7 February 2024 – Down the Rhone to Montelimar

Miles driven today = 97

Total Miles to date = 756

We were up with the larks this morning, showered, caffeinated and on the road by 9am but things went a little bit pear shaped for a while after that.  We headed for the local Lidl’s for Croissants and a bit of a restock but were met with another height barrier so we got ourselves on the non-tolled section of the A7 and drove South past numerous petro-chemical plants to Vienne.  The height barrier at the E Leclerc there was set at a very accommodating 3.8 metres but the car park was rammed so we gave up on the thoughts of shopping for a while and headed over the river to Saint-Romain-en-Gaul where there is a highly recommended Gallo-Roman museum and several hectares of Roman ruins.  We pulled into the car park.  

The museum wasn’t due to open for another 30 minutes but already there were very few parking spaces available to accommodate a vehicle of our size and we would probably have had to pay for 2 spaces to avoid a fine so we binned the idea and drove on in search of somewhere a little less heavily populated.

The fridge and cupboards finally did get replenished at the Intermarche in Roussillon and while we were there we also took advantage of the cheapest diesel we have seen to date at €1.724 per litre.  The N7 trunk road then became our companion for a while and we relaxed a little and started to enjoy the scenery which was becoming properly hilly in places.  

We pulled in for a lunch break on the banks of the Rhone a little way short of Pont d’Isere and then crossed the river to the Ardeche side in order to pick up the D86, thereby avoiding Valence.  At Le Pouzin Google Maps had us driving back across the Rhone via a pair of single track hydro-electric dams before rejoining the N7 for the final approach to Montelimar.

We are parked up in the town’s municipal Aire.  There is a ticket machine at the entrance but it doesn’t appear to be working and one of our neighbours has confirmed that it is indeed “gratis”.  Stays are supposedly limited to 48 hours but I get the impression that there are a few vans who have been here for a lot longer.  It’s pretty tatty and would be very muddy if it were to rain heavily but I’m certainly not complaining for a freebie.

We had an interesting time actually getting into the aire.  Google Maps sent us up a side road which had this sign at the entrance.  We naively assumed it meant “motorhomes this way” but of course it actually meant the complete opposite and led to  a dead end.  The next turning had a similar sign and after a sharp uphill we found out why with a very narrow section through which I only just managed to navigate between some unforgiving looking concrete bollards.  But by hook or by crook we are in and set for the night.

So we didn’t really pick Montelimar for any reason other than it looked like a convenient place to stop but we went to have a look around the town nonetheless.  We approached the town centre via the one remaining medieval gateway, the Porte Sant-Martin.

Large sections of the central pedestrianized area are currently undergoing a major re-paving project and initially we encountered something of a dusty ghost town atmosphere.

But once we got past all the road works we found a thoroughly pleasant little town, albeit perhaps a little more earthy than the larger conurbations we have visited so far on this trip.

This is the central Church of Sainte Croix and Place des Halles.  

Judging by the inscription above the door, the Mairie (Town Hall) appears to have previously been the main Hotel de Ville.

Place Emile Loubet

Montelimar is most famous for its production of Nougat.  We passed the Palais des Bonbons du Nougat as we drove into town and there were numerous shops selling the stuff and offering tours of their artisanal nougat factories.  Neither of us are massive fans of the stuff so we declined.

You can even buy yourself a souvenir Montelimar Nougat snow globe should the fancy take you.

There has been some real warmth to the sunshine today and the external thermometer in the van was reading 18 degrees when we parked up earlier.  So having completed a circuit of the town centre it only felt right to indulge in a couple of al-fresco beers while we watched the World go by and the hens pecked around our feet. 

8 February 2024 - Avignon