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France En Velo
  • Heather Parry

France En Velo

Mike and I are heading to Paris for a few days followed by a 2 week bike trip including a week on the Loire and a week cycling the Rhone Valley south from Lyon. Read more
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  • Trip start
    September 11, 2025
    Heather ParryFrance En VeloTraveler
    Traveling with panniers

    And ………we’re off to Paris

    September 11 in Canada ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C

    Hello from the Calgary Airport. After a busy summer Mike and I are headed to France for 3 weeks. We fly to Paris tonight. Our plans are to eat and drink ourselves silly while offsetting the negative health impacts by cycling 1000 kms. ( I think there is a bit of magical thinking in that statement).

    The weather in France looks like it is cooling down to comfortable high teens. However, the political situation is heating up. We are a bit concerned about French labour disruptions - a common occurrence in France most often impacting transportation.

    Plans are to RV with 3 of our 4 siblings over the weekend in Paris, and then to launch with my sister Helen to the Loire Valley for biking x7 days followed by cycling the Via Rhona from Lyon - a route highly recommended by our friends ( thanks Bryn and Jill). Our original plan was to bike the entire length of the Rhone river from source in the Alps out to the Med but accommodation in Switzerland was eye watering (200$cdn for a hostel room); so we decided to pivot and cycle in France the whole time.

    I don’t think this blog will be quite as interesting as the last one from Japan. All the slippers, tofu and toilet options sure made for some interesting stories. However, I’ll do my best.
    Our goals are to stay healthy and to stay safe on our bikes! The rest of the problems can be solved with a credit card.
    A big thanks to our wonderful neighbours for looking after our house while we’re away.

    And off we go….plus a suivre
    Love Heather ( Mom/ Grandma)    Read more

  • Heather ParryFrance En VeloTraveler
    1Welcome to France beer
    Parc de la VilletteStop for Coffee alkng the wayDinner with Al and NatalieTypical French Bistro2Yup, it's still there! Eiffel towerRebuilt Notre Dame CathedralCathedral at Saint Denia117 Place d'Armes where we lived as kidsBistro lunchDogs and lovely pastries everywhereA French traffic stopFarewell Courtyard FontainbleauThe palace gardens of FontainbleauInterior of the palace1Fontainbleau chapel

    Bienvenue en France

    September 13 in France ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C

    Mike and I arrived in Paris on Friday after a comfortable and uneventful journey. Thanks Westjet. We met Helen at our rental apartment in Paris north, selected to be outside the main tourist arrondissements.
    Day 1 we managed a long walk and spent time in the Parc de la Villette. As Paris expanded over the modern decades, there was a need for recreational, green spaces to the north so the city commissioned a famous French architect to transform 135 acres of industrial land in the 19 th arrondissement. The park is a beautiful [and very clean] area along a canal with interesting buildings, expansive areas for sports, eating and entertainment, and lots of play grounds. I am enclosing a picture of a huge dragon play structure that looked like something out of Disney that would keep our Eleanor amused for hours.

