ourexcellentadventure

A tribute to the 2024 Paris Olympics this appeared to be a hot air balloon being inflated, based in the Tuilleries Gardens, is purely lights and steam. The fire represents the Olympic flame.

29 August. Most of the day to spend around Paris including a long late lunch on the deck outside Procope. Fortunately under an awning as the rain started just after we arrived. Cleared in time for us to get back to our hotel before it started again. 

Window display Louis Vuitton.

Thunder clouds over Place des Victoires

Moving house from the top floor in Paris!

28 August full day Paris. Intermittant showers and black skies throughout the day.

27 Aug Nantes to Paris by train. Can you believe it, second year in a row we are stuck on the train waiting 3 hours, going nowhere, for a signalling problem at Montparnass station to be resolved. When we finally arrive at 4.30 instead of 1.30 the station is heaving with delayed passengers and police on hand directing passengers out of the station.

25 & 26 August. Two full days Nantes to do some shopping and walk the historic area of town. Dinner on the 26th in an Italian restaurant. We start outside on a street-side table but black clouds gather and we move indoors before there is lightening and a hailstorm with very large hailstones. The room inside had a fluted plastic roof and the first few hailstones sounded like someone breaking glasses in the kitchen!

24 August Nantes. Leave Nantes camping (cabin) on our squeaky clean bikes and head to Hotel de la Cite to drop off our paniers and luggage then cycle to Decathlon Atlantis to trade in the bikes. All goes well and we leave with  our refund fully secured and Decathlon suitcases. Bus back to town and walk back to the hotel. A busy day!

23 Aug Nort-sur-Erdre to Nantes. A slow start to the day as we say goodbye to our trusty tent. We don't bring the tent home as it is a magnet for scrutiny by Biosecurity on arrival home and with just cause. It is almost impossible to remove every grass seed or tiny bug that might be hiding in the seams and in the velcro fasteners. We will stay at Nantes camping tonight but in a flash cabin while we clean the bikes ready for sale tomorrow. 

The port at Nort-sur-Erdre.

Snacking beside the canal.

22 Aug Savenay to Nort-sur-Erdre. A wet-tent pack up this morning. A cool start to the day had us wearing our jumpers and some of the time our jackets as well.

Autumn definitely setting in, lots of leaves on the track and acorns firing out from our tyres like bullets.

21 Aug Rieux to Savenay. Black clouds on arrival threatened a thunderstorm that finally arrived at dinner time. Washed some of the dirt off our bikes!

20 August Peillac to Rieux via Rochefort-en-Terre. Rochefort also featured in our 'Most beautiful villages of France tour (by car) so thought we would go back for another look. It is indeed lovely but today it was swarming with people. I think it was much quieter last time we visited but not sure if that was pre-holiday season.

For those who wonder why we keep coming back to France for the cycling here is snapshot of some of the recognized cycle trails.

The rabbits are so big here they have their own tents!

19 Aug Full day Peillac (near). Five days left until we hand in our bikes. Maybe just in time as the weather is forecast for showers over the next few days. Chilling out today after a big ride yesterday. A perfect start to the day with a very nice lady delivering our baguette to our tent.

Malestroit. We passed through here many years ago on what we refer to as our 'Most beautiful villages of France tour'.

The chateau at Josselin.

Heading into Josselin.

18 Aug Rohan to Peillac via Josselin and Malestroit.

17 Aug St-Meen-Le-Grand to Rohan. Switched today from the V403 trail to the Nantes-Brest canal. We were on the western end of this trail out of Quimper several weeks ago before veering off up to the Brittany Coast. Now we are further east and it is much more scenic with interesting places along the way.

saw this amazing contraption on the trail yesterday and in the camping ground last night. Some kind of lightweight caravan pulled by a recumbent bicycle.

16 Aug Tinteniac to St-Meen-le-Grand. Continued along the canal for the first part of the day. Later onto country roads 

Following the Canal d'Ille et Rance past this staircase of locks.

15 August Rennes to Tinteniac. The very hot days are finished for now and we are looking forward to some more time on the bikes and getting back to our camping.

14 August Laval to Rennes. A short train journey to Rennes where we will stay in a central hotel to make the most of being in this historic town. 

The Mayenne River, Laval.

12 & 13 Aug Two full days Laval sitting out another heatwave. Been out earlyish in the mornings for a walk and visit the laundrette. We were supposed to move on south tomorrow but west is looking like a better option.

Food photo! Individual Red Fruit Crumble from the bakery.

