A 77‑year‑old French cyclist from the Cévennes suddenly found himself stranded after a tumble down a 130‑foot ravine near Saint‑Julien‑des‑Points, about 50 miles from Montpellier.
The accident happened just after he stocked up on a few bottles of red wine from a local grocery store. On his way home, he missed a bend on the winding mountain road and went down a steep, rocky cliff that landed him on the banks of the Gardon River.
Unable to climb back out, the elderly rider shouted for help to every passing car. Hours turned into days, and he relied on the wine he’d brought along and the little food he could scavenge in the wild to stay alive. The red wine helped keep his spirits up and supplied a small, though not perfect, source of calories and hydration.
Road workers finally heard his cries. They spotted his mangled bicycle and the rider perched at the bottom of the ravine. A rescue team was dispatched, and the man was airlifted by helicopter to a local hospital.
Doctors said he suffered only minor injuries and mild hypothermia, and he is expected to recover completely. “It’s a real miracle,” Dr. Laurent Savath told reporters, “to survive so long in the cold and rain with almost nothing to eat or drink.”
This story isn’t isolated. In 2023, a woman in Australian bushland survived five days on just a bottle of wine and some lollipops after a wrong turn. The Cévennes incident reminds us that even a simple bottle of red wine can become a lifeline in a wilderness emergency.
Source: New York Post
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