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Cycling France 2017

September - October 2017
A 36-day adventure by Cindy and Daryl Read more
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  • TravelerCycling France 2017
    Day 1

    Getting ready. Richmond-Steveston 65 km

    September 5, 2017 in Canada ⋅ ☁️ 21 °C

    Hello friends and family. We're trying a travel blog for the first time. You're welcome to follow along as we wind our way through Normandy and the Loire.

    This is a test post. We're about to cycle around Richmond today and make final preps to fly out tomorrow. Wish us LUCK!Read more

  • TravelerCycling France 2017
    Day 3

    Premiere jour en France

    September 7, 2017 in France ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C

    A long travel day but we made it to Paris and then Versailles.

    We learned a few things in the bike bagging process that will streamline it for next time but the bikes arrived pretty much unscathed.

    A train derailment (detour right off the bat!) added a few hours getting to Versailles, with long lineups for the bus. Good news is we weren't on that train 2 hours before 😯.

    Enjoyed our first French meal ... tres bon!

    Will shrug off the jetlag and set off to find the Veloscenie tomorrow....    Read more

  • TravelerCycling France 2017
    1
    Day 4

    Versailles to Rambouillet. 65 km

    September 8, 2017 in France ⋅ 🌧 14 °C

    A big riding day to start us off...65 km. Way up there for us. We'll have to fix that 😉. Jet lagged and getting organized got us away not until 11.30!

    Cindy fell off her bike right out of the gate...well, not even. Caught her tire in a rut inside the parking garage and down she went. Gracefully tho with no injury or bike damage 🙃.

    Super lucky with the weather today that was threatening to rain the whole time. We got away with a few quick squalls. Wind was something else tho...we got up to 30 as promised - that's fun. Rain started with a vengeance about half hour after checking in to our hotel in Rambouillet 😊.

    Trail today was changeable. We managed to stay pretty much on course thanks to online maps and tracks. We'd still be out there wandering if we had to do it the old paper maps way 🤤. Had some nice riding thru the forests but also some steep hills up and down. The riding that was on road had bike paths except for only a small bit. Drivers have been very courteous so that's all good. The little French towns are quaint, tho not much wandering around yet.

    Another great French dinner ...good thing we're using up calories during the day!    Read more

  • TravelerCycling France 2017
    11
    Day 6

    Rambouillet to Chartres. 56 km.

    September 10, 2017 in France ⋅ ☁️ 12 °C

    Why pack that raingear if you never use it?? And we confirmed we don't melt when we get wet 🌧️😄🌦️.

    Woke up to a Saturday market right outside our hotel so got lunch food for later. Another late start..not quite caught up to the time zone yet. Much nicer riding track today thru farmland, more tree lined lanes, country roads. The veloscenie leads us thru back lanes we'd never find ourselves. The little towns are one after another ...no more than 100 m apart.

    Lunch in Epernon in a small churchyard ... In the sunshine at that point. We had 🥖 🧀, ham, olives, grapes and 🍷.

    Not long after we took shelter under an overhanging tree beside someone's front gate. Bit of hail and big wind. On our way again in 25 minutes but needed shelter again in Maintenon by the Chateau, beside the aqueduct. Gave in to the rain clothes at this point and had a mix of everything after that. Then Daryl can't shift into his lowest gear so the hills are more ominous tho not bad at all today thank goodness.

    Lovely ride into Chartres along the Greenway. Very cool town. Staying at a chambres-hotes (B&B). Bike friendly and people friendly! Sylvie offered to do our laundry - perfect timing! We'll stay 2 nights and tour the town today - haven't been doing enough of this yet. We'll get DB's bike seen to tomorrow before we head out.

    So far so good 😊.    Read more

  • TravelerCycling France 2017
    1
    Day 7

    Chartres

    September 11, 2017 in France ⋅ ⛅ 13 °C

    A lovely relaxing day wandering around Chartres. No rain but the wind isn't letting up 🌬️🍃.

    The cathedral is awe-inspiring 🕍.  (Yes...the first one on a Europe trip usually is, I know. Check in with us in a couple of weeks 😉).  This one is known for its stained glass windows, statues and the veil Mary was to have worn at Jesus's birth.

    Cool art museum, many public squares, other churches, old stone walls and roadways, old ramparts.

    Chartres Luminieres at night - spectacular. Hard to catch on camera but you can see how the cathedral and bridges are transformed. The animation was excellent. Worth putting on your list next time you're dans le quartier    Read more

  • TravelerCycling France 2017
    1
    1
    Day 7

    Chambres to Illiers-Combray - 37 km.

    September 11, 2017 in France ⋅ ⛅ 13 °C

    Can you say 'vent'? Vent implacable?? That was our ride today. The wind was coming from the southwest 35+ kph. And we were biking towards...you guessed it...the southwest! I know... first world problem. Out in the middle of huge fields of stubble (some corn still to be harvested) with no wind break, it can be a slog 😣. And it was at times.

    But ... we're cycling in France 🍷😍. Good bike paths the whole way (37 km that was more like 70); espresso at a truck stop where the truckers were lined up at the bar for their shot of alcohol before heading back out on the road; gourmet picnic lunch at the requisite church yard (cut a bit short by a few raindrops that never amounted to anything wet); get to Illiers-Combray by 3 pm (the perfect time to stop when you're slackers like us) and take just less than an hour to find our hotel within a 500 metre radius 😜.

    Illiers-Combray is no metropolis (3400 ppl) but we enjoyed a bit of down time before checking out the church (quite nice for a place this size), touring the Jardin de Marcel Proust (French author who stayed here and used this town in his writings), and walking a bit (a very tiny bit) of the pilgrim trail that runs through here. Finished the evening with another 'repas delicieux' complete with creme brulee...tough to take.

