By car will travel

Rising early with news that our pickup to Avignon would be about 9:30, we were eager to get to our car and continue with our journey. We were also especially happy to not be riding out bikes, since the rain has since continued from the previous day.

Our drive back to Avignon was longer than expected, especially when our cab driver told us that he had planned poorly and that we had to divert to his home so that he could drop his kid off at school. Luckily we had time until we had to pick-up our rental. Thankfully he also went out of his way to ensure he had the right pick-up destination, as we insisted it wasn't at the train station, so he ended up calling the company to find out where to go.

Getting out of town
Since we had so much road to cover, we decided to head out of the bigger city as quickly as possible. Thankfully the road signs in France are generally easy to follow when looking to get to your next destination. What will be interesting is to see how easy it will be to drive ourselves around a town, where we had more troubles in Spain.

Taking the long route
Instead of hopping on the Autoroute with its pay tolls, we took the National road instead. Certainly longer, as you have to go through every town, but also more scenic. Making our way up north, there were a lot more towns to make our way through than when we were in Catalonia. This made more of an impact on our travel time than anticipated. But mon mari drives better than some of the Europeans! Good thing it is him driving and not me.

Nuclear
On one of our bike days we noticed that the air was a bit smokey in the morning, but didn't really think much of it. When driving by we noticed what caused the cloudy air - a nuclear plant. Two huge Simpsons-like stacks billowing out smoke, dominating the area. We passed two in the Triscastin area, and I wonder why their grapes aren't as well-loved.

Hermitage
We passed the other most prestigious wine area in the Cotes-du-Rhone region, with its hilltop vineyards stretched as far as the eye can see. This was the first time we saw so many vineyards sculpting out a mountain-side, it was an incredible difference from what we've seen before. Of course knowing that it was going to be more pricey we didn't waste time stopping for a sip.

Lyon
We also drove though this large city as fast as we could, as we didn't have the time to try and navigate even for a brief look. (You do have to pick and choose as best you can when traveling, as it is impossible to see everything!) we hopped onto the main route, only to find that there was a car accident that slowed traffic right down.

Beaujolais
Since I'm not a huge fan of the grapes, along with the fact that they're esteemed enough to be overpriced, we made only a quick jaunt through the Beaujolais region. Very picturesque, there were rolling hills covered in vines and wineries. In fact, this was the highest concentration of wineries we've seen yet. Every second home seemed to be a winery, that it seemed odd to stop at one for a taste.

So instead we took a quick stop along the wine route for a quick swish, only to confirm that it not my grape of choice. Riding on the even more scenic route, rolling through the small towns, was a nice break to stretch our legs. Considering the wine area is so small, you could probably bike it one or two days.

A dark ending
Getting back on the main road, we kept driving past Macon, entering the Burgundy region. Unfortunately, since it was already a continually grey day, it made sightseeing more difficult. So we drove as quickly as we could, navigating through the dark to find out hotel outside Beaune. While enjoying the fall weather, we certainly miss the summer daylight!