25, 26 Mars - Lyon to Saint Vallier to Saint Laurent du Pap

The rain started heavy our second night in Lyon and so we donned all of our rain gear once again and after bidding adieu to Laurent (Audrey had left at six in the morning for work), we cycled our way through the city of Lyon and its suburbs, heading south along the Rhone River.

I often say to Paul, or think to myself, when a fasty cyclist races past us that it must be somebody training for Le Tour de France. It's been fun to go through some villages and think that perhaps in July will see them again, or something like them, when we watch the Tour back home some early mornings at the Mount Bakery Cafe. 

We've been following the official the ViaRhrona cycle way, but clearly it's not complete--and we knew that. But some of the terrain has been a little more rough than we were envisioning, so thank goodness we have some experience with soft sand and gravel from our ride of last summer.

 The find of France! He was dirty and sodden and forlorn, alone on the wet trail. I'll clean him up as best I can and Panthere Rose can come along with us for the ride.

A municipal campground in Saint Vallier was where we first pitched our tent. We hunkered in for the damp night with the meal du jour...(bread, fromage, jambon, wine, some sort of raw vegetable, and chocolate) and were happy when we woke to sunshine to take us further south.

Our view over a coffee cup down the road.

Another small puncture-- this time on Paul's front tire. Still...a pretty spot for the repair!

In Valence, we were charmed when a man walked up to us while we were admiring the view and smiled, spoke things in French, then said "English?" and "warmshowers?" ... He offered us a place to stay for the night, but we had to decline, as we hoped to get another 20km down the river.

The campgrounds were closed, as was the tourist office in La Voulte sur Rhone, but the nice girl saw us pondering the signs outside (how to interpre...?! And us with no phone...) -- so she opened the door and helped find us a room in a nearby village. Okay, so it was another 6 km, but with a closet containing such as these... It was worth it.

A day In Lyon - Mars 24

As if traveling through cities scattered with functioning structures from four, five... eight centuries ago were not striking enough for a couple of Yankees used to the about-a-hundred-year-old variety, Lyon brought us and our imaginations back even further and up up up to Fourvière and the site of the original Roman settlement of Lugdunum.

Nike

The site dates back to "early B.C." years (the 50s?), with two outdoor theaters for the public to explore-- and even listen to performances on some nights it seems--plus remains of many homes, shops and other buildings-- only some closed off.

We'd donned warm jackets when we left Audrey and Laurent's, but before we were halfway up the hill of montee l'Observance, we started layering off, and by the time we were climbing the stairs to the last bit up we were enjoying the sunshine of Lyon with bare arms. 

Afterward visiting the Gallo-Roman theaters, the we meandered over to the Basilica of Notre Dame Fourviere and took in the view of the city. Tile roofs being de rigueur, clay-red stretches off into the distance.

Taking a funicular back down the hill (think cable attached to a subway car moved up/down a very steep hill) we found a cafe with seating in the sun, an IPA and a busker duo singing (in French, of course!) nearby. A very good, relaxing afternoon.

Later, we shopped a la Francais, going to the boulangerie for bread, the formagerie for cheese, the bucherie for poulette, a shop for vin, one for greens, eggplant, onion, etc., and made dinner for our hosts Audrey and Laurent--two wonderful people who encouraged us early on to spend an extra day in their city. 

It was also in Lyon where we learned of the German airline crash--tragic, angering, heartbreaking -- a stark reminder of how temporary our time is and a good validation of why we are doing, what we are doing, right now.

On the way from Cluny/Jalogny to Lyon, France-- 23 Mars

Just moments and meters from when and where we left Rebecca to her work (she's a freelance journalist), we passed by the church in Jalogny which dates back to the 16th century. The air was so clear and crisp with morning--quiet, so quiet-- and a good beginning for what would end up being a longish day (with delights and challenges both!) of some 116km.

The scenes around us make us gawp with so many oohs and ahhs and the near-caricature-like "woww!" (Say it exaggerated and with a French accent trying to sound like a Yank and it's really quite funny; and, in these surroundings, something we're very self conscious of). Anyway--awe and wonder and an immense feeling of gratefulness that we're getting to experience all this-- and we're still in our 1st week!

This was initially a bummer to see, as the tunnel would have eliminated a mile or so and about a 100 meters of climbing-- plus tunnels are always fun! But...

...but if we'd been in the tunnel, we would have missed this!

