Around Valence 22nd March to 9th April
We are now staying with friends. One lives one side of the Rhone in the Ardeche and the other on the other side, in the Drome Region. We had originally planned to visit for a few days, however, due to the weather we have been here over 2 weeks!
The day we arrived we had blue skies and sunshine, which lasted the first day! Since then we have had a lot of rain, thunder, lightning and hail. Our friends have very kindly said we can stay as long as we like.
We have spent some time mending broken things eg. the bike repair kit bag, which virtually disintegrated and the sleeping mat, which we have now accepted cannot be fixed easily!
We went to the Salon des Vin de France for a wine tasting event and tasted many wines from around France - some good, some not to our taste and not worth the high price.
One sunny day we explored Valence. There are some very pretty parks and lots of historical buildings. We saw the Maison de Tete and a house where Napoleon used to live. We wandered the little back streets and tried to visit the cathedral, which unfortunately was under repair so was closed. As we have found with many of the towns we have visited, there is a lot of building/repair work taking place. We are not sure if this is just annual work for the summer season or something to do with France hosting the summer Olympics this year.
We visited the Renaissance town of Barjac for the annual antique fair. There were hundreds and hundreds of stalls selling all kinds of things. It was interesting to see many items we recognised from our childhood! Barjac is a beautiful little town full of little alleyways with interesting shops to explore. Unfortunately, during the day it became very windy. Stallholders were holding on to their gazebos. In one big gust we witnessed a whole cabinet full of antique porcelain smash to the ground in a sudden gust of wind. We felt so sorry for the stallholder.
On the journey back from Barjac we passed through Vallon De Pont D'Arc which is famous to kayaking. It is too early in the year for kayaking (too much water) but we passed the many, many shops where you could rent a kayak to paddle through the arch and down through the Ardeche.
We attended an art exhibition in the medieval river town of Romans Sur Isere, which is famous for being the capital of luxury shoes. The art exhibition was in a funky little cooperative cafe and was well attended. After the exhibition we wandered through the historic town. There are huge models of shoes all through the town. It was another windy day and as we returned to the car we saw a signpost which had blown over in the wind .... straight through the back window of a parked car. We then went to our friend's family for lunch and spent a lovely afternoon eating wonderful food and playing games.
One evening we attended a great Nina Simone tribute show at Le Train Theatre, Portes Les Valence. The theate is not actually in a train, however, there is an old railway carriage outside.
On dry days we have been out walking, visiting historic castles up in the hills, surrounded by beautiful scenery as we are in the foot hills of the Alpes.
Soon it will be time to get back in the saddle and continue south. The weather forecast is looking good, if a little windy. Thankfully this will push us down the Rhone!
