Nevers to Valence 18th-22nd March
THE ROUTE
From Nevers we followed the Loire down to Decize.
At the first little town a man on a barge was trying to lift a very heavy canopy on his boat. Darryl went to help and in return the man lent us his stand pump, as the little pump we have did not seem man enough to pump up our tyres. All tyres fully inflated we continued on our way.
We found a supermarket with a large cycle parts section and purchased another pump. Hopefully this one will help inflate our tyres when needed!
At Decize we had a decision to make. Do we go left or right? Both routes would end in the same place. We decided to turn right as this route followed the Canal Lateral A La Loire. The canal paths are very beautiful, tree lined with lovely little villages along the way with good places to camp and pick up food supplies.
In the pretty little village of Gannay Sur Loire, having just enjoyed our picnic lunch, we noticed yet another puncture! Wheel off, tyre off and we found a thorn in the tyre! New inner tube fitted and suddenly there was a "whooosh' sound. The other tyre had just exploded! For those who have read the first blog ..... this means puncture number 8! We can only assume this was because it was a hot day and the tyre had expanded.
Punctures repaired but we discovered the new pump was not very good! Again we had the issue of not being able to fully inflate the tyres with our 2 little pumps. With the load we are carrying it is important to keep the tyres well inflated. So, whilst Darryl waited with the bike with the half inflated tyres, Christine went in search of help.
The garden centre did not have a pump but pointed her to a garage, which was closed. Following a sign to the Port de Plaisance (marina) Christine asked a man if he had a pump. He kindly went tothe marina to get one , but unfortunately the pump did not work on our bike. He did, however, manage to get some more air into the tyres with one of our pumps so we were good to go.
We headed to the Port De Plaisance as the man had told us we could camp there, there was water, toilets, picnic tables and a shower. Unfortunately the shower was locked but we had the most beautiful sunset and sunrise.
At the next Intermarche supermarket Darryl tried to return the ineffective pump only to discover each supermarket is independent. If he wanted to return it we would have to go back to the shop where we purchased it! Onwards and we found a shopping centre with a Decathlon so purchased yet another pump!
We continued to follow the canal down to Paray Le Monial where we left the canal and headed across country through the Bourgogne. The scenery was beautiful but having left the canal we encountered quite a number of steep hills, which seemed even more challenging with loaded bikes!
We spent a night in Mazille with another beautiful sunset. This region is full of beautiful castles and vineyards.
The weather has improved from rain to sunshine - now it is t-shirts and shorts! The mornings and evenings are, however, still cold.
Next we had to navigate our way through the enormous city of Lyon. Thankfully there is a very good cycle path all the way through the city. We saw firemen practicing on the river, beautiful old buildings and fancy modern buildings. We followed the river all through the city and out the otherside. Here we joined the Via Rhona, a dedicated cycle path along the river which goes all the way down to the Mediterranean.
We passed an enormous lock and it was hard to believe that many years ago we took our little boat in there!
The cycle path criss-crossed back and forth across the mighty Rhone many times. In some areas it looked new and was very well maintained. There was the occasional picnic spot where we would stop for lunch or coffee and biscuits. There are also bike repair centres (a fixed stand with tools and a pump attached).
As the cycle path was so easy to cycle, we did a couple of long days. The longest cycle to date in one day is 75km (probably our limit!!).
The next city we had to navigate was Valence. This was not quite so easy. The cycle path takes you on an 2 km tour of the city. As we were heading to our friend's house we didn't want to do this, so we attempted to get through the city without following the route. We found ourselves backtracking up a very busy road and eventually following part of the cycle route, which passed through a beautiful park and back out onto the Via Rhona.
6km outside of Valence we crossed the river again to head to our friend's house. Unfortunately for us he lives in a little village at the top of a VERY steep and winding hill in the Ardeche region! It was a particularly hot day and the going was tough. With a few rest stops along the way we made it to the top and were reunited with our friend who we haven't seen for 2 years.
ISSUES
Punctures to date = 8
1 ineffective pump purchased and cannot return
UPDATE : Super glue DOES NOT fix a hole in a sleeping mat! Nor, it seems, does tyre puncture patches!! We need something a little more flexible.
KINDNESS OF STRANGERS
The man who told us about camping at the Port De Plaisance came to check on us in the evening and offered to charge any devices we needed charging and asked if there was anything we needed. We had initially thought he worked there but it turned out he has just bought a boat which he keeps there and is working on that
DISTANCE TO DATE : Approx 850km
