Day 11 Aubenas
17 miles
292 ft climbed
Today did not go as planned. The rain and thunderstorms had returned so after a ( very) brief chat we decided to camper the first sector.
Saying goodbye to my friends Maryse & Christian, then Caroline & Dom ( who was looked after fabulously by my French mum Silvia) at the campsite, we even had a visit from Marc the chair of the Twinning Committee to thank us for coming.
Leaving the campsite we stocked up at the local supermarket and bumped into Caroline and our favourite Tonbridge antipodeans.
From Le Puy the route took us up to over 1400m past Les Estables and it’s fields of wild Narcissi, which replace the wild Daffodils at this time of year.
This road then took us to Mont Gerbier de Jonc and the source of the Loire. A quick recce on his bike by Chris confirmed that the rain and cold ( it was only 5 degrees) were too much for us to want to start cycling again. 
We have sort of now cycled the whole of the Loire from St Nazaire to its source.
Staying in the camper we remained in the van as the route started to take us off the top and down towards Burzet which is famous for its Monte Carlo Rally stages. A quick stop at the cascade de Ray-Pic below. 
This is a great photo of Vipers Bugloss which we have seen by the roadside for many days. 
Just after Burzet the rain started to ease off and desperate to get back on our bikes we were very happy to get out and cycle. The route was then mostly downhill all the way to the campsite along the side of the river Ardeche. 
Taking the opposite road to the main route we had to swerve past a chap picking and eating cherries. 
It was a casual ride with super views along the valley and the sun came out bringing the temperature up so I have been able to sit outside this evening writing the blog. 
On arriving at he campsite Nick felt hard done by so got back on his bike to climb the nearest hill and add a further 15 km to his days riding !
The weather tomorrow looks good in the morning but not so in the afternoon so we are looking at an early start to see how far we can get on our bikes.
nbjtours 