    Fiona and Jiggs (sister/BIL) arrived Saturday full of interesting stories from their 10 days in Morocco. We met Mike’s brother Al and his partner Natalie for dinner in Montparnasse ( loads of tourists swarming the restaurants on a Saturday night). The bistro was very traditional with waiters whipping around from table to table: a pichet of rosé here, escargots there, baguette, rum baba, another pichet of wine for the Parrys! It was nice to RV with family, even for such a short visit.
    Sunday was rainy but we braved the Bateaux Mouches - fun fact, it was named after the city where the boats were originally made ( Mouches). Got a glimpse of the beautifully renovated Notre Dame Cathedral. However, we didn’t have time to line up for an inside visit. What an incredible story of resurrection.
    We met our friends from Versailles for lunch and they kindly drove us out to the Cathedral Basilic of Saint Denis , north of Paris, which is the necropolis for the French royalty. So, it is a beautiful church filled with 100s of recumbent figures. There are 43 kings, 32 queens buried there ( including Marie Antoinette) and numerous prince and princesses). It was more than a creepy church, there were actually some beautiful statues, paintings and stained glass.
    And speaking of Kings of France, today we chose a day trip to Fontainebleau. Most people head to the Palace of Versailles, but the palace at Fontainebleau is as beautiful and waaaay less busy. Also, I am biased as we lived in Fontainebleau as children when our Dad served there with NATO.
    The Chateau of Fontainebleau was built as a hunting castle and became a summer home for all the Kings and Queens of France through the centuries who wanted to get away from the summer heat, smells and the odd revolution. Originally built in the 11 th century it has been continuously transformed over the centuries so the buildings are a mix of Renaissance to Baroque and even newer 18th century. The Fontainebleau gardens are the largest formal gardens in Europe and the palace has the usual collection of opulent rooms, tapestries and statues. Famously, Napoleon said farewell to his troops in the front courtyard before he was, summarily, shipped off to Elba.
    We enjoyed the afternoon checking out where we had lived as children (a beautiful home beside the palace which was reputedly build for the MIL of Napoleon’s wife, Josephine). We roamed around the huge gardens and the scent of boxwoods smelled like our childhood. We checked out the carp pond and found the maze where we played as children. Helen and I have many memories of Fontainebleau including our 60’s era nanny,Josephine, with her long blond hair and go-go boots; and her shenanigans with the US Air Force guys.
    Today we leave Paris and Fi and Jiggs fly home. We head south to pick up our bikes and get on with our cycling holiday in the Loire Valley.
    More to follow from there.
    Love from Paris, the City of Lights!
    Heather ( Mom/ Grandma)    Read more

  • Heather ParryFrance En VeloTraveler
    Loire bike train
    Art Nouveau Brasserie1CheersHeading iur day 1 bikingNever too early for CalvadosTempting menu boardsNice shady trailsDirty beer day 1Loire in front of our hotel in Challones1First customers at his cafeHarvesting squashDirty beer day 2Fish tartare on the menu tonight

    Two days in the saddle

    September 18 in France ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C

    Early Tuesday we left cloudy, busy Paris and headed south by train to the Loire Region. En route we picked up our rental bikes. They are heavy e-bikes but they run pretty well on the flat and have lots of battery life - we just have to avoid making any sudden moves or all will be lost!
    We headed by a special “bike train” to Nantes - which is in the far West of the Loire area on a large estuary off of the Atlantic. [We’ve learned from experience that, if possible, it is best to bike from the West and head East - prevailing winds and all that.]

     I think we were all very impressed with Nantes and glad we made the effort to head that far to start. It was once the largest port in France and has a dubious history of being responsible for most of the 18th century French Atlantic slave trade. It also has an impressive ship building history but one that has since shut down like so many others in the world. The French author Jules Verne came from Nantes and at Helen’s urging we visited this interesting but kind of weird gallery called Les Machines where enormous mechanical animals have been created. The most impressive and must see animal is the Great Elephant that is 39 feet high and moves like an actual elephant as it goes for walks. Hard to describe but pretty cool. We had a fabulous brasserie dinner in an old art nouveau building.
    So we’ve knocked off about 150 kms in the past 2 days. Mike has been hard at work tightening mirrors, phone holders, making sure panniers are secure etc. We simply couldn’t do these self- guided trips without Mike, our roadie. We had a “ shake out ride” yesterday - quite literally- coming out of the old city centre of Nantes over kms of teeth-shattering cobbles. If we were going to lose anything, including our fillings, it was going to happen on those streets.

    Unfortunately, Mike is suffering from refractory jet lag this trip which no amount of “ bière pression” seems to help.

    For 2 days we’ve followed the Loire River fairly closely on well signed, and mostly paved, paths. There are loads of cyclists and you wonder if getting shares in Ortlieb panniers wouldn’t be a great investment. People along the way are very friendly with lots of waves and “ bonjour monsieur, dames.”

