ViaRhôna I, 11 -18 August, 2019

This was our first tour on ViaRhôna, a bicycle route that runs from Geneva to the Mediterranean, following the river Rhône. It mostly consists of dedicated bike paths and quiet agricultural roads, or small residential streets in towns and villages, but also has few short sections that travel on busier roads. Our second tour on ViaRhôna was an extended weekend trip from Chanaz to Lyon two weeks later.

Day 1: This was a week-long trip that took as from Valence to Aigues-Mortes by the Mediterranean. We decided to head out even if Tei broke her toe a week earlier, and we made the right decisions: we had perfect sunny and warm eight days, we got the proper exercise every day (running was out of question!), and the toe did not bother at all.

ViaRhôna was clearly marked right from the Valence Ville railway station. After few kilometers of riding we stopped to enjoy our breakfast sandwiches we were too drowsy to eat in the train.

We crossed the river the first time on Pont des Lônes. It had some impressive art painted in several arches underneath it.

The event of painting was organized in 2018 by Musée D'Art Urbain du Pont des Lônes in Soyons, and 25 artists participated.

The painting themes were from George Lucas and J.R.R. Tolkien. (I am not sure, though, if all the current paintings are the original ones.)

We passed and crossed so many CNR (Compagnie Nationale du Rhône) dams on our way --- there are altogether 19 of them. Besides supplying hydroelectric power, the company also has solar and wind power farms.

Beauchastel, an old town we passed when looking for La Dolce Via, a bike and pedestrian path following the ancient railway line in the valley of river Eyrieux.

We rode just 10 kilometers forth and back on La Dolce Via, but decided to come back later in the Fall (which we did two weeks ago, October 12-13, 2019).

People were diving from the cliffs and swimming in the river, so the water must have been warm.

La Voulte-sur-Rhône.

We crossed many beautiful bridges.

We stayed at Ibis Budget hotel in Le Pouzin on the Drôme side of the river. Now it is a good time to mention that everywhere we stayed during our tour we were welcomed with our bikes, and were offered a safe place to store them even without asking. And we did not get those strange looks and rolling of eyes we got so used to in the US when walking in a restaurant in our bicycle attire.

Before heading out to explore the center of Le Pouzin we had a cheese plate at the neighboring Ibis hotel --- they almost always come in twos, the regular Ibis and Ibis Budget hotel right next to each other.

There was not much to be seen in the town, so we returned to hotel Ibis for dinner.

Tomi's tagliatelle carbonara.

Tei's maigret de canard.

Then it was time to go to sleep. On our first day we rode 66.35 kilometers in 4:43'44.

Day 2: The second day opened cloudy and windy, the only time we had not so optimal conditions.

After a half an hour of riding it even started raining, but it did not last long.

The best buddies.

In Rochemaure we crossed a Himalayan style footbridge that was built using the old pillars from the historic Vieux Pont over Rhône.

It was quite windy so balancing while walking the bike was a challenge, but fortunately the bridge was sturdier than this type of bridges we have crossed before.

In Viviers, a small medieval town, we took a short walk up to the old town and St. Vincent Cathedral.

It was a bit tedious walk on steep gobble stone streets so we left the bikes behind. Still it was hard ...

We also tried to have lunch at this restaurant, but we were completely ignored for the 15 minutes we sat there, so we left.

We continued to Bourg-Saint-Andéol. We found the tourist office, and they found us two places to stay in the town. We chose the closest one just 100 meters away, Logis Hôtel le Clos des Oliviers.

The guy at the reception, who also ran the bar next door, asked if we had a reservation, and since we did not, said the very French thing "No!", no availability. We were like "ooh", and then he started looking at his book and found a room for us!

Before dinner we did some laundry while having beers at his bar, and then took a walk around the town. This is an old lavoir (public wash house) built in 1843.

Old carving of the Persian bull-slaying god Mithra. Today's bike trip was only 63.43 kilometers.

The old lavoir on the left.

Day 3: A strong tailwind blew us South following the highway A7. While the highway was mainly flat, our petit road went up and down as it climbed to the overpass bridges.

