Bike: Romans-sur-Isère to Valence, 21 miles, 650 feet of climb
Accommodation: Logement cosy calme centre ville et Parc Jouvet (Airbnb); host David. Large apartment with stone walls, wifi, washer, kitchen, in center of Old Town near park and shops, quiet.
Lunch: picnic in the park
Dinner: Armenian deli food in our apartment
We were a little sad to leave our lovely villa in the morning, but it was time to move on. After tidying up and packing up, we said good-bye to Chloe and hit the road. Our route took us through the old part of Romans-sur-Isere, which we hadn't seen yet because we were staying up in the hills outside of town.
It was market day in one of the squares, so we stopped for pastries and wandered through the stalls. As we were leaving, we met a group of three from northern England who are mountain biking and camping in the area for a couple of weeks. It was fun to compare notes and speak English.
But then it was time to move on, again. After an hour, we had only made it about three miles.
Finally, we were on the trail south and west of Romans, following the Isere River and irrigation canals. The cycling was easy, flat, kind of boring. As we got closer to Valence, the surroundings became more commercial and the traffic became busier.
We arrived in Valence almost three hours before we could check in. The city is large and full of stores and restaurants and people. We bought lunch food and settled on a bench in a park. We almost fell asleep reading. Our reading included researching Valence. We discovered that it had an Old Town not far from our apartment, a lot of universities, and a fairly large Armenian population.
Our apartment was right across the street from a large green park with over 700 trees, and Old Town was on the far side of the park. After showers, we went on a hunt for old buildings and dinner. Thanks to our research in the afternoon, we found both. We even stumbled into the Armenian area and a deli with incredible prepared food. We returned to the apartment loaded down with groceries.
Even when we have studied maps and travel information ahead of time, we really don't know what a day will bring. Today, other than plotting a route in RWGPS and reserving a place to stay, we had not done any preparing. And yet we had an interesting time and learned new things. So goes life on the road.
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| Cathedrale Saint-Appollinaire, dating from the 11th century. |
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| La Mauresque house (the Moorish house), built in 1858. |
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| Church of Saint John the Baptist, dating from the 12th century. |