11 Aug Vitry to Laval. We planned to go to Laval for maybe 1 night camping then down to Chateau Gontier but the forecast for the next 3 days is for it to be very hot, in the high 30s for Laval and 40 in Chateau Gontier. So, change of plan to 3 nights in a hotel in Laval with air conditioning 🙂. 

Vitry

10 Aug Fougeres to Vitre. Mostly rail trail amongst the trees, most welcome as the weather warms up.

The castle at Fougeres.

Looking down from the public gardens at Fougeres.

9 Aug Full day Fougeres.

The Five Crosses of Les Loges-Marchis, thought to have been erected following the devastating 1779 French dysentery epidemic that claimed hundreds of lives locally.

8 Aug Mortain Bocage to Fougeres. A mix of trail surfaces today, some country roads some bumpy farm tracks and finishing with a long run on a rail trail amongst shady trees.Changed from the Velo-Maritime Eurovelo 4 to the the Regalante cycle route just outside Fougeres.

Vire-Normandy

6 August Pont Farcy to Vire-Normandy. A hilly and scenic ride today. Cloudy and cool..perfect for the hills. The cycle trail passed right through Skypark (by AJ Hacket) the bungy jumping and cable rides are from the piers of a former railway viaduct. There was also an Adrenaline Forest and luge (on rails). 

5 August Tirigny-sur-Vire to Pont Farcy. Thought we might stay at Tirigny two nights but having been given a shadeless site we decided to move on just 17km down the trail. Dark clouds threatened rain this morning but just a shower before we got out of bed. Campsite at Pont Farcy is in a lovely setting beside the river.

4 August Via Saint Lo to Tirigni-sur-Vire. A good portion of this route was a cycle trail beside the Vire river, a nice ride. A brief shower of rain as we arrived at the campground office...passed in 5 minutes. The first rain we have had in nearly 2 months...how lucky is that!

3 August St Sauveur Le Comte to Carentan. We passed though here several days ago as we began our loop of the Cotentin Peninsula (with Cherbourg at the top).

Castle de Saint-Sauveur-le-Vicomte. A real castle with portcullis. In a state of partial restoration after being bombed by the Americans. 

Chateau des Ravalet near Cherbourg

2 August  Cherbourg to Saint-Sauveur-le-Vicomte. A chateau at each end of the trail today. A day of two halves with hilly countryside then a railtrail.

Sun setting at Cherbourg Harbour.

Lunch whilst waiting for bike repair. No eateries or food stores nearby but a hut full of vending machines. Everything from whole raw chickens,eggs, yoghurt, cakes and salads. Plus a separate one for seafood.

1 August. To Cherbourg. A late departure after replacing the tube on J's front wheel. Later a roadside stop to try and fix a front brake problem that has been festering for a few days. This proved to require more serious intervention. Fortunately there was a Decathlon on the way into Cherbourg. What was supposed to be a relatively short day turned into a much longer one. Fortunately we are booked into a hotel.

Spotted en-route...forget the fluffy dice this is what you put in the back window of an old Peugeot.

The harbour at Barfleur

 31st Sainte Mer Eglise to Barfleur. A strong head wind today...thank goodness for battery power. Passed the German fortifications the Batterie de Crisbecq..

Hidden garden Sainte-Mere-Eglise.

Utah Beach D-Day Landing Memorial and Monument of the Landing of the French 2nd Armored Division.

30 July Isigny sur Mer to Sainte-Mere-Eglise. A foggy morning before breakfast meant a damp tent to pack up. Cloud cover all day kept the temp down to 25, pleasant cycling. Travelled via Carentan-les-Marais and the western end of Utah Beach.

29 July Port-en-Bessin to Isigny-sur-Mer. Some country roads and a long clifftop section on compacted gravel...very exposed and quite warm today at 30 degrees  but still a coastal breeze. Passed the tiny Omaha airplane landing field and Omaha Beach itself. The whole D-Day landing story is big business here. Tours, museums, historic sites german bunkers, souvenirs. etc. Most accommodations are flying French, British,, American and Canadian flags.Some people have decorated their tents with them.

Port-en-Bessin. Fishing boats lined up at the dock.

Coastal town of Arromanches-les-Bains

Longues-sur-Mer. German Gun Emplacement to repel liberating forces.

28th July Lion-sur-Mer to Port en Bessin. A mix of seafront riding and cross country small roads. Past the famous beaches of the Normandy landings. Perfect cycling weather 25degress with a light sea breeze.

Dinner on the seafront.

You have to look hard for those white cliffs.

