Our "Tour de France"

Nantes - Bordeaux - Narbonne - Dijon

In 2009 a first lap took us from Strasbourg via Mulhouse, Besancon, Chalon-sur-Saône to the “vallée de la Loire”, where we followed the Loire to St Nazaire at the Atlantic ocean.

While cycling through the beautiful French landscapes with the marvellous “châteaux  de la Loire” the idea was born of going on later and finish our tour de France along the Vendée, les Landes, le canal du Midi to Narbonne. From there we followed the French Mediterranean coast to Montpellier. After visiting Nîmes and Avignon we continued our trip by following the “vallée du Rhône” to Lyon and Chalon-sur-Saône where we crossed our cycling path from 2009.  

Day1

Friday, 31.08. Nantes- Bourgneuf en Retz

 Leaving home very early (5 :00), dark, chilly and wet. From Gasperich cycle to the main station, find Luc and Luss, get on the TGV for Paris and relax. Arrive in Paris , Gare de l’Est. Cycle through Paris, make a “little” detour to the “Vieux Campeur”, which only opens (scandal!!) at 11:00, so all we get is some window shoppingL . Treat ourselves to some nice croissant and coffee and ride towards Gare de Montparnasse. Our team splits up, we continue 2by2…..TGV towards Nantes. The 4 of us meet again in Nantes, a one-hour time gap between us. In Nantes we see the nice castle, buy some cycling gloves for Gast and start cycling.

Sun comes out, turns the day into a sunny one… We arrive in Bourgneuf en Retz, in a small family hotel, the place is busy, luckily Luc has made a reservation. Dinner in a small pizzeria/crêperie. +- 65km Day2 Saturday, 01.09.  Bourgneuf en Retz-St. Hilaire de Riez Start leisurely at 10:00, enjoying the outskirts of the Bretagne. Little towns, whitewashed houses, wooden window shutters painted in vivid colours. Along the river, “canal”, we see the typical wooden cabins (Port des Champs), standing on 4 high poles, a square fishing net attached to them for some river fishing.

Port du Bec, a very nice little port, shows us the boats lying on one side in low tide waiting patiently to be lifted up again by the floods of high tide…Seagulls rising from the river, soaring high up into the sky with their hoarse cries… See a “cooperative”, all the typical sailor and boat stuff, things we would love to bring home but there’s not enough room in our bags L Continue and find the “passage du Gois” at low tide.  As far as the eye can see, wet sand and people armed with some buckets  and shovels searching and scratching in the sand for all sorts of mussles,  crabs, cockles, oysters…. The air has a salty taste, we can smell the sea… We continue towards the isle of Noirmoutier, sandy and pine trees … We cycle back to the mainland, over the long bridge. Then the landscape changes: pine trees, a typical mediteranean smell in the air,  a soft breeze… We ride through the woods, up and down we go, it almost feels like a ride on  a roller coaster. Arrive in St. Hilaire de Riez, find a nice hotel and get some  delicious dinner.  So many calories today, hopefully we get rid of them during  the trip. +-75 km Day3 Sunday, 02.09. St. Hilaire- Tranche sur Mer Start towards “Les Sables d’Olonne”. We are back on the same type of cycling path: sand, pine trees and the path relentlessly going up and down, all in a terrific speed. In the middle of nowhere we meet a wooden path, little lakes and ponds all around, very pleasant landscape. End up in “Sable”, a nice little “station balnéaire”, stroll through the harbour, see the smallest sloop that ever made it around the world. Have a bite at the baker’s (a comfort in the cold wind), and lose Luc. We find him out of town relaxing on a bench.                                                                                                                 