The weather forecast for the Jura area was heavy rain lasting several days so we decided to leave our already soggy campsite and head south west towards Montpellier. The route out of Ornans was steep and the road ribboned on endlessly up through the valley, following the line of the meandering river. For over an hour we carefully negotiated hairpin bends on narrow roads which seemed to be getting us nowhere.
At last we reached the A39 and began our journey south towards Lyons. We spotted many British registered vehicles on the motorway, some flying the English flag and obviously heading for the Euro 2016 football. Five hours later we had arrived at our campsite at Vallon Pont d’Arc at the head of the gorges of the Ardèche.
By pure coincidence we had a surprise visit that evening from cousins, Gill and Robin Snelson, who had continued their holiday after attending our Bardolino wedding and were cycling in the Ardèche. They had backed into a street sign and smashed the rear window of their car – something we had done on more than one occasion so Tony was experienced in making a temporary repair using a plastic table cloth and duct tape. We had no idea they were in the area.
