Dijon to Valence with an unexpected detour.

We always knew that yesterday would be a driving day however, I don't
think either of us expected it to turn out as it did.

First we drove to Dijon, the home of the mustard and whilst there we
few signs of mustard making around and according to Wikipedia, there
is actually none there anymore, we did locate the Maille shop. A very
clever store on their behalf, purely for tourists, but full of some
great things and we stocked up on some mustard for lunch.

Our destination for the day was to be St-Etienne, so after a car
lunch, we headed off. Thanks to some confusing French signs, I
directed Stef to take the wrong turn and we ended up on a small detour
around Lyon, instead of driving straight past. What a mistake as it
was that Lyon, well was basically rubbish, full of traffic and smelt
really, really bad.

Spirits were down by the time we arrived in St-Etienne, only to
discover that it was a dive too so off we set for another hour to
Valence. Fingers were crossed Valence had more to offer....and it did.

Finally we arrived and the town was much nicer and we checked into a
hotel straight away and ventured off for some dinner. To pick our
spirits up, we thought we would treat ourselves to a nice meal at a
cute French bistro and we have both agreed it was the most amazing
meal we have had in a long time. They were so kind in helping us
decipher the menu and three courses each later, we collapsed into bed.

A long and tiring day, learning French roads, tolls and also to use
Google maps, but it all worked out in the end.