XVI. Via Rhôna, but not that nice

Captain’s Log: Tuesday, 18 June 2019

Distance: Valence (09:00) – Bourg-Saint-Andéol (18:00), 108km

Accommodation: Camping du Lion Ardèche

Weather: Sun and a few clouds

Today’s note to myself: Just because you could, doesn’t mean you should.

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After some troubles getting on the right path again in the morning, I continued my journey along the Rhône, hoping that it would be a similar way like yesterday.

Well, it was not really. Of course, it was still following the river downstream, but it was different. Or I was just still exhausted from the day before, I don’t know.

But the things I have noticed, were that the road, even though mostly a bicycle road as well, was not as good anymore. It was very bumpy, so I was not able to drive in a normal velocity, and also I had quite some wind against me today, especially at the parts where I was directly at the river.

Because of the wind, I enjoyed the parts more where I was able to drive through the forest, since there was no wind at all.

At some point I passed some nuclear station. I have to say, I did not feel really comfortable around these towers.

I met quite a few other bicyclists today, since I passed the same few pairs over and over again, after they were passing me too because we drove at different speeds and had different break times.

At some point I was driving, and I saw something on the road which looked like a stick at the first glance, and I was like, hm, that stick moves strange in the wind, WAIT, THAT’S A SNAKE! But it was a cute one though, very little, and it tried very hard to come from one side of the road to another.

I saw a second snake some time later too, and a couple of lizards as well.

Around midday, my mood went down horribly, since I noticed that I followed the wrong bicycle route sign for about 4km, so I had to drive the same road back to find the right signs again. But that was nothing a good break and something to eat could not change again.

At some point I accepted by myself that I would not be able to reach Avignon today. Apparently the way was longer than I thought it would be. So I searched for another camping ground on the way, where I saw again quite a lot other bicyclists.

By the way, the most frequent question I’m getting asked is, “Are you alone?”, mostly followed by a “That’s very brave!”, and “How old are you again?” Maybe I should write down every time I’m getting asked these questions.