Part IV - The Third Day - the Finish

The next day the rains had passed, there were blue skies and scattered clouds with mild temperatures, and thankfully, little wind.  After a nice breakfast, we paused outside to take a few pictures of us in front of the hotel.  Then off we went on the last leg.

 

Roger and David Ready for the last leg

This segment was ‘only’ going to be about 70 kilometers, but we were pretty fatigued from the past two days.  Luckily, the terrain was fairly flat and conditions were good – what would have been a long segment last year seemed almost easy.  We went by the most direct route as the mapped route was a bit longer and had some hills to deal with.  We had had enough of hills for a good while. 

The scenery was pleasant and we even came upon a work crew paving a new segment of Viarhona, the bike route along the Rhone.  We were the first to travel over a new segment of about 100 meters.

Paving Crew at work

Asphalt truck supplying the paving crew

David watching the paving crew

 Being closer to home didn’t seem to help my map-reading skills, although one has to admit that French village names can be confusing.  We needed to go through ‘Villette d’Anthon’ (Small City of Anthon), so when I saw a sign that pointed to ‘Anthon’, I headed for it.  Not the same town - but when we figured out we would have to turn around, it was lunch time and we were in front of a small restaurant.  We made a wise decision that this would be a good place to stop for lunch.

Turned out to be a great place – we both had the salmon, beautifully prepared and presented on a bed of fresh greens.  That plus, bien sûr, a bit of wine, dessert, and coffee, and we were ready for the last leg.

Great Lunch!

Before leaving the restaurant, I thought I would check in with Anna to tell her about what time we would be home.  It was only then that I learned of her painful hip condition that had suddenly appeared the previous day. 

Nothing to be done but to press on with all reasonable dispatch, and so a couple of hours later, we rolled into Lyon, finishing an excursion that turned out to be a lot more strenuous than either of us had anticipated.