I’m not a fan of cities – I much prefer countryside, mountains, and wide open spaces, but there were some pleasant sights today on my stroll from Gare de Lyon yo Châtelet les Halles to catch the RER B train to Charles Gaulle airport. Good enough to share, I think.

It’s the regular routine today, with a little variation: buses to get to Valence TGV station, Ouigo TGV to Paris Gare de Lyon,. RER B metro train to get me to Charles de Gaulle airport, late flight back to Bristol, then the drive home.

And the weather today is just as spectacular as most of the stay, so I’m sitting in the sun at Valence TGV station while I wait for the train. I’ll be looking forward to finding my bed late tonight!

The Drôme Classic is an early season professional bike race, the second of two one-day races (yesterday it was in the Archèche). Well, as I’ve never been here at the right time, the weather was stunning, and I wanted to visit Eurre, I combined all three with a jolly jaunt there. I got some snaps of the perched village, ate a sandwich, then right on cue, the riders appeared, navigated the sharp corner with no spills, and off they went. And off I went back to Romeyer to tidy up the house and have some supper. A lovely last full day.

I didn’t get far today: just a short ride to Pont de Quart and Aix-en-Diois this morning, and then a walk into Die this afternoon… but the radiant sunshine and luminous skies made everything look so lovely, I’ve not stopped taking photos all day. Here’s just a small selection of them!

It’s bright, cool and breezy today, so it seemed like a perfect time to do a triangular walk from my front door I’ve wanted to do for some time: up to le Bichon on the Balcon du Glandasse, turn right to the Col de Ménil, then back down the Ravin de Bonne Combe to get home. Easy enough, despite the 750m of ascent, but absolutely stunning, especially at this time of year, when wooded areas are much lighter, before the deciduous trees have come into leaf.

And I met more salamanders than people. One.

Today was a planned easier day, not least as the forecast was distinctly drab. But a little hazy sun tempted me out for a very local stroll after breakfast, and the sight of proper blue sky in between clouds tempted me to go a few extra miles to Ponet on my way to the shops this afternoon. And, you’ll not be surprised, I took some photos en route.

At this time of the year, you have to grab any opportunity to enjoy good weather, and today was a stunner: not just clear blues skies all day, but proper warm sun by the afternoon. So the morning was spent going to Die market to replenish fruit, veg & bread supplies, and after an early lunch, it was off in the bike to Lesches-en-Diois and Beaurières. Even better, there was virtually no wind, so it was shorts and short sleeves, and no slog either way on the D93 between Die and Beaurières.

Tomorrow’ forecast is solid grey, but I’ll still be glowing from today’s outings!

After the miserable weather yesterday, the forecast for a good & getting even better day today came true. I’ll not trouble you with lots of words, other than to say that the local short ride and walk was to les Planeaux and the Col de Romeyer, and the afternoon ride was to the Valley de Quint and back via Marignac-en-Diois. The photos almost do both excursions justice.

After yesterday’s stunner, today’s forecast easily persuaded me to limit myself to do some necessary shopping in Die. The sun even came out for a few brief moments, and, contrary to the morning forecast, I stayed mostly dry. Of course I couldn’t resist the odd photo, including one of my very favourite bookshop. Sadly it’s closed on Mondays, but I must go in this week, and see if I’m tempted by anything.

I’m going to try to be strict with myself and focus on the R&R during these ten days, but having got lots of cooking done yesterday, and the weather being nigh on perfect today (sunny, and high teens centigrade by the afternoon), I did a very short local walk this morning, into Romeyer itself, and a simple loop to Luc-en-Diois this afternoon, after eating some hearty homemade squash soup for an early lunch.

As you’ll see, I couldn’t stop taking photographs, and had a silly grin on my face most of the time. Well, you can’t see the silly grin, but you’ll see why I was smiling.