A Feast of French Cycling

August - October 2017
In August 2017 a group of Australian cyclists travelled to Europe to complete a series of rides in Germany, France and the Channel Islands
  • 53footprints
  • 5countries
  • 55days
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  • 18.4kkilometers
  • 16.4kkilometers
  • Day 10

    Lots of Locks

    August 30, 2017 in France ⋅ ☁️ 27 °C

    The most memorable feature of the day's cruising was passing through several huge locks. It was an impressive feat of boatsmanship to get the large MS Andante safely through each obstacle.

    We are now entering some of the well known wine growing regions and we could see large terraced vineyards on the sides of the nearby hills. The beautiful Black Forest is also not very far away.

    Today's ride and cruise took us to Rhinau-Breisach.
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  • Day 11

    The Beautiful City of Colmar

    August 31, 2017 in France ⋅ ☁️ 15 °C

    The day was spent riding to the town of Colmar and back again. The MS Andante remained moored at Breisach while we cycled. Maggie and I had previously visited Colmar on an earlier trip to France and immediately fell in love with the place. The combination of medieval, half timbered buildings and flower lined canals is the stuff of postcards.

    We spent some time riding and walking around the centre of the town and discovered that the city was just as beautiful as we remembered it to be. Many of the buildings are adorned with collections of flowers, hearts, chairs and just about anything else they could find. Each building is painted a different bright pastel shade and the combined effect is breathtaking. The bridges are also a work of art, some almost completely covered with floral arrangements. This city must certainly rank among the most amazing cities I have ever visited.
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  • Day 12

    We Reach Basel

    September 1, 2017 in Germany ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C

    This morning the barge sailed to the small French village of Chalampe. That is where we commenced our last cycling day along the French bank of the Rhine River via Ottmarsheim and across the border to Switzerland..

    Our final destination was the city of Basel, situated where the borders of Germany, France and Switzerland meet. Although the main city is in Switzerland, some of the suburbs are in France and Germany.

    Basel also justifiably calls itself the “City of Gourmet” with more than 20 restaurants appointed a Gault Millau or Michelin rating.

    Our view of Basel was a little jaundiced by the somewhat grubby area that the boat moored at. We found ourselves surrounded by a motley collection of old factories, overgrown paths and a rather weird circus. We never did figure out what this circus was really about as it seemed to be just a group of young dropouts having fun. It was a somewhat strange ending to the first stage of our adventure.

    Tonight will be our final night aboard the MS Andante. Tomorrow we will be catching the train to Paris to begin the next part of our adventure.
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  • Day 13

    Paris - The City of Love

    September 2, 2017 in France ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C

    This morning we caught the high speed (Grand Vitesse) train to Paris. It is an amazing feeling silently flying along at 300 kph on a French train. While we flew along the tracks we could see the magnificent rolling Burgundy countryside passing by outside. This is one of our favourite regions of France.

    I remember being fascinated as a child watching Dr Who for the first time. It was beyond my belief that the inside of the Tardis could be so much larger than the outside. Some fifty years later I had my own personal experience with an Inverse Tardis. I had carefully chosen our hotel using the Internet and the pictures of the rooms certainly looked large and luxurious. After a week of Internet starvation on the MS Andante we could not wait to explore the massive rooms we had booked in Paris and enjoy the benefits of unlimited high speed Internet access.

    The Villa des Princes was certainly located in a lovely part of Paris. The left bank is the home of the Latin Quarter, The Sorbonne University, the Musee D'Orsay and many other wonderful old buildings. After our high speed train trip from Basel to Paris Gare de Lyon we stumbled out through the crowds to the taxi stand and proceeded to do battle with the hundreds of others who were also waiting to grab a taxi. Some are obviously more experienced at this form of mortal combat so it took some time before we managed to pile our bags and ourselves into a vehicle and start moving. It took a good while longer for the driver to push his way through the impenetrable tangle of other taxis (all the while with the meter running) and finally emerge into the haphazard street network that makes Paris so bewildering for first time visitors.

