Stats for the day
Distance travelled 97.5 miles
Average speed 11.6 mph
Max speed 27.5 mph
Time 8.2 hrs
Total dist 623 miles
Starting from Villefranche we had bright sun until lunchtime then it got very dark and the dreaded head wind arrived again however the sun came out in the late evening just when we needed it.
This was supposed to be an easy day but due to a problem with the original calculations and some poor navigation at Lyon we ended up with nearly 100 miles on the clock for the day. Because the cycle path at Lyon was blocked with works, we ended up cycling 7 miles on a very rough path, sometimes flooded, on the outside of the Total refinery - not very scenic as you can imagine. By the time we found our route again and got back on course we were running low on time and energy. We did find a very friendly cycle shop at Vienne where I got a new chain and directions to a brand new cycle route on our path and Oli got a new cycle cap (gift from the friendly cycle shopkeeper).
Because of fading daylight we did the last 27 miles in 2 hrs and arrived at the hotel after dark. Survived the whole day on fruit and chocolate (good cycling food says Oli). We did have to resort to an energy gel for the finish and they do taste so disgusting that you really only use them in an emergency.
Very impressed again with Campanile hotel and found that their local wine was the cairanne bouton d’or which Linda and I served at our wedding (memories!). Oli enjoyed it so much that we took an extra half bottle back to the room to help with our route planning for the next day and devised a route which kept us away from the main roads for all of day 9.
Just for Graham - we cycled through Condrieu (a favourite of Pauline L’s), Ampul (the headquarters of E Guigal probably the best of the Rhone producers) and just before arriving in Valence we passed very closed to Crozel’hermitage. What a wine list!
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