Then a terrible discovery for myself: my luggage rack is broken!!! It is basically dangling in the air, hanging on a silken stringL Panic! Gast tries to fix it with some Velcro straps, but we have to go on, there is nothing we can do on a Sunday, we’ll have to see the next day. I hold my breath while cycling, always afraid the whole thing will break down. On the way we see a castle that belonged to Richard Lionheart A “little” mistake in Luc’s calculations of the distance: the planned 70 turn easily  over a 100kmJ . Finally we end up in “La Tranche sur Mer”, windy and cold in the  meantime…Trouble to find a convenient hotel, but get a nice place at the end. 3 of  us cycle back into town, dinner at a pizzeria, Luss stays in and enjoys the  hotel’s restaurant. Hope to find some help for my bike the next day. Day 4 Monday, 03.09. Tranche sur Mer- La Rochelle  Start fairly early, search for a shop or any place able to repair my bike. At a local boat shop they indicate us to ride to L’Aiguillon sur Mer and ask in the harbour some ship builders, they might help. We do indeed find some people working at the dockyards, and, YES, they can help, welding the aluminium rack. I tip the worker off, so glad it’s repaired and cross my fingers that it stays like that. Going on we cycle for quite a while on a bumpy, stoney path and find a bridge which is crossing to “nowhere”. We turn back, finding the “canal” at the end. This path is narrow, a single trail and turns into a complete wilderness, covering our poor bikes with layers of mud. Backtrack again….to finally get on the proper path, nice, much broader and a lot drier. After 92km we arrive in La Rochelle, get the 2 last rooms in the Etap hotel! Visit of the old harbour, very nice: the big, famous towers (medieval lighthouses) lie in the sun while a breeze is twirling around them…. Find a delicious Italian restaurant, and stroll back to the hotel… Day5 Tuesday, 04.09.La Rochelle-Marennes Leave La Rochelle, meet after a while the canal again, with a path that carries us up and down, sometimes gravel, sometimes paved. We see nice docks and “pontons”, ships lying on a broadside waiting for the high tide to roll in…We end up in the pine woods on an old “railway” track, eat black berries and take plenty of pictures of those white bloomed hedges. Lunch at a little lake, surrounded by a bunch of very curious swans that try to steal our food from our plates. Some slapping with some newspapers brings them right back to order…. We cycle on and enter the little town of Marennes, where we find a most beautiful shop (Luc and myself buying a funny fishbone). Centre of town with a big stone Church and impressive spire. Find an hotel a bit out of town, the Amarenne, cycle back into a “ghost town” to get dinner at the only open restaurant “le petit creux”, where the cook tells he travelled a lot over the world and even had a job at Lea Linster’s placeJ 95km Day 6 Wednesday, 05.09. Marennes- Hourtin  Leave Marennes, find a cycling path that leads us through the woods while a railway is running along with us. Somewhere in the middle of the woods we see the tip of a lighthouse popping up. We cannot resist and climb the spiral staircase with more than 300 steps, poor legs. (“la coubre”) We get rewarded at the top with some stunning views. We continue, cross a bridge and see seagulls, all turned windwards, very nice picture… Before arriving in Hourtin, Gast comes off the track, his front wheel immediately slips ‘s away in the sand and falls right into the street. Apart from the fright, he’s fine. Hourtin, sleep and dinner in the bar,restaurant hotel d’Hourtin. 112km Day7 Thursday, 06.09. Hourtin-Bordeaux  After a lousy breakfast we leave over gravel and some better streets to find a nice forest path (direction St Hélène) where riding on a narrow path with a lot of traffic, requires a bit of concentration. We enjoy some more black berries and continue towards Bordeaux. In town we follow the Gironde river…have a little nap at the lake, we are fairly early, hotel not yet available… Nice churches, beautiful town gates, nice gables…at one of the main places we see people cooling themselves off in a mist that rises up from the ground, like a fountain, almost “spooky”…Meet Anita and Alain in front of the Etap hotel and decide to visit Bordeaux by bike: Notre Dame Church, more gates, little streets, beer on a nice terrace, very pleasant. Dinner at a place called “Elvis”, quite posh, and stroll back through shopping streets, now very “safe” that all is closed…L 112km Day 8 Friday, 07.09. Bordeaux-Marmande-Auvillar (Valence-sur-Agen) Search our way out of Bordeaux and ride for about 50 km on an ancient railway, now a nice cycling path. Eat fresh figs on the way, get sticky and messy…enjoy the ride, some more black berries…Rather busy on the cycling path, a lot of other bikers, so some