27 July Montbazon to Tours, train to Caen. An early start and bike 14kms to Tours. Train to Caen then bike via the Brittany Ferry Port of Ouistreham to Lion sur Mer. The seafront is lined with fabulous Belle Epoque villas. A few tacky waterfront entertainments like bumper cars and pony rides. From here you can see the White Cliffs of Dover. We pass some of the D-Day landing beaches.

The biggest, fruitiest Pain-au-Raisin yet. That is a dinner plate it is on!

A potager garden outside the Montbazon town hall.

26 Full day Montbazon, a waiting day as we are booked on a train from Tours to Caen tomorrow.

25 July Azay-le-Rideau to Montbazon

24 July Full day Azay-le-Ridau

Riding towards Chateau d'Usse.

Eglise Collegialle Candes-st-Martin

23 July Saumur to Azay le Ridau.Via Candes-St -Martin and Rigney Usse.

Dinner on floating restaurant with view of La Loire and Chateau.

22 July Bauge to Saumur

21 June Lude to Bauge en Anjou via La Fleche. Most of the day on a rail trail. A short section closed due to downed trees. There must have been quite a storm. In La Fleche there was a clean up going on. Not sure how long ago it happened but the fallen branches were quite withered.

Chateau du Lude.

This is a distant back gateway to the Chateau du Lude. 

This house is just a facade with the rest carved into the hillside. Note the chimney coming out of the rock behind.

20 July La Chartre sur-le-Loir to Lude. Perfect cycling weather sunny with temps mid 20s. Clocked 2,000 kilometers for our journey so far. 

19 July Camping La Bonne Aventure to La Chartre sur-le-Loir  via Troo. A few degrees cooler today. A lovely ride mostly on quiet rural roads following near or next to Le Loir. Passed through Troo that has a large collection of Trogolodyte houses. Either fully or partially carved into the hillside.

The cathedral at Vendome

18 July Cloyes sur Loir to Vendome and 14kms beyond. An earlyish start with a lunchtime stop in Vendome to buy groceries. Our camp for tonight 'La Bonne Aventure' is a little remote with no nearby shops.

Chateau be Montigny-le-Gannelon. (near Cloyes-sur-Loir)

Riverside Lavoirs at Chateaudun. These are old communal wash houses.

17 July Illiers Combray to Cloyes sur Loir via Chateaudun. Illiers Combray is a crossroads for different cycle trails and at this point instead of heading north towards Paris and on to Belgium we have decided to take advantage of the moderate temperatures forecast and head south along the Le Loir. (Not to be confused with the famous La Loire that runs east west). We ate some yummy filled rolls, from the bakery, in the town square at Chateaudun.  We stopped here briefly on our first ever driving tour of France. 

Les Manoirs Fraze

Chateau Saint-Jean, Nogent-le-Rotrou

16 July Remalard to near Illiers Combray. Mostly country roads passing through some interesting villages.

15 July Alencon to Remalard. Some forest trai, rail trail and country roads today. A late afternoon thunderstorm.

14 July Domfront to Alecon Via Bagnols de l'Orne. A cooler start to the day, wore our jumpers that have not been used for some time.. A forest trail followed by more rail trail. Passed through Bagnols a beautiful spa town with many 'Belle Epoque' houses. 

13 June Ducey to Domfront. Mostly rail trail today so we were shaded by the trees. We powered quickly into Domfront as the storm clouds gathered. We managed to put our tent up just as the rain, thunder and lightening started. Woken later in the evening by a nearby fireworks display (for Bastille Day).

Beautiful to admire from the shore. Not tempted to join the huge number of people accessing the island.

Approaching Mont Saint Michel

12 July Camping Les Couesnons to Doucey via Mont Saint Michel.

Saint Malo

11 July On to Saint Malo then continue to Camping Les Couesnons. (10km before Mont St Michel).

An old mill located on a tidal estuary heading towards St Malo.

Camping in front of the Chateau 10 July

10 July Matignon to Domaine de la Ville Huchet Camping near Saint Malo.

09 July Saint Brieuc to Matignon
A relaxed start to the day with a big breakfast at the Edgar Hotel. Had to modify our route for today after finding it was about 10km too far. Some Port Towns and a couple of viaducts along the way.

I quite like a good cider! Brittany is famous for it.

8 July Paimpol to Saint Brieuc A big day 60ks with undulations. R down to just a few percent on his battery by the time we arrived. Staying at the Hotel Spa Edgar a very welcome treat.

Paimpol

Treguier

Logis Hotel at Perros Guirec looked lovely.

