Day one of week two started slowly, we really must factor in more of these……. With one load of washing done, we strung a line from a nearby tree to one of Eileen’s wing mirrors to get it all dry. Rodney spent the morning catching up on the news on the free internet and then pottered about a bit. I spent one whole hour sitting in the sunshine and doing a bit more of my rag rug, which I started last year in Scotland and annoyingly I still haven’t got very far with it. At midday we stowed everything and drove over to Boucieu-le-Roi for a quick picnic by the train station and then at 2:30pm we boarded vehicle 15 on the Velorail. It looked more like a Noddy car than a bike or a train, but the campsite owner had insisted we would have fun.
We were given a few rules: “keep at least 50 metres apart”, “here are the brakes”, “don’t smoke”, “stay alert”, “au revoir” and we were off. Vehicle 15 turned out to be actually the third from the front, so we weren’t held up by too many slow people in front of us; not sure what happened to numbers 1 to 12….? The rail line hugs the bends of the River Doux and travels 12 kilometres past farmhouses, terraced fields (somehow reminiscent of Tuscany) and then through the Gorges du Doux. Rodney insisted there wouldn’t be much pedalling involved as it was obviously all downhill towards the Rhone Valley. However, we did seem to do a fair bit of it, or, I will admit, Rodney did more than me.
We travelled past a dam, past big viaducts, and also over some viaducts, past a good number of nudists down by the river and through the Tunnel de Mordane, which sounded like something out of ‘Lord of the Rings’; it was a bit dark and scary in there….. On the last section we really picked up speed which was great fun and we finally pulled up at Halte de Troye, which seemed to be in the middle of nowhere. I had hoped for a cold drink or an ice cream after an hour’s journey, but never mind.
We waited until all 25 cars arrived and then everyone boarded a Billard rail-car which is apparently classed as an historical monument and has been using the line since 1938. We sat in the very back seat and watched all the rail bikes being hitched on behind and then dragged behind us, back up to the start at Boucieu-le-Roi. The journey uphill in the train was far quicker and it was lovely to stare out over vivid green fields dotted with dandelions and relive the trip that we had just pedalled.
Unfortunately back in the station, Rodney walked forward, while looking backwards and fell off the platform. Fortunately it was a tiny 10 cms fall, but he managed to cut and twist his left ankle, badly. So with me finally recovering from my ski accident, we now have an injured Rodney. When we got back to the campsite he had a nasty lump developing and despite icing it constantly and rubbing in anti-inflammatory gel, he’s still limping badly a day later.
Because of the injury, we decided to stay longer at the Lamastre, Retortour campsite and rest up for the day, which thankfully was another beautifully sunny day. I got just about everything washable washed and put away. Did some sewing, read a bit and kept Rodney’s ankle iced and raised as much as possible. We’ve finished Downton Abbey series 3, so maybe we’ll watch the Christmas special this evening after dinner. It’s been a really nice catch up day; hah, we managed to factor another one in! Hopefully Rodney will feel well enough to drive further south on Friday, or I’ll either be driving, or paying for another night here……. Stay tuned.
