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squiz Member Member#: 6644 Location: Registered: 27-05-2007 Diary Entries: 3072 |
10th October 2015 Mt. Biking: Descente des Gorges du Doux en Velorail :) Wind Direction: Wind Stength: Surf / Sea State: Air Temperature: Sea Temperature: Weather: sunny Max Speed: Distance Covered: 7 miles (Nautical Miles - unless stated otherwise) Saturday 10th October – Bike (Velorail) ***** - sunny – Descente des Gorges du Doux en Velorail :) 7 miles, 12.78 kts. We left our spot near the Pont du Duzon quite early for us! As we drove up quite a main road we were amazed to see an old lady ambling along the side with three goats just walking along loose beside her! Got to the station at Boucieu la Roi and were in perfect time for our favourite …….Velorail! Yes there is one here too – our second this year! Cars were rather an embarrassment (like Noddy’s car!) but hey they were aimed at kids – not that there was a child in sight even though it was Saturday! Mostly middle aged French people and one car of middle aged Dutch people who were behind us. We were in car No. 7. We set off at 11 and actually had to pedal up-hill! On the last one we only had to push the pedals round once or twice and then we used the brake most of the time! So this one had lots more pedalling but it was great fun though and we laughed a lot! The rail follows the river into the Gorges and it is the only way to get this close as the road is a long way off the Gorge itself although it does follow the river at the top. We went over and under bridges and one viaduct and through one quite long tunnel which is always hilarious especially with sunglasses on! When we reached the end of our line at Troye the diesel rail car was waiting to take us back. The engine was running so we all got on and the engine driver drove out of the siding and reversed up to attach the cars to take back. Then we set off but the driver had real trouble getting it in gear, resorting to standing up and giving it brute force. The young lady who had sold us the ticket was in the last car following our procession down with the first aid kit etc and had helped the driver load the cars on. She was at the back of the train near the engine and came rushing through the door coughing to speak to the driver bringing a blue/black cloud of diesel smoke with her! He stopped, left the engine running and went to the back to have a tinker and when he returned we set off up the gorge with the cloud trailing behind us! All the French ladies had their posh scarves wrapped round their faces so they didn’t have to breathe in the diesel fumes! It all added to the adventure and we did manage to get back to the station where 3 more men jumped into the engine, as we got out, for some major tinkering!!! It had taken us and hour and a half to pedal there and half an hour to come back in the train. It was about 7 miles each way. There were lots of people waiting for the next journey and most of them were at a huge picnic table with a massive amount of food and wine laid out. We left the station and drove up to the village of Boucieu la Roi which has won awards for being a beautiful village and it is, beautiful stone buildings and extremely neat – also extremely deserted! One lady and one cat were the only living things we saw. We drove back along the river road looking for somewhere to stop for lunch and finally decided on the midway station from our velorail adventure where you could get down to the sandy river bank. As we arrived the next party of velorailers were entering the station. We think the first three cars must have been the picnic party with the wine because they were all so busy laughing and waving hysterically at us, car number 3 crashed into the back of the others and it turned into dodgems! After our lunch and feeding bits of bread to some tiny fish in the shallows, we drove on through lots of windy roads to Lamastre which is the end of the Gorge. We are in the Ardeche mountains now. We followed the signs to the Super U and turned a bit early but that was fortunate because where we turned round there was a huge walnut tree with lots underneath. We got a whole washing up bowl full :) Went to the Super U then found a little road from Nonieres to St. Julien Labrousse with the most stunning views across to the mountains and stopped for the night at the panorama viewpoint. Had our cuppa and a cake and cracked lots of walnuts ready to have with our breakfast tomorrow. The wind got up and some really thick cloud started to appear just before it got dark. Other than that it was glorious day :) Photo Gallery Here |
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