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2013 French Revolutions Ride
  • The World on Two Wheels
  • The World on Two Wheels

2013 French Revolutions Ride

Nineteen riders completed an incredible extended ride along the Loire from Orleans to Le Croisic on the Atlantic. The original journal of this ride has been lost, but here are some fragments that have been recovered. This is a work in progress. Read more
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  • Trip start
    September 1, 2013
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    Another Adventure Beckons

    September 1, 2013 in Australia ⋅ 16 °C

    Like many of our previous overseas cycling adventures, this one began as our participants assembled at Melbourne Airport for a late night flight to Dubai. Although we had already completed two rides along the Danube, this was to be our first ride in France and we could not wait to get started. It was especially excited for several of our riders as it was to be their first trip to France.

    Much closer to home, it was also to be Maggie's first time in France, in fact it was her very first trip to Europe. Although she was not going to be cycling, she had decided to spend the entire duration of the ride, staying in Paris. It was something she had dreamed of for many years, and although she was a little apprehensive of being alone in such a big city, she was also eager to get the flight out of the way and begin the French adventure.    Read more

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    Hello Paris

    September 2, 2013 in France ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

    After the long flights from Australia we arrived at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport in early afternoon. After clearing immigration and baggage collection, I had organised a mini bus transfer to take us to our hotels in the Montmartre region of Paris.

    Paris will be our home for the next four nights, then we head down to Orleans to begin our ride. But tonight, an early night is in order.    Read more

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    A Walking Peloton

    September 5, 2013 in France ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C

    We have now had 4 wonderful days in the famous "City of Light" and today we head south to begin our cycling adventure The weather here has been amazing - high 20s and low 30s every day. This is absolutely the best time to travel in Europe as the big crowds of July and August are gone and the conditions are perfect for travel.

    This morning I am going to have the challenge of taking 18 suitcase toting travellers through the Paris metro system to Austerlitz station to catch the train to Orleans. That is going to be an adventure in itself.

    Maggie has already fallen in love with Paris. The staff at the hotel have been so friendly and supportive, I cannot imagine why anyone would ever want to stay in the large impersonal prisons that the large hotels are. To get the real essence of any country you MUST stay in small, character hotels wherever possible.
    Everyone is having a wonderful time and we are now keen to start riding.

    Maggie and I will be back in Paris in about 6 weeks time so I guess it will be quite chilly by then.    Read more

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    A Train to Orleans

    September 6, 2013 in France ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C

    This morning the weather in Paris turned a litle cooler as a thunderstorm broke the run of hot days, just at the same time as we were due to leave our hotels and begin the journey to Orleans. Initially we all got a little drowned, but that actually felt like fun. We said that Paris was crying because the Ghostriders were leaving.
    A short walk with our bags to St George Metro and a couple of train changes brought us to the huge station at Austerlitz. We climbed aboard a long train and were somewhat surprised that no one asked to see our tickets (in fact they were not checked for the entire trip).

    The train was only sparsely filled so we had plenty of room to spread out and enjoy the very fast trip down to Orleans, where we arrived a little over an hour later. Our hotel was only about 1.5 km from the station so it would have been a waste of money to use taxis. Instead, we all lined up into a long line of suitcase rolling tourists and walked the entire distance. This gave us a good chance to see the city along the way. We are now at our hotel, right on the banks of the Loire River and we were excited to get the first glimpse of this impressive waterway that will be the central theme of our riding for the next 16 days. Later in the day our bikes were delivered to the hotel and we spent some time getting them adjusted to suit. All agreed that they were comfortable and easy to ride.

    Tomorrow, we get underway at last on our odyssey to the Atlantic Coast.    Read more

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    On the Bikes at Last

    September 7, 2013 in France ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C

    After two years of planning our French Revolutions Cycling Adventure is now really underway. Last night we all went out to the Restaurant L'Ardoise in Orleans and were treated to the most incredible French cuisine we have ever tasted.
    Those who had thought that we were in for three weeks of baguettes and cold meat are surely in need of a rethink. I could not believe the effort that the chef had put into each course, the food was as much a work of art as it was delicious. It certainly set the standard for the rest of the trip.

