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Baguette Bike Travels
  • Holly and Karl

Baguette Bike Travels

A family cycling trip from Barcelona to Paris to explore the Mediterranean coast, the Alpes and reconnect with old friends. Read more
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  • Holly and KarlBaguette Bike TravelsHolly and Karl
    1

    Escaping the Rain

    April 30, 2023 in France ⋅ 🌧 13 °C

    We left la Maline and it's very welcoming staff under cloudy skies with rain threatening. We enjoyed the short ride along the edge of the canyon as we cycled back to La Palud. While reprovisioning, we met Bruno, a local guide de haute montagne who owns a canyoning company. Knowing that the day was forecast to be quite rainy, he offered us a place to stay with his sheep - a little appartment he has been working on beside the barn. Always open to such offers, we followed him to his home, where he and his partner Grania set us up with a shower, let Claire pet the alpacas, shared a delicious lunch from the garden with us, and told us stories about life working by the Verdun, as we watched the rain come down steadily all afternoon. When it was time to feed the sheep we pedalled down to the pasture and settled in to eat and sleep under a roof for the night, so thankful for the encounter and Bruno and Grania's hospitality.Read more

  • Holly and KarlBaguette Bike TravelsHolly and Karl
    22

    Another Rainy Day

    May 1, 2023 in France

    We started our day by feeding Arthur the sheep, followed by a lovely good bye from Bruno our gratious host. We had more canyon riding ahead of us, including big wall views and roads cut right into rock faces, then views of a castle in Trigance. We reached Comps-sur-Artuby just as it was starting to sprinkle, and quickly found shelter under an outdoor patio at a local restaurant, counting our lucky stars as the deluge started just 5 minutes later. We managed to stretch out a delicious lunch, complete with a sampling of escargots, for over two hours before heading back out into the waning rain. We found more shelter later in the afternoon at a May 1 (national celebration of work) gathering just outside the town of Bargemon, where we enjoyed chatting with the locals and getting fed a bit too!Read more

  • Holly and KarlBaguette Bike TravelsHolly and Karl
    1

    Down from the Hills

    May 2, 2023 in France ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C

    It was a day of many fun descents, as we rolled out of the hills toward the coast. In Montaroux we were able to catch up with Isabelle, a long time friend who Holly has known since age 7. We then headed to Lac de Saint-Cassien for a dip before climbing over the hills of Tanneron to Pégomas. In Pégomas we were greeted by Patricia and Thierry and their 3.5 year old grandson Matéo, much to Claire's delight. Holly lived in Patricia and Thierry's house in Pégomas 19 years ago (!) while doing a co-op work term in the area, so it was fun to see them, and see how the house and garden had changed.Read more

  • Holly and KarlBaguette Bike TravelsHolly and Karl
    11

    Beach + Ball Pits

    May 3, 2023 in France ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    Wednesday is not a school day for children in France, so we headed to the beach in Mandelieu with Patricia, Thierry and Matéo. For the trip, Claire and Holly got to ride with Thierry in the collector's item 2 CV ("deux chevaux") car. We enjoyed swimming and playing, and the kite surfers with foils were putting on quite the show! After both kiddos napped in the car on the way home, we headed to a birthday party for one of Matéo's friends, and Claire was in kid heaven - animals to pet, trampolines, ball pits, cake etc. We finished off the day with appéro at Adrien and Emily's (Matéo's parents) with the whole family for another sweet catch up.Read more

  • Holly and KarlBaguette Bike TravelsHolly and Karl

    La Napoule Nostalgia

    May 4, 2023 in France ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    We headed to La Napoule to revisit the landmarks of Holly's childhood. She spent two years living in this small seaside village in elementary school. We started with some beachtime by the chateau, then went to look at the house Holly had lived in - with amazing luck we managed to connect with the youngest daughter of the family who has owned the bungalow for several generations while she was there for the week, and reminised about days gone by. A visit to La Napoule isn't complete without climbing up the small volcano above the village, the San Peyre, for stunning views of the whole bay. For dinner it was great to catch up with old friends Alain and Cynthia, who had known Holly's family back in the La Napoule days.Read more