    Checking the weather forecast here for the days ahead. Looks pretty nice at home 🤔.    Read more

  • TravelerCycling France 2017
    1
    2
    Day 8

    Adapting on the fly...

    September 12, 2017 in France ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

    When the going gets tough, the tough get going...out of Dodge 😂.

    After 3 days of cycling we really aren't very far from the big city so we left our bikes and panniers behind and headed to Paris 🗼! Another day...or 3... battling the wind and rain didn't sound quite as good as sipping wine in a roadside cafe.

    We still got our distance in ... walking 17 km around the city. Les Invalides monument, Eiffel tower (of course - but just from the ground), Champs-Elysees, Arc de Triomphe. Got lucky twice finding ourselves watching a rain burst while enjoying a beverage. (That either says something about our luck or time spent in cafes 😄).

    Weather is supposed to improve closer to the weekend so we'll spend another day or so here. Hmmm...wonder if we can find enough to fill our time.    Read more

  • TravelerCycling France 2017
    11
    Day 10

    How you gonna keep 'em down on the farm

    September 14, 2017 in France ⋅ 🌙 10 °C

    ...after they've seen Paree!

    Fabulous few days in the city d'amour 😍

    Our decision panned out. The wind and rain continued and we could take the metro, sip wine in cafes and enjoy the work of famous artists ... rather than getting wet and blown around for hours on end.

    Paris didn't disappoint. The Musee D'Orsay was our refuge on the rainy day - Manet, Monet, G'day 😄.

    Saw a bit of everything on our walk today... second largest Catholic church in Paris, oldest church, oldest cafe, Place St Michel - where a mass worker demonstration brought down DeGaulle, the original Odeon theatre, Jardin de Luxembourg around the Senate. Used a great walking app - gpsmycity.com. The must-have Paris fashion accessory is the scarf...on 80% of women and at least half of all men.

    Sailed through the metro like old pros - pas de problem ☺️. Rode the train back to the town where we left our bikes, along with throngs of students commuting to Chartres each day from the country. Teenagers are the same everywhere!

    Plan B est fini. Demain, nous allons faire du velo. Nous esperons le bon temps.    Read more

  • TravelerCycling France 2017
    3
    Day 12

    Illiers-Combray - Nogent-le-Retrou 59 km

    September 16, 2017 in France ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    Our detour behind us, we got back to business. Our hotel patron Olivier saw us off. He had renovated his hotel and got some paint from an 88 year old friend who had painted the Eiffel Tower 🗼 (well...not all by himself 🤣). So he still has it - maybe it'll help with the rust!

    A beautiful day. Some wind (and yes...coming right toward us) but not bad. Met a Dutch couple cycling the other direction because "we're from Amsterdam and we know the wind comes from the west". Gotta love that local knowledge.

    An unseasonably cool 8 degrees to start the morning, but sunny. Rolling countryside. Just enough hill to get the heart rate up but not enough to discourage. Big farms. French Charlais cattle. Expansive countryside views.

    Coffee stop at Fraze. Finally seeing other cyclists and flower-filled bicycles marking the Veloscenie. Pain du chocolat et pain du pommes...just reward for a two hour leisurely ride 😋.

    Lunch by the abbey at Thiron-Garais. Sausage from an award winning charcuterie, cheese, bread, olives, wine. Haven't tired of this menu yet! Then....il pleut 🌦️. Waited it out, got the rain clothes on, but off they came within a half hour and rode into Nogent-le-Rotrou in the sunshine.

    Quite the accommodation tonite. 15th century manor 🏰 ...that's old! Gated courtyard, large common room with a suit-of-armour boot and many other antiques. Our patron is a former antiques dealer and a well-known (in those circles) key expert. Winding stone staircase to our room, wood shuttered windows. Very cool. (But they do have running water 😉).    Read more

  • TravelerCycling France 2017
    Day 13

    Nogent-le-Retrou;Mortagne-au-Perche 44 k

    September 17, 2017 in France ⋅ ☁️ 9 °C

    Amazing bike path today for 3/4 of the ride. Converted railway line ... like ours at home but on steroids 😃. So hills were just getting into and out of the towns. We needed the hills in the morning to try and warm up. 7 degrees to start out...Brrrrr!
    But the good news...no wind, no rain 😀. Now that's supposed to change today so stay tuned. (You sure do talk a lot about the weather when you're on a bike!).

    Very agricultural around here 🚜...with big field views, odours 😝, and four-legged friends to go with it. Very pleasant!

    The path made navigation super easy today. Until we ignored the 'deviation' sign so we could keep off the roads longer. Soon saw they were serious as the path turned skinny, wet and rutted. Then (and I called it!) a tree down across the path. Daryl's braun came to the rescue and I scooted the bikes along the side while he held the tree back. Voila! On the other side. But we'll follow the signs next time I figure.

    Great hotel in Mortagne-au-Perche. Super bike friendly with supplies for oiling and cleaning at the ready. And then a fabulous French dinner. Cool town. Tho tough to capture in photos...they all start looking the same 😄.

    On the bike maintenance file now my new bike has a problem. A piece of the front fork broke and my fender support brace came loose. Daryl taped it up and there's not really a permanent fix so we'll hope that does the trick. Ya figure ya should be good to go with new bikes!

    Off for petit-dejeuner. Can guarantee there'll be fresh baguette and croissants. Good thing we're using calories during the day...tho not sure the balance will fall on the right side 😮.    Read more

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