    Today we stopped for our morning break (coffee, BR and Voltaren Cream) at a cafe and the proprietor came out and exclaimed that we were his first customers - no, literally his very first customers as he had just picked up his business license 1/2 hour before. I think he was tickled that his first customers were from Canada. Our roadie Mike helped him sort out how to raise his brand new umbrella. There was lots of hand- shakes and photos before we set off again and I heard someone singing “ On the Road Again” as we rode away and I thought , for just a minute, that my dear brother-in- law, Jiggs, had joined us as that old Willie Nelson hit is Jigg’s favourite song.

     We have been blessed so far with Goldilocks weather- not too hot and not too cold. The mornings are cool enough for a jacket but by afternoon it’s tee shirt weather.
    Tonight we are in beautiful, historic Saumur. Tomorrow our chateau spotting begins in earnest. There is a big chateau here and another good one where we are headed in Chinon.
    Accommodations have been superb but I sure do miss those always available and clean Japanese toilets from last year. Alas, we will have to make up for it with good wine.
    That’s it for now. Hope everyone is well back home.
    Love Heather ( Mom/ Grandma)    Read more

  • Heather ParryFrance En VeloTraveler
    Dinner out in Tours
    Chinon had a Tour de France start this summer!!!1A starter chateau for H&M?Enormous boat shed for French paddling clubPic for the paddlersA picture for the princessesTwo Logan princesses at ChenonceauPic with no princessesWell deserved post- ride beerTrain station at ToursVillandry for the gardenersPic for the gardenersRoyalty in biking outfitsThe sunflowers are looking sad nowOn the road againA few moments for some rugbyMalcolm, what is this?Loire river at nightChinon town centreLots of stairs in these old townsFor the foodiesSo much choice at the patisserie2For Kristie!!

    Les Grandes Classic Chateaux de la Loire

    September 22 in France ⋅ ☁️ 10 °C

    We cycled into Blois late yesterday afternoon after a good long 85 km ride. We were very happy to get our butts off the bikes and enjoy a much deserved post-ride beer ( a dirty beer).
    We’ve been hitting the Chateaux hard over the past 3 days. There are so many well preserved chateaux concentrated in this area that no one can actually agree on the final number.
    Helen, our team historian, reminded us that the French map has not always looked the way we know it today. During the 1300 &1400s there were many Duchies or areas under control of Dukes and they spent a lot of time “duking it out”. Hence, these structures with their strategic locations, ramparts and , in many cases, defensive walls., draw- bridges and arrow slits.
    Then when things settled down, noble landowners got a hold of these castles and started to refurbish them in the style of the Italian renaissance. Everything in France from architecture, art, fashions changed. As the centre of the French government was on the Loire, and not in Paris, the nobles, along with the French “who’s who” spent a lot of time buying up these places and modernising them. Fortunately, most castles survived the ravages of the Revolution and both World Wars..

    The castle we visited yesterday at Chenonceau was bought by French King Henry II for his favourite lady- friend ?? Diane de Poitiers but then when he was killed in a jousting match ( occupational hazard) his wife, Catherine of Medici threw out the mistress and gave her a “ minor “ castle down the river and moved herself in. Chenonceau spans the river Cher and during WWII sat over the border of German occupied France and Vichy France, and was a place where refugees and prisoners escaped south by walking through the chateau.

    We spent a few hours at Villandry known for its amazing gardens. Pictures enclosed for the gardeners. We also visited an enormous abbey at Fontevraud - big climb up a hill! At one point it housed 700 nuns and priests. That’s a lot of prayers. The Eleanor, Duchess of Acquitaine ( Acquitaine was actually about 1/4 of what we know of as France now) , was very strategic and she married the French King, became the Queen of France, ditched him and married the King of England and had 2 sons who became Kings of England including Richard the Lion-hearted.
    They are all buried at Fontevraud so it is a royal necropolis. [You gotta watch those Eleanors, they can be quite wily.] So, lots of interesting history.

