Last of France: Ardèche Cruisin'

I promise I'm done blogging about my holiday in France after this post. Almost a month and a half after returning home and here I am, sifting through my pictures to put together a report of our beautiful final day, which we spent riding through the Ardèche valley and visiting Balazuc.

The fun started when we spotted our first lavender field! We'd been scouting the horizon for those typical fields of purple, but apparently we had chosen the wrong time of year because there was no lavender to be found for the largest part of our trip. And then, there was that scent, and just around the bend: lavender!

Ha, that last pic is probably my favourite shot of our entire trip because my boyfriend totally looks like a French farmer here. That, and I like the composition.

Ever onward, to the most famous part of the Ardèche: Vallon Pont d'Arc.

This bit was touristy as hell, so we didn't stick around for long. We took a break from driving around by eating some popsicles at a tiny café among the trees, simply sitting there and taking in the quiet and the atmosphere for about half an hour before heading on towards Balazuc, which is also one of France's plus beaux villages.

(I like this pic because of the mix of fonts. I'm obviously a total nerd.)

(source)

Funny story: we bought water shoes especially so we would be able to swim in the Ardèche without endangering our feet. Obviously, we forgot to bring them this day. We are great planners. But the river was beautiful!

We took the scenic route back along the Ardèche river, which brought us beautiful views from the top and a chance meeting with some wild mountain goats.

For our last night, we rode down to La Garde-Adhémar again. This time to eat dinner at Le Tissonier, an adorable place that specializes in grilled fish. We had three tapas-style entrées (the courgette terrine with tomato gazpacho was my favourite), and the dorade. Most of the vegetables were grown in the restaurant's own backyard, and everything tasted wonderful.

AND THEN WE DROVE BACK TO THE BNB TO BE SAD ABOUT ALL OF IT ENDING :((((((

Thanks, France! We had a blast, see ya next year, hopefully!

You can read my other France posts here: 
- La Devinière
- Donzère and Viviers
- Marché Provençale de Nyons and le Mont Ventoux