Day 8 – Google Drove Me Nougats
I woke up early morning and Hallelujah – no wind! It promised to be a good day, sunny and calm. After saving about 20 km yesterday by following Google instead of Strava, I decided to rely on Google again. The route looked appealing, following the riverbank of the Rhône. The first half hour was good, then I ended up in the woods, where according to Google there were roads. In reality, it was barely discernible tracks in tall grass. Still kudos to Google for its precision. Twenty minutes later I was back on a paved road: yeay! Back on track. But I soon found myself on a gravel trail. My Brompton is a well-built bicycle, but it wasn’t meant to be used as a touring bike, let alone as a mountain bike. Once I got back on the main road, my day became nice and easy. I even allowed myself to make a couple of detours because the roads were quiet and ran through the countryside.
I passed Pont-Saint-Esprit where, according to urban legend, the CIA conducted a science project with LSD. As a result, this small town presumably hallucinated en masse.
On one of the crossroads close to Montélimar, I saw the Swiss couple who took my picture of the fool on the hill in Sète a few days ago. They were traveling on a scooter, we waved at each other. During my travels I often think about the random people I see or meet and who I will never see again… and here, a few days later and a couple of hundreds of kilometers away, I see these people again. Kind of surreal.
I stopped a dozen kilometers short of Montélimar to camp for the night. I put up the tent and went to Montélimar to check out their famous nougats. I wasn’t disappointed, I bought a couple of packets with different tastes to satisfy my sweet tooth.
Upon my return, I went to a bar and cheered for France in their opening match at Euro 2016 – otherwise I would probably be thrown out of the bar.
Then I called it a night.
Today in numbers
88 km – distance covered
5h02m – riding time
200 g – nougats bought
2 – beers while watching the Euro 2016 France-Romania football match
2 – times off-road, courtesy of Google
