Tournon to Vienne - Monday 21 August

I had my best sleep of the trip last night, and - even better - we were able to have a lie-in this morning, with breakfast starting 30 minutes later at 7:30am, and tours not starting till 9:30am. David and I were on separate tours again - David doing the walking tour of the 'Garden of Eden', and me doing the Ardeche Steam Train. There was also a Chapoutier winery visit available.

My ankles were still badly swollen from yesterday's walk up and down the village of Viviers. Plus, my knee had been quite sore after that, and I thought I'd need to take some Panadol - fortunately a glass of Shiraz had solved that aching! So, I was glad to have the sedate option of the Steam Train along the railway line the Chermin de Fer du Vivarais, a scenic line hat runs between Tournon, in the Rhône valley and Lamastre in the Doux Valley. The train ran through deep gorges and we travelled in open-sided carriages; smoke from the engine blew threw occasionally. The 30 minute journey took us as far as the charming little station of Colombier Le Vieux - Saint-Barthélémy le Plain, where we had a 20 minute stop while the steam locomotive was turned on a swing bridge for the return journey. The 200-ton train is pulled by a locomotive identical to the one designed by the engineer Anatole Mallet (1837-1919) and our locomotive had been running the route since 1903 - it is even listed as an historical 'monument'.





David decided to partake of the less sedate walk that involved walking up and around Eden Parc garden in the park of an ancient Convent which involved looking at a woodland garden and seeing some fabulous views of Tournon-Sur-Rhone and the river stretched out below the gardens. The owner of the park has a huge job maintaining it.



The guide then escorted the group on a tour of the town which was basically closed as France has a 35 hour week and a lot of shops only have one staff member who works seven hours a day with the shops closing so the staff can have lunch.

The boat left at 12:15pm, while we indulged in lunch. Then, at 1:30pm, it was all hand to the lounge for the ice-cream party - with a choice of flavours and toppings, including a few alcoholic ones!

During the afternoon, we sailed through a lock (it's amazing how quickly these pump our boat to a level several metres higher). Then there was some very pleasant cruising up the Rhône, with scenery similar to the Rhine - quaint villages, vineyards spread up the steep hillsides, sailing under suspension bridges. The views from the lounge and bow of the boat were lovely.



Later, at 4pm, came a special Valrhona Chocolate tasting - very like a wine-tasting. Valrhona chocolate is manufactured here, and is renowned for its quality. It was very interesting.

During dinner (a wonderful, special Chaine Des Rotisseurs dinner) we arrived in Vienne, one of Gaul's largest settlements that became a Roman colony in 49BC under Julius Caesar. We saw swans floating past the window as we were dining - luckily swan didn't feature on the menu!