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After another good night's sleep, we awake to another bright hot morning and we are in no rush to leave. Ali spends a few minutes chatting to the elder Madame who tells her about life in the village where there is no trouble and all is calm!
We set off at 11.00 loaded down with more goodies and head to Uzes for fuel. It is Market day and school is finishing for the morning making it very busy.
From Uzes the roads are fairly flat but with views of the Ardeche peaks ahead. Towards St Ambroix the roads are narrow, winding and bumpy with drops on either side. The scrubby and stunted trees remind us of the New Forest except here we see goats instead of ponies.
Soon the roads narrow, climb and wind and the surface is rough with a high camber but the ride is pretty.
We stop in St. Ambroix for lunch behind a church called Le Temple and after lunch Ali and Grete walk to the Medieval hill town and climb its steep passages and steps. The views are stunning from the top, overlooking a sea of pantile rooves and there is an old chapel.
Leaving St Ambroix on the D51 leading to the D906 we journey into the Ardeche region. All of our previous references to winding mountain roads now become obsolete. The D906 is both exciting and challenging with long climbs and long descents, hairpin beds and vast drops, separated from below by only a log barrier. Thankfully it it proper 2 lane and well surfaced., but much of it is done in 2nd or 3rd gear. Bikers clearly love this road and are able to pass slower traffic like us at will. We stop at various view points to look over a huge flat valley floor with small farmsteads, or massive gorges with rock pillars or terraces which almost look man-made and some rock formations which you can see faces in. The brown rock has massive fissures from which grow green trees and huge areas of broom. At one view point we watch red kites flying. We also see a few convoys of vintage cars.
Our last few miles from Villeforte run beside a lovely river, reassuringly flat after all our climbs which reach a high point of 1204 metres and equally long descents.
We reach the Aire/Passion at Pradelles beside a Boucherie/Charcuterie at 17:30 and Ali and Grete abandon ideas of Chicken for dinner and return with huge sausages which we have for dinner.
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