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squiz Member Member#: 6644 Location: Registered: 27-05-2007 Diary Entries: 2894 |
20th September 2014 Mt. Biking: Viviers to Donzere Wind Direction: Wind Stength: Surf / Sea State: Air Temperature: Sea Temperature: Weather: sunny periods Max Speed: Distance Covered: 12.59 (Nautical Miles - unless stated otherwise) Friday 19th September – Relax, little travel, hike ***** There was an enormous storm with thunder and lightning and really heavy rain just as we woke up. It was right overhead at one point and really really loud! Amazingly it had cleared out enough for us to eat our breakfast out on the riverbank watching the huge tree trunks and debris including canoes! floating down the river due to the enormous amount of rain which has fallen over the last couple of days! Relaxed and read our books again and only had to dodge one shower. Even the towel and mats that got soaked yesterday dried! Had our lunch then set out about 3 and drove through the town we cycled to yesterday and on to Montelimar. Stopped at a Casino Geant to stock up a bit as its nearly the weekend. Drove on to join the river again at Vivier and found a great place to stop for the night just before we got to the bridge over to Donzere. Although we had only gone 28 miles we decided to stop here but nip up the small road along the river to see a big sculpture on an enormous rock. Needless to say we had to climb up to it which was easier said than done! Mag was putting the shopping away and sorting stuff out so I went ahead and Mag went completely the wrong and certainly did more climbing! The second hill was very steep, rocky and slippery but we managed it and although we are still not sure what the statue was of (think it could possibly be joan of arc??) the view from the top was amazing. The river splits off into river and canal in two places we could see, and there are some white cliffs along the section where we are staying the night. We both got absolutely soaked by the thick shrubbery we had to get through which was covered in rain from earlier! Managed to get back down without breaking our necks and parked in the lovely spot under the plane trees, opposite the cliffs and right on the river bank. There is a suspension bridge just along the bank. On the down side we had a visit from two gary boy cars early on and a major railway line runs under the cliff which magnifies the sound! OMG the worst storm we have had so far this evening and throughout the night. Really weird lightning, it lit up the sky for hours and the thunder never stopped rumbling all evening. Saturday 20th September – Bike ***** Viviers to Donzere – 12.59 nautical miles – sunny periods What a night!! The worst storm yet, it thundered, lightninged and rained all night and we didn’t sleep very well until about 3. Then this morning it was amazingly sunny:) We did exercises and had breakfast outside on the riverbank. Got the bikes off and set off towards Viviers along the road we are parked in. We passed the cliffs and statue we walked to yesterday. Viviers is a lovely old town and nothing like the little bit we passed on the road yesterday. Ancient houses in narrow cobbled lanes leading up to a cathedral at the top. We managed to bike to the top and walk round the cathedral and walled space at the top for a panorama view. We walked a good way down because the cobbles were a bit slippery! Bought some nice bread and cycled back passing through the port where a hotel barge was getting ready for its passengers. Crossed the bridge and returned on the other side of the river which was a bit rough with huge puddles. Decided to have a detour to see Donzere and again a nice little ancient village with cobbled lanes. Crossed the river via the barrages and returned to the van along the river path. We were out about 3 hours and had cycled 12 miles. Had the shelled prawns we bought yesterday with the posh bread – lovely treat:) Polished off all the bread with butter and jam then relaxed and read for most of the afternoon. A woman arrived and tied a strap to two trees behind the van and practiced her tightrope walking and her dog, not being very impressed was visiting us and trotting up and down. He liked us particularly when we had our cake – again! Then the dog disappeared completely and she was whistling and calling it, walked up the road a bit then packed up her stuff and disappeared! Eventually she came back on a moped at the same time as the dog re-appeared. She put it on a lead then drove off on the moped with the dog running alongside!! Crazy especially as the road over the bridge is really quite busy! I was sure the hotel barge we saw this morning was going to leave at 5 and head in our direction and I had only just said that we hadn’t seen it when one appeared from both directions and met pretty much in front of us! One was the Princess of Provence we saw this morning. The passengers were all up on the top taking photos of the cliffs opposite us. We went for a walk to half way over the bridge then walked up the lane for about an hour before it got dark. We are hoping for a quieter night and some sleep! Rob says it has been thunder and lightning at home for two days too – weird. |
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