Drôme, June 19 - July 3, 2022

While our bathroom was undergoing a major overhaul, we spent two weeks vacationing in the neighboring department Drôme. It was our first real mixed bicycling/hiking trip. The plan was to take a train from Grenoble Universités-Gières to St.Marcellin, and then ride to Valence from there. It did not go quite as planned! We arrived at the station in time, but the train was 5 minutes late. It stopped conveniently so that a car with two bike places was just next to us. We removed the panniers, and prepared to carry the bikes in (it was the old type of train with steep steps and narrow doors), when we noticed that both places were already taken. We grabbed our panniers and bikes and started running towards the tail of the train looking for another car with bike places, frantically waving to the conductor that "We are still coming!". He asked us "Everything ok?" (in French of course) and we responded "No, no, no!, we are trying to get in!". He signaled to the driver to go on, the doors closed, and the train left without us.

We had no other option than to start riding towards Valence, since the next train that avoided a connection in Grenoble was expected to leave two hours later. We rode to Moirans, and hopped on that train there. Check-in process to our Airbnb apartment in Valence did not go as smoothly as we wanted, but at least we had a spacious and relatively clean apartment for a week. The heatwave started at the same time with our vacation. We had to keep the blinds closed most of the time to prevent the heat getting in, but that made the apartment really dark, since the lights were poor. Fortunately the marble floors stayed cool throughout the day. The total distance on bikes on this first days was 48.8K, and we did it in 3h 13mins.

So, the plan was to stay in Valence for a week, and make daily hiking trips to surrounding destinations, some of which we had planned ahead of time. But, as usual when in a new place, we spent the first day exploring the town. However, Valence was not an entirely new place to us: we had passed through it several times on our bicycle trips to ViaRhôna, VéloDrôme, and La Dolce Via.

As usual, first we headed to the tourist office to get a map, then we followed the discovery tour on foot.

Monuments aux Morts.

Pendentif of Valence, built in 1548 in the cloister of the Cathedral of Saint Apollinaire. It consists of soft rock called molasse, widely found in Drôme. We learned more about this rock (or sandstone) --- which, honestly, to us resembled more sand than rock; I would not imagine building anything other than sandcastles from it --- when we visited troglodyte villages near Châteauneuf-sur-Isère.

Steep streets, dating back to the Medieval times, run from the river (Rhône) bank to the historic center of Valence. The ancient steps have survived, but not the fences that used to prevent attackers and diseases from getting through to the town.

Maison Mauresque (Moorish House), built in 1858 by the industrialist Charles Ferlin.

La Maison des Têtes (The House of Heads).

For lunch we chose the chain restaurant Pitaya - Thai Street Food, and copious rice and noodle dishes with beef. Not too delicious and we both felt a bit strange the next day.

On our second day we drove to Tain d'Hermitage to start the hike 'Le Belvédère de Pierre-Aiguille.' The day's hike mostly traversed the vineyards of Crozes-Hermitage. We started climbing a very narrow and steep valley up, but then we mostly followed roads to the view point.

We were not quite sure if this had been a real accident or an advertisement of a garage for drivers having had an accident.

View from Le Belvédère de Pierre-Aiguille to the river Rhône.

Another view to South.

It was so dry already in June.

The village of Crozes-Hermitages down there.

Chapelle Saint Christophe, our lunch spot.

Some views from the chapel.

We finished the hike on a very steep and rocky downhill trail.

Today's hike was 7.40K and it took us 2h 40mins, with D+/D- of 350m.

Relaxing, sorting through the day's pictures, and planning the next day's adventure.

The third day took us to the charming little town of Chabeuil, just little over ten kilometers from Valence. The town was a short-lived capital of Drôme in 1790, and it was also part of the principality of Monaco for 150 years, until the French revolution.

Again we followed the walking tour created for visitors. This is Chabeuil's Neo-gothic town hall.

The monumental gate to the old town.

This building used to be a hospital.

The stairs leading up to the church.

View over the town to the direction of Valence.

The church of Saint-Jean-Baptiste.

Ruins of a Medieval fortress, abandoned after the religious wars.

The church of Saint-Jean-Baptiste from another angle.

The temple of Chabeuil, built in 1973.

The royal crown surrounded by the words 'nation' and 'law', and formerly also 'king.' This was the first revolutionary motto chosen in 1789, and replaced in 1792 by 'Unité, indivisibilité de la République, Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité ou la mort.'

