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
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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!!!
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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.
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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!!!
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