Day 19 - Pont St Esprit to St Ambroix - Gorging Ourselves in France ...Then Basquing in the Pyrenees - 2023 - CycleBlaze

May 6, 2023

Day 19 - Pont St Esprit to St Ambroix

Another day, another gorge -La Gorge du Ardèche

The sub title for today may give the misleading impression that this was another ‘ho hum’ day. Au contraire, it was another amazing day with yet again a completely different but spectacular natural environment.

And the first night in the tent? Simply great.

It was a short 6km(ish) pedal along the Ardèche to St Martin d’Ardeche, a very picturesque village that on a Sunday morning was busy with hikers and bikers heading out for their day of exploration. This was all the start of the climb up to the ridge top that rims the canyon the Ardèche runs through.

Brilliant blue sky, warm sunshine - trending to hot later in the day, next to no car traffic and a ton of roadies flying past us offering encouragement and ‘chapeau’s’ …. But no offers to take a pannier. 

The Ardèche gorge is a very popular spot for canoes and kayaks, and as it was Sunday, there were hundreds of them on the river. From our vantage point several hundred meters above the water on the gorge rim they looked almost like brightly painted pieces of driftwood. Zooming in with the camera revealed smiling people enjoying what must be a spectacular paddle.

It couldn’t have been more perfect, and my words will probably detract from the 36 spectacular kilometres we rode to get to Vallon Pont d’Arc, so I’ll let the pictures tell the great story.

The ‘no car’ comment took a turn however as we approached the actual Pont d’Arc about 5 km’s before the town. It’s quite spectacular, and accessible from the road, so there were a lot of people, cars and tourist infrastructure. From our approach from the east it was all quite manageable and the pic’s I’ve got depict a wonderful hot Sunday afternoon on the water … and it was. 

As we made our way around the Pont (natural stone bridge for those who haven’t skipped ahead to the pics) to the west side, the scene turned into a Sunday on Banff Avenue, or Coney Island, or Trafalgar Square … or how about if you’re French - a beautiful spring Sunday at Pont d’Arc! No pics as we maneuvered our bikes through the throng of vehicle and pedestrian traffic and we continued on down the road to our destination for the day, Saint Amboix.

This turned out to be a really pleasant surprise, even though we had no expectations, other than seeing a few campsite signs in the town on the map.

For one thing, we had now passed into Occitanie and the landscape changed. It was subtle at first, but distinct. We’re clearly entering into the volcanic central massif, and the land to the west is a jumble of continuous hills. That’s where we’re headed, and tomorrow we have to make it over the ‘divide’, leaving the east side of the massif that drains into the Mediterranean, and entering the west side that drains into the Atlantic. But I digress, back to St Amboix.

This is what we remember and like about camping in France. Nice friendly uncrowded campsite a few hundred meters from the town centre where we quickly got Agnes set up, ourselves cleaned up and then set out for a short walk through this old but lively town for dinner. Even though it was Sunday, there is obviously a lot of tourist traffic in the area as there were multiple choices on offer for dinner. 

We took an educated guess on ‘La Banque’ - largely based on a picture of a lovely outdoor garden - and very good reviews. The garden was indeed lovely on this perfect late spring evening, and the dinner and service was even better. Very welcoming, relaxing, with perfectly prepared and flavoursome food.

A perfect wrap to yet another great day. 

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Janet DawsonK&L. I have finally caught up with you, and want to tell you how much I am enjoying vicariously living through your adventures. I look forward to the daily SOTD, serendipitous experiences (Alison has an extensive diaspora) , laughs , excellent pics and insights, and abbreviation challenges. And of course the biking! I get hungry , however, whenever you describe your meals , which isn’t such a good thing. Cycle on….
Best Janet
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10 months ago
Kirsten KaarsooTo Janet DawsonThank you Janet for your kind words. The blog is a great way for us to keep days straight and remember both the good parts and sometimes the more challenging parts. We love getting comments and hearing that people are enjoying our views of our days.
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10 months ago

SOTD - Valerie by Amy Winehouse. There was great music playing in the garden during dinner setting a relaxed but slightly upbeat tone -  perfect for the evening. Could have picked almost anything that was playing, but when this came on, both K and I started humming along. I guess that’s the one.