After Caderousse was the first and only time when ViaRhôna's signage failed us and we rode several kilometers in the wrong direction. Generally the route was very well marked; only a couple of times it took us some time to find the sign, but it was always there. It also helped that we had printed written instructions of the route. Returning after the mistake was hard, since now we were struggling to a strong head wind or even more hazardous gusty side wind.

When back on the map we started a long and tedious climb, the first one on this trip, to the vineyards of Châteauneuf-du-Pape.

Serious wine photography taking place.

Since we were so close we did not want to miss this famous village. Besides, we were hungry and it was lunch time. So we pedaled the final very steep streets to the touristy center of Châteauneuf-du-Pape.

We parked our bikes, and chose the nearest restaurant La Mule du Pape. We had salads and glasses of wine for 52 euros!

Then we had just a short ride to Avignon.

Pont des Arméniers.

In Avignon we had an Airbnb accommodation booked for two nights: convenient location with a safe place to store our bikes, but there was no fridge. It had just broken down few days ago, but the host had already ordered a new one. Still we were a bit troubled with all the food we had bought for the two-night stay.

We did not have TV, so for our dinner entertainment we had a couple of Spanish guys playing ambient techno below our window.

After dinner we took a short stroll in the town, and had a carafe of wine at Le Vintage Restaurant -- Bar a Vin. I remember that the service turned ridiculously bad as soon as the server learned that we were there just for drinks, and had no intention to eat.

Our ride from Bourg-Saint-Andéol to Avignon was 86.9 kilometers in 5:30'21.

Day 4: The next morning the host brought us the new fridge --- only that it was not a fridge but a freezer, which he realized later on (he was not French but Italian, but the word is practically the same in both languages).

This was our one day off riding, so we headed out to town and left our food to freeze. This guy on the Place de l'Horloge played incredibly well.

Next we headed, like all the other tourists, to Palais des Papes, an amazing palace built by popes escaping from Rome. The building started in 1252. We did not actually line up for visit but toured the surroundings.

Le Pont Saint-Bénézet, commonly known as Pont d'Avignon.

For the lunch we chose our neighboring restaurant Coeur d'Artichaut: Tei had salmon waffle and, ...

... Tomi had a Thai-bowl. We enjoyed them with local beers, blonde and blanche.

After lunch we continued our aimless stroll around the town.

This is an ancient charity building from the end of 16th century created by the city to provide residence for people in need: abandoned or found children, aging, and incurably ill persons. Later in history, in the 1800's, the building was used to host passing military troops. In 1890 it was transformed into an art school, as which it functioned until 1999, when the city sold it to a real estate agency that rents it out as apartments.

Some sections of the city wall have been restored.

Some others were left intact.

La Porte de la Republique.

We tried to visit the Pont'd'Avignon, but once we got there we found a huge line and the entrance fee, so we gave up.

Day 5: The morning started "normally" by defrosting our breakfast and making an omelette.

We found so many blackberries it was hard to make much progress.

So delicious ...

We stopped for lunch in Beaucaire at Brasserie du Canal. We both had Salade niçoise with local rosé.

The canal.

Chapel of covered cross (L'oratoire de la Croix Couverte)

Fast forward: after 68.12 kilometers of riding in 4:29'22 from Avignon we reached Arles. We had booked a room at the hotel Kyriad in a vast shopping mall area south of town. We had a boring 2-kilometer walk to downtown.

Together with other tourists we checked the amphitheater, from the outside only, though (we didn't want to pay the entrance fee, since we were not sure it was worth it).

Then we circled around the Colosseum.

Fontaine Amédée Pichot, no more a working water fountain, but the facade is still impressive.

The river Rhône.

We had large pints of Pietra at a smoky patio of Mon Bar Tabac Brasserie while considering our dinner options.

Eventually we chose Restaurant Le Rendez-Vous around the corner, a small family run restaurant. We did not have a reservation, but they still welcomed us. Our starters were curry gambas (Tei), and

St. Jacques carpaccio (Tomi).

And the mains were rouget (Tei), and

chorizo stuffed encornet (Tomi). All very good and fresh.

Against our habits we also enjoyed dessert; we shared a café gourmand.

Then we returned to Kyriad to book accommodation for the next night, but had very little success. Every place was taken, obviously; it was a holiday season and we were approaching very touristy area near the Mediterranean.