  • Holly and KarlBaguette Bike TravelsHolly and Karl

    More Fun in the Sun

    May 5, 2023 in France ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    We had a more low key start to our day, pouring over maps and potential itineraries, while Claire and Matéo went to explore a neighbor's farm with Patricia and Thierry. The early afternoon was smoking hot, so we followed lunch with a refreshing swim in the chilly pool - slightly warmer than the Mediterranean, for those who can tolerate it! We then pedalled to Cannes for a tour of the town and the Croisette, some beach time with Matéo, Patricia and Adrien and finished off our day at a well loved pizza restaurant Holly remembered from her youth.Read more

  • Holly and KarlBaguette Bike TravelsHolly and Karl

    The High Road

    May 6, 2023 in France ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C

    We set off from Pégo after a great few days of reconnecting, visiting and resting - many thanks to Patricia and Thierry for their amazing welcome. Because we tend to make these kinds of choices, we decided to take the mountainous route toward Nice. So with some non-negligable climbing we were able to explore the perfume city of Grasse, pedal by the beautiful villages of Bar-sur-Loup and Tourette-sur-Loup, enjoy some ice cream in Vence, and roll under the Baou of Saint-Jeannet. We ended our day camped along the Var River, in what felt like a very wild spot, despite being very much within a quite developed area.Read more

  • Holly and KarlBaguette Bike TravelsHolly and Karl
    1

    Monaco Mission

    May 7, 2023 in Monaco ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C

    It was a mission to Monaco day. We pedalled out to the seaside, along the Promenade des Anglais and through the old port in Nice, then through the small but luxurious towns along the coast. We got a taste of tunnels on the way, but it was tunnel overload when we got to Monaco. After some confusion on our exit location, we had pedalled about 3 km through tunnels under Monaco before exiting through the port and the Monaco Grand Prix race track. A couple correct tunnel turns later we made it to the Palace overlooking the harbour and the city/country that must have the highest density on earth. We decided to exit the city by going up, but would not recommend our route to anyone given the ridiculous grades of the residential streets along the way - we've now learned enough times that the highway route is generally less steep and a preferable choice. But after an hour of suffering we made it up to La Turbie high in the hills and were able to roll down back to Nice at the end of the day.Read more

  • Holly and KarlBaguette Bike TravelsHolly and Karl

    Nice with the Niçois!

    May 8, 2023 in France ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C

    In Nice we were hosted by Jean-François and Patricia, climbing friends of Holly's from her stay in the area in 2004. They gave us the full Niçois welcome - appératif (Karl even tried a pastis, of all things!), pisaladière and ravioli for dinner, with local cheeses and wines. Their son Guillaume, who Holly had also known back in the day, also showed up for breakfast with his wife Manon and 6-year old son Lucas. Lucas ended up spending the day with us as Jean-François and Patricia toured us around Nice by tram and on foot. We enjoyed getting introduced to all the local tastes and sights, with an appropriate scattering of park playing breaks in between to satisfy the little people. It was super fun chatting with JF about all the mountain adventures he has done over the years and the ones we did together. And he convinced us that we might need at least a small taste of Italy, while we were so close...Read more

  • Holly and KarlBaguette Bike TravelsHolly and Karl

    Menton and Ventimiglia

    May 9, 2023 in France ⋅ ☁️ 21 °C

    We packed up, heading... toward Italy. It wasn't in our plans originally but JF convinced us that we should explore Italy, even if it was just for a little detour, so we found ourselves heading east out of Nice again after breakfast with JF. Since we'd pedalled the coastal road already on our ride to Monaco, we climbed up to the Grand Corniche route and the Col d'Eze at 500 m elevation, and enjoyed a fast flowy descent down to Menton. We enjoyed a sunny extended lunch break on the beach in Menton, then headed into the darkness of a few tunnels into Italy, and the town of Ventimiglia. The vibe was so very different from France, more relaxed, less glitzy, a little run down... And we know no Italian, so that was an extra challenge, but it didn't prevent us from finding ice cream, a campsite, and some delicious pizza for dinner.Read more

