Food in Provence (and elsewhere)

Am I glad cycled the 522km? Yes. Would I do it again? Probably not. Certainly not alone and J. isn’t convinced by the Gex to Belley stage and not at all keen on cycling the Lyon to Vienne section. J. has, though, enjoyed the drives between the different stops and there have been some serendipitous finds—restaurants such as the Auberge du Roy d’Aval and Les Platanes, the café at the Cascade de Glandieu and the beautiful stretch from Condrieu to Sablons.

Another consideration for a trip à deux is luggage. Having J. drive the support car has lightened my panniers. I’m not sure we want to plan a trip where we have to worry about packing minimally—I’ve had fresh cycling gear each day, Felicity talks about sitting in a towel as her gear is washed. But, over dinner, J. and I consider driving somewhere and taking a round trip route with a couple of overnight stops to be feasible. Perhaps next year.

Battery vs Muscle power? I certainly don’t think I could have managed the section from Gex to Seyssel without battery assistance. After that it was probably a luxury. Although perhaps not wherever I was sharing a road with cars: I just felt more at ease knowing either a) I wouldn’t have to struggle or b) I was going fast enough along a narrow stretch that cars (or lorries!) would have to sit behind me and not try to overtake. The luxury was on the cycle paths where battery power helped up the steep slopes to bridges and, especially, picking up speed again after barriers—many of these were frustratingly at the bottom of a hill so you couldn’t use your momentum to carry you on.

Certainly not a luxury were the GPS tracks that you can download if you buy the Wells River Rhone cycle route guide (but also from the Via Rhona web site). My phone battery wouldn’t last a whole day (something I proved, to my alarm near the end, on my first reconnaissance trip to Seyssel), but the Coros Dura I bought for the trip lasted the whole time without a recharge. I just wish the screen were visible with polarised sun glasses though! And perhaps that the generally positive reviews had covered this point—although as I have a Coros watch it was probably the obvious choice anyway.