concentration requested Picnic and continue on various tracks, gravel and other, find the “Canal de la Garonne”. Continue towards Marmande, to find a funny landlady (Europe Hotel), allowing our bikes’ “parking” right in the bar. Dinner at a small Vietnamese restaurant 105 km Day9 Saturday, 08.09. Marmande-Auvillar (Valence d'Agen)  Gaston and I get a fright during the night: our house alarm is triggered off by something and we have to make arrangements L At the end we know, no robbery in the house, only thing stolen: our night’s sleep….Quite tired we start into a very hot day…We get back to the canal and continue along the Garonne. We even see some river turtles that are sunbathing at the riverbank. The big plane trees (platanes) offer some shade, it is even a bit chilly sometimes.  Halfway we have a picnic and start phoning around for an hotel, but we are not very successful. So around La Majestère, Luc and Alain cycle into a village, asking around. At the end we find something, ride into Valence sur Agen, shop quickly there, and end up, after a terrible ascent, steep as a mountain, in Auvillar, at the Horloge. Nice rooms, dinner and a good rest 100km Day 10 Sunday, 09.09. Auvillar-Toulouse Start from Auvillar, down hill, very steep and rather chilly so early in the day… Find the canal and continue our voyage. Gaston’s luggage seems to hang very low, his suspension is losing some air. We find an open cycling shop and he gets a refill, we get it even for free, very friendly. We continue along the canal, have the traditional picnic, and ride on towards Toulouse. Etap hotel, leave the bikes on the first floor,  have a stroll through Toulouse, ice cream and later dinner in a simple Italian restaurant (cold air conditioningL) 93 km Day 11 Monday, 10.09. Toulouse- Castelnaudary We cycle on along the canal, now the “Canal du midi” and my stupid bike is not only making terrible noises because of Goodness knows why, but now the brakes rattle as well. At the picnic place the bike lies on a table and endures some workings on the brakes and seems to be doing better afterwards We see “partage des eaux” and an “obélisque” signed out. Gast, Anita and me cycle through a beautiful tree alley and have a look. Then A and me lose Gast, cycle back, and find the others are gone as well. After some searching we see a little sign to Castelnaudary and head towards that direction. No worried husbands or brothers, ONLY Luss turns back to look after the girls!!! We now know about priorities!!! Find Castelnaudary and check in at Hotel du Centre. The bikes spend the night downstairs of a restaurant… Get some food, in the harbour and Centre, get some whisky and spend a very entertaining evening with lots of laughter. Day 12 Tuesday, 11.09. Castelnaudary-Carcassonne Continue on the canal du midi, this time on different ground: gravel, earth, lots of rocks and many roots sticking out. It is a challenge to our quick reaction to avoid the different obstacles and spare the bike some shaking and rattling… The unpaved ground is hard on wrists and elbows, poor Luss. Arrive in Carcassonne town, have some fruit from the market and a beer . 42km. Cycle out of town and find the Etap hotel. Stunning view from the bridge, the medieval town lies on a hill, the light on it, very nice. From the hotel we walk towards the fortress. Stroll through the streets, narrow and full of nice shops. It is rather warm, but a bit later, when the air has cooled down a bit, we do the castle walk. We enjoy the splendid views and leave the walled town. We find a little place right at the foot of the castle and enjoy dinner there. That evening we see some rain… Day 13 Wednesday, 12. 09. Carcassonne- Narbonne  Leave Carcassonne and find the canal again. Already we are used to the long alleys of plane trees and the beautiful picture they give. We meet many other people travelling on bikes with luggage. At the picnic place Gaston tries to fix his changing gear, which is not doing so well any more. We watch the people on the canal boats  and gossip about their lousy steering capacities… In Ventenac-en-Minervois we leave the canal and join the via Dixiane, where we enjoyed some fresh figs Find Narbonne city, get to the main place, with the “Hotel de ville” , have a drink next to the “via Amicia” stones and take a look at the cathedral  “Notre Dame”, which has a beautiful inner courtyard with tiny spires and many gargoyles looking down on you. The weather is colder and windy. 