Day 6: This day's ride took as to Aigues-Mortes through the most scenic landscape consisting of marchland and saltpans, dotted by bird ponds.

Rest of the way we followed the Canal du Rhône à Sète.

We climbed to the old guard tower, Tour Carbonnière, that was built in the end of 13th century.

We had a 360 degree view from the top over the surrounding marshland.

These trees looked like giant broccoli heads.

The walled city of Aigues-Mortes seemed a very busy and touristy place, so maybe we were lucky we couldn't find an accommodation there.

We walked our bikes through the tourist masses to the tourist office, where the friendly and very helpful guide spent a long time trying to find us a place to stay for the nigh. Eventually she succeeded, and found a place in Saint-Gilles, a town we had passed when riding here.

We had to return by the same canal we got here, which is not that bad, since the scenery was quite nice. Before hopping back on our bikes we had salads lunch at Hotel Canal Aigues Mortes.

The ride to Saint-Gilles was a breeze since for our luck the wind had turned and we had a comfortable tail wind again.

The older owners of the Hotel Saint-Gilles were awaiting us when we arrived. The place looked a bit shady, but the room and the accompanying bathroom were very clean and non-smelly. Today we rode 87.64 kilometers in 6:17'09.

After showering we headed out to check the town, which was strangely deserted. We barely saw any people (or cats). The west portal of the abbey church (L'abbatiale de Saint-Gilles).

Having found only one pizzeria open, which was basically just a whole in the wall with no indoor or outdoor seating, we returned to the hotel next to ours, Hotel Le Cours, for dinner. It started well but we had to wait for more than an hour for mains, and were not offered much apology nor explanation for the delay, other than not charging for coffees.

Day 7: Simple breakfast at our hotel, a cup of coffee, a baguette, and a carton of orange juice.

At 10am. we were in Nimes, after riding 22.98 kilometers in 1:52'52. We could not check in at our hotel that early, so we decided to do laundry first. Because of the lightish breakfast we were already hungry, and had coffees and a pizza at the boulangerie Maison Amara.

When the laundry was done and we had had our shower, we headed out to visit the town. This statue of a bull was unveiled just last year.

La fontaine Pradier, inaugurated in 1851.

First we tried to figure out if we were hungry (again), and we were. We found a small Greek souvlaki place and ordered a Greek salad and chicken pita bread, with Cretan rosé.

Jardin de la Fontaine.

Tour Magne on Mont Cavalier, the only remaining structure of ancient Augustan fortification. It was built in 16BC.

We paid 3.5 euros to climb the spiral stairs up in the crowd.

The view was ...

But we learned something on that visit.

Then we paid a visit to a local brewery to find out that they don't have a pub. We were instructed to go to Bar des Beaux-Arts at Place aux Herbes.

La Barbaude's La reine des mousses was very nice summer beer. We had two rounds.

For dinner we found Le Loca Food serving Martinique cuisine, and the night's special consisted of small portions of starters and mains. We were sold! The food was tasty with just right level of spiciness.

Day 8: We wanted to end the tour on the high note, so instead of taking the train all the way to Grenoble, we took it to Saint-Hilaire - Saint Nazaire, and rode home from there following the bicycle route no. 63 by the river Isère.

The morning started cloudy but warm. The train departed as early a 7:08am., but luckily we stayed in the hotel right next to the station. We had a bit tedious connection in Arles; since there was no elevator we had to carry the bikes and the panniers up and down the stairs. The trains were also of older model with narrow doorways and steep steps. And there were a lot of bikes onboard. We met a Canadian family with two teenage boys who had been riding in Austria. Switzerland, Germany, and France for a month.

By the time we started riding the clouds had cleared. We had a very nice and easy ride in comfortable tail wind although it was all "uphill".

It was a hot day, so we were happy to find water points along the route.

Crossing the river Isère.

After riding only 10 kilometers we found ourselves at Lac du Marandan and their lunch buffet. It was already lunchtime.

The lake was popular on this hot Sunday.

We reach home at 4pm. On this last day we rode 70.76 kilometers in 4:28'56 with 626 meters of ascent. This bicycle tour was very successful: we had sun every day, and it only rained an hour or so one morning. We also had tail wind all the time. Total distance covered was 466 kilometers in 34 hours and 11 minutes, with total ascent of 2875 meters.