    From the outside our hotel looked great. The concierge was even expecting us. "We have a lift" he proudly explained as if it was a brand new invention. We were directed around the corner and found the object he was so excited about. It was about the same size as a bar fridge. Maggie took one look in it and took off up the 3 flights of stairs to our room. I was left with all the luggage. I put one leg into the tiny lift and tried to pull in a suitcase after me. The door wouldn't shut. I squashed my face into the wall and pulled the case tightly against me. I pressed the button, hoping that the damned thing would not trap me inside. The door finally shut and the contraption slowly ground its way upwards. It was not pleasant, but sometime later I fell out onto the third floor landing. I had to repeat the process another two times before we were all reunited again.

    The room itself was good, or at least it would have been perfect if we had both been pygmies about 3 foot tall. It was quite a challenge to get both us and our luggage inside at the same time, but it was clean, the bed was comfortable, the bathroom was excellent and the air conditioning actually worked well. It was our home for three nights.

    After jamming our luggage into the room, we headed off on a short walk to the nearby Luxembourg Gardens. It was a perfect way to begin our short sojourn in Paris.
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  • Day 14

    Paris from the Heights

    September 3, 2017 in France ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C

    Although we had been to Paris several times before, neither of us had ever been to the top of the Montparnasse Tower. We thought that this could be a suitable time to venture there, after all it is the highest point in the city..

    I was interested in seeing a new view of Paris. Maggie saw the queue and panicked. "I am not doing this" she yelled in my ear. "It's perfectly safe", I tried to reassure her. I felt her fingernails dig right into my palms, almost drawing blood. We shuffled forward and paid our 17 Euro each. Maggie threatened to have a turn, and I really thought that she was going to.

    "It's bigger than the lift in our hotel" I explained, knowing full well that no lift on the planet could possibly be any smaller. Somehow she stayed upright and made it into the lift. A few seconds later we emerged on the 56th floor. Maggie went a nasty shade of pale green, but somehow made it to the window. Amazingly she was soon so distracted that the heights were forgotten. Her camera started clicking and she started looking for the landmarks of the city that we knew so well.

    On the very top of the building is an outdoor observation deck, requiring another couple of flights of steps of climbing. I set off to the top, knowing that Maggie would never follow me. To my surprise, she did. We also met Greg and Andrea, who had also chosen this same time to visit one of the highest points in Paris. Apparently Greg suffers from a fear of heights too, but was also distracted enough to actually enjoy the experience.

    After an hour or so of picture taking and a pretty ordinary coffee, we took the trip back down and returned to our hotel. Later in the day we met up with Bob, Greg and Andrea and Gordon and Sue for a night cruise along the Seine. Although we had done it several times before, it is still a great way to see Paris by night, even if it was starting to drizzle a little.

    All seven of us then walked the riverbank all the way back from the Eiffel Tower to the Louvre. The rain had passed by and the evening was warm and still. A couple of wandering musicians were playing haunting French melodies. We stopped at a lovely Brasserie to enjoy coffee together, as after all we were in Paris and it seemed the appropriate thing to do. By the time we finally tumbled back into our room our feet were tired, but it had been a wonderful day.
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  • Day 15

    A Day to Wander

    September 4, 2017 in France ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C

    This morning we joined with David and Carol to have lunch in a lovely little cafe on the Isle St Louis. We had previously eaten here several times and knew that the Plat de Jour lunches were always excellent. We then had a brisk walk to Angelina's Cafe du The on the Rue de Rivoli. This place is one of the most famous tea rooms in Paris and is known as the place where the rich and famous love to be seen. Ten of us stumbled in, dressed in crumpled clothes and tried to look the part. We all failed miserably, especially Bob.

