Day 9 Mende to Vallon Pont d’Arc

Last night’s hotel was delightful - elegant and friendly with very welcome air conditioning. Dinner was the best yet, bit more expensive but definitely worth it.





I slept so well and we had made a group decision to have breakfast at 7am, so an extra half hour horizontal in a cool room was very welcome. 
The first 30km was gently uphill and, once the body finally stopped complaining, it was enjoyable to pootle through beautiful scenery in the Cevennes National Park.







The coffee stop was just before the start of the last part of the climb which obviously required a pain au raisins (amazingly my 1st on this trip!)

Another 8km further up, lunch was under the trees in a beautiful spot.

From there a thoroughly enjoyable 25km descent took us down to the Ardeche with noticeably different scenery - olive and cypress trees, vineyards and noisy cicadas. 

The now expected post lunch ride in a furnace then began with very little shade so this water fountain was a very welcome place to fill bottles and empty them over my head.

It was tempting to stop for an ice cream but I just wanted to finish the ride and get out of the 36c heat so I pedalled on through the Gorges de l’Ardeche to the hotel with a very grumpy owner - I don’t think
hospitality is his calling but at least his hotel has air conditioning.








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