We had 4 days left to ride to Avignon, and wanted to cover
this in 3 days cycling with some nice destinations on our way. So the choices
were to either leave and have another “rest” day somewhere else, or stay for
another day and then go for 3 consecutive days of cycling. We decided to go for the
second option, as that area near the Chassezac was so nice; good peaceful
campground, fantastic nature, and many interesting things to do. We stayed
another day and went for a canoe trip through the Chassezac canyon, a short and
very enjoyable paddling trip with a few nice and easy rapids, and beaches to
stop for a while to take in the magnificent views. That, and a walk to a
riverside beach, made for a great day.
 |
| Evening falls, on our way back through the fields from dinner. You need to add the sound of the cicadas and the perfect summer evening temperature to fully appreciate this. And the happiness of a dinner with wine in Berrias, a small town, on the terrace of the Cafe Des Arts! |
 |
| Beach time on the canoe trip through the Chassezac canyon |
 |
| And paddling time - sort of |
 |
| Camping besides the vineyard |
We then left for the final part of this bike tour: first to
Avignon for a night, and then one more day to Carpentras. For our journey to
Avignon we had 3 days, to cover around 150km – taking in a few detours to visit
nice places. We expected these would be quite easy days, with some hills here
and there. The first 2 days were very hilly however – but extremely beautiful –
and we easily climbed more than 1000m on the first day. Our first destination for
that day was a village called Joyeuse, which we had heard was a very nice
medieval village. It certainly was very nice, we drank a good coffee on a small
cosy square and then visited to weekly market. This was the first time on this trip we found
ourselves among (literally) busloads of tourists; a very nice and
very busy market…
 |
| Small square in the medieval town of Joyeuse, perfect place for a coffee |
From Joyeuse it went up and down again, destination Vallon-Pont-d’Arc, with a few steep sweaty climbs.
We passed through Ruoms, which was the point we realized we had now really
entered the tourist circus territory. Souvenirs, plastic chairs and tables,
tourist attractions etc; nothing wrong with it (or, is it?), just not our cup of tea.
Unfortunately, with the tourist circus, the friendliness of the local people
changes too; or rather, it disappears. It’s about consuming, spending, and lots
of frustrations about these bloody tourists who don't even speak proper French – which is basically from whom they earn their
living however… We experienced this negativity first-hand in Vallon-Pont-d’Arc itself, where a very
sour shop owner couldn’t “accept” our bicycles on the area in front of his shop
(while they were absolutely out of the way, and the shop had a “closed” sign anyway) and
the restaurant owner refused a family to use the toilets (in a rather unfriendly way).
Aiaiai… Other than that we had great encounters and experiences (it definitely helps if you do speak French), no problem at all.
 |
| Looking back to where we came from, on the way up from Vallon-Pont-d'Arc, in the afternoon heat. |
 |
| Very pleasant campground in St Remeze, no need to put the tent fly on at this point - way too hot for that. It does cool down at night though, so then we did put it on. |
From Vallon-Pont-d’Arc we knew we had a climb of around 350m
towards St Remeze. Oh yes, by the way, before that between Ruoms and Vallon-Pont-d’Arc
there is a cycling trail which we decided to follow. Strong advice: never do
this on a loaded tour bike! It climbs 100m and has a gradient of up to 12%!!! So we
had that bit of very hard work, and in the afternoon the longer climb. By itself
that longer climb was fine at around 5%, only it had become very hot over the past
few days and we were in the plain afternoon sun with no breeze at all. We were
basically melting… There was a bit more breeze as we came nearer to the end of the
climb, and we eventually arrived at St Remeze at a really nice, green, shady
campground (Domaine de Briange), with a swimming pool and a view over Mount
Ventoux. It had been a much tougher day than expected, but absolutely nice.
 |
| Many lavender fields around St Remeze, in full bloom. |
 |
| Picnic at a viewpoint on the Ardeche canyon |
 |
| One of the many magnificent views along the canyon |
From St Remeze we connected to the road D290 along the Gorges de
l’Ardeche (the Ardeche canyon), riding 30-something km on the high plateau through which
the canyon has formed, with incredible views. Up and down, fantastic scenery,
great cycling and we took our time for it. At the end of the canyon road we
arrived in St Martin d’Ardeche, where we crossed the river on a one way bridge.
At the other end of the bridge we looked back and saw there were some nice terraces and a small
beach on the side we came from, we turned around and… instantly I had another
flat tire! I took the tire off in order to repair, only to find out that the valve had
again been ripped from the rubber! No way to repair that. So: time to use my second (and last) spare
tire. Unfortunately, this was a wrong spare: it had a bigger size valve than required, and could
therefore not be used… We were stuck! No bicycle shop in town, no bicycle
rental where they might have spares, … The only option was for Ellen to cycle
to the next bigger town – Pont-Saint-Esprit – buy a spare tire there, and come
back; a bit more than 20km round trip. By the time that had been done, tire
changed, Ellen rested it was too late to continue our trip for the day, so we
stayed in St Martin rather than continue to our planned destination. It was a
nice place to stop anyway, we had a great and cozy dinner, saw the Belgians beat
the English in the World Cup (well, the last 20' of the game anyway), and continued to Avignon the next day.
 |
| The one way bridge in St Martin d'Ardeche |
 |
| A beautiful fountain (bath?) in Pont-Saint-Esprit |
 |
| Hilly cycling through the Cotes du Rhone region |
Our intention was to arrive in Avignon between 2 and 3pm,
and we had around 60km to do. Keep in mind a coffee and a lunch break, and it
meant we had to get up and leave earlier than usual. No problem, to the contrary. It
was still a bit cooler in the morning, and in fact getting up at 7am when you’re
in a tent is quite natural. The trip to Avignon was still nice, although a bit
less than most days before. We initially followed a cycling trail again (Rhone Valley
trail), over small roads, through Cotes du Rhone vineyards and beautiful villages,
but again with the necessary (sometimes steep) climbs in it. We then cycled along
the Rhone (this was a less interesting part), before being confronted with a closed road (well, a
closed bridge again, to be correct! The second one on this trip…). No problem, it
was easy to get around it this time, only it meant we had to ride on the
national road for a while – a busy road with no or limited hard shoulder.
 |
| One of the road blocks of the day... (there was really no passing the road works further on) |
 |
| Crossing the Rhone river near Avignon. |
 |
| Hmmmm... Our B&B for the night! |
 |
| On the very last leg, trying to find some ripe figs but it's still a little bit too early unfortunately. |
We found some other smalls roads after a little while, only
to get blocked by 2 more closed roads. It never really meant a big
inconvenience, just some detours and asking around for best directions. We
still arrived before 3pm near Avignon, in fact on an island in the Rhone river just north
of Avignon. Amazing how that place is very quiet and rural, while once you get
to the south side, across the river you’re suddenly in the busy city itself. We
stayed in a beautiful B&B together with Jan and Christine, and cycled with them to
the city for dinner. Wow, we have been a couple of times in Avignon before, but
it still surprises as a very nice city, and on a bicycle you experience it entirely differently. After a great night in the B&B – the first night in a
bed after almost 3 weeks of sleeping mats and tent – we did the last stretch on
this tour, from Avignon to Carpentras, where we will spend 1 week in a beautiful rented
house with our friends. It’s very much summer now, with temperatures in the
high 30’s C, and we’re enjoying it to our fullest (good to have the swimming pool)! The end of yet another
fantastic bike trip – and this time, the next one has not been planned yet… Time
to start working on that!
 |
| At our final destination for this trip, our home for a week together with 8 great friends, near Carpentras - after just over 1500km of cycling! |
