Following the wine

The accommodation in Beaujeu was so good we contemplated staying another night and giving our legs a rest, but decided instead to cycle up Mount Brouilly as this had been recommended by the Belgian couple who had toured the region by car. It was an extremely steep climb and descent but the views across to the east as far as the alps were worth it.

The rest of the day was spent cycling through villages where we recognised each one from wines we have sampled over the years - Bouilly, Fleurie, Chenas and Julienas, where we stayed for the night at another Chambre d'hôte, this one being at a 'cave'. After dinner we were invited down and the wine grower opened a bottle of his own wine for us to taste. His family had grown grapes for four generations and he had now handed the vineyard down to his own son. We had a little too much ourselves that night and had dry throats in the morning!

A view from our room



Mount Brouilly




Trompe-L'oeil



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Location:Boulevard de la Liberté,Chagny,France

Heading for the hills

After an overnight stay in the middle of 'Les Dombes', a flat plain with hundreds of small lakes, we headed off west towards the hills where the grapes are grown for the wines of Beaujolais. It was a beautiful clear morning and easy cycling along the quiet country lanes until we reached Belleville, a large town where our first Voie Verte started. These 'green routes' are free of motorised traffic and open to cyclists, roller bladers and pedestrians. They usually follow disused railway tracks or canal towpaths but some of them have been constructed purely to provide long distance routes across France, linking with other countries in Europe. This path followed a river towards Beaujeu where we planned to stay for the night at a Chambre d'hôte. It rained a little in the afternoon and we sheltered under some trees until it passed. The evening turned out to be one of the highlights of the trip so far. Beajeu is in the heart of the Beajolais country and our accommodation turned out to be an large house on the side of a steep hill overlooking the vines. Our room looked out directly over the orchard and valley below. We had dinner with the family and two other couples after an early evening walk around the villages nearby. We we treated to a sumptuous, regional meal starting with a type of cheese tart served with Chardonnay, followed by Lyonaisse sausage, cooked in red wine and red currants, and then crepes with raspberries picked from the garden whilst we were having the first course. We also had a couple of bottles of Brouilly to share and an interesting bilingual conversation with the English and Belgian guests.

Leaving Les Dombes in the morning



Starting on the Voie Vert



Cycling to Beaujeu




Beaujolais Vines





Old door with bones!


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Location:Boulevard de la Liberté,Chagny,France

Avoiding Lyon!

During the past two days we have been circumnavigating the metropolis of Lyon and trying to find quiet, interesting routes on our way to the Beaujolais region. Although the land is relatively flat with easy cycling, some of the roads have been very busy and we have had to cycle in single file and close to the kerb to avoid the lorries that passed by frequently. It has also been very hot. Yesterday we visited the ancient town of Cremieu, where we planned to stay, but the one hotel was full and so we had to move on to Pont de Cheruy, a grim commuter town. It was not how we planned to spend our wedding anniversary but the hotel had a pretty garden at the back and we ate dinner on the terrace with other guests and had our usual pichet of rose.

On the way from Vienne to Cremieu



Cremieu



Today we have been cycling through the Les Dombes where there are thousands of small lakes that attract birdlife. This wet area must also be good for the farmers as we passed many fields of wheat, barley and corn.

The Dombes



Barley


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Location:Chemin des Oures,Villars-les-Dombes,France

Vienne - Roman remains

Our rest day was, as usual, spent walking all over the place and up lots of stairs - in this case Roman ones! During the past 100 years various excavations in Vienne have resulted in new finds and archeological work is ongoing. Some of the buildings, however, have lasted relatively intact and there are temples, arches and a magnificent amphitheatre which is currently used for the annual Jazz festival. It could hold over 10,000 people and was empty when we visited today. I spoke from the stage and Julie could hear me very clearly from the top steps. From my perspective, my voice echoed and sounded quite loud. The excavated city across the river has intricate and beautiful mosaics, rich merchants' houses, a market area, underfloor heating systems, drains and tunnels etc and you can walk around it all. The museum contains items found on the site and reconstructed mosaics and murals.

