2017-04-21 Revel Tourdan - Clonaz-sur-Varèze (29 / 340 km)

The day started in a good way with Indian breakfast. Then we hit the road again. We had been advised to take an alternative road through the forest instead of the main route that passed through the villages of Bellegarde and Saint-Romain-de-Surieu. So we did. We saved 3 km. That gave us all time to talk to each other for me especially to one of the Germans and the new group member Ava.

Reached the village of Assien that proved to be another "dead village". We had to eat our back-pack meal of, for me, water and bread.

Then it became interesting. Due to the fact that I had not prepared well enough I thought that we should continue along GR65. Normally GR65 and Chemin de Compostelle (the pilgrim road) are the same. But not so here. We started to miss the shell symbols and at a crossing in Cheyssieu I together with the others realized that I had taken the GR instead of the Chemin. Ooops!
My fault no doubt. I had not been careful enough.

However with the help of the GPS the map in the guidebook I quickly realized how we should reach the Chemin without having to walk all the way back to the place where the two split. But due to my mistake Ava was not fully certain of my navigational ability so she asked some locals that confirmed the my shortcut was a good one. So we, after some discussion, continued the way I suggested.

After a while we passed down the hills in Clonas-sur-Varèze and ended up at the bar near the center - where else?! Some refreshments later we ended up singing to the guitalele (a small ukulele sized guitar) that Ava was carrying with her in the backpack. And Paul was more or less a guitar expert. Being a musician besides an architect. What a combination! Really good and we had fun!

We three older boys got an accommodation on top of the bar while Ava found an own place to stay nearby. We had dinner at the bar were we stayed.

Usamos un atajo por el bosque no pasábamos los lugares Bellegarde y Sait-Romain-de-Surieu pero pasábamos Assien. Un tiempo para parlar entre nosotros y especialmente con Ava que se llama la mujer, el nuevo miembro de nuestra pandilla. Pero faltamos las conchas. Y cuando llegamos hasta el pueblo Cheyssieu comprendimos había seguido la GR en vez del Camino (le chemin). Normal los dos son las mismas. Pero no aquí. ¡Mea culpa! Con mi GPS y mis mapas trové un atajo hasta el Camino. Hablando francés su lengua propia, Ava comprobó con unos lugareños. Y, sí, mi propuesta estaba correcto. También este era el día del guitalele. Ava llevaba una guitarra muy pequeña, un guitalele, con un tamaño de un ukulele, en un bolsillo fuera su mochila. Y Paul también sea un músico de la guitarra a lado de la arquitectura. ¡Que combinación! ¡Nos divertimos!