Despite a still swollen foot, Rodney opted to drive us on to our next destination…….wherever that might be. The rain during the night had woken us both up, but by breakfast time it had stopped. Unfortunately, when we finally got around to leaving the campsite around 10:30am it had started again and the temperature had dropped to single digits. We took the D578 through a pretty valley full of tiny settlements and endless trees covered in white blossom; we’ve been told they are cherry and almond trees. At Le Cheylard, after a visit to the Super U we followed the wiggly, wriggly D120 down to Privas through the lovely Valleé des l’Eyrieux.
From Privas we joined the wider but almost as wiggly D104 and after lunch inside the van on the top of the Col de l’ Arénier we passed over the Col de Escrinet and down to Aubenas. The views on this section of the road were extensive and somehow just too ‘big’ for a photo to do justice to. After Aubenas we crossed over the Ardeche River on a bright yellow bridge and found ourselves up on a plateau, where we suddenly noticed that most of the trees actually had green leaves on them. We’d obviously crossed in to a more Mediterranean climate, but it was still darn cold outside today. We drove past Vogüé and followed the D1 down to tonight’s campsite at Domaine Chadeyron where we were greeted by a very cheery owner and we picked our spot for the night.
On Saturday morning, we got up fairly early and then wondered why. It was cold and windy with occasional showers and Rodney’s foot was still not happy, so we both decided to do absolutely nothing for the day. And doing nothing turned out to be most enjoyable. We were running low on milk and bread, but just couldn’t be bothered to move Eileen and we had enough food to get us through a day, so Rodney just had to cut down on his cups of tea. I sewed some applique initials on to our brown fleecy blankets and did a bit of cleaning, we watched some DVDs and did a bit of reading; surprisingly the day disappeared very quickly and we both enjoyed our ‘lay day’.
On Sunday morning we heard our first cuckoo, it must be Spring at last, so we thought we better get out amongst it again. After a late breakfast, we told the campsite owner that we would be out for the day, but would be back for another night. In case he was worried we were trying to do a runner, we offered to pay for the previous two nights. He told us there was no need, a handshake was good enough. What a nice chap. We left the campsite and discovered that we were surrounded by lavender fields and vineyards, then we drove down through a very traditional looking village, Lagorce, past our first field of bright yellow rape. It turned out to be a day of ‘firsts’ as we also saw irises and wisteria in full flower and cacti too. We continued on to Vallon Pont d’ Arc, a rather nice town full of clothing shops and agents selling canoe trips down the Ardèche River. We managed to find somewhere to buy milk and water and got the day’s baguette from a boulangerie. We then strolled about a bit, purchased a new frock and chatted to one of the canoe agents. Next stop was out at the Pont d’Arc, a stunning place, and it has inspired us to rent a kayak tomorrow and enjoy a leisurely float down through the gorge for the day.
But back to today. When we drove out of Vallon, thirteen Porsches drove past us on a roundabout; I think it’s the first time I have ever seen so many Porsches all in one spot, apart from a showroom maybe. We stopped in a lovely old village, Labeaume, a ‘Plus Beaux Villages de France’. It was just about warm enough for our first outdoor picnic, so we took our baguette with us down to a rock on the bank of the Beaume River facing the ‘Village de Caractère’. We finished lunch with our first French ice cream and shuffled along the river’s edge in the beautiful Gorges de la Beaume, before returning to Eileen.
We drove a little way north to another ‘Plus Beaux Villages de France’, Balazuc. It was a very rocky place and a wonderful warren of steep lanes and old stone buildings; it was lovely.
We finished the day with a third ‘Plus Beaux Villages de France’, Rochecolombe. We didn’t make it all the way to the top; Rodney was feeling a bit sore and it was getting quite late by now, so we returned to the campsite and cooked up a pre-prepared cottage pie. Rodney noted it contained 40% beef, so as he trotted off to do the washing up he decided that the remainder must have been horse…..