Arch in the town centre



The Roman Theatre



"Friends, Romans and countrymen."




View from our cafe



On the bridge between Vienne and St Romain en Gal



Roman excavations at St Romain en Gal




The Pyramide
This was copied from Egypt and placed in the middle of the chariot racing course.



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Location:Place des Allobroges,Vienne,France

Can we get any higher?

The plan after leaving Aurec was to head for the Pilat National Park. Not having had internet access we had a map of the area but not with contours. The first 45 minutes cycling out of Aurec was all uphill, followed by a 'brakes on all the way down' steep decline to the next valley, followed by what seemed to be uphill for the rest of the day. Not surprisingly, we found ourselves at around 1200m at the days end! The area is quite strange because it is not dramatically high like the English lakes, but rolling countryside that varies between 1000 and 1400m, so when you are on the tops it looks very pretty, with lots of grass, flowers, birds, cows in the fields etc, but the air has a chilly feel, even when it's fairly sunny. In winter it is a Nordic ski area. We could not find accommodation in the villages so ended up booking a chambre d'hôte again. I made the big mistake of taking one of the GR paths (suitable for mountain bikes) and we ended up pushing our bikes up a treacherous hill and down the other side before finding our isolated residence for the night. It was a beautiful place though. The family had renovated a large farmhouse and fitted it out with top of the range, modern fittings, although it was also full of antique furniture and original oil paintings.

Today we had the pleasure of returning to a reasonable height and it was literally downhill all the way for 80km to Vienne, the first part on quiet, country roads and the last section on cycle paths by the Rhone. We arrived just in time to visit the Roman ruins before they closed for the day, found a hotel and had dinner on the terrace, accompanied by a few glasses of Provence Rose. What a great day! We are here for two nights and will spend tomorrow sightseeing.

Early morning in the High Pilat (this picture was taken at a point higher than anywhere in England!)



Downhill all the way - yippee




Checking the way



First World War memorial






Photos of Vienne tomorrow.

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Location:Place des Allobroges,Vienne,France

A stitch in time

We left Puy-en-Velay, after having had a rest day, and headed North in the direction of Retournac. Just as we were heading out of town one of the back panniers fell off. The stitching had broken at the lower connector and the bumpy road caused the top clips to fly off the rack. In any other town this might have been a real problem, particularly at the weekend, but Puy is a centre for dentelle, a type of lacemaking, and there were several shops that stocked needles and thread. We bought some strong cotton and were given a needle at no cost, so sat in the square under a tree sewing the strap back on again. An hour later we headed off down the Loire.

One of the popular tourist sites in Puy-en-Velay:


As on other days we hit our 'target' town a little early and carried on to Aurec sur Loire. It was a pleasant day and not too hilly so we made good progress down the river valley.

Picnic stop on the Loire between Puy and Aurec



Aurec is a small market town on the banks of the Loire and we booked into a chambre d'hôte for the night and had a walk around town and down by the riverbank after dining at a small creperie.

Aurec-sur-Loire








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Location:Place des Allobroges,Vienne,France

Global warming?

Just as in Australia, the French farmers are suffering this year. There has hardly been any rain during the past three months and the rivers are low everywhere we have been. Some of the crops are very patchy and we have heard tales of farmers having to sell animals to pay for the feed.

Farming here is also very different from what I have seen in Australia. It's on a much smaller scale and you often see a man and his wife with a few dogs herding the cows down the lanes to their farm for milking. The other day we saw a herd of goats that had broken free from their paddock roaming in the municipal gardens eating the flowers and other plants. They are pretty good at jumping up onto walls too. As some of them had bells around there necks they should not have been too hard to find.

Despite the rivers being low, you can always see fish at every place you stop to look. They tend to have a restricted area around the village centre but not elsewhere. I think this is so that they are also a tourist attraction as well as sport. In the centre of Florac we saw trout that were around 40 to 50cm long and must have weighed a few kilos. They had built some attractive walled dams so that there were deep pools in sections along the river, which was flowing freely.


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Location:Rue des Capucins,Le Puy-en-Velay,France