7 July Tourony to Paimpol via Perry's Guirec and Treguier

6 July Lannion to Tourony. A very wet tent from condensation this morning after a coolish night but warmed up quickly after the sun rose. Still only peaking at mid to upper 20s so no heatwave here thank goodness. Some great coastal scenery today as we are now on the Pink Granite Coast.

The town square Lannion.

An interesting house in St Efflam

5 July Saint Efflam to Lannion, A very short riding day today. The small towns in this area have very few services and we wanted to end the day in a bigger town.

4 July Morlaix to Saint Efflam. A big ride today, lots of small hills up and down to bays along the Brittany coast. Still cool temps and coastal low cloud clearing to sun in the afternoon.

Morlaix is a very old town with lots of colourful half timber houses and a huge viaduct still in use by trains.

Not just bikes on the rail trail.

3 July Carhaix to Morlaix. Most of the route on a rail trail made for an easy day. Heading north, we will be on the coast by tomorrow.

Cosy cabins for cyclists if needed, not us!

02 June Chateau du Faou to Carhaix-Plouguer and on to Camping Vallée de l'Hyère. A foggy start and some misty drizzle along the way....not really rain.  Another 30+ kilometers along the canal at which point we decided we had seen enough canal and were missing the true Breton experience so headed north to Carhaix where we sorted out an administrative issue with our bikes at Decathlon and stocked up on some gas canisters before heading to a nearby campsite. 

A garden full of bottomless ladies in jolly caps!

01 July Chateaulin to Chateau du Faou. Some unforecast rain overnight but gone by morning. Good cycling temps in the low 20's. A full day on the canal path that is through mostly wooded countryside, the waterway is wide and quite river- like rather than a narrow channel. No boats to be seen in transit. Only saw one Dutch barge moored and may have been for some time. Plenty of locks that add a bit of interest and, of course, the odd quirky bit of art.

30 June Treguer to Chateaulin. A short ride this morning to our campsite at Chateaulin, a good opportunity to catch up on some laundry. This is our starting point for the Nantes-Brest canal (or in our case Brest-Nantes).

29 June Quimper to Douarnenez a port town on the Atlantic coast. Continued a little further to a  beachside camping ground at Treguer. 

28 June Train from Nantes to Quimper. Easy transition on and off the train with no hangers for the bikes 😄 Camped at L'Orangerie. Quimper. Adjacent to the Orangerie that was once part of a big chateau estate.

27 June Decided to stay another night in Nantes. This is one of our favorite cities in France. Very vibrant and always something interesting going on. This year's sculpture in the Place Graslin is in progress and is like a giant sand sculpture being carved to represent a group of giant ammonite fossils. To one side there are two real motor cars emerging from the rock.  The descriptive board said it was a theme of 'somewhere between earthquake and dream'. To me it seemed more like the relationship between fossil fuels and the motor car. 

26 June Clermont to Nantes by train. Changing trains at Nevers and Tours. Changing platforms at Nevers was a difficult affair as we arrived on a central platform and left on another central platform. This involved manhandling our baggage down into the underpass, up to the next platform and separately wheeling our bikes down and up a narrow ramp beside the stairs. They are currently putting in lifts but too late for this trip!. A saving grace was that the first two trains we could stand our bikes horizontal whilst the last train they had to be hung up by the front wheel on hooks.

Checked into the Hotel de la Cite rather hot and bothered. Walked to the old city for dinner at a seafood restaurant.

Came across this restaurant description whilst looking for a place to have dinner. Obviously translated by my phone. Thought it was funny 😁 

25 June Staying put at the Hotel des Commercants in Clermont Ferrend. Pigging out on air conditioning. Walked into the old town this morning and browsed the shops. Returned early afternoon when it got a bit hot to be out and about.

Saw this sign today. No sightings of any Amphibians though. 

24 June to Clermont Ferrand Early start after a warm night. On the road by 7.30am. Forecast 40 degrees by afternoon.  Small diversion to a village Vival for breakfast supplies. A well planned route by Russell made for a smooth run into this sprawling metropolis. Famous for being the birth place of the Michelin Man. Arrived at hotel about 11am and were given our room straight away, what a blessing.

June 23 to Issoire. An early start quietly packing up as our shadow riders Francois and Veronique were on the site next to us. They are leaving the trail here to train back to Provence. Farewell to them as we have been crossing paths for the last week.

Due to the hot weather the farmers all have their irrigators in action and managed to get wet 3 times in about 400 metres. A welcome splash of cold water!

22 June to Brioude 

21 June To Langeac. Started with a partly cloudy sky and forest cover through the hills so pleasantly cool. Later the sky cleared and we left the cover of the forest at which point it was very hot. Arrived by about 1.30 after an earlyish start. Almost the whole country is now under a heatwave warning for the next few days.