Our second destination for the day was the ruins of Château des Cornillans near the town of La Baume Cornillane. The powerful Cornillans family built the castle in the 12th century, and it was destroyed in the 17th century.

The view over La Baume Cornillane to the direction of Ardeche.

Due to the hazy skies we couldn't really see the mountain peaks in Ardeche.

The only structures remaining today are the ruins of the tower and the feudal village that surrounded the castle.

This monolithic rock marks the supposed center of the ancient supercontinent, Pangea.

We found an idyllic lunch spot by the trail. After the lunch we did not continue much further, but turned back and returned to the town on the road. The clouds had darkened so we were expecting rain to start any time. And it did when we were back in Valence. This hike was just 3.75K and it took us 1h 10mins, with D+/D- of 120m.

For the fourth day we chose another easy hike a bit farther away. We started from the town of Dieulefit, in Drôme provençale, where we arrived late because the route Google Maps suggested had a closed road, and we had to make a long detour.

We don't have many pictures from this hike since it mostly traveled in the forest and we didn't have many spectacular views to the surrounding countryside.

It also started raining towards the end of the hike. Today's hike was 7.90K and it took us 2h 40mins, with D+/D- of 445m.

On our way back to Valence we visited Brasserie La Vieille Mule and tasted a couple of their tap beers with a tapas platter of crisp bread and lentil hummus.

After the night of heavy rain and thunderstorms, on our fifth day we woke up to a cloudy morning. Because of the unstable weather forecast, we decided to spend the day in the town and explore Valence's canals. Today there are more than 17 kilometers of canals above the ground, and twenty something underground.

As soon as we reached the city center it started raining again, which was exactly the same second I took this picture of Napoleon Bonaparte.

We stopped by at the tourist office to get the map of the canals. First, we followed the narrow and at places muddy path next to the Canal des Moulins (2440m) through Châteauvert.

We continued to the Canal des Malcontents Nord, and then Canal de la Grande Marquise.

We returned to Châteauvert following again the Canal des Malcontents Nord.

(Note: all these photos were from the Canal des Moulins --- it was the most picturesque). This walk was 10.8K and it took us 3h, with D+/D- of 330m (according to my Polar Ignite, which I don't think is quite true).

On the our final, and sixth day in Valence, we returned to La Baume Cornillane for a longer hike, since we found the landscape very nice.

We started the same way as the previous time but shortly diverged to a rocky and shaded trail that kept climbing and climbing.

This is a climbing rock, but no one was climbing on this hot day.

Eventually we started the steep descent to the Château des Cornillans.

This butterfly is marbled white ('le demi-deuil' in French).

One of the last ruins of the ancient feudal village.

This hike was 9K and it took us 3h, with D+/D- of 450m.

Next day, seven days after leaving home, was the time to change the scenery, and ride our bikes again; first on ViaRhôna to Voultes-sur-Rhône, and then on VéloDrôme to Saillans.

We found these illustrations under the bridge Pont Frédéric Mistral in Valence. We decided to cross Rhône on this bridge instead of the huge highway bridge Pont des Lônes that the official route of ViaRhôna uses.

Nothing much has changed on ViaRhôna since the last time we were there two years ago, but a new micro brewery 369 has been born 2021 in Soyons (Ardeche): https://369craft.beer/en/index.php

From the confluence of the river Drôme we followed VéloDrôme to Livron-sur-Drôme, Allex, Crest, Aouste-sur-Sye, and finally Saillans, which was our destination, and home for the next three nights.

These crops had already been harvested on our return trip.

My friends informed me that these plants belonged to the allium family (some sort of onion), and indeed where they had already been harvested, a strong oniony smell lingered.

Lavender.

We reached Saillans at about 4pm., and made a detour at the town to check the opening (or closing) hours of the grocery stores. We stayed at the same campground (Camping Les Chapelains) and the same Coco Sweet hut (with air-conditioning) as we did last time two years ago.

The night before we had reserved the dinner place at Restaurant La Magnanerie, because Saillans did not have too many options on Sunday nights and, as it turned out, both grocery stores were closed. Tei started with 'Choux à la Mousse de Truite Gravlax d’Ardèche Ketchup de Betteraves, Crackers',

and Tomi's with 'Magret de Canard Séché par nos soins Salade de Lentilles et Mousse de Foie Gras'.

