To Le Pouzin

May 12, 2025

So we seem to be getting into something of a rut here, albeit a nice rut - one with decent weather, relaxing rides, and a very welcome lack of adversity. Still, it's starting to get that same ol', same ol' feeling. Let's shake things up today with a bit of excitement by starting with dessert first - the video!

Sound track: A Taste of Honey, by Vince Guaraldi and Bolo Sete

I already spoiled the suspense with the lead-in, so you won't be surprised to hear that we've got an excellent weather forecast for today: blue skies, mild temps, light winds. After breakfast our host tells us the garage is open for us to get the bikes and to just leave the keys in the door when we vacate the room, so an hour later we cycle down the driveway and take the short detour north to see the Roman bridge we skipped last night because of the rain.

And it is an impressive bridge and an actual Roman one for a change, one with eleven arches and dating back to the 2nd or 3rd century AD when the Romans built their road connecting Nimes and Clermont. It is impressive that it's still in such fine condition 2,000 years later.

I'm just considering whether I want to bike out onto the cobblestone surfaced bridge when Rachael gets a phone call. It's a French number, and the caller speaks in French when Rachael answers. She soon cuts over to English though, and quickly enough so that Rachael hasn't hung up yet. It's our host, letting us know we've forgotten something and she would like us to come back for it. We agree once we hear it's our unpaid bill. When she said to leave the key in the door she didn't mean that we could just bike off without paying for the room, the meals, and tax. Fair enough.

The 2,000 year old Viviers bridge, still standing after all these years.

Not too bad. I'm sorry now that I didn't bike out there a ways.

The first two miles of the ride are a backtrack to the suspension bridge we passed just before entering town yesterday. On our way we stop to take in views we just biked past the first time in our rush to arrive dry. We don't allow much time today either though, because now we're in a rush to arrive in Le Pouzin in time for lunch.

Impressive limestone cliffs rise right behind the town.

Viviers would have been worth a second night or another stop someday. If we ever come back we'll definitely stay at the same hotel.

Just north of the suspension bridge is the southern tip of a large sand bar nearly ten miles long. The Rhone flows down the west side of the island, and to the right is a narrow, slow-moving canal. I'm unclear what the functionality of this canal and its dam is, but it must be either for flood control or water supply for the city of Montelimar that fans out just to the east of it. Immediately after crossing the suspension bridge we turn north and soon ride the top of a dam across to the opposite side of the canal and onto the island, and then for the next eight or nine miles we experience a flat, lazy ride alongside the canal, enjoying the sights as well as the sounds of the birds and frogs.

A gray heron, one of three or four we flushed out biking along the canal.

Easy riding. We have plenty of company today.

Finally we come to the north end of the island and cross back to the west bank of the Rhone again, this time across the beautiful but notorious suspension bridge at Rochemaure - notorious if you're on a bike anyway, because the bridge sways enough and has low enough fencing that it's a challenge to see if you're daring enough to bike. We aren't that daring.

Crossing the Rochemaure suspension bridge.

Just past the bridge is a gallery of about a dozen photo/portraits like this one, all from families of Central Asia. I wonder what the story is here.

The final miles to Le Pouzin catch us by surprise as we race north to make it to town in time for lunch. The surprise is the weather, which has taken an unexpected turn as the wind picks up significantly and the skies darken and look menacing - definitely not what was forecast just a few hours ago. And the clouds really are serious, as we can see as we look to the west and see rain pouring down on the hills just a few miles away.

I'm not sure what this town is - Cruas, maybe. Our main concern is the sky above though.

Well, I should be able to figure out what this is. Oh,I get it. This is still back at Rochemaure. This would be another great spot for an overnight stay.

Definitely getting hammered off in that direction.

We arrive in town right at two and head immediately to CheZelles, the restaurant we targeted for lunch. They claim to be open for lunch until 3, but they don't really mean it today. It's Monday, business is very slow, and there's a question at first whether they'll serve us or not. They take pity on us though and serve us up the excellent menu of the day - a tuna starter followed by a pork dish, both very good. And afterwards we each have the cheesecake, which is excellent too and deserved a photo if I'd thought of it in time.

Very good. We'll likely be back tomorrow, but earlier in the day to be sure we get seated.

Check-in at our hotel isn't until 5:00, so it's another place where we sent a message asking for an early check-in. We didn't hear back though and the hotel is dark when we arrive; and no one answers their phone when we call. We sit across the street on a park bench debating whether we should let Booking know we've been stood up and then bike to the nearby Ibis, a plan I favor because I don't want to just sit in the park doing nothing for the next two hours. And I really will be doing nothing because my phone won't connect to the internet for some reason. It's a real mystery, because Rachael's is fine. We compare settings and can find no explanation at all, until Rachael sees we have a message from Orange - my SIM card has expired. Something apparently went wrong when Rachael tried to top them both off a few days ago, and I'm the loser.

It's nice to know though, because it explains other mysteries that have been frustrating us, especially the fact that we can't track each other on the Garmins. Later when we're in our room Rachael manages to top mine off for another month so it's just a temporary annoyance.

And then finally after we've been sitting in the park for at least an hour it occurs to me that since Rachael's phone works I can use her hotspot to access websites through my iPad - work on the blog, read the terrible news, and check our Booking listing to see if we ever heard back from tonight's host. Which we did.

I feel badly about my ill feelings toward our host when I read the message that's been left us. There's been a medical emergency so no one is at the hotel and won't be there all day. We can still access our room though, because we've been left the code for the keypad to enter the hotel. There's nothing about accessing our room, but it's clear enough once we're inside because two sets of keys are on the counter with their room numbers on them. There are no names associated with them, so Rachael walks upstairs to check them out. She sees that the one on the first floor looks like the basic room we've booked so we choose it.

Our hotel is obviously a bike-friendly establishment.

The Via Rhona passes right beneath our window.

We just chill out in our small but acceptable room (and a bargain at €65/night) for the rest of the day, except to walk across the street to the small grocery store there to pick up dinner snacks - milk, cheese and cherries for me, while Rachael makes do primarily with her leftovers.

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Today's ride: 27 miles (43 km)
Total: 631 miles (1,015 km)

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