Up and dressed for riding, we had breakfast followed by our route review at 8:30. The first part of the review was the schedule for the day.

Today’s ride is broken into two parts; the morning section of 23 miles takes us to Sion and the afternoon section of ten miles brings us back to the hotel in Saillon. We start out through narrow streets and then begin riding through the orchards. Lots of apples, apricots, and pears are grown in this area. We are in the Canton of Valais, the mostly French Canton of Switzerland, and we’re riding in a valley between the Alps.

We also see greenhouses like this which are most likely starting vegetables to give them a big boost.

After about ten miles we reach Fully and have a snack stop.

We soon get into a lengthy section of bike path along the Rhône River. The guides were telling us this morning how important the river was to help bring salt to the interior of the country during medieval times. Salt was critical for people to have in their diet and was often used in lieu of cash for payment. And that’s how the word salary was derived.

Another section of the bike path with the mountains surrounding us. We had a nice sunny day and a smooth path to ride on. We met other bicycle riders as well as people on scooters.

We stopped here to watch a helicopter flying low over a field and carrying a bucket that we thought might contain water. We were also wondering how farmers were able to reach the vineyards that were way up on the mountainside above Ross’ left hand.

A sign along the bike path.

I’m gasping for water so we make a stop. Something else I don’t like about our bikes is the water is kept well behind the seat and behind our bike bag so a stop is necessary to be able to get it loose to drink.

The rest of the ride is fairly uneventful; just after we enter Sion though, I have to stop at a roundabout for pedestrians on an uphill. I cannot get started pedaling on a hill with the heavy bike though and have to walk to a flatter area. Then we meet the van in Sion – the city which claims the most sunshine in Switzerland – and begin a GPS-guided walking tour. We check out the Cathedral then continue the walking tour.

Our tour takes us through the old city and uphill to see the remains of a castle.

Then we have lunch at the Brasserie du Grand-Pont.

With views of the mountains at both ends of the street.

And with yummy red curry chicken. This was one of our favorite meals of the trip.

We leave Sion at 2:30 and we elect to take the van back to the hotel rather than ride an additional ten miles. The main reason is to have more time to partake of the thermal pool back at the hotel. Also we have strong winds again this afternoon which seems to be a phenomenon characteristic of this valley. On the way back Phillips drives us by the castle that we rode our bikes partway to yesterday. It’s the cylinder on top of the hill.

Back at the hotel we head to the large indoor thermal pool as well as the outdoor “lazy river” thermal pool. Ross said it wasn’t so lazy though; he got knocked off his feet and dunked twice but had fun doing it. We didn’t have our phones so this is a hotel photo.

Another hotel photo of our very functional room.

After the pool, we pack up for the move tomorrow and then have dinner at the hotel restaurant. Tonight, Saturday, is a buffet with all sorts of interesting items. Since my French is paltry at best, there were several items mysterious to me but I did have wonderful beef bourguignon among the many options for a main course plus several choices of salads and vegetable side dishes, and desserts.

It was generally a good day. An easy bike ride, good food, and hotel amenities contributed to that. One accident, though, marred the day. Another woman on the trip hit sideways on a curb and crashed. A hospital visit resulted in the diagnosis of a broken wrist and a cast with the requirement for surgery after swelling decreases. But, she was a good sport about it and continued to ride in the van and participate in the walking tours in the days ahead. Closing out the day with the view outside one of the hotel’s many windows.

I looked at this map of Switzerland to see exactly where we were and was surprised that the Canton of Valais (pink section) we were in is also home to Zermatt.