  • Holly and KarlBaguette Bike TravelsHolly and Karl

    Dolceaqua and Pigna

    May 10, 2023 in Italy ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

    A rainy forecast for the week ahead awaited us in Italy, so we decided on a small tour up to Dolceacqua and beyond for the day. Dolceacqua is a historic fortified village, with narrow streets like its French counterparts, but with more tunnels and maze-like turns, and it was certainly fun to explore on foot. We carried on up the valley, cycling up to a view of Apricale, then on to Pigna. We'd been advised on Italian delicacies not to miss, but sadly the pasteleria in Pigna was closed on Wednesdays, so we settled for a picnic lunch on the ramparts overlooking the town and the village of Castel Vittorio above. We saw the clouds building above us during our lunch, so hustled back down the valley to the coast, not quite missing the downpours, but soon arriving back to dry pavement closer to the Mediterranean. We pedalled back to Latte, just before the border, and enjoyed some shelter in the campground and explorations in the gorcery store while a sizable rainstorm came down, prior to a calm evening.Read more

  • Holly and KarlBaguette Bike TravelsHolly and Karl

    Red Rocks

    May 11, 2023 in France ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C

    We started our morning pedalling back over the border to Menton, then caught a train back to Nice (no need to pedal by Monaco a fourth time!). Holly was keen to pedal the coast through to the Department of the Var, so we enjoyed heading along bike trails for most of the way from Nice to Cannes to La Napoule. We were then back on a stunning windy coastal road after Théoule, soaking in the red rocks along the coast through bay after bay for the rest of the afternoon.Read more

  • Holly and KarlBaguette Bike TravelsHolly and Karl

    Marching Bands

    May 12, 2023 in France ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

    Our great campsite near Cap Roux required a hiking exit, but luckily Claire was motivated to start the day (certainly not always the case!). We enjoyed more quiet coastal road for the morning until we reached Saint Raphaël and Fréjus, after which traffic picked up considerably on a road with virtually no shoulder. We stopped in Sainte-Maxime looking for indoor activity options to help weather a forecasted downpour, but instead enjoyed several hours of sunshine on the beach. We then headed to Cogolin to stay with Gordon, a cyclist we'd met on the Canal du Midi, only to experience: ongoing processions for the town's annual celebrations (interesting at first, but tiring after ongoing rifle shots fired each block), another deluge (that we luckily got to weather under cover again), and a lack of restaurants serving dinner at appropriate pre-schooler dinner hours (but we did succeed in delicious eating eventually!). We were happy to end the day under a roof, with tea in hand, catching up with Gordon and planning a rest day ahead.Read more

  • Holly and KarlBaguette Bike TravelsHolly and Karl

    Land of the Affluent

    May 13, 2023 in France ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C

    We headed to Saint Tropez for our rest day. First we visited the very busy market, then rode and walked through the narrow designer store-filled streets, finally getting away from the ritzy bubble of the town to spend some quieter time on the beach. Claire made some new friends (who had beach toys) - she is getting less shy about introducing herself to others and getting to play with new buddies on this trip, which is very cool to see. After we had our fill of playing in the sand (and Karl napping), we headed back into town for a short visit of the Butterfly Museum before heading back to Cogolin, where the locals were still marching. We completed the day with a luxurious 'dinner cooked in a kitchen' - it's the small things ;)Read more

  • Holly and KarlBaguette Bike TravelsHolly and Karl

    Rail Grade!

    May 14, 2023 in France ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C

    Our departure from Cogolin was celebrated with a marching band (ha! I think it was the last day of the town's celebrations...) and a good bye to Gordon who was a great host, letting us crash at his place even though he had a stacked weekend of events. In contrast to our previous days of rolling coastal road riding, it was a day of rail trails that took us on rail grade through tunnels and along bays along the coast. It felt like a nice break! We stopped just short of Hyères and celebrated our last evening on the coast at a campground with a pool - although the swimming was a tad chilly with a storm brewing around us.Read more