Thanks for the great night Agnes! Packed away again as we set of on another great day of riding
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Great deserted D roads as we make our way to St Martin d’Adèche
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Poppies and super looking canola lining the road. This would have been a riot of colour a few weeks ago when the canola was in bloom
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Lost in a forest of seed pods!
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Bridging the river at St Martin d’Ardèche
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Glenna JefferiesWe drove across this bridge last year! Beautiful area for sure.
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9 months ago
And I presume this is St Martin … very cool background of budding out Plane trees!
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Here we go … 36 km’s of one of France’s great gorges coming up!
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Looking back down river to St Martin
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And a little zoom action … not the greatest light with the east sun in the morning … but you get the picture
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A view of the viewer viewing the views … there were about a couple of dozen viewpoints along the way, and you pretty much had to stop at each one. Slow but spectacular progress up the gorge!
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Blue sky, green trees, white rocks with water flowing through and around them
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ann and steve maher-wearyWe have just missed you by a couple of days. Your photos are terrific. Now. I can’t wait to ride the gorge too.
Glad to see you got Agnes out!
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10 months ago
Kirsten KaarsooTo ann and steve maher-wearyYes, hopefully another time. We are headed to the Tarn gorge tomorrow. They are predicting rain but not until a little later in the day so hopefully we can get the ride in before the showers. Yes, Agnes has been used three nights, hoteled it tonight as rain is predicted and I have decided I am a fair weather camper. 😊
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10 months ago
A close up of the water providing vivid relief of the underlying rock
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Karin KaarsooNeat shot!
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10 months ago
No boat in site, this family must have made it down to the water from the steep canyon rim above.
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Looking back east again towards St Martin, last time we’ll get this view
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It was almost impossible to get a shot of a single kayak on the river. They were usually in large groups, and there were lots of these flotillas. Perfect day for it though.
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Iceberg, sharks tooth, fish head sticking out of the water …. Take your pick or add your own!
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…. And we’re only about a third of the way through this!
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Perfect pull out for a picnic if you’re in a kayak
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With a little ‘white water’ just before to add a wee bit of excitement
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And then it’s time to hang out on the beach
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A modest col, but there was continual up and down to get here, as there would be on the other side to Vallon Pont d’Arc
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One more of the Viewer … looking west towards Vallon Pont d’Arc and the Central Massif on the horizon.
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Off we go for the fun ride down!
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A few tunnels and balcony sections on the way down. You may have noticed that there have been very few vehicles in the picture … and that’s an accurate depiction of the day. Lot’s of roadies, quite a few mortocycles … and a few other loaded tourers. That’s one in the tunnel ahead of Kirsten
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Karin KaarsooHaha! I thought you meant the truck at first glance.
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10 months ago
Kirsten KaarsooTo Karin KaarsooHaha. It was a guy pulling a trailer, cycling in flip flops and didn’t have a care in the world!
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10 months ago
Lynchpin of the local economy
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The iconic Pont d’Arc over the Ardèche. Very beautiful and great to see people out enjoying this spectacular area on such a perfect day
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And one more peaceful pic from the east … before we entered the zoo on the west side a few minutes later. It was remarkable the change in 1/2 a km!
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OK, the Ardèche is done … we continue west into Occitanie … and more hills
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Setting up camp in Saint Amboix
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And the day ended with a picture perfect dinner in the Garden at La Banque
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We both had the beet and chèvre salad entré. Sounds pedestrian but this was one of the best we’ve ever had, walnuts and raspberry coulis to add a great touch to perfect beets and cheese.
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K’s gnocchi with veggies and chèvre …. She really likes beets and goat cheese!
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Rachael AndersonGreat combination!
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10 months ago
Kirsten KaarsooTo Rachael AndersonIt definitely was. I was needing a good vegetable feed!
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10 months ago
Merlu (Hake) fillet with roasted fennel and potatoes (not in the pic - small bowl for to the side) with a subtle pesto that complimented he fish perfectly!
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… and dessert . A small brown boule … tasty I was told … and the best apple crumble with caramel glacé that I’ve ever had sorry mom, your’s was great, but this was better)
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This marathon day of stimulation is over! Bon nuit!
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Today's ride: 74 km (46 miles)
Total: 821 km (510 miles)

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Comment on this entry Comment 3
Jacquie GaudetIt seems you are riding now in the areas I’m still hoping to go this fall, though I haven’t confirmed anything yet. I was going to ask about when campgrounds typically close for the season (or close to tents) but then I started thinking about camping in October with its early sunsets…
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10 months ago
Kirsten KaarsooTo Jacquie GaudetI will check the closing dates for you. Although our last trip in Oct/Nov Lyle and I really noticed the much shorter days. With the time change nothing seemed to open before 8 and it was just light and the darkness came early too thus cycling time was very much compromised. This was in southern Italy (Puglia). Just good food for thought.
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10 months ago
Jacquie GaudetTo Kirsten KaarsooWe really noticed the shorter days in Spain in November but we weren’t camping so it wasn’t a big deal. Plus, the weather was better than in BC (remember the “atmospheric river”)?
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10 months ago