Alleyras

Saint-Haon

20 June to Pont de Alleyras. Some steep hills to climb today followed by long downhill runs. Great vistas across farmland, forests and river valleys. 

19 June to Langogne . A Short ride today, Woke early (5.30am) to the sound of cow bells! Saw a very small bat flying inside the bathroom block last evening. 

Our first hotel stay since leaving Avignon two weeks ago, Staying at the Grand Hotel 1899 in Langogne. The couple from Vaison camped in the same place last night and we saw them again in town.

18 June Lalevade to near La Chase. Over the Col de La Croix de Bauzon Alt 1308 Metres. A short cut turned into about 5kms of walking our bikes over a rocky trail. Sometimes needing 2 people to push one bike and returning for the other. All the time being swarmed by flies, some of which were biters. It was a challenging experience. We were back on the road in time to crest the peak and met up with some French cyclists who were at our last campsite. They are from Vaison La Romaine.

17 June staying with the Via Ardeche to La Levade.

A 'chamber de hotes' beside the trail. Sorry but our tent site calls.

La Cane a Cannettes. A duck full of cans, of course!

16 June Besseges to Ruoms and beyond on the Via Ardeche to a camping ground beside the Ardeche river.

15 June We took a rest day today caught up on some washing etc.

Russell's birthday dinner at the guingette over the river from the camping ground.

La Grand-Combe

14 June Off into the hills again...a couple of good ones today. Finished the day at Besseges.

Look at that big thing!

Camping Beau Rivage nr Cardet. Plenty of shades in 34C

13 June A hot and windy ride out of the Cevennes to a camp ground near Cardet. Mostly downhill - tempered by a head-wind. Rode hard to get to a supermarket along the way before it closed for long lunch break.

12 June Sommieres to Laroque. Into the hills of the Parc National des Cevennes. 

11 June north of Montpellier to Sommiers

A mix of suburban riding, rocky trail (including a U turn at a stream crossing), then a rail trail into Sommiers.

We have been to Sommiers several times over the years and really like its authentic narrow streets, collonades and riverside setting.

10 June Grau du Roi to Montpellier and beyond.

Passed through an area called the Grand Motte that is mostly holuday apartments, some interesting architecture but a lot of generic stuff too. Followed the edge of the Med before heading inland to Montpellier. A short stop in the Antigone area of ​​Montpellier that was developed in the 1980s in a grand neo classical style. Then headed a few kms further north to Sandaya Camp. Here we had a site with its own bathroom facilities.

June 9. Dinner at a small restaurant called Aquarium on the waterfront at The Grau du Roi. The restaurant only served seafood, and I mean only...no fries, no salad, no vegetables, it did not even have a kitchen. We shared a dish of the tiniest shellfish about the size of a little finger nail but there were dozens of them. Then R had Oysters and I had prawns...very delicious and very fresh!

Quai de Bateliers Aigues Mortes

Russell fishing for his sunglasses.

9 June St Gilles to Grau du Roi (nr Aiges Mortes). Most of the day following the Canal du Rhone a Sete, a very exposed track with little shade. Talking of shades... R was taking a photo from a small bridge over a stream and managed to drop his sunglasses in the creek. After trying unsuccessfully to hook them out with a tent pole he managed to borrow a rake from a council worker and get them back. 😎

8 June Maussane to St Gilles, via St Remy. A brief stop in the town square at St Remy - a very attractive village - would make a good base for a gite one day.

7 June Eyglieres return to Maussane.Completed the two day circuit around les Alpilles. We were supposed to go on to Saint Remy but everything seemed to be booked out for a festival.

A field of petunias.

6 June Maussane to Eyglieres a very attractive village with about 8 restaurants. Seems like a very wealthy area. Rumour has it that Hugh Grant has a home here.

Had a marvellous creamy fish stew in a restaurant for dinner. Came in a medium sized Le Crueset casserole enough for 2 really.

5 June Tarascon to Mausanne via the route Alpilles.

Great rocky outcrops and lots of Olive groves, feels very Mediterranean. Slightly overcast and not too hot - great cycling weather

4 June Avignon to Tarascon Arrived well before forecast rain. Was supposed to be light rain but turned out to be quite heavy. Fortunately there was an on site restaurant at the camping ground.

Arrived Paris CDG 2 June then fast train to Avignon...sort of...3 hour trip turned into 4 with a delay just outside Avignon.

2 nights Avignon to recover from flights and pick up bikes

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