    Today most of the chateau’s have private owners and they open parts to the public to make money for upkeep. Others are maintained by the state.

    A couple of other things we’ve seen include an impressive canoe and kayaking club outside of Tours with an enormous boat storage shed that would be the envy of our paddling grandsons. Picture enclosed. We stopped to watch a bit of rugby yesterday.

    The weather has turned cloudier and cooler and we biked in some rain over the past few days. Our overnight stays have been good and we stayed right in the heart of Tours near the bar and restaurants. It was Saturday night so very lively.

    Today we leave Blois and stop at Chambord - the last of the grande chateau that we will visit on this trip. Tonight we stay in an Abbey! Hope they don’t start chanting at 5 am.
    PS I am enclosing a picture of a car for my grandson little Malcolm. What is that car Malcolm? Tiny box.
    That’s it for now,
    Love Heather ( Mom/ Grandma) xxxxx    Read more

  • Heather ParryFrance En VeloTraveler
    1Wow, look at that chateau
    1Back of ChambordAbbey at BeaugencyBbq feast at the abbeyBiking in the driving rainArrived in one piece but muddyGood thing today is laundry day1JM's bar to wait for laundry

    Didn’t it Rain,Oh My Lord

    September 23 in France ⋅ 🌧 10 °C

    That smug theory about prevailing weather -ditch that. Three days ago we hit a strong headwind coming from the [? NE? ] that threatened to blow us back to the Atlantic. It’s been a slog riding in the wind and then yesterday the driving rain joined the wind to soak us through and make us really cold and miserable. (I can hear my sister Fiona saying “ and why exactly are you doing this?”)

    Fortunately, the last two days have been relatively short rides at under 50 km so we’ve turned on the extra power to get to our destination hotels faster. As I remind Mike and Helen - who are more careful with their power usage- there is no special prize for the person who arrives with the most battery power!

    On Monday we saw the Capo di tutti capo of chateaux when we visited Chambord- wow, wow!
    King Francis 1 had so much wealth, and was very motivated to show off his power, so he built Chambord as a hunting lodge! Weekend getaway, that kind of thing. It was built with all the moats and towers but was never intended to be used defensively. He brought in the world’s leading designers of the time, including Leonardo da Vinci so it has lots of towers and other ornate stuff (that Helen has fancy names for but I forget) Meanwhile , his rival in England - Henry the 8th- was busy chopping off the heads of his wives and building smaller, drafty structures like Holyrood Palace.

    Speaking of old and drafty, we stayed the night in a repurposed abbey at Beaugency. It was actually fairly comfy and there were no monks chanting. Dinner was served to guests in an enormous hall with a huge fireplace. Certainly one of the best meals we’ve had on this trip. Lovely local red wine.

    We arrived in Orleans yesterday and gave back our rental bikes ( covered in mud) . Fortunately, it was planned as a laundromat day and we hustled all our muddy clothes to the Lavi Lux and retreated across the road to JM’s bar for a rose. The proprietor asked us to please watch the bar for 10 minutes while he collected his children from school. Now in my view that’s a bit like leaving the foxes in charge of the chickens but we behaved given how helpful everyone has been to us.
    Today we are travelling to Lyon where we will collect new bikes for our second week. This time we head south from Lyon towards the Med.
    Looks like cooler weather in the next week but hopefully we’ll see the sun and taste some of the excellent wines of the Rhone Valley.

