Cycling The Globe

A Cycle Touring Expedition Around The World

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Day 2176, Connaux – St. Nazaire, France: Along the Rhône

Posted by Thomas Andersen Posted on Jan - 14 - 2017

Distance: 139.3 km
Ride time: 7:34:56
Average: 18.4 km/h
Max speed: 45.0 km/h
Total: 56102 km

When I arrived at my camp site last night the reception was already closed. As I left at 7.30 this morning it was still not open – oh well, a free night then 🙂

French villages can be rather sleepy in the morning (and during the day as well) but I found a small kiosk to buy a bit of breakfast. Then it was back in expedition mode, putting on my headphones to listen to my favourite podcasts as I cycled north.

I’m now following the Rhône river up towards Switzerland. I can see mountains on each side of the river, but the Rhône valley is nice and flat as I slowly climbed from 50 to 200 meters of altitude during the day. I have travelled a lot in Europe by bus, train, and plane, but I have never really noticed the network of rivers that cross the continent. Thats the beauty of cycle touring, you don’t miss these things.

My calculations show that I will hit 58000 kilometers before reaching Copenhagen – 2000 to go!

I kept cycling until sunset, clocking a respectable 139 km for the day. In the old medieval town of St. Nazaire I considered wild camping by the river, but found a cheap camp site instead. Now that the days are getting colder it feels nice with a warm shower in the evening.

The supermarket was already closed and with only one restaurant in town I didn’t have much choice for dinner. The restaurant looked fancier than any restaurant I had been to lately, but the prices seemed very fair. The French are serious about eating; on the wall I could see the chef’s diploma from a cooking school in Paris where he had specialized in Crepes. And boy were those Crepes good!

From here it’s a two day ride to Lake Geneva in Switzerland where I used to live for a year back in 2005. I’m looking forward to catch up with old friends there.

Categories: France
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