75km Etap Hotel, bikes in the room, dinner at a pizzeria in the industrial zone. Add some whisky and everybody is happy Day14 Thursday, 13.09. Narbonne-Port-la-Nouvelle-Narbonne Heavy winds, black rainclouds hanging in the sky, we decide to stay in the hotel and only cycle a day tour with return to the same place.(Port-la-Nouvelle) On the way Gast misses his little bag, with credit cards etc, he cycles back; the rest of us continues bravely cycling along the Canal de la Robine until we have a picnic in Port-la-Nouvelle. We cycle out of town and end up at a main road with too much traffic. At the same time, the weather turns from bad to worse, it looks like heavy rain, merciless winds and killing cars…. So no Sigeon today for us, we turn back and return by the same way over the canal de la Robine that we’ve come. Still the wind blowing our ears off, but we arrive safely at the hotel, spared by the rain…… Same pizzeria, 57km Day 15 Friday, 14.09. Narbonne- Agde Starting early from Narbonne, VERY VERY windy and chilly. Seeing the “Clape” in the background, we cycle via Gruisson towards Agde. Frontwind a nightmare, wind in the back incredible, we feel like flying along the way.  We lose the way along the coast, ride back into the land, finding again le canal du midi. We stop for a picnic where an old couple sits and watches the boats, very sweet.  We go on and enter Cap d’Agde, have a drink there. Last station for Luc and Luss, who will take the train here for returning home. We cycle and find our Hotel Alhambra in Agde town. In the evening last time back to Cap d’Agde, have dinner all together, say our farewells and cycle to the hotel. By by , 90km Day16 Saturday, 15.09. Cap d’Agde-Montpellier We don’t leave too late, see markets, but any visit not aloud by our dear hubbies…. Cycle along the seaside, see herons, egrets and….in the “swamps” some flamingos “pink Belgians”J Many big seagulls, too. We are having a wonderful picnic at the seaside, collect shells and “brave” Anita has a quick swim in the freezing water. We cycle through”Sète, La Grande Motte”, have a relaxed drink and continue to the tourist office of “Grau du Roi”. There it hits us unprepared: all hotels in the area and neighbour towns are complete. It is the week-end “du patrimoine”, the weather is nice, people take a last holiday. We search, phone around many times, but there’s no way around it, we have to go back to Montpellier, we reserve a “Campanile” hotel and put up with the more than 25 extra kmL We arrive pretty late, shop quickly, have dinner in Campanile and finally relax . 111km Day 17 Sunday, 16.09. Montpellier-Avignon Start in Montpellier, still chilly in the morning. Cycling towards Lunel, see nice church and village , Almargues, Get lost a few times, not following an official path, but our boys always manage to save usJ . Cycle into Nîmes, but shortly before that climb over, under and trough bushes, cross trench (spiky!!) and continue on busy road with traffic. In Nîmes short stop at Mc Donald’s, and already reserve our Etap hotel in Avignon. Enter Avignon, lots of traffic, cross a bridge and see Avignon ahead of us beautifully in the sun. Stunning, and feel very pleased when the cars get stuck  in the traffic jam and we bikers wriggle through easily, hehe. Outside the wall we find our hotel. Dinner at “Kanter’s”, very nice, 117km Day 18 Monday, 17.09. Avignon-Montelimar Start with checking at the railway station about the options for our return back home. As usual, travelling with bikes with no long term reservations on the train, is never easy. We continue towards Montélimar and shall take our final decisions there. Get out of the City, last glimpse of the “pont d’Avignon” and the city and search for small ways. Sometimes we ignore signs like” very forbidden to enter”, find some gravel pathes, but no trenches to cross for today. Climb up into the hills, cycle through the pine trees, see the industrial area below us. Ride on, busy roads, picnic at a chapel and enter the industrial zone of Montélimar. Scary traffic, too many cars, crossing a long bridge to find our Etap hotel at the end. Have a break, and go to Montélimar Centre, railway