The ambience of the patio was nice, and the service quite good (with a single server), and fortunately no one was smoking.

Tei's main was 'Filet de Lieu Noir en Crumble de Chorizo Accompagnement Terre & Mer',

and Tomi's 'Pièce de Veau, Sauce Morilles Gratin dauphinois, Légumes de saison'. (These texts are taken from the restaurant's online menu).

Tei has (exceptionally!) Café Gourmand for dessert, and Tomi some sort of giant ice cream portion. PS. I probably needed that coffee since I looked so sleepy. Anyway it had been a long and hot day: 73K of riding in 5h 20mins.

Some customers arrived in fancier vehicles. We just walked two kilometers from the campsite.

We slept very well and late in our Coco Sweet hut. It was cloudy and windy when we woke up. Since we had not had a chance to do grocery shopping yet, on our first morning we ordered a "full" breakfast at the campground: coffee, juice, bread with local goat cheese (Picodon de la Drôme) and local meat and herb paté (called Caillette) that is a specialty from Chabeuil, although the neighboring departments Drôme and Ardeche still fight over its origin.

After the breakfast we visited the town for grocery shopping. It was already afternoon, when we headed out for a hike in the nearby vineyards and a bit further up in a scenic pine forest. At some point the clouds disappeared and it was getting quite hot.

Someone has been collecting miniature work machinery, or are they toys?

The trail was quite rocky at places but never too steep.

I love pine forests, and not the least because of their fresh (and dry) smell.

A view over Saillans.

Our hike took us back to the town.

Today's hike was 12.2K and it took us 3h 30mins, with D+/D- of 500m.

Falafel dinner brought at the Organic store Le Coing Bio. Very expensive shop but on Monday we didn't have much choice since the other grocery store was closed. (Still after nine years in France we have not adjusted to very inflexible opening (and closing) hours of stores and restaurants. It is much easier when at home, where we usually have something in the fridge/freezer, but when traveling, and especially bike touring, not so much. For a few times it has been very close that we didn't find anything to eat after a long day of riding.)

After a clear starry night we woke up to a cloudy morning, and soon it started raining, but it did not last long. The day's hike took us to the opposite side of the Drôme river valley.

Saillans and farther behind it the slopes we hiked the day before.

At some point the trail was taken over by a stream, and we had to make a detour through a vineyard. Eventually we found ourselves at this camping caravan graveyard. The only problem was that we were behind (inside!) a closed gate, and had to use some smart thinking to climb over it (Tomi) or to go around it (Tei). Sorry no pictures!

Once we were free, we followed the road and some nice but somewhat steep trails to the little village of Les Auberts.

Eventually the clouds disappeared and it became quite hot again. Luckily some parts of the trail traveled in the shade.

Les Auberts. (https://collection-jfm.fr/p/cpsm-france-26-les-auberts-route-de-saillans-a-bourdeaux-72664)

From the village we turned back down and had a relatively comfortable descent to the Gorge of St. Moirans.

We followed the magnificent gorge all the way to Saillans.

Today's hike was 16.5K, and it took us 4h 20mins, with D+/D- of 1000m.

In the beginning of September in 2020 was the first time we stayed at this campground (it was the last weekend they were open for the season) --- the distancing regulations from that time were still in place.

The next morning was sunny again and promised a very hot day. It was time to leave Saillans and ride back North to La Voulte by the river Rhône.

We do not have many pictures from this day, since we traveled the same route we had traveled and taken pictures of several times before. This time we made a detour in Aouste-sur-Sye, a little village dating back to Roman times.

This stream near the confluence of the Droôme and Rhône rivers does not stop to amaze us. The water is so clear you almost want to drink it, especially on a hot day like this. Our drive to La Voulte was uneventful, although we had some doubts about the instructions from the Airbnb host ("Ride through an industrial zone, and after the chicane take the first small street to your right --- there were so many chicanes!) but we found the place! It was located literally in the intersection of ViaRhôna and La Dolce Via as advertized. We had a half of a townhouse all to ourselves (the host lived in the other half), and could even store the bikes inside. Today's ride was just 48.9K and it took us 3h 33 mins. We rode mostly to headwind so it did not feel quite as hot as we had expected. The following day was the time to start our trip back towards home.

Phew, what a day of riding! From La Voulte we had an easy ride to Valence, and from Valence further 12 kilometers North on La Voie Bleue to Châteaubourg with a help of generous tailwind.