    More from there,
    Love Heather ( Mom/ Grandma) x    Read more

  • Heather ParryFrance En VeloTraveler
    Moules frites
    Happy birthday HelenLots of wine options in every brasserieExcellent whiteRandom Roman ruinsMolly the shopping trolleyHelen perusing the wine menuLots of pedestrian bridgesQuiet paths along the RhoneMorning coffee and croissants before starting out1A much needed restMike asked for milk and got whipped creamMedieval castles on the hillsGetting loaded up before heading out in the morningVienne

    Heading South from Lyon

    September 26 in France ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C

    On Wednesday, Mike, Helen and I picked up new rental bikes from an agent in Lyon for part 2 of our cycling France adventure. Our latest bike model is pretty good except for the coaster brakes. ( the kind that engage as soon you pedal backwards - like when you were a kid). Evidently, not uncommon on European rentals but what a pain in the derrière and a hazard they’ve been. We still have handlebar breaks so we just have to remember not to back pedal. Hard habit to break. We’ve had a few rather sudden stops.

     Our first ride south out of Lyon was brutal with shed loads of traffic, detours and a muddy trail that was virtually impassable.. We wondered what we were thinking doing the Via Rhona. But after our first night, we have joined the main river cycle paths and it’s been pretty smooth sailing ever since. We had an overnight in the old Roman town of Vienne. The Romans founded several important settlements on the Rhone River and so there are Roman ruins along our route. Unfortunately, the massive Roman amphitheater in Vienne is under repair so we only got a quick peek through a chain link fence.

    In Vienne, we did manage to hit a quirky local bar where the owner - for the second time on this trip - asked us to watch the bar while she popped out. (We must look very trustworthy). Anyway, the local brasserie dog, Pitou, saddled right up to Mike because he is a dog whisperer, as many of you know, and this dog refused to leave Mike’s side. The lady returned to the bar but little “ Pitou” still refused to leave Mike’s side even as the lady admonished him repeatedly to leave Mike alone. Finally, Mike explained in his best French, “ Madam, I don’t believe your dog speaks French”.

     My favourite time to ride during these trips is first thing in the morning. Riding by farm fields you can smell the damp earth and there are also whiffs of liquorice and mint in the air because anise and mint grow wild. Besides ancient Roman ruins and château’s, we’ve seen a number of huge nuclear power plants ,wind turbines, large hydro dams and solar farms. The country is a leader in producing renewable energy, however,70% of French electricity still comes from the nuclear industry and they need the big rivers to cool things down.

     Occasionally ,we meet fellow travellers. Yesterday we encountered a guy walking from Berne, Switzerland, all the way to Marrakesh. He was pushing a modified shopping cart, which he named “Molly, the shopping trolley”.

    A great benefit of travelling in Europe is getting to taste all the wine varieties that we don’t get a lot of at home. We’ve had a Roussanne ( white) and a white Cotes du Rhone that were really good. Looking forward to the next few days as we transit through famous wine areas. The food has been pretty good with some outstanding meals. I thought of my friend Sharon the other night as I tucked into moules frites - her favourite. The French don’t add cold milk to their coffee and Mike was trying to get some at McDonald’s. The poor young kid didn’t quite know what to do so he opened the fridge and added whipped cream! Picture enclosed.

     As always - or at least often - we celebrated Helen’s birthday on the 26th. She’s been a real trooper this week keeping up with my blistering biking itinerary while fighting the cold from hell. Lucky for her, she’s traveling with 2 completely out of date pharmacists with enough French to make significant medication errors. [Was that quinine or quinidine you wanted?] We did give her some Tylenol for symptom relief and now she’s worried her children will have autism.

     Tonight we are stopped in Orange (as in the fruit). Helen is planning a full on “ architorture” tour for us before dinner. Tomorrow, we bike on to Avignon ( as in people dancing on the bridge). We’ll detour to Chateau Neuf du Pape and pick up some wine to enjoy once we safely arrive.
    That’s the news for now. Hope all is well chez vous!

    Love Heather ( Mom/ Grandma)
    PS safe travels Jon    Read more

  • Heather ParryFrance En VeloTraveler
    Lots of wines on offer
    Pretty town of OrangeDinner in OrangeWaiting patiently for morning baguetteAmphitheater in OrangeVomitoriumTime fliesVineyards in Chateau Neuf du PapeNo room in the panniers, darn!So you get notes of leather???Avignon pope's palacePope's palaceSur le pont d'AvignonPont du Gard aqueductA town for all the Margarets!Coliseum in RimesDinner out in NimesLovely old town of NimesBreakfast in old hotel

    Lovely Provence

    October 1 in France ⋅ ☀️ 14 °C

    Hello from Nimes in the south of France. Saturday we cycled into the Provence Region of France and the scenery has gradually changed, and the sun has returned. The Rhône river is wider here as it nears the Mediterranean, and we are now cycling through olive groves and pretty towns with Mediterranean gardens and men playing boules in the town squares. There are shops selling brightly coloured table clothes (no Karen I don’t have room to buy anything), and there is lavendar for sale everywhere in every form imaginable. Because this whole area was a Roman stronghold for hundreds of years there are many Roman era structures to see , if one is interested. My sister Helen is interested so we’re seeing lots of them.

    We stopped overnight in the very pretty town of Orange with its well preserved Roman amphitheater that , in its hay-day, could seat the whole town of 10,000 people. The emperors kept the people happy by putting on lots of entertainment . The seating is very clearly stratified to showcase the hierarchy of society with seating for nobles and clergy at the front, then merchants and then, finally, in the nose bleed section, seating for “prostitutes, beggars and foreigners “. The large portico exit passageways are, interestingly, called vomitorium as they were meant to spew out large crowds . Very descriptive.

    We took a side trip up to the pretty village of Chateau Neuf du Pape - home of the famous red wines that are bottled in the distinctive curvy bottle. While 95% of the wine production is red (and the wine must contain predominantly grenache grape), there is also some white wines produced. We tasted a few wines and visited a small museum. ( thanks for the recommendation Mac). It seems that every other cyclists has this village on their itinerary so the village square was packed with bikes and cyclists from all over the map.

    We spent two nights in Avignon, a much more touristy place than most other places we’ve stopped. It was nice to have an apartment to relax in and catch up on laundry. We also took an unplanned detour to the local hospital as Helen’s cold was getting worse and she was showing signs of hypoxia (or was that the wine). Anyway, we didn’t want to chance it so we dropped her off at emergency and she rejoined us a few hours later with prescriptions for the usual stuff for bad chests. It still sounds like she’s coughing up a lung but she swears she’s feeling better - must be the steroids talking! A highlight in Avignon was visiting the old papal palace. For a short period waaaaaay back, and for reasons that sound very complicated , the Pope’s residence was moved to Avignon from Rome. Certainly this palace is nowhere near as elaborate as St. Peters but still very impressive. Of course we had to check out the bridge made famous in the children’s song “ Sur le Pont D’Avignon”. It’s called the Saint Benezet bridge and had been impressive with 22 arches but now there isn’t too much to see. We got the requisite picture on the bridge dancing.

    Yesterday we arrived in Nimes after a side trip to see the Pont du Gard bridge which is an ancient Roman aqueduct that was built in the first century AD and carried water to the important Roman colony at Nimes. It’s an amazing structure.
    Nimes has a well preserved old town with lots of back alleys, shops, bars and restaurants. We had a delicious meal last night including a taste of brandade, a dish made with local salt cod. Today we’ll check out the coliseum which was built to replicate the Rome coliseum. The one here in Nimes is actually in much better shape and less overrun with people.

    Today is our final day of cycling as we head from Nimes to Arles. We are hoping to get into town in time to check out the Van Gogh museum. Van Gogh painted many of his most famous paintings in the Arles area.
    Tomorrow we take a train with our bikes ( that’s always a challenge) back to Lyon and return the rental bikes. By then we will have cycled about 900 kms. That’s enough for me! I’m tired of living out of two panniers.

    Home Saturday. As always, it will be nice to get back. I’m sure we’ll chat with many of you soon.
    Until then, thanks for traveling along with us.
    Love Heather ( Mom/ Grandma)    Read more

    Trip end
    October 5, 2025
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