Time for a small trip to the Ardeche.
More piccies at http://is.gd/RXTbzN
We left on Saturday morning via the Autoroute to the South, WITH THE NEW CALSCI WINDSCREEN, YEAH! What a difference that makes. No buffetting and almost total silence at any speed. Now we were 2 up with the trailer and the new screen and I had no problem with any swaying up to 140 km/hr. I did not try to go any faster: the taffic was quite heavy so I just went with the flow.
Just before Valence we left the highway, paid our fee of €3.60 for the use of the tarmac and stopped in Tournon-sur-Rhone for a breakfast. Well, breakfast, that’s a big word for the food they serve here in the morning. It is a country for food lovers, apart from the breakfast. A croisant or a piece of baquette with jam on the side. OK, the croisants can have a great taste, but it’s just fluffy pastry with butter, nothing really substantial. But the quality of he coffee, the ambience of the terrace and the taste of the croisant makes up for it.
So after breakfast we went on our way over the small roads to Les Vans, a small but pleasant looking small town. After some deliberation we decided to stay in that area. So next up was an exciting hour: pitching a new tent, blowing up new airmatrasses and unrolling the new sleeping bags.
The tent, a Khyad Biker, looks great but is not ideal. Firstly the innertent is a bit too small for our decent sized airmatrasses, so they almost touch and there is no space for your snack or nightcap. Secondly it has a loose groundsheet in the outertent. So its bloody draughty and cold in the evening if there is some wind. The sleeping bags are great: down filling with a cotton cover and 210cm long. It took F a very long time to find them. There are an amazing amount of sleeping bags for sale, but our choice of the materials and size seems to be a bit outlandish and only one shop in Holland had the goods.
Next day we went for tour to the North West to Lagogne. The road rises quite high to 1400 metres above sea level, and boy, does it get chilly there: it went down to 8 degrees, With a strong wind blowing and in summer riding gear, brrrrrrrr. Thanks god for the handle bar heaters.
So, this day was for the trip to the Gorge du Ardeche. The books say it is a beautifull road, with stunning views and it’s all green on the Michelin maps. Well, tastes differ. It was OK, but to say it was stunning: not exactly. But the road has nice bends in it so we could enhoy the ride.
The road back was via athe Northern route, a bit boring. So this was a day not so much stunning views, but nice relaxing riding with a damned good lunch in Aigueze.
Packing up was a amazingly quick. The trailer is big enough to take all gear, so you have quite some flexibility to stuff everything into the available space. And I love packing up in the early morning: a bit chilly, dew on the grass and the bike is waiting to be started.
Tripping Europe 