La dolce via

We decided to stay for a couple of days at camping La Garenne at St Laurent du Pape. The site is Dutch owned and clearly a favourite with the hoards of Dutch travellers who always seem to be to be the most numerous tourists  on the roads of Europe. My theory is that because Holland is small and crowded the government must operate a population-wide shift system as there is not enough room for everyone to fit at the same time.

The campsite was very friendly and we were soon swapping stories with the Dutch couple across the way whose car had suffered a clutch failure. Another couple from the Wirral turned-up - I think I had more social contact in the course of one evening than at home in the last six months.

supporting the local economy....

laundry wafting in the southern breeze!

St Laurent is a typical southern French riverside village, no particular outstanding feature, but the boulangerie was epic, producing lovely baguettes and really scrummy pain chocolat and croissants. The lady running the boulangerie was utterly charming and seeing that we had arrived by bicycle double wrapped our purchases to ensure they arrived home intact.

Bravo Madame Laffont!

The real accidental discovery at St Laurent was the disused railway that had been converted into a cycle way. The somewhat romantically named 'La Dolce Via' runs from La Voulte sur Rhone, up the valley of the Eyrieux for over 40 kilometres. We managed about 16k in total, a really lovely, quiet ride through autumnal woods, along the edge of gorges, all the time overlooking the river meandering through the verdant valley below - small pleasures!

On the Dolce Via

We more or less had the trail to ourselves.

The track follows the river through a series of wooded gorges.