    The hot chocolate is almost enough to instantly clog every artery and the cakes certainly require a huge amount of determination to devour, however we all did our best to do the place justice. Even after the long walk back to our hotel we still felt bloated, so much so that the thought of dinner was enough to make us almost want to puke. Eventually we found the Monoprix Supermarket and bought a couple of punnets of raspberries. It was just about the perfect ending to another long day.
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  • Day 17

    Rambouillet to Chartres

    September 6, 2017 in France ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C

    Yesterday, on our final morning in Paris we packed our bags, confronted the lift for the final time (it didn't seem quite so small this time) and assembled in the foyer. The concierge had now become our friend and we exchanged a few jokes before catching a taxi and heading to Gare Montparnasse for our train to Rambouilllet. This is where we will resume our cycling adventure to cycle to Mont St Michel. Although we loved Paris dearly, we were keen to get back out onto the paths less travelled and see some more of the real France.

    Rambouillet is a very charming town, situated about 50 km south west of Paris, on the edge of the huge Forest of Rambouillet. It is also famous for being home to the historical Chateau de Rambouillet.

    Our bikes had been left waiting for us at the hotel. On first examination we were all vey impressed. The bikes all looked very new and each one had been neatly labelled with the name of its intended rider. After a short test ride we left them securely behind the hotel and went off to enjoy our dinner.

    It was only when we rolled the bikes out this morning that one of our riders made a most unwelcome discovery. Back in Australia Gordon had already firmly established himself as the undisputed King of Punctures. He seemed capable of getting a puncture on virtually every ride. He had previously experimented with different brands of tyre and tube, but the punctures always continued unabated. It was obviously some sort of special talent that he must have been born with.

    We had all been hoping that Gordon's ability to attract punctures would have been left behind in Australia. After all, these were completely different bikes with different tyres. We were even in a different hemisphere ! What could possibly go wrong ?

    It was only when all the bikes had been lined up outside the hotel that we noticed that one of the bikes had already suffered a puncture. And we hadn't even ridden them yet ! Closer examination revealed that the bike in question was bearing the name tag "Gordon". Typical, but not a great start to the day.

    Fortunately we had been provided with a couple of spare tubes and, about 30 minutes later, we were finally ready to get underway. We hoped that it would be the only such puncture Gordon would suffer during the remainder of the ride to Mont St Michel. (How wrong we were.)

    Our first stop for the day was at the nearby Chateau du Rambouillet. We had to admit that it certainly was impressive and the manicured gardens must require an army of gardeners to maintain. The thick gravel crunched under our wheels as we carefully rode to the front entrance.

    The rest of the day was spent riding to the city of Chartres. This city is most famous for its huge Gothic Cathedral. We all thought that it resembled the even more famous Cathdral of Notre Dame in Paris.

    Our restaurant for the evening was the L"Esprit de Gourmande", situated right alongside the Cathedral. We had been told that it was a top rated place and so we went in with high expectations, but maybe they were having a bad night. The courses were slow in being served and the time dragged on and on. Although the quality of the food was OK, the staff seemed completely disorganised and had a lot of trouble trying to sort out our drinks bill at the end of the night. It certainly was not what we had been looking forward to.

    After dinner we walked around the Cathedral to see the impressive light show which is projected onto its towering walls from a multitude of different angles. The late summer evening was warm and still, and the visual display was stunning. It had been another superb day (although possibly not so good for Gordon).
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  • Day 18

    Chartres to Illiers Combray

    September 7, 2017 in France ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C

    This morning we returned to the Cathedral to explore inside and see the massive stained glass windows. It was then time to get back on the bikes to continue our journey.

    The ride took us along a lovely succession of peaceful country roads. This really was the type of riding that we had been looking forward to, although anyone who had expected a "flat" ride would have another think coming. The road seemed to be always either rising or falling (mostly the former), which meant that it was by no means an easy day in the saddle.

    We arrived at Illiers Combray in the middle of the afternoon and went in search of our hotel - the Hotel Les Aubepines.

