Sur le Pont d’Avignon L'on y danse, l'on y danse Sur le Pont d’Avignon L'on y danse tous en rond Yes. We've reached Avignon! Only a short stage today. 58 miles. But a better pace: 14.3 mph average. Warm and sunny. For the last few days we have, on and off, been following the ViaRhôna cycle route. The flat countryside and the endless fields of maize and Charolais have given way to the steep sided valley with endless vineyards. (There's also a surpr...

We have cycling along the Rhone valley to Montelimar. Built in Roman times, this is the world centre of nougat. (I was brought up to pronounce it as 'nug-gut' but, like most folk, changed to 'noo- gah'. Pink and white halves, with a smattering of peanuts, it was responsible for premature removal of many fillings.) Regrettably, many nougat producers have gone to the wall due to the fact that the new A7 Autoroute bypasses the town resulting in fewer tourists stop...

Left Chalon and cycled down to Macon where we watched the finish of the Macon Semi-Marathon. We set up our picnic inside the last kilometre and gave the runners a good boost with our cycle bells: especially my klaxon. That gave some of them a real fright! After the tail enders were mostly in, there were some shorter running events for juniors. There was also a cycle race. Great entertainment. There was a good crowd and there was a good atmosphere with brass ban...

Ate Lebanese meze last night in Besancon. Small place owed by the ageing sisters who'd come over from Lebanon, along with a husband of one (now 10 yrs dead). They prepared a nice meal and they had a good bottle of Beqaa valley red. They were very uncertain of their future because trade had really fallen off during the recession. Nice people. This morning we followed the cycle path along the banks of the river Doubs. This the French section (Velo Route 6) which i...

I am reminded, by Mr J, that today is Friday the 13th. Caution required! -------------------------------------------- The road to Besancon was good. Cycling through some little town in the middle of nowhere, I happened to take note of a road name - Rue de Jean Grigitte. No idea who he is/was. A 'nobody' in the grand scheme of things but he'd done something locally to warrant having a road named after him! That's more than me or any of my friends have done. M ...