Next week we are leaving for another bike tour in Central France. Today we did a short (37.4km, 3h) recreational practice ride exploring the new bike path along the river Drac, South of Grenoble. It was a very comfortable ride, but we wish there would have been more picnic spots and water points along the route, especially on a hot day like this; the temperature rose above +30C even if officially the heat wave alert was over.

I learned yesterday that when the heatwave alert is raised or dropped depends on the region and the department.  The general rule is that canicule (heat wave) alert is raised if the day time temperatures rise above certain degrees (and the night time temperatures do not drop below certain degrees) for three consecutive days (nights). The rationale being that people living in certain areas are already exposed to hot temperature so they are more used to it — for us in the South the limits are much higher than in  the departments in North.

We followed the new bike path to Le Pont-de-Claix, the old stone bridge that was built 1608-1610, and then turned back. We stopped to have lunch at Parc des Champs Elysées (Bachelard). The condition of the park was abysmal: there was trash everywhere on the lawn and the ponds: plastic bottles, plastic wrappers, whatever. We had a hard time finding a decent clean picnic table. The toilets were full of sh*t, literally. They had new fancy barbecue pits that you can reserve and operate with a cell phone app, but right next to the smelly toilets. Some people did  not mind  the smell, though.

 

Next week we are going to explore a new river valley!