    The tiny town is best known for being the home of the French poet Marcel Proust. It has not changed much and has preserved the charm of past times.

    The Church of St. Jacques is the model for the church featured so prominently in the first part of Marcel Proust’s literary masterpiece, À La Recherche du Temps Perdu (Remembrance of Things Past). The church dates back to the 13th century and was rebuilt in 1497, with the aid of Florent d’Illiers, who fought alongside Joan of Arc.
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  • Day 19

    Illiers Combray to Nogent le Rotrou

    September 8, 2017 in France ⋅ 🌧 16 °C

    I have discovered when travelling that it is the unexpected events that are often the most magical. This was true when we reached the little town of Thiron-Gardais and went in search of a place for lunch.

    David decided to ride ahead (as he often does) and we rode after him (about a kilometre behind). None of us had any idea of what was ahead, but we somehow found ourselves outside an obviously ancient church. The garden was overgrown and the walls looked like they were on the verge of collapse. It was just my sort of place.

    We left the bikes and walked around the outside wall, looking for a way to get inside. Once inside, we were fascinated by the antiquity of the place. Ancient wooden pews had obviously been sat on by untold thousands of worshippers over the centuries. Overhead we looked up to see the crumbling timbers that were doing their best to stop the entire roof from collapsing down on us. A rickety ladder led up to the ceiling space, although it looked like it must have been a very long time since anyone would have been game enough to make that journey. You could feel the history in every nook and cranny of the place. It was a delightful, serendipitous discovery that was the highlight of the day's ride.

    We arrived at the town of Nogent le Rotrou and found that the imposing castle was locked and bolted. There was no option but to continue to our hotel.

    Our evening meal was at the L'Alambic Restaurant. This turned out to be too far from our hotel to walk, so we organised a taxi to drive back and forth to ferry us all there. After our less than happy experience at the previous evening's restaurant, this one will be remembered for all the right reasons.

    The food was superb, the waitresses were even choreographed in their movements as they served each course and the young owners were delightful. Everything about the place was amazing. It was easily the best meal of our entire time in France.
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  • Day 20

    Nogent le Rotrou to Belleme

    September 9, 2017 in France ⋅ ☀️ 15 °C

    Most of today's ride was through beautiful natural forests. The big problem was that the road was always going up and down. It was never horizontal. The undulations were never ending and the women were soon complaining that they all wanted ebikes. That left us with a decision to make.

    When we stopped for lunch at Preaux-du-Perche I looked carefully at the GPS track for the rest of the day's ride. It was then that I made a startling discovery. The route proceeded in a huge loop, before returning almost to the exact spot where we were eating our lunches.

    I suspected that there must have been some good reason why the organisers had wanted us to take such a huge detour. The women were not convinced. After a brief discussion (and a lot of foot stamping tantrums), the women all made the decision to take the 200 metre shortcut, while the men all rode the hilly 30 km diversionary loop.

    I led the reduced peloton up into the mountains. The women sat in the sunshine, waiting for our return. Although I was expecting to bring back news of some amazing sights, what we did find was forests, lots of forests. There were no huge castles, no cathedrals, not even a museum. But there were hills, lots of hills.

    The men pedalled on, wondering why they had been so duped. We puffed our way up hills, then huffed our way up more hills and finally chuffed our way down a short downhill. We finally stopped the bikes in the middle of a lovely treed place and started to talk. It became a great time to share our thoughts, without any interruptions from the women. Although the castles did not eventuate, the "male bonding time" in the forest almost made the hard ride worthwhile.

    Some hours later we made it back to Preaux-du-Perche and rejoined the (well rested) ladies. The reunited group continued the hilly ride to Belleme, where we spent the night in the Normandy Country Club. Unfortunately this was situated on the top of the highest hill in the entire region. The strenuous climb to the hotel consumed what small amount of stamina we had remaining. It had been a long day on the bikes (and much longer for some than others).
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