France by Bicycle | PART 23: LEAVING PROVENCE

This chapter begins with a beautiful crossing of the Rhône on the 700 year old Pont Saint Esprit. Then we wind our way northward, taking our time, dropping in and out of beautiful French villages and through the signature vineyards, orchards and agriculture of this spectacular region. Crossing the Rhône from one side to the other, we are eventually routed up into the highlands above the valley before descending back down to our stay for the night. We had booked a room at Le Clos de la Chardonniere, near the gorgeous hilltop village of Mirmande, where we are treated to one of our best rooms in memory, a spectacular view of the countryside from our window, and very kind hosts, who also serve dinner (and what a dinner!). Cycling the Rhône Valley is an absolute dream!
Music:
Accordion and Glockenspiel Comedy - JK Productions
Pond Five
081716572-accordion-and-glockenspiel-com
a href="www.pond5.com/royalty-free-mu..."Stock Music/a provided by JK_Production, from a href=“www.pond5.com/"Pond5/a
We’re Taking Off - Wildflowers
Epidemic Sound
What About the French - Taomito
Epidemic Sound
Memories of Paris - Trabant 33
Epidemic Sound
Don’t Waste My Time - Victor Lundberg
Epidemic Sound
This Was Fun - Gavin Luke
Epidemic Sound

[@markclemens3409]

YOU might want to get home to your own backyard and your own kitchen, but WE want these bicycle tour segments in France to go on and on and on....

[@TheBicycleTourists]

Right? What was I thanking?

[@TheBicycleTourists]

Thinking.

[@ecorb6614]

Once again, a fabulous edition of your beautiful tour through France 🇫🇷 Thank you

[@TheBicycleTourists]

Thanks E! So glad to be able to share it with you!

[@karenstead8259]

My husband and I love your videos. We count down the days until a new one is posted, then we grab our coffee and spend the morning watching your latest adventures. You guys are so reliable and professional with lovely speaking voices, and we love the fact that your videos are so well labelled and easy to find. Can't wait to se your next episode. Cheers! 😻🙏

[@TheBicycleTourists]

Thank you so much Karen! I love to hear that! When we were looking for inspiration before our ride across the US, we had a hard time finding videos that held our attention. I really wanted to create something that kept one's interest. Luckily, the quality of videos on bike touring is getting better all the time, and there are quite a few now that I'm rather envious of...

[@belladrayven]

Oh my goodness, that salad looked amazing!! I bet the breakfast was just as spectacular! Thanks for sharing such a lovely episode, I always get a bit of a rush when I see that you guys have uploaded a new vlog post! :) See you next week!!

[@TheBicycleTourists]

It was indeed incredible, and yes the breakfast was amazing as well with quiche and croissants and no charcuterie plate!

[@dondonner1095]

That salad was worth the price of the room. Nice.

[@TheBicycleTourists]

It was absolutely amazing. And all put together by the family who runs the guesthouse. Warm, inviting, and five stars!

[@juliannahenley4921]

indeed it was!

[@maxdugan5319]

Cycling, history and amazing videography! As always excellent job Roland/Julianna!

[@TheBicycleTourists]

And as always, thanks Max! We so appreciate you guys!

[@juliannahenley4921]

Thanks Max! Hope you are having a glorious spring. Love that you keep in touch with us!

[@rodofortier5166]

I've been following you guys for a while now ( across the USA & this Loire\Rhone trip) and for me what comes out from all these clips is the love you two share and the joy of riding together. This is very inspiring. Happy trails...😊

[@TheBicycleTourists]

Thank you! I believe we're at our best together when we have a common goal, common challenges, and an open road.That's certainly what inspires us!

[@juliannahenley4921]

Thank you so much!

[@lgrobby2144]

the most stunning scenery of your journey.

[@TheBicycleTourists]

Every day on our ride around France had scenery that would take your breath away, but i agree, the Rhone was incredibly beautiful!

[@PumpkinVillage]

Another great chapter in your trip. Thank you for the great videos and take care, Al

[@TheBicycleTourists]

Thank you Al. We loved the Via Rhona.

[@klasjansson5814]

Wow!

[@TheBicycleTourists]

:-)

[@e-BikeLife]

3:48 Oh no! Not home sick! In France? Never! 😀 Really great episode. It's nice to see aa part of France we haven't been to.

[@TheBicycleTourists]

Glad you liked it! And, yeah, it's hard to imagine being homesick in France! But there are times when life on the road wears you out, i'm not gonna lie! And then you ride past a vineyard, or through a village, and all is good!

[@TerrapinCyclist]

Another sensational section. As the end of this tour nears, I hope you have more travels planned on which you’ll take us along. Best, John

[@TheBicycleTourists]

Hello John, thanks so much for following along! It's going to be a bit of an off summer, with Julianna helping to care for her granddaughter. hopefully we can squeeze in some smaller trips to keep the channel going!

[@TerrapinCyclist]

@@TheBicycleTourists We wish Julianna and you many happy hours caring for her granddaughter :-)

[@eff6582]

Bonjour ! This part of the via Rhôna looks very nice to ride top appreciate "la joie de vivre"

[@TheBicycleTourists]

Yes, gorgeous all the way. The French really know how to live!

