Day 17: Vallon Pont d’Arc to Châteauneuf-du-Pape

September 17, 2022

Today gave us a new experience, and a mystery you might be able to help us solve.

The morning sky is a beautiful blue but Mother Nature has a surprise in store … our first experience in a Mistral. The wind from the northwest is cold! After donning our arm warmers, we began the 20 minute warm up before the big climb of the day - up the Gorge d’Ardèche.

This stretch brings back memories of last year when our friends, Smith & Claude, introduced us to this place. We celebrated my birthday on the beach below the Pont d’Arc then. Fun time!

We bagged another col with a little bit of help from the Mistral

Can you see the vehicle in the canyon wall?

There’s a lot of interpretation that can be done with this wall. I also see a house and Chuck sees a chateau. It’s kind of like looking at clouds.

Traffic jam!

The baby didn’t look both ways before crossing

Our first glimpse of the end of the gorge

Well that short stretch of road took us 2 hours and 45 minutes. There were multiple places to stop and look at the scenery; we enjoyed it tremendously. However, any time off the tandem we had to be careful to not get blown over. The wind was wicked!!!!

Fun fact: We started and finished the gorge at the same time as a particular tour bus. The French ladies on the tour thought it was really funny.

Onward, but we weren’t in a rush because we couldn’t check into our chambre d’hôte until 5 pm.

One way bridge at Saint Martin d’Ardèche

Looking at the huge church in Pont Saint Esprit

After many winding roads, we found Prieuré Saint Pierre

It’s closed for lunch, but this is what it looked like from the glass front door.

We tried to find a spot a bit sheltered from the wind to enjoy our picnic lunch of fougasse and Suisse triangle (pastry). This vineyard fit the bill.

Mystery time: While sitting we noticed something that seemed quite odd to us. Each row of grapes had both red and white grapes in it.

Red & white planted side by side in the same row

Every row had a mix with no specific order. Why? Any ideas out there? Our host is a sommelier and we plan to ask her, too. But would love to hear what you think.

After lunch our route took us along the Rhône for quite a few kilometers. We passed a large nuclear facility bordered by nasty looking fences that had signs posted saying no photos. So, being law abiding residents we didn’t take any photos.

The second mystery of the day came when the trees took the river out of our sight and there was a huge noise - sounded like a jet flying along the river. Not a military jet, but a passenger jet. We wondered if we were near a major airport … it was just plain strange and out of place. About 5 minutes later we could see the river again and noticed train tracks on the other side. Just as I commented on the tracks, a high speed train went by. Traveling at 250-300 kilometers per hour makes a heck of a noise!!! No wonder the TGVs slow down when near civilization!

Next we saw a barge going down river. It was extremely long. We think it was carrying gravel. It was moving along faster than us even with our huge tailwind.

For quite a while we were riding along and we could see just the top of this blue bridge above the tree tops. Nice to see the whole bridge.

Later we saw this passenger boat going up river. We since learned it holds 200 passengers.

Apparently we passed that first barge when it was using another channel of the river. Here it’s coming into the lock while we were stopped at a red light before we could cross the barrage (dam).

About 20 kilometers out from Chateauneuf du Pape we encountered a bike path.

Maybe it wasn’t smart standing there taking pictures - it was really creaking with the wind gusts!

These river access points were really nice and well off the main road. It was too cold to consider a dip today.

Competition time - who has the best photo?

No longer a bike path, but it’s a bike freeway (based on size, not traffic)

Finding our way thru the vineyards to town

It was a great day on the bike. That 40-60km tailwind really helped. We were most thankful it was a tailwind because it would have been really difficult fighting a cross wind or a headwind.

We checked into the Wine B&B and are lucky to be her only guests for the two nights. After getting settled in, we found dinner at Le Mule and enjoyed an entree of tuna tartare with grilled foie gras, and plats of risotto with shrimp and chorizo (for Chuck) and risotto with white fish (for me). We shared a tiramisu for dessert. All was accompanied by a nice bottle of red.

Day 17: Vallon Pont d’Arc to Chateauneuf du Pape

Stats: 89.2 kilometers 935 meters elevation

Today's ride: 89 km (55 miles)
Total: 1,530 km (950 miles)

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Rich FrasierI don't know if it explains the airplane, but there's a surprisingly busy military airport just outside of Orange. I was pretty amazed at how much air traffic was going over us in that area on our Via Rhona trip last year.

And I'm not going to get involved in picture competitions! :)
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1 year ago

Vernon PhinneyMaybe the vineyard that had both red and white grapes in a row was one that made rose wine
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1 year ago

Keith KleinHi,
Here’s my guesses on the mysteries.
1) Grenache comes in both red and white varieties. Those might be grown in the same vineyard. Here in Burgundy we sometimes see Pinot gris vines among the Pinot noir. A certain percentage of pg is allowed in pn wines. The business of mixing red and white to produce rose is an American idea and only for very cheap wines. Real rose is made by only allowing contact with the skins for a short period in a vat of red grapes. In fact in champagne they make white wine from Pinot noir ( blanc des noirs) by not allowing skin contact at all .
2) The air base in Orange is home to a fighter squadron as well as the Patrouille de France, the Air Force exhibition team. Other larger airplanes, tankers and transports, use the base as well.
Those are my best guesses.
Lovely tour, by the way. Having ridden many of the same routes you have taken, I’ve been following along reminiscing.
Cheers,
Keith
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1 year ago