Day 19 - St Laurent du Pape to Choranche

Posted by: Rob on 25/06/2018
Mostly Sunny
Banner showing view of river flowing through gorge

Stats

57.03 mi
25/06/2018 07:28 CEST
Time
Time:
Riding
5:57:23
Total
8:20:02
Speed
Speed:
Ave.
9.58 mph
Max.
24.61 mph
Energy
Energy:
Exp.
6064.30 Btu
Pow.
0.09 hp
Elevation Gain
Elevation Gain:
Up
2507.55 ft
Down
1982.25 ft
Elevation Range
Elevation Range:
Max.
1014.44 ft
Min.
301.84 ft
Temperature
Temperature:
Max.
84 °F
Min.
61 °F
1045.76 mi
621.30 mi
ShowMap
1045.76 mi
621.30 mi

Heading East

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.

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Currently 4 comments

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mikej on 25/06/2018 23:34:01
Spectacular scenery. Over 1000 miles done! Went to London today; train home delayed by "heat related speed restrictions"!
Kirst on 25/06/2018 22:24:38
Andy Murray beat Wawrinka in the first round at Eastbourne today, 6-1, 6-4 I think. I have 2 weeks with Ralph coming up! How are your legs?
Simon on 25/06/2018 21:22:30
Nice work mate, there's certainly some beautiful scenery down there! How is the bike holding up?
Rob on 26/06/2018 18:47:13
The bike is holding up just fine. My legs are too, sort of 😋