[@colinwellman9480]

40 miles, some uphill, that would be tiring at any time but at the end of a long tour, Chapeau!! Breakfasts in France are invariably the bread, jam and yoghurt sort. Lovely bread and jams but now and again I long for a 'full English' . Bacon, sausage,egg, beans, tomatoes and maybe some black pudding, I couldn't eat it everyday but now and then, yummy! Thanks for another enjoyable video.

[@TheBicycleTourists]

Yep, once in a while some variation is good. Black pudding. I had to look it up. It's illegal here in the US! Maybe why I wasn't familiar with it. And yes, by the end of a long tour, we were definitely getting tired. 40 miles can be a slog with all that weight!

[@cyclistefroisse9267]

« we were definitely getting tired. 40 miles can be a slog with all that weight! » Understandably. No fault of your own, cultural difference, you are riding France « the American way », as in going from A to B exclusively on your own power, for a good reason since in the US, you have no alternative. Euroriders aren’t shy to wait out bad weather or better, cycle with the weather and not against it, incorporating train rides within an A to B journey. It allows them to top up, metaphorically their own batteries + their electronics, log on the internet, courtesy of the SNCF free WiFi, dry their rain gear...etc. But what if there is no train option available ? Please allow me that digression. Yesterday, I had the curiosity to scroll hundreds of pictures of US Greyhound-buses, by circa 1930, if not before, full length roof racks on Greyhounds were gone in the US, found pictures of a US bus with a small roof rack at the back, maybe 1935. Coaches with full length roof racks were still a common occurrence, in France, well into the 60ies, beginning of the 70ies in rural areas. Bike tourists with a mechanical could strap their bikes on the rear ladder or wedge them on the roof rack between two suitcases. Hold on to your seat, bicycle racks are back on european “Greyhound-buses” (no roof rack, yet, though). Try your luck with Google image, you should find pictures of Euro-Greyhounds with rear built-in bicycle racks that can accommodate at least 6 bicycles (possibly more ?) and even pictures of racks with room for 2, maybe 3 bikes *bolted* on Euro-Greyhounds *front bumper* 😱. The future of bike-tourism in Europe (night trains are back and will contribute to that), and hopefully also in the US, is multimodal. My2€cents.

[@TheBicycleTourists]

Yep, I'm guilty of wanting to ride end-to-end. Nevertheless, we have often used public transportation to skip parts of a trip. Here in Colorado, you can simply roll your bike into the luggage area at the bottom of the bus, and ride across the state. It's a worthy alternative to an out and back.

[@michelesauret7779]

Will we visit Mirmande in the next chapter ? Do you prefer the Loire or Rhône valley's sceneries ?

[@TheBicycleTourists]

We ride up to the bottom of the village to get a good view, but didn't ride up into it as we were a bit worn out from the hills the day before. I believe the town is spelled Mirmande and the scenery the next morning was as magical as it gets.

[@TheJournier]

This is my favorite stretch of your adventure in France! Beautiful scenery and amazing old towns. So quiet and bike friendly. But then, it looks like pretty much all of France is bike friendly.

[@cyclistefroisse9267]

No, it isn’t ! Far from that. France is nowhere as bike-friendly as NL or Denmark are. The good news, this government is working on France bike-friendliness, so does the EU. If Komoot recommended, rightfully so, that little hilly detour J&R took, there’s a good reason for that, the ViaRhôna, which supposedly follows the river bank is nowhere to be found ! It is either, non existent with no cycling infrastructure whatsoever, no shoulder, with lots of traffic (peak daily commute is a nightmare) or unridable, even with a MTB, expect some hike-a-bike sections. Worth noting that ViaRhôna official website strongly advise inexperienced riders (as in slow ?) and families with children *not* to ride the ViaRhôna between Lyon and Givors but to the use the train (free of charge for bicycles in TER trains) instead.

[@TheJournier]

@@cyclistefroisse9267 Thanks for the information! The United States has a long way to go to be more bike friendly, too. We're way behind many countries. My city in Illinois doesn't even have a single bike lane. We do have some nice bike paths in scenic areas and more rail trails are popping up, but commuting in a city by bike is a nightmare in a lot of places.

[@cyclistefroisse9267]

Américanophile, here, ❤️ 🇺🇸. Once again, this is, IMHO, true about so many other things in « all or nothing USA »😉 where the better can coexist with the not-very-good. Simultaneously, the US score in the top 10 world most cyclist friendly cities with Portland, Oregon (miles ahead of Paris) and compares poorly with other parts of the country no cycling infrastructure, at all. Land/country of sharp contrasts, always were 🙂 I’ve refrained last week to express my opinion i.e. your magnificent network of rail-trails, cycling the US isn’t for the faint hearted because the distances are huge, nothing anybody can do about it, the US are *huge* ! Sorry to write it again, France is a small country which fits within the boundaries of Texas. .... and with room to spare, you could add a fair share of Belgium. Apples and pears comparison springs to mind when comparing 🇫🇷 and 🇺🇸. Now, back to my favorite June past time, Dotwatching anxiously the Tour Divide 2023, wondering if the Euro trio 🇩🇪 🇱🇹 🇧🇪 leading the race will resist for another week that charge of this pack of Americans + a Kiwi chasing them.🤪

[@TheBicycleTourists]

The Journier: I imagine in the Netherlands or Denmark you can point your handlebars and go, with trails everywhere. France isn't like that. But with a friendly route finding app (Komoot, Ride with GPS, even Google Maps) and planning around well developed routes, you find way better cycling infrastructure than you will ever find in the US. In Europe, it's rare to get dumped onto a busy, dangerous highway, there are usually quiet alternatives. In the US (especially in the west) it's hard to avoid.

