I was up and away in good time this morning. I planned to continue on the Via Rhôna to Valance, then take it from there. I thought about blasting straight down the main road - it would certainly be much quicker, but in the end decided to follow the slightly more circuitous cycle route. And very pleasant it was too.

It was a little chilly first thing, but it soon warmed up and I stopped at a little café in Valance. It was just before 10, but as I hadn't eaten anything other than a few biscuits, I went for a ham, cheese and tomato panini thing with a PAR for dessert washed down with a coffee.

After leaving Valance, the path split. I could either continue north on La Via Rhôna or head east on Vèloroute Voie Vert Vallée de l'Isère. I headed east. Just as I was reading the info sign thing a French recumbenteer stopped for a chat. He spoke very good English and we chatted about our journeys before going our separate ways.

Following l'Isère was a bit different to the Rhône and I lost the path after a while and hit the road. I went through lots of nice, historic towns and the big hills of the Vaucluse loomed up ahead of me.

I stopped in St Nazaire en Royans for a second lunch. I got a quiche and an éclair chocolat. I also spent a fair bit of time searching for a decent campsite, before deciding on one and working out a route to get there.

I would have liked to have busted out a few more miles today - I certainly had time, but I had to make sure there was a campsite in the right place for me to stop without going massively off route.

I met Another French cyclist and we chatted for a bit to the best of our abilities what with the language barrier. He was a bit mad - but in a nice way!

By now I was riding through the best scenery since the Pyrénées. I found the campsite I'd chosen easily enough and what a campsite it is! It's nestled in a gorge right by a river. I've been for a paddle in it, but it was freezing!

The campsite has a nice food area outside which is where I am now. I had calamari for starter and a burger with a local blue cheese for my main course, which left me stuffed, so I was just going to have a coffee after that, but then I saw all the ice creams, so had a Dame blanche 😊

I've plotted a route to Geneva which will take a couple of days or so - there are a couple of tasty looking climbs in there, but nothing too serious. So an early night for me ready to hit it tomorrow morning.