Lyon to the top of the Hill!

In Lyon we pulled up against a stone pier right in the centre of the town where we saw two other little yachts tied up with some river barges, rather than round the peninsula bounded by the Saone and the Rhone and spend the night in the marina. An impressive Church, Cathedral St-Jean, presides over the cobble stone streets and medieval and Renaissance houses high on the western hill and we immediately off loaded the bikes to gain the lofty views that were afforded after much exertion. The way down again involved descending a flight of a hundred steps or so and we happening across a radical mountain bike circuit. Much of it required full motocross gear though.

Lyon’s Place des Terreaux has an incredible statue/fountain by Bartholdi, creator the Statue of Liberty, of four horses representing four rivers galloping in front of a maidens chariot. The horses have claws coming from there hooves and vine bridles. Its so powerful and beautiful. In a nearby square centred on more modern works of art, numerous skateboarders gather to practice tricks. We sat and watched them in the sun for awhile; I bought some material for making courtesy flags, to fly when we enter foreign countries. (Our French flag is still intact after several days of wicked flapping in the breeze). If you go a couple of streets further from here we discovered that the feel changes suddenly. The streets become narrower, slightly hilly and the inhabitants are predominantly a middle eastern. This is always the best kind of area to find cheap internet outlets, overseas phone cards and tasty kebabs but we get the feeling we should watch our pockets.

15th of September – Our Wedding Anniversary. Spent most the day wandering on foot through the ancient streets. The larger shopping streets are closed to traffic so its lovely just to wander down them window shopping. Nick bought me an outfit (skirt and two tops) of dark blue bouncy cotton and lace - totally spoiled!

Making a mile after lunch we descended a 12 metre lock then a 7 metre lock over a stretch of the river 41 km long, stoping at a lovely marina at Condrieu in the early evening. The Rhone valley at this stage was becoming wider and more mountainous on each side. There are so many fortifications in ruins along the river, and tiny patches of grape vines clinging to the rocky slopes. High on the western horizon a missile like structure topped the highest peak in view. Perhaps it was the champagne that made us decide to ride there the next day.

16th September. It took Nick and I over three hours of riding uphill, without one metre of downhill respite, apart from when we dismounted at the “Maison du Park” for a map of downhill bike trails in the nature park. I did not have a skerrick of effort left when I finally stepped off the peddles onto my wobbly legs at the summit, we had climbed over 1,200 vertical meters to the 1,400m peak. The structure had high security and was probably some kind of TV transmitter. Next to it a huge stone cross stood at the precipice against the cold wind and time. We took the forest tracks at high speed down the hill, through little enclaves and towns nestled into the cols of the steep hills, threw our bikes into a ditch to dash into an orchard and pick big crisp apples. Then huge juicy mouthfuls as we rolled on, past stone walled farm houses, with terracotta tiles, and pigsty’s inside the ground floor barns. Back at the boat we got under the hose on the pontoon to cool off.