[@lindahowes5949]

The sky, cliffs, bridge, architecture, the lovely lodging…and the salad! Another wonderful part of the journey. Happy to be along for the ride. 💜

[@cherylbigoness7441]

Wow what a wonderful B&B you found! Do nice to have that fabulous supper there, it looked delicious! We’ve been overseas and I agree, with the Charcuterie board statement 100% 😂

[@TheBicycleTourists]

Yeah that was an incredible dinner, and the breakfast was amazing as well! (And no charcuterie!)

[@dennispiciullo8060]

Another amazing video!

[@TheBicycleTourists]

Thanks Dennis! Having incredible scenery really helps!

[@dennispiciullo8060]

@@TheBicycleTourists that's true too!

[@carmenraedelaney2795]

Hello again! Another great video of your lovely ride through the French country side. You certainly have mastered the art of the narrative in your videos, along with the music you have chosen. I Imagine you have gotten a little homesick but it seems you also have embraced every moment of your adventure! I am looking forward to the final chapters. Carmen from Fargo

[@TheBicycleTourists]

Thank you Carmen! It's good to hear from you again. Knowing you appreciate these little videos makes it all worthwhile.

[@tomm8660]

A wonderful segment! It sure seems that winds are nearly always headwinds; It seems that 50% of them should be tailwinds, but that doesn't seem to happen. Maybe we just don't remember the tailwinds because they are so good! Now a more "pedestrian" question.... Did you do any routine maintenance on your bikes during the tour? Specifically, I'm thinking of stuff like chain cleaning/lube, etc.

[@TheBicycleTourists]

Sometimes on an out and back, I'll be riding thinking "wow, I'm really riding strong today" and then I turn around into a strong headwind. We don't wash the bikes as often as we should, we're kind of bad with that. I remember a bike cleaning station at the Hotel Bothwell in Sedalia where we could wash the mud off of our bikes after a rainy spell on the KATY. But when the weather is dry, we don't wash them often. But we have Grease Monkey Wipes, which we used to keep the chain and derailleur clean and of course, we keep them lubed.

[@cyclistefroisse9267]

No such math in the Rhône valley, Tom.😉 Should you ever ride the ViaRhôna South-North, like R&J, it’s either, no wind or headwind. A wind which even has a name : le Mistral, blowing from the North, and accelerated by some Venturi effect of sorts, by the mountains the Rhône river cut its valley thru. Most people riding the VR ride it North-South, unlike courageous R&J. Bike-touring in France always were, historically, very much multimodal, sadly, the train network 1950 Randoneurs traveling on their 650b quintessential French randonneuses with their kitchen sink strapped on them, is no more. Yet, young fast french riders riding expensive carbon frame and wheels Gravel bikes with fewer than 20 pounds of gear strapped on them aren’t shy to use trains, like their forefathers (and mothers) and to start the VR southbound in Givors or Vienne. Found a a YT video, 3 flying young French with the Mistral in their sails, who deliberately climbed those cliffs shown by Roland and attempted to ride an unridable VR section because they were one day ahead of schedule.

[@bryanpwo3085]

I have discovered your channel recently, because I was looking for video impressions of the cycling route towards the South of France, since my partner and I are going to cycle that one in August. A lot of channels do give an impression with the emphasise on making kilometres/miles and wild camping. Your videos are true gems and a lot closer to what we have in mind spending our holiday. We truly are enjoying your videos and we are watching a few chapters every day after dinner. Your narrative style, the interactions with the locals and each other are putting your videos levels up there in comparison with other channels. We kind of fell in love with the both of you and it feels like we're visiting friends every day for over half an hour. Thank you so much for sharing your adventures and lots of love from two cycle enthusiasts from the Netherlands. BTW, did Nadia land that job eventually?

[@TheBicycleTourists]

Hello! Thanks for reaching out. So happy our videos are working for you! Nadia DID get a great job (as I knew she would) and she and Victor will likely be joining us next year on a cycle trip in the Netherlands (of all places)! We so appreciate your comments. The monetary rewards from KZbin are meager; our reward is knowing that we're connecting to like-minded folks like you, so thanks and love from Colorado!

[@bryanpwo3085]

@@TheBicycleTourists That's great to hear about Nadia and I am pretty sure you will love the Dutch infrastructure and our country of course.

[@davidharris4062]

If you pick mushrooms/fungi in France and take them to a pharmacy, the pharmacist will identify which ones are inedible or poisonous

[@TheBicycleTourists]

That is fabulous and another great reason to love the French culture!