In Châteaubourg there should have been a link to ViaRhôna, but we did not find any signs. For a second we thought about returning to Valence and continuing to Romans-sur-Isère from there. Instead, we decided to continue North on a busy highway (D86) between traffic and a stone wall --- luckily only 2.5 kilometers to La-Roche-du-Glun, the first opportunity to cross the river Rhône. It was only there we saw the first signs directing to ViaRhôna! After crossing both branches of Rhône, we continued on ViaRhôna back South. It was a miserable fight to headwind, and we soon quit, and chose a small idyllic country road in hope that it would take us to Romans-sur-Isère. Instead it took us to another busy highway on which we stayed about ten kilometers before reaching Romans. Today's ride was 64K, which we did in 4h 40mins.

We had booked (through Airbnb) a townhouse for three nights in a quiet neighborhood of Romans-sur-Isère, a town known of (luxury) shoe making. Again we had a lot of space for us in this house of three floors that was owned and occupied by a world traveler (he was out of Europe at the moment): there were souvenirs from all around the world, from Africa to South America to Asia, all over the house.

As usual we spent the first day in the town, again following a walking tour for tourists.

A detail of Collégiale Sain-Barnard.

Pont-Vieux over Isère and Collégiale Saint-Barnard.

As mentioned, Romans-sur-Isère has a history of luxury shoe making, and these giant pumps advertize the shoe museum. We did not visit the museum, but bought Tomi artisanal shoes at Cité de la Chaussure. The shoe making in Romans started in early 1900's but has since declined. The idea of the Cité (est. 2010) was to renew the local craftsmanship by bringing a number of artisanal shoemakers and their brands under the same roof.

For lunch we found an interesting co-op restaurant Magma Terra that carried an impressive selection of local craft beers. For the main Tomi had roasted eggplant with bulgur, and

Tei had glazed veal tenderloin with rice.

The day before going home we drove to Châteauneuf-sur-Isère.

The day's hike took us first to a troglodyte village and quarries, the source of sandstone called molasse, widely used for construction in the area.

This site was inhabited until the beginning of the 20th century by the quarrymen and their families.

The quarry activities went on over 2000 years at this site, and during that time about 20 hectares of underground quarries were dug.

The sandstone was transported on the Isère river to Valence, Romans, and other nearby towns, where it was used in many buildings.

Châteauneuf-sur-Isère.

Chapelle Saint-Hugues.

Another quarter of troglodyte houses, not that well preserved.

From the troglodyte villages and quarries we moved to orchards of mostly apricots but also apples.

On our way back to Romans we visited Jardin Zen in Beaumont Monteux.

The garden was created, and is maintained, by a plastic artist Erik Borja, born in Alger in 1941, after he made a study trip to Kyoto in 1977 to learn about the art of Japanese gardens.

The idea of the garden is to be a place for slow promenades, meditation, and picnics -- and we saw many people napping there in the shade --- but it was a bit hard to imagine the Zen because of the noisy highway running nearby.

Anyway, it was a beautiful garden. And despite the number of visitors --- based on the number of vehicles on the parking lot --- it did not feel crowded but individual privacy was easy to maintain.

Then it was time to return home to meet our new bathroom.

From Romans we got to the Véloroute 63 that followed the river Isère upstream. We had ridden the route before to both directions, but it felt much hillier now than we remembered; especially uphills to this direction were quite tough.

After St.Hilaire-St.Nazaire we stopped for lunch at the picnic spot which we remembered having a water fountain.

After little more riding we were in La Sône, and decided to continue just to St. Marcellin and take a train to Gières, and ride home from there.

We stopped for a while to watch the radio-controlled car race in Domène.

Those drivers must have super reflexes --- the cars were going so fast.

After another short break in Bois Français we noticed that Tei's rear tire was flat. Tomi's magic glue fixed the tire, and we could ride safely home, where we arrived around 6:30pm.

Today's ride was 55.5K, and it took us 4h 26mins. The total distance of riding during these two weeks was 290.8K. This was a very relaxed vacation; we did not plan the activities too much ahead, and even if we moved (hiked, biked, walked) every day, we tried to keep it not too challenging, not always succeeding though. Furthermore, since we did not have our hiking boots and hiking poles with us, we tried to choose easy to moderately difficult trails. The weather pampered us: except of one rainy/drizzly day it was all sunshine.