Mt. Biking - Cruas to Rochemaure

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Owner: squiz
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Member#: 6644
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Registered: 27-05-2007
Diary Entries: 2894

18th September 2014
Mt. Biking: Cruas to Rochemaure
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Weather: sunny periods with showers
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Distance Covered: 18 (Nautical Miles - unless stated otherwise)

Thursday 18th September – Relax then bike 18 nautical miles***** Cruas to Rochemaure – sunny periods with showers

We really relaxed here at Cruas. It continued to rain in the night but didn’t keep us awake. Amazingly we were able to do our exercises outside because all that rain had miraculously soaked away! There was the odd shower this morning but we stayed outside most of the time, eating breakfast, reading, bird and boat watching. The squirrels and magpies were busy again but not as manic as yesterday. Had a late lunch and then at about 3 we set out on our bikes along the river Rhone. The path was very good and looked quite new – the only downside was that as we cycled we could hear lots of popping sounds and assumed it was small nuts or twigs but then realised it was actually hundreds of tiny snails!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was really sad but completely unavoidable, even if you had walked you couldn’t have got round them:( The track took you past lakes, the nuclear power station with its huge cooling towers (and mural of a girl playing with a shell (?) on the side) Also past a barrage. Eventually we came to the town of Rochemaure which, like Cruas, had its own medieval cite with ruins on the hillside. We didn’t head that way but luckily the other way which brought us to an amazing suspension bridge which had just been refurbished in 2013. It was good timing too because the sky had turned black and we caught the edge of yet another storm. The bridge was metal and there was a warning diagram telling you that lightning kills which was quite ironic as we arrived in a thunder storm!! We sheltered in the turrets which form the supports and the rain soon passed over so didn’t spoil anything. We visited the town briefly before heading back along some small roads heading the same direction as the bike track. We did come a bit unstuck at one point and had to climb a muddy bank to get back to the cycle track but nothing too radical! As we were passing the lake on the outskirts of Cruas we noticed a fisherman with what was obviously a very heavy black holdall heading for his mate’s swim next door. The mate’s fishing rod was bent double so we decided to watch him play the fish and stayed until he had landed a huge carp. His mate got his equally enormous carp out of the holdall and photos were taken all round! Cycled up to the town of Cruas not really intending to climb up to the medieval cite at the top but after following some wonderful narrow and quaint old streets we were suddenly on our way up to what has become a beautifully renovated old village complete with apartments and a tavern. It has been done really tastefully and there are before and after photo boards all the way up to show the crumbling wreck it had been. Really glad we made the effort:) Cycled back to the van just as another storm approached. Had our tea – turkey steaks cooked in lemon butter – with rain hammering on the roof:)

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