    This morning we all donned our cycling gear and lined up alongside the Loire River for the obligatory group photo. It certainly got the attention of those passing by and several cars tooted and waved to us. We all set out in high spirits along the wonderful new sealed bike path alongside the Loire. Soon we crossed to the left bank and meandered happily through delightful rural countrysides for quite a few km. The roads were flat, smooth and deserted - an amazing introduction to French cycling. With our 18 riders in matching yellow Ghostrider jerseys we joked that it looked like the Tour de France (except in slow motion).

    After the pace of the previous few days, it was wonderful to just let the bikes roll along at a leisurely pace while we savoured the scenery. It did not take long for everyone to break out into huge smiles. The weather had started cool but soon the sun broke through and raised the temperature to a very pleasant 21C. Today's ride was a modest one and we reached our destination of Beaugency soon after 1 pm.

    With its quaint narrow streets, its huge 1000-year-old church and Roman ruins, this town is stunningly beautiful. Our accommodation for the night is at the L'Ecu de Bretagne, a working ancient building that is also a hotel. These are the very sort of places that make this type of travel so unforgettable. Forget the "all of Europe in 16 days" type of trips where all you see is a blur of tourist traps and plastic hotels, this is the ONLY way to experience the essence of the real Europe at first hand. Those of our group who have never been to Europe before have already fallen head over heels in love with the place.

    If the rest of the ride is like today, we will have experienced a taste of heaven on earth. Tomorrow's ride will take us on to the town of Blois.    Read more

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    Chateau de Chambord and Blois

    September 8, 2013 in France ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

    Our second day of riding took us into the famous Chateau Region of France. We were soon exploring the huge Chateau de Chambord, surely one of the most famous, but necessarily one of the prettiest, chateaux in the region.

    This sprawling construction was built for Francoise I, but he only ever lived there for a few weeks. After he died it was left empty for the next hundred years. One of its most famous architectural features is the famous double helix staircase, thought to have been designed by Leonardo da Vinci.

    Our destination for the day was the magnificent city of Blois, situated right on the banks of the river.    Read more

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    Ride to Amboise

    September 9, 2013 in France ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C

    It was a fine, but windy ride from Blois to Amboise. It also was NOT flat, with several sections that had us look for our granny gears. Our hotel in Blois had a TinTin theme with numerous models and images from the TinTin books.

    Amboise will be our first (and only) rest day for the ride. Tomorrow we will have some time to explore this famous historic city.    Read more

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    Amboise and Leonardo

    September 10, 2013 in France ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C

    Whichever way you look at it, Amboise is a fascinating city. Since this was our first (and only) rest day for the ride, we made maximum use of our day off the bikes to explore. The most famous ex-resident of Amboise is Leonardo da Vinci. Leonardo was a favourite of the king Francoise I, and he was given a beautiful chateau to live out his remaining years of his life. The Clos Luce is unlike many of the oversized chateaux of the region and still contains evidence of the amazing legacy that Leonardo left.Read more

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    Tours

    September 11, 2013 in France ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C

    It was a shortish ride today that took us right into the the heart of the city of Tours to discover the old quarters sheltering the famous 'Place Plumereau' and its half-timbered houses. This city was the lovely birthplace of Gabrielle d’Estrées, the favourite of King Henri IV.Read more

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    Azay le Rideau

    September 12, 2013 in France ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C

    The ride proceeded to Villandry with its famous Gardens, matchless in Europe and composed of 3 superposed terraces, then Saché, the house of the famous novelist Honoré de Balzac. We finally arrived in Azay le Rideau, the home of a beautiful Renaissance chateau, a jewel set over the Indre river.Read more

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    Angers

    September 15, 2013 in France ⋅ ⛅ 15 °C

    The most surprising and unexpected feature of today's ride was the crossing of a small river by means of a self propelled floating bac. In order to get across, we had to load about 4 bikes and riders at a time, then pull it across with a chain. We did more laughing than pulling.

    Our home tonight is the impressive large city of Angers.    Read more

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    Montjean Sur Loire

    September 16, 2013 in France ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C

    Today our cycle towards the Atlantic continued through some superb French villages and followed the banks of the Loire for some distance. By this time we have seen the Loire steadily grow to a very impressive and rapidly flowing river.
    Up till now we have only seen small flat bottomed fishing boats but today we began to see the first signs that we are entering the realms of the working Loire. The river is getting deeper and we are starting to see bigger and bigger boats in use.