station. Anita and Alain pursue tickets to return from Viennes, Gaston and me decide to continue all the way to Dijon Buy some nougat and goodies and have a relaxed dinner now that everything is settled. Day19 Tuesday, 18.09. Montélimar-Chanas Start at 7:00 with a grey sky and quite cool. Happy to leave that horrible industrial zone behind us, we search for our way until we see the “Drôme” cycling path. Come to a funny bridge, “Indiana Jones” style, impossible to cross… Cycle on through Valence, quite busy and finish in a small town, Chanas, Campanile hotel. Dinner at the hotel and a little “farewell-whisky-party” that night… 115 km Day 20 Wednesday, 19.09. Chanas-Lyon Start early again, heading towards Viennes. Finding quite easily our way, mainly over acceptable cycling pathes. Enter  Viennes, where our ways will separate. Anita and Alain get a train to Lyon and from there back home to Luxbg. Gaston and I continue all the way to Dijon. We find a rather spectacular mountain bike path along the river Rhône, on a kind of reddish gravel, going smoothly up and down…. We soon enter the outskirts of Lyon and get into some trouble: cars, traffic, motorway, more cars, not very easy… We manage to get through a whole net of dangerous roads without being run over by different vehicles, and find the centre of Lyon City. Right next to the centre beautiful  cathedral, Notre Dame de St Jean. At a very helpful tourist information they tell us, Lyon is booked out, all hotels complete, they call many times, but we are stuck. We decide to continue towards the northern part of Lyon, as far out of the city as possible. We call an Etap hotel, make reservations at the porte de Lyon. Then we start climbing up the hills, rather steep, hard to finish off the day’s ride. We get lost, Gaston’s Samsung is very helpful, so we get a tasty chocolate goody and search  for the hotel, being rather dead beat already… At the end we arrive, on the top of an industrial zone, shop some dinner and “picnic” in the hotel. 90km Day21 Thursday, 20.09. Lyon-Mâcon  Start from our hotel and climb VERY steep hills, ascent almost to “Mont Thou”,  Gaston mad at himself : the day before he had planned our route and now we are  already dead from the beginning. We are sweaty and get into a long descent, too  long, we are frozen to death by the time that we find back the valley of the river  Saône. Glad to warm up a bit, we don’t mind the gravel at the beginning. But the  path is getting worth and worth, big stones and bumps make it hard to ride the  bike in a comfortable way… The sun is warm, we have a sunny break at the river  bank and gather our strength to enter Mâcon. We call Etap hotel at the entrance of  Mâcon, and start searching for it. Had we hoped to find it an easy job, we soon  realize that we can’t make it so quickly to the hotel.  Avoiding main roads and motorway, we continue for +- 10 km over very small  roads to find the hotel at Mâcon Nord. Bikes stay outside, dinner at a simple ”trucker” place, 90km of rattle and shake!!! Day22 Friday, 21.09.Mâcon-Beaune It is really cold now in the morning. We wear all we have, hoping that we can get rid of a few layers during the day. Nice cycling along the Saône, the wind in our back, we literally fly along the river bank. Very soon we enter Tournus, have a short look at the town, the main place, the abbey.. We continue with good speed, cross Châlon, cross Chaigny, where we take a picture to remind us the other cycling trip … Gravel is luckily very reduced, soon we meet our “old” Bourgogne cycling path and enter Beaune Find an Etap hotel and walk to a shopping centre to get a nice dinner.  Walking back, the air is quite mild but looks like rain… 105km Day 23 Saturday, 22.09. Beaune-Dijon  Start in the rain, with raincoat and raingear. Very heavy wind, this time unfortunately blowing straight into our faces L Not so easy to find our way, difficult to check the maps in the pouring rain. Cycling through the open plain is a nightmare, the way not always easy, so we feel lucky to find a busy road with a small strap at its side for bikers. Suffer and cycle on.. Enter Dijon, cold, wet and miserable. We find a very pleasant terrace, heated, where we have late lunch and dry our clothes. 60km We stroll through Dijon centre and find it a very nice town. 2060km tour!!!