The morning was not cold but a thick mist lay all around us and we could only see a few metres over the lake. By the time that we had left, the mist was clearing and we could see the bank on the other side. We descended from the lake and were soon in the wide Isere Valley with a very high cliff on our left. We followed this cliff, the boundary of the mountains, and the river for many miles. Thousands of walnut trees lined both sides of the road and there were many signs advertising direct sales of 'Noix' (walnuts) and 'Huille de Noix' (walnut oil) from the farms. The weather was getting warmed and warmer and soon it was up to 20°C, a temperature we hadn't encountered for some while. We were heading for the south and the weather was getting better!
As we approached Valance, where the Isere joins the huge Rhone, we joined a dual carriageway that joined two sections of motorway. Here we passed a nuclear convoy with the nuclear material carried in a container on a small lorry accompanied by three police minibuses and two police motorbikes. The minibuses each had a number of armed police in them ready for any incident. France produces over three quarters of its electricity from nuclear reactors and there must be many such convoys on French roads. It was good to see them taken security so seriously.
We followed the Rhone south briefly before heading up a valley to Privas. We climbed quickly up into the park of the 'Ardeche Mountains'. We had lunch overlooking this valley before driving on to Lablachere close to the campsite, Le Ch'Ti Franoi, of our friends Steve and Audrey. We had hoped to pop on to see them but their season had just finished and they were enjoying a well-deserved holiday in England. We picked up some excellent Cotes de l'Ardeche wine from the cooperative in Lablachere before continuing on the D4 past Steve and Audrey's campsite. Steve had told us that the scenery on this road was worth seeing but we hadn't taken that route last time. We weren't prepared for what we found we drove up through chestnut woods and kept going up and up. We thought that we would start our descent soon but it went on and on. The scenery was stunning - although it was hazy we could see for a long way. We had in fact climbed on to the Massif Central and we were soon at over 1,000m. The scenery was now bleak with rock outcrops everywhere, some looking for all the world like Greek Cyclopean Walls, and farmhouses and hamlets built of stone that blended into the landscape. After many miles we did start to descend – 10km of 8% slope, the signs warned. We arrived, after many hair-pin bends, at the small spa resort of Saint-Laurent-Les-Bains and a lovely municipal campsite in the valley bottom. Driving through the resort and out the other side, we found ourselves climbing once again to well over 1,100m. Shortly afterwards we descended to La Bastide Puylaurent, still at 980m where we found the camperstop behind the office of tourism. We had taken the D4 all the way from Lablachere to La Bastide and it was one of the most dramatic and beautiful journeys that we had made on the Odyssey. With the caveat that the road is steep, narrow, twisty and is not good for the fuel consumption, I would highly recommend this trip particularly in good weather when the views are clear.
Photos: Mist lays over the lake d'Aiguebelette; A rocky hillside with those natural Cyclopean Walls; The valley near Saint-Laurent-Les-Bains – the campsite is at the bottom of the valley.
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