We stopped for lunch trailside-- bread, chèvre, pate, and a coffee. When I went in to pay, I was doing my best attempt to share where we were going in France with the proprietress, who'd asked, including mention of our intention to stop in Manosque. This man joined the conversation at that, asking why Manosque.

I told him that initially it was just because of the distance from where we would be the night before, but that I happily discovered after that decision that it was also the birthplace and home of the author Jean Giono! And that we would serendipitously be there on the anniversary of his birth if plans stayed on course. (Paul and I chose "Giono" as Finnian's middle name because of how significant his book The Man Who Planted Trees was to us (even before we knew each other!) during our early bookstore days.) This man, Tom Pilkington, turned out to speak English (being from Wales) and delighted me by saying he'd done his thesis on Giono in the 70s, had received some input from the author in person, and had gotten married in Manosque. What an incredible surprise! Tom stressed that we should climb Le Montee des vraies richesses in the early morning while there. We'll see. This Giono happenstance, by the way, was just hours from having Rebecca in Jalogny translate a powerful passage of a Giono book to us after dinner the night before!

First view and crossing of the Saone

Villefranche sur Saone

First flat... Can't complain about stopping riverside to repair!

First sight and crossing of the Rhone River

Lyon

Lyon - Castle Saint Jean -- the view from Audrey et Laurent's apartment our first night.

Much about mapping

The winter of 2014/2015 was very much about mapping! And even this early, little and big changes are happening every day. But here's our trip in a nutshell. Generally we'll be riding along a few different EuroVelo cycleways tomorrow we begin along the ViaRhona), connected by what we hope are decent cycling roads or paths that Paul found through openstreetmap.org. (The black lines are when we won't be in the saddle.)

Dijon to Beaune to Cluny/Jalogny: Route des Grand Crus -Friday-Sunday,20-22 March

Before I get started let me just say that I LOVE French trains. Gliding along at 175 miles-per-hour, moving us 315 km southwest from Paris to Dijon at a very reasonable price with our bicycles--what's not to like about the TGV? We should put SNCF in charge of Amtrak in the U.S. 

While Paris was the prelude of our trip, we saw Dijon as the first act of what would be the start of our three-thousandsomething kilometer journey by bike. We were excited.

We were met at the Dijon train station by Frederic. A mathematician, both teacher and academic, and a lay historian, Frederic gave us a fascinating tour of the old town as we meandered to his apartment. There the lively conversation continued over a delicious simple dinner, and we now have a dear friend without doubt. Frederic also encouraged us to follow the Route des Grand Crus instead of riding along a river further east-- for which we are very grateful. 

Perhaps what we liked most about Dijon (besides the colorful old-world architecture) were the pedestrian friendly streets closed to auto traffic that contributed to the festive air of the warm-ish Friday evening. 

We were ever more grateful for the history lesson at our arrival, as morning of Saturday brought rain, dampening our thoughts to explore Dijon in the morning. On went the foul-weather gear, and off we weaved though old-world, new-world and, finally, the French countryside. Vineyards and more vineyards stretched out around us, the aged root stalks, looking like soldierly formations of waterfowl this early in the season, patient, like us, for the sun. Vineyard led to chateaux to vineyard to village to vineyard, repeat. Rain or no (and it did stop after a couple hours!) it was a good day.

Beyond Dijon 

Alaine wrote something earlier about this trip being more about pavement, so stretches on our 1st true day of riding made us laugh with memories of the Great Divide ride.

Carousels and city or village centers... gathering spots

Evening in Beaune included a little party with a lovely French dinner and Bourgogne wine from Beaune and Givrey, plus a lot of laughter while talking --as best we could with our limited French--about cycling adventures with Pauline and Roger and Christine. We hope Pauline will remain a fried for years to come and put in our vote that she add the west coast of the U.S. on her expansive list of places in the world cycled.

The morning--now Sunday-- was chilly but dry and pretty clear, and with sun breaks now and then, really ideal cycling weather. We followed cycle ways the whole day, through wine country and fields of what looked like early broccoli; through villages, along a canal, and on a long stretch of rail-to-trail paths, keeping us far from traffic for the 100km of our 2nd day of riding from Beaune to outside the town of Cluny. Rebecca and Angelo treated us to yet another multi course French dinner accompanied by perfectly paired local wines. Angelo has an olive farm in Provence near the Italian border. Alaine is ready to sign on to work next winter picking.

Overlooking Cluny

A tres tres steep road in Cluny... Steep down and then back up.

Tomorrow, another 100km to Lyon, where we will meet the ViaRhona cycleway.