Eight of the rest of us left the venue at 8am after some confusion by the hotel about paying the bills. Initially we were just asked to pay our bar bill (which were rather high as we drank the hotel dry of beer) and all the rooms and meals were on the organisers account? We took the rather wonderful D996, a snaking road with fabulous tarmac surface. French road builders really deserve medals, apart from when they resurface with the dreaded Gravillons. The temperature rose higher and higher as we descended into the Rhone valley, from a bearable 32 to a horrible 40. The side wind coming up the valley was incredibly hot as it gusted past us. As we started to climb into the Vecours it dropped a little but we got stuck in slow moving traffic through the gorges. The hotel had a nice garden and the clouds had built up, combined with a decent breeze it was an enjoyable post ride beer and meal. Today we will do a loop of the gorges before splitting up to head home.