    The scenery along the way is breathtaking, the houses and villages make us feel that we are part of a story book, the only things missing are people and cars. For kilometre after kilometre we ride along without seeing either cars or people and sometimes we begin to wonder just what has happened to everyone.

    This morning we crossed the prime meridian and thus officially passed from the eastern hemisphere to the western hemisphere. We also had an impressive flyover by a low flying group of fighter aircraft. This was repeated several times during the day suggesting that there must be a air force base somewhere nearby. I suspected that they had heard that the Ghostriders were in the area and wanted to give us an impressive salute.

    The weather has continued to be kind to us. So far we have only had one wet day and the conditions have been great for riding, although we have been regularly visited by a tenacious head wind. By now our riders are all getting stronger and it is easy to see the improvement in everyone's riding. We also had the streepest climb of the ride so far - probably a 10 to 12% gradient at least but most were able to ride up without getting off to walk.

    We are now in a small town called MonJean Sur Loire. Compared to the large city of Angers where we spent last night this town is tiny and loacted right on the river. The hotel was not large enough to accommodate us all so some had to go to a nearby Gite (guesthouse) for the night.

    After tonight we only have another 4 days of riding before we reach our final destination at Le Croisic on the Atlantic Coast. At that point our riders will disperse to continue their own adventures. Maggie and I wil be staying in France for another month to explore as much of the country as we can. If I can sort out some of my pictures I will post them soon.

    One thing is certain and that is that everyone has had an absolute ball on this trip. The group has all got along famously and supported each other the whole way. For the life of me I could not understand why anyone would every consider travelling any other way. I reckon that once you have experienced this you could never face another tourist bus trip ever again. This has been the perfect way to combine travel, adventure, physical activity, good fun, fellowship, fresh air, surprises and breathtaking scenery into one.    Read more

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    Reaching Nantes

    September 18, 2013 in France ⋅ ⛅ 15 °C

    Today we woke to leaden skies and a howling wind. Some of our more fearful souls thought that we were going to be in for a very long, hard day in the saddle. I went outside and did my "cloud whisperer" act and was very relieved (but not surprised) that the wind quickly abated and soon we saw small patches of blue appearing. My late mother used to describe such cloud conditions as "just enough blue to make a sailor suit" so we spent some time discussing just how many sailors could be suited up with the available blue skies. As the morning progressed we soon had enough blue to equip a whole navy of sailors (and probably the admiral as well).

    We rode along on quiet bike paths and back roads for the entire morning until we reached the outskirts of Nance. With almost 1 million inhabitants, Nance is the sixth largest city of France and it took some amount of navigating and a degree of nerve to get through the busy city streets to our hotel. Nantes is also known as being the home of the great writer Jules Verne.

    Orleans now seems a long way away, both in time and distance. The Loire River now has a real seaside feel to it and tomorrow we will finally see it emptying into the Ocean. We then follow the wild Atlantic Coastline for another day until our ride terminates at Le Croisic.

     It has been another wonderful adventure that I am sure that none of our riders will ever forget.    Read more

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    The End of the Loire

    September 19, 2013 in France ⋅ 🌧 17 °C

    We woke this morning to a cloudless blue sky - probably one of the best days we have had since arriving three weeks ago. What a perfect way to finish our ride along the Loire. Some time this afternoon we will reach the estuary of the Loire and the HUGE bridge that connects the north and south banks of the river.
    Tomorrow we will make our way across the bridge and complete our ride to Le Croisic.

    Nantes is quite a modern city with wide bike paths and not very much traffic on the roads. I have been somewhat surprised at the cleanliness of the streets and lack of graffiti as I imagined it would have been much worse. I am now sitting in my tiny hotel room packing the panniers for the day's ride. So far all the bikes have performed well and we have not had a single puncture. Let's hope that will continue until the end.

