Rhone Cycle Tour – Tournon Sur Rhone to Les Tourrettes

Tournon sur Rhone – 15th Century castle on the right

After breakfast we decided to have a walk around the old part of town and enjoy sightseeing without too many tourists around. Really relaxing start to the day as we walked around the old town. Today was our shortest day at 64km so we did not hurry to leave and had a mid-morning  coffee in Valence as our target at just under halfway through our ride.

Below are some pictures of the stained glass windows over the alter at the church of St Julien in Tournon:

We cycled down the west bank of the Rhone after Tournon towards Glun where we had the first of many bridge crossings and were lucky enough to see a wild boar cross the track in front of us and head down into a heavily vegetated drainage ditch. A couple of seconds later we would either have bumped into him or missed him altogether! The wind was much stronger today so we timed ourselves taking leads at the front. Mike seemed to have a harder time of it on his turns as I had downhill sections, and sections where I headed with the wind rather than against it. The hardest parts were where we had to cycle by the banks of the river, which was very wide by this point, straight into the wind with no trees or buildings to break it up.

It was very welcome to arrive at the outskirts of Valence, however we then had to try and suss out where the main square and cafés were. Quite a few wrong turns but eventually (thank goodness for the internet) we realised the old town was perched above the river, up a small hill. One thing we discovered on this tour is that the ViaRhona cycle route does not take you to tourist sites / town centers etc and you need to plan these into your route ahead of time.

We found a lovely café and had a couple of pastries to share with our coffees. It was also next to a supermarket so I could top up on water and some bits for lunch. At Valence we crossed back over the river, a fairly fiddly section but ended up on a lovely section through a residential area next to the river.

Todays ride was a real mix of old towns / villages, wide expansive views of the river, farmland and nature reserves. A few km downstream from Charmes we cycled past La Voulte sur Rhone. Some beautiful views of the skyline after we crossed onto the far side of the river and a beautiful bridge to cycle over. On the subject of food, the hotel we were staying at tonight (the Logis de Berianne link ) had told us a couple of days before we set out, but after the free cancelation period, that their on-site restaurant was shut on Thursdays! We had a choice of 2 routes for the afternoon section of our ride and overnight stay and had chosen the East bank as we wanted to try out this restaurant. Nothing else in the town where we were staying (which seemed to be very much a motorway stop over point) appealed.  So we decided to make a detour off the cycle path and head to a supermarket for dinner and breakfast supplies. With much heavier panniers loading us down I was glad the route to our accommodation, although along a busy main road, was downhill. Nearly wiped out Mike as I stopped suddenly at a pedestrian crossing but fortunately he was able to stop in time, although the air was a little blue!

Relaxing evening at the chalet, the owners cat decided sitting on my tummy and having a pet was a suitable alternative to the lounger which I was occupying! The hotel itself although very close to the motorway was well protected from traffic noise and it was not intrusive. The chalets were new and spotless so a good stop over point if we were driving south in the future.

Click play below to see a video and below that a slideshow of photos from our ride

See below for a map of our route