Crime hotspot of the Ardeche!

Friday 29th September 2023. Alba la Romaine.

The day started well with a proper pain aux raisin. It wasn’t the biggest, it looked a little over done but boy was it tasty and packed with raisins. We like Alba….so much we will stay here tonight too.

We did drive off the aire to explore the nearby towns….at least the ones that were underlined in red on our AA map, indicating they were places of interest or beauty.

Villeneuve de Berg was a quick stop. It didn’t really deserve its underlining in red. Don’t get me wrong there was nothing wrong with the place but not much in its favour either.

Aubenas was the biggest of the towns. We had a coffee stop in a cafe near the chateau. We should have had it on Boulevard de Vernon!

Vals-Les-Bains was next, it is a spa town. We waited for the extraordinary occurrence of the intermittent fountain/geyser but nothing occurred. For some reason….not explained….it spouts every 6 hours but I suspect the extraordinary occurrence is a man turning on a tap!

It was a ‘belle- epoque’ style town. It made us think of the pop group of that name in the 70’s. Their big hit was ‘Black is Black’….I want my baby back! I bet most readers will remember it.

We debated whether to ride part of the ‘Via Ardeche’ cycle route down to Vogüé. I knew it was mainly on roads with a little final bit along a disused railway track….and it was hot. We decided to give it a go but the route was not signposted and seemed to involve some busier roads than we would have liked. However, we persevered. The goal was to get to the beautiful village of Vogüé where we have stayed before.

Last time was four years ago and we had two hub caps stolen in the night. I had heard some noise in the night and initially thought it was a local cat jumping on our van bonnet. I later checked the van but never thought to check the hub caps until I noticed the next morning! We reported the crime at the tourist information in the village and they were shocked at such a heinous crime….actually shocked at any crime! Today, I checked around the same car park in case any hub caps had been discarded in the last four years…..but nothing.

In four years I have managed to forgive the village…..mainly because it is so beautiful. We stopped for a cold drink and I had an ice cream. Then we had a paddle in the Ardeche river. We checked out the chateau and started the ride back to the van.

We did another 35km, in the heat of the day….are we mad? We were very tired and hot.

We returned to Alba for a nice shower and relax. We had Merlu with our daily salad. Merlu is a French fish we call hake. I poached it with a shallot, garlic, mushroom and cream sauce. Mmmmm.

On the rugby front, Japan beat Samoa last night giving themselves a chance of getting through to the quarter finals and also guaranteeing England a place in the quarters. Tonight it’s New Zealand and Italy. I’m hoping for the underdog but think the All Blacks will do it comfortably.

I hope there is no repeat crime tonight. I don’t think so. Tomorrow I will return to the Rhône.