    For anyone with a love of cycling and travel this has proven to be one of the best ways you could ever spend a couple of weeks. I am already making plans to do this ride again in a couple of year's time but, based on what I learnt this time, I would make a couple of minor modifications to the plans.    Read more

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    The End of the Ride

    September 20, 2013 in France ⋅ ⛅ 15 °C

    Although we reached the mouth of the Loire yesterday, our ride was not quite over. We still had one more solid day of riding to reach our final destination of Le Croisic. The final day of any extended ride is always filled with mixed emotions. Although it is something of sense of relief to complete the challenge that we set ourselves that is always tinged with the sad realisation that our wonderful adventure will soon be ending.

    One of the final highlights of the ride was reaching the amazing medieval, walled city of Guerande. Not only is the city surrounded by huge walls, but it is also surrounded by a fully functioning moat. It was the perfect place to stop for our final afternoon tea of the ride.

    All too soon we were back on the bikes and riding through the expansive salt flats that mark the outskirts of Le Croisic. We rode through the town and on to our hotel, where we dismounted the last time.

    As is usual there were lots of hugs and kisses to mark the end of the ride. That evening we celebrated the completion of another successful trip by having a meal at the large seafood restaurant, situated right on the beachfront. The memories of that evening will last a lifetime.

    Throughout our ride, Maggie had been staying in a B&B on the Isle St Louis, one of the two famous islands in the centre of Paris. While we were cycling, she was having a great time exploring the city that she had waited her whole life to experience. On the final day of our ride, she caught the train from Paris to Le Croisic and joined the rest of the group.

    Tomorrow morning the group will break up to make their own ways back to Australia. Maggie and I will now begin our own adventure - exploring France for the next month.    Read more

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    Vannes

    September 21, 2013 in France ⋅ 🌙 16 °C

    Although our cycling adventure had drawn to a close, Maggie and I still had lots of travel and exploring waiting for us. Today we caught the train to Vannes and went in search of the Europcar depot. We discovered that it was actually about 10 km from the centre of town - a bit far to walk as the helpful guy at the desk had suggested.

    Another short train and we finally found ourselves at the correct location. The creative staff at Europcar had kindly "upgraded" us from the car we had booked to a totally unfamiliar hybrid Toyota. Not only would we have the fun of driving on the wrong side of the road, we would also have the challenge of learning a whole new set of controls. We were not reassured when even the guy at the Europcar depot did not know how to start it.

    After a few false starts we were finally underway and trying to find our way back to Vannes. Somehow a wrong turn found me right in the centre square of a tiny medieval village. It was NOT where we were meant to be. With sweat pouring down my face, I slowly extricated the car, much to the amusement of the locals.

    Sometime later we reached the relative safety of our hotel and I almost collapsed with exhaustion. Was this how the rest of the trip was going to go ? And whose idea was it to hire a car in the first place ?

    We decided to explore the city on foot and leave the car alone. Paul and Jan were also staying in the same hotel and we learnt that they had experienced their own traumas when collecting their hire car. In fact, their situation was a little more serious as Paul had parked the car somewhere in Vannes and could not remember where he had left it. All he could remember was driving through a long tunnel at some time.

    We set off in search of Paul's lost car and eventually found it in a carpark. It was relief all round. We ended the day with a pizza dinner at the lovely cafe on the ramparts, overlooking the gardens.

    It had been a long and stressful day, but we knew that more challenges would lay ahead.    Read more

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    Pontorson

    September 23, 2013 in France ⋅ 🌙 19 °C

    Before leaving for France, some good friends had advised us that Mont St Michel was one of the most dramatic locations in the country. It sounded like the sort of place that we could not miss.

    It was our next step of our journey, and we were not disappointed. The most famous feature is the towering abbey situated on a tidal island, about a km from the coast. Its silhouette can be seen for many kilometres away. A pity about the swarms of tourists crowding its narrow streets.

    Our accommodation was at a lovely B&B called Les Tartines Bavardes.    Read more

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    La Fresnee

    September 24, 2013 in France ⋅ 🌙 15 °C

    After the frenetic pace of the previous few weeks, it was great to be able to spend three nights in the same location. Our home for this time was the Chambres d’Hotes La Fresnee,.

    The main industry in this part of France is reliving the second World War. War museums are scattered everywhere, and the remains of the D Day landings are still drawing hundreds of thousands of visitors every year. Many of these visitors are surviving soldiers from the invasion, who want to make a pilgrimage to this spot before they succumb to old age.Read more

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