it was there and because of that, finally found it after the snow melted. It wasn’t pretty - but we achieved success. We were also impressed that after being buried in the snow and ice and driven over for 5 days it still functioned. We worry about the likelihood of a loss on this trip especially because when Dave pulls off his helmet it can dislodge the aids. But, he likes having them in while riding because he can hear Ms. Komoot give her directions which is a pretty big advantage.
Why did I start this discussion? Oh, yeah! Because last night when we were enjoying our Aperol spritzes and gazing at the Forum (and Apollo) Dave mentioned that there is some little attachment on the aids that deals with ear wax and he was concerned he had not brought enough of these little doohickies to last 6 months. (In point of fact, he was beating himself up over this, a thing he usually does on minor issues; on the big stuff, he is totally in control and constructive). I suggested that when we get to a bigger city we could find an audiologist or a hearing aid store and if Europe carried this brand we could obtain some extra doohickies. This led us to pick up our phones and start googling, and lo and behold the town of Vienne listed a hearing aid place that sold Otican hearing aids. So….that was the impetus to do chores this morning. Besides the hearing aid place we added going to an ATM to get cash and then to a bike store to purchase a new water bottle for me as a piece had broken off my current bottle.
It’s a pretty small city (about 30,000) with a small Old Town, but we manage to make a mess out of even short transit trips. On Dave’s google map he had inadvertently plugged in an optician’s address instead of the Otican place and after two wrong turns through several small alleys we arrived at the eye store! We corrected our route and made our way laboriously to the hearing aid store. That part turned out to be easy, as the female employee was very nice and they had the needed part. Dave was relieved and no longer fears 6 months of ear wax forever garbling his hearing aids.
Next stop: ATM. This should be easy but the previously identified ATM was no longer there, but that was only determined after we had parked our bikes and walked around the entire building to make sure. We identified another ATM and Dave left me with the bikes to do the walk himself. That too was a bust. Finally our third location was the charm and we got some cash.
Final stop: the bike store to buy a new water bottle. we got the route figured out correctly but the whole street was torn up with construction.
We picked our way through to a very nice bike store where we had a fun conversation with the guy at the front desk. He asked where we had come from and he was very impressed when we said Lyon. He always recommends that cyclists take the train or bus from Lyon to Givors and added that everyone really wants the route to be developed but nobody wants to pay for it.
So, our chores burned an hour of the morning and we got on the road to ride about 11:30 am. All we had to do was cross the bridge over the Rhone to the other side and we were on a glorious path that wove in and out along the river and through the nearby forest. There were occasional rest areas for bikes - including one that included an outdoor urinal.
The weather was cool but mostly sunny and a most welcomed change from last year when southern France was suffering historically bad storms and we were holed up in Nimes as a result. There was a pretty stiff wind but we liked it because it was blowing north to south, a rare occasion cycling when the wind was blowing in a favorable direction! The route was well-signed and any rider could pretty much ride the route without a map and only a little bit of natural pathfinding instinct.
We stopped at this monument by the river to eat our lunch (another ham and cheese sandwich); the plaque was to memorialize Edmund Chol who was arrested by the Nazis in August 1944, shot, and his body thrown into the Rhone at this very spot. I googled him but didn’t find any information; the plaque said he was only 23. Sobering, especially given what is going on in the world today.
At around Sablons (km point 35 for the day) we veered off the Komoot course which intended to take us on a gnarly looking gravel path at the top of the river bank. Instead, we followed the formal Via Rhona route which wound around Sablons on pavement. It was nice but we missed a sharp right turn necessary to find the bike trail and only realized it when we arrived at an intense intersection by a bridge with crazy truck traffic and no shoulder. We huddled up to the side of the river and we could see the bike trail 30 feet below us but there was no way to get down there short of parachuting down. We developed a new route but the traffic was intense enough we couldn’t hear each other talk. I followed Dave and we at last reconnected with the bike trail on the other side of the town.
I had booked a hotel in Saint-Désirat, at the Hotel La Desirade. This was actually about 7 km up and away from the river and the Via Rhona. There were plenty of towns and places to stay immediately adjacent to the the river but Serriėrres was a little too close to the start and Tournon-sur-Rhone was a little too far and would have made for a long day. Thus, I found this little country hotel that required riding off the route for a bit and crossing a canal. This turned out to be more adventurous than expected. We peeled through a forest on some very rough single track, made a sharp left and then were required to haul our bikes up to a path 10 feet above us. (Well, to be precise, it required DAVE to haul our bikes up a path 10 feet above us). This maneuver put us on a tiny trail that led to the canal crossing for walkers, trains and bikes only. It was very narrow and mildly harrowing. I'm not sure if the pics do it justice but it woke us up after a day of easy, bucolic riding.
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Once we crossed the canal we rode up into the vineyards and Dave identified a number of his favorite Rhone wineries. We arrived to a closed gate at our hotel at 2:40: checkin was at 3 pm and we assumed this gate closure was a message that we were not welcome before then. We locked our bikes, gathered our packs with our critical stuff (electronics, medications) and strolled into the little town - which didn’t look like anything. It killed 20 minutes and indeed when we arrived back the gate was open and our host greeted us cordially. She had a small shed for our bikes and the place was lovely. Indeed, if we could stay at digs like this every night it would be quite wonderful.
Our room had high ceilings, an airy feeling, ac (but only to a minimum temperature of 24 degrees!), a lovely view to the vineyards and a newish bathroom (although no tub). And dinner was the best we have had since we have been here: we split the frog legs (the hotel’s speciality), had wine from the St. Joseph winery, a favorite of Dave’s, and profiteroles with chantilly. (Refrain: We have to stop eating like this). All and all, a perfect choice for us. The hotel agreed to prepare a “piq-niqe” for us for the following day: another ham and cheese sandwich with chips and yogurt and madelines - but that would save us from filching off the breakfast buffet.
Dave reflected that evening it was the perfect day of cycle touring: mostly sunny weather, a route that was mostly easy to navigate but with a little excitement at the end to give it some spice. Yes, I agree. A perfect day of cycle touring.
Today's ride: 43 km (27 miles)
Total: 136 km (84 miles)
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