  • Holly and KarlBaguette Bike TravelsHolly and Karl

    Full Steam Ahead

    May 15, 2023 in France ⋅ 🌬 23 °C

    Claire was at the pool gate for its opening first thing in the morning, keen to get one last swim in before we headed to the train station. Then late morning we were boarding a train to Marseilles and another to Avignon - time to skip through a bit of Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur, where we'd already had some great weeks and move ahead to the Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes region. So, just a few hours later we were in Avignon... having passed within 25 km of the town a few weeks before. With a place with stay within the city walls, we were able to leave the bikes behind and wander around on foot - and note the intense wind! We explored the Palais des Papes, where several popes had lived in the 13th & 14th centuries. A virtual reality tablet helped show what the different parts of the Palais might have looked like back in the day, including a treasure hunt that kept Claire interested throughout the visit.Read more

  • Holly and KarlBaguette Bike TravelsHolly and Karl

    Famous Old Bridges

    May 16, 2023 in France ⋅ 🌬 19 °C

    Everyone will remember the song:

     "Sur le pont d'Avignon
    On y danse, on y danse,
    Sur le pont d'Avignon
    On y danse tous en rond"

    Well we weren't really able to do any dancing when we visited the bridge in Avignon because the Mistral wind was so strong - we were told to be sure to hold onto Claire given the strong gusts - but we got to learn about the history of the renowned bridge, how it was built over several centuries and then eventually mostly destroyed.

    Then we braved the winds (70 km/hr gusts) and pedalled to the next old famous bridge on our itinerary for the day, the Pond du Gard. This was a Roman aqueduct bridge built close to 2000 years ago, and still a stunning work of architecture. We crossed the bridge over the Gardon River, then carried on to find a campsite with some wind protection as the Mistral continued to blow through the night.    Read more

  • Holly and KarlBaguette Bike TravelsHolly and Karl

    Land of Cherries and Caves

    May 17, 2023 in France ⋅ 🌬 17 °C

    After a long windy night, we found some respite from the wind through the hilly country in the northern Gard. The first highlight of the day, after realizing we were rolling through fields of ripe cherry trees, was finding a lone tree along the road, where we were able to glean handfuls of delicious cherries. We then pedalled into Goudargues just in time for the market and lunch at a park. Our route took us over the Cèze River and up to Aven d'Orgnac, a beautiful limestone cave that we were able to visit on a guided tour. We ended our day in a nearby gîte, happy for some rest and shelter from the wind.Read more

  • Holly and KarlBaguette Bike TravelsHolly and Karl

    Gorges de l'Ardèche

    May 18, 2023 in France ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C

    We like rocks and canyons, so the Gorges de l'Ardèche was an obvious destination. Karl had hoped to paddle part of the Ardèche River through the canyon, but it turns out there is a prefectorale order preventing children under 7 years old from paddling the river without a guide (if only they knew the rivers we have paddled with Claire!), so we had to settle on riding along the canyon instead. The road didn't disappoint, allowing for a lunch break at the Pont d'Arc (with a swim for the brave, aka Karl and Claire), then a climb up to multiple view points along the rolling scenic road.Read more

  • Holly and KarlBaguette Bike TravelsHolly and Karl

    Via Ardèche

    May 19, 2023 in France ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C

    After our first taste of Ardèche, we decided we wanted to explore more of the department as we worked our way north. So we looped back to Vallon-Pont-d'Arc and followed the Via Ardèche cycle route north. The rail trail was well used on a long weekend, and took us easily through beautiful landscapes - over tall bridges and through tunnels - up the Ardèche River to Aubenas, where Claire was excited to enjoy another campground with a playground and even a bouncy castle.Read more

  • Holly and KarlBaguette Bike TravelsHolly and Karl

    Col de Mézilhac

    May 20, 2023 in France ⋅ ☁️ 14 °C

    We had a big climb ahead of us up the Volane River to the Col de Mézilhac so we could drop back down along the Dorne River to Le Cheylard. We climbed 900 m in 30 km, and were pleased with the relaxed grade. We followed the river past various types of rock (sedimentary and volcanic!) and up to the alpine, where it was definitely chillier. Then, after a celebratory cookie break, we sailed down the valley of the Dorne - 20 km of coasting through verdant forests, river side towns and impressive bridges. We arrived in Le Cheylard to crowds of cyclists - with all kinds of bikes, including a majority of e-bikes, and all manner of bicycle child-carrying contraptions - as this is a popular stop on a well-known cycle trail, on a long weekend no less.Read more

  • Holly and KarlBaguette Bike TravelsHolly and Karl

    Dolce Via

    May 21, 2023 in France ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C

    It was a rainy night and morning in Le Cheylard, but we were relieved when the rain abated around breakfast time. Claire enjoyed playing with some new friends at the playground, then we set off down the Dolce Via rail trail. It was a joy to roll steadily downhill for almost 50 km along a 1 to 3% grade trail. The landscape was impressive and varied, starting out as a narrow rocky valley and opening out onto the plains of the Rhône River. Being the last day of a long weekend, even with the cool wet weather we saw many groups of cyclists out on the trail. We arrived at La Voulte-sur-Rhône by early afternoon after an easy ride with many breaks. After much deliberation right up until the last minute, we decided we'd explore the Drôme, so we crossed the Rhône and found ourselves in a landscape of rolling agriculture-filled hills. In Canada we would have had to travel hundreds to thousands of kilometres to experience such diversity in landscapes, but in France it is all in a day's ride!Read more

  • Holly and KarlBaguette Bike TravelsHolly and Karl

    Up the Drôme River

    May 22, 2023 in France ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C

    We were feeling weather-fatigued after many nights of rain, so found a B&B to decompress for the night and dry out our humid gear. The morning breakfast included a delightful spread of nine jams our host had made from the fruits in her garden. Fueled up and with more resilience for rainy days ahead, we rode along bike paths and small roads up the Drôme River, leaving the rolling hills behind for rocky outcrops and cliffs along high valley walls. We arrived in Die mid-afternoon, knowing that we needed to find cover, as more afternoon thundershowers were forecast. Luckily we were well settled into the municipal campground, complete with covered picnic tables, when the downpour started. After dinner we walked down to the river, now brown and silt-laden from the intense rainfall, and enjoyed a break before the next storm rumbled through at bedtime and rocked us to sleep in our little tent.Read more

  • Holly and KarlBaguette Bike TravelsHolly and Karl

    Col de Rousset & Vercors

    May 23, 2023 in France ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C

    We spend a lot of time looking at maps each day, and now Claire has even started playing at route planning too. She maybe could have planned a more relaxed day for us... but since she wasn't in charge, we headed up the Col de Rousset first thing in the morning, slowly pedalling up the many switchbacks and climbing over 900 m from Die over 22 km. Once through the tunnel at the top, we were caught in low cloud for many hours as we descended from the little ski hill at the col down through more agricultural villages in the Vercors. Our plan to camp at a roadside air de bivouac in Saint Julien en Vercors started feeling less than ideal with drizzle starting up on top of the already saturated soil. Knowing that there might be the potential to stay with the relatives of good friends in Villard de Lans, Holly made the connection and Cécile and Michel gratiously accepted to host us on short notice, but the 'cost' was 20 km more of biking with more elevation gain to get to their place. Our route took us through the Gorges de la Baume, making the extra effort very rewarding along the stunning balcony road, and resulting in a very big day - 1700 m of climbing over 70 km.Read more

  • Holly and KarlBaguette Bike TravelsHolly and Karl

    Down into the Valley

    May 24, 2023 in France ⋅ ☁️ 15 °C

    We had an amazing visit with Cécile and Michel, and Claire enjoyed playing with their grand daughters Emy and Océlie. We got to taste raviole, the smaller delicious French cousin of Italian ravioli, creamy local goat and cow cheeses, and even Chartreuse, a liquor made by monks in the Chartreuse mountains using 130 different plants. We learned about the origins and many renovations over the centuries of their farmhouse (you can see the cows' old troughs in the living room, as the house is in the original barn), and Karl enjoyed chatting about building with Michel who had been a mason. After a delicious multi-course lunch, we struggled to convince Claire that we had to leave our new friends to get back on the bikes, as we had planned to pedal down to Grenoble. After our big ride the previous day, it was a fairly short distance, down 1000 m into the valley. Even so, all the false flat to start the ride felt like a lot of work to our tired legs! But then we got to coast down, down, down and along river trails, with mountain views from all angles, through Grenoble to meet up with Marie-Pierre and Didier.Read more

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