Cycle tour 2022 – Day 22: Home again, home again.

For some reason, neither of us slept very well our last night in France. Perhaps it was the agitation of knowing the next day would be a long-ass travel day; or it might have been the thunderstorms rattling the apartment's windows which were still open because of the heat. In any case, we arose quite early and had a leisurely breakfast and then began packing up to head to the airport. 

Our flight left at about 3 p.m., and we wanted to be at the airport by 11:30 so we'd have enough time to change, get our bikes and bags organized, and be ready to check in 3 hours before our flight left. I know, ridiculously early, but you don't want to be in a rush when you have to get a bike on the plane, especially when it's an airport we'd never flown out of before. 

So we left the apartment at about 9:15, giving us time to walk our bikes through the Grand Rond and Jardin des plantes, which we'd missed the day before. It also meant we could take the longer but nicer route to the airport, riding along the Canal du Midi, which begins in Toulouse where the Canal latéral de la Garonne ends, a nice little bookend to the trip. The weather was cool and misty—the kind of weather I had sort of been expecting throughout this trip, to be honest. France delivered on our last day. Sonia joked that in earlier trips, this sort of weather would have prompted us to don our wet weather gear, just in case. But now we know that this is just lovely, cool riding weather.

Le jardin royal

The Canal du Midi ends at a small basin that connects with the Canal de la Garonne the Canal de Brienne. But our route toward the airport took us north along the Garonne proper, where we eventually crossed over to Blagnac on the Pont de Blagnac, which we had crossed the other way on our way out of Toulouse three weeks earlier. Another bookend. 

The Garonne, from the Pont de Blagnac

Then we looked for one final patisserie so we could allow our stomachs to say their final goodbyes to France, and rolled to the airport at almost 11:30 on the dot. It didn't take us too long to change and get our bikes and bags ready. There were very few people at the check-in counter at this early hour, and, aside from reassuring the agents that we had kept our bike bags from the trip out and showing them where to put the baggage tags on the bikes, everything went smoothly. 

One last taste of French pastry

Then we spent about 30 minutes at the oversize luggage check-in, reassuring them that the bike bags provided by Air Transat were not a problem and that our bikes would be fine. The were more concerned that our bikes would be damaged en route and were very surprised by the arrangement all around. Of course, as with Basel on our last trip, the "oversize" scanner in Toulouse is not really meant for something as outrageously huge as a bicycle, so they had to do a physical inspection and chemical test beforehand. We knew this, and asked them repeatedly whether they wanted to do this before we put the bikes in the bags. And they repeatedly said no, it was OK. So we put the bikes in the bags, whereupon they were suddenly shocked and amazed that the bikes would not fit through the scanner and had to rip some holes in the bags to do the a chemical test. Sigh. 

We left the bikes propped up against a wall in the oversized luggage area, wondering if we'd ever see them again, and made our way through security. Again, very short lines. Nothing like the trip out three weeks ago, where we waited in line for almost an hour. Of course, this meant that we had a two hour wait at the gate. But that really was fine. I spent it scanning the baggage carts as they were towed up, searching for our bikes. And shortly before we boarded, we saw them being loaded onto the plane. Hallelujah!

Our little plane, with a huge Airbus BelugaXL  in the background

The flight was extremely smooth, and once again, we lucked out and had a free seat between us. It really does make all the difference. We landed on time, wound our way through the 3 or 4 kilometres of hallway to get to customs, breezed through (news reports of horrendous wait times due to random Covid testing had seemingly been greatly exaggerated), and went to pick up our luggage. The bikes, having been among the last items loaded, were already at the oversize carousel when I got there, and our bags came out shortly thereafter. We got the bikes ready and loaded and were out of Trudeau airport, ready to ride home, within an hour of landing. By far a record! 

Unlike the last trip, we knew exactly how to ride out of the airport, cross the CN tracks and Autoroute 20 and get to the St. Lawrence this time. The ride home along the St. Lawrence and Lachine Canal truly is a lovely way to end a bike tour. The weather was cool, and so even though it was a holiday, the path was not overly crowded. We stopped briefly to eat sandwiches at the Atwater Market, and then embarked on the final 12 kilometres home. The last climb, up the Jacques-Cartier Bridge, is quite cruel with panniers, but even Sonia managed it, with her legs hardened from three weeks of touring. We made it home by 8:25, about 3 1/2 hours after landing, just as the sun was setting.

Cycle Tour 2022 – Days 20 & 21: rolling back to Toulouse

We awoke on Saturday morning not having slept particularly well. With only a few exceptions, all of our accommodations on this trip, whether Airbnbs or hotels, have been quite good. We stayed in one guest house that was not really to our liking, but it was in the right place, and for the same reason, we stayed in this overpriced B&B (booked through Airbnb) in Beaugency Friday night because there were few other options available other than generic hotels. Turns out, a generic hotel probably would have been better. Rarely have I felt so uncomfortable staying somewhere. The room itself was fine, though the bathroom/shower facilities were cramped. The room was stuffy (usually they're cold and damp in such old buildings). The whole place was clean though cluttered. But most of all, our host creeped me the hell out. I wouldn't say I'm a great judge of character; mostly, I try to take people at face value. But this guy, though outwardly personal (he works at city hall), made the hair on the back of my neck stand on end. I couldn't get out of that place fast enough!

Bridge over untroubled waters (Beaugency)

Cathédrale Sainte-Croix d'Orléans

Anyway, by 9 am, as usual, we were once again cycling alongside the Loire, looking forward eagerly to second breakfast, since our first breakfast was a French breakfast, which is barely breakfast at all. We found a promising bakery 8 or 9 kilometres down the road in the town of Meung-sur-Loire, purchased sandwiches for lunch and a treat for B2 and continued on our way. After that, we were mostly on the Loire levee again, with nary a bench to stop until we happened upon a small park near the descriptively named hamlet of Le Vieux Bourg. There, we had our actual first breakfast, plus our little treat, and we felt ready to do the last 10 km of actual touring on this trip—into Orléans, a famous Joan of Arc haunt—where we ate our last Loire-side lunch, cycled up into the city and looked around before heading a few kilometres further inland to the Fleury-des-Aubrais train station, whence we hopped on the direct 3:40 Intercité train to Toulouse (in which "hopped" equals a mad dash down the platform to find the car with the bike racks, and a good-samaritan-assisted scramble to get our bikes up the narrow stairs and into the car as the conductor was blowing his whistle. Somewhat reminiscent of German trains, actually.

Bikes on a train

After that, though, it was a relaxing 6-hour trip to Toulouse, where we have two nights in a cosy Airbnb apartment in a very cool part of town, steