Last night after a satisfying meal of pasta, we took an evening walk further up the hill above the village. The views across the vale were magnificent. As we walked, we commented on the different varieties of wild flowers growing on the verge, some you don't see very often in England. The local flower in this area appears to be a pale mauve iris, they were everywhere, and much larger than the specimens at home. These were one of Marge's favourite flowers in her garden so seeing them seemed comforting. As we walked back to Marge, keen to get out of the wind that blew in our faces, a wildfire red of evening sky passed above us, it was both impressive and oppressive.
This morning was beautiful, bright sun, but still a determined wind. All night the wind had been buffeting Marge, and we'd hoped it would blow itself out by morning. There was a glorious view from the van towards the Alps, a little more visible than yesterday, and we could see the River Saone disappearing into the distance, like a shimmering silver ribbon.
Our 3 euro donation, safely deposited into a nearby letterbox, we set off back to the out of town shopping area on the edge of Macon to purchase camping gaz. This particular gas is very expensive in France, but after some research, we found the cheapest place to purchase a refill cylinder was at a store called Leroy Merlin, France's equivalent to B&Q. Now for some fun, 'I would like a re-charged bottle of camping gaz for my campervan, please'. Well it worked, Marge is now in possession of a full cylinder of camping gaz.
We noticed that the cherries are already ripe on some trees.
We travelled on some faster roads today, wanting to drive a little further south. We keep away from the toll roads, which means we tend to pass through quite a lot of towns and villages, which makes the journey more interesting, but with their 30 & 50 kilometre speed limits, which we totally approve of, it makes the going slow. At the city of Lyon, we joined the ring road heading south, the traffic was heavy, but the 40 kilometre speed limit kept the traffic moving freely. As we glided along, we noticed the verges were splattered with bright red poppies, a reminder of events gone by, but which should not be forgotton. Every day we see hundreds of these poppies, in fields, amongst hedgerows, and, at the side of the road, a constant reminder.
Leaving Lyon behind us, we found ourselves travelling beside the river Rhone, a wide, gentle flowing mass of water, which we followed to the town of Vienne. Just past Vienne, we stopped at the side of the road for our lunch, and were amazed to see a 24/7 vending machine for pizzas.
John would like a smaller version to put in Marge.
After lunch we passed through many many towns and villages, at one, we stopped to photograph the chateau, it appeared to be privately owned and in need of lots of repair, the stone supporting it looked a little unstable in places. We were now travelling through the Cote du Rhone area, and there was so much to see. Look at that castle, chateau, ruin, river, the alps, the grapevines, the church.......the road!!
Tonight's stopover was planned to be up a hill in the village of Aubignas. After another slog up a long winding hill for Marge, and we wiere at the aire.
But once again the wind was blowing, and much stronger now, so after some discussion we decided to avoid the 'do you think we're going to be blown over the edge' in the early hours and drive back down into the town. So tonight we are safely en-consed on a ex municipal camp site on the edge of Le Teil. We have English neighbours to one side, in a lovely new van, and French the other side. The French couple have a little Yorkshire terrier that seems very keen on us. Behind us is a road, and behind that the river Rhone.
Early evening we took a walk across the bridge to take a look at the river, the water was jostling frantically through the rapids.
After a walk around the edge of the town, we returned to Marge for our evening meal. Noticing in a garden a Holly tree covered in berries, we have seen this several times on this trip, not sure why the birds here don't eat them in winter. Despite the wind, the air was warm, ideal for drying our T shirts. Warm weather always brings out 'pop's flops' (flip flops) , as our grandson Jack calls them. Tomorrow Jack begins his GCSE's, and we wish him lots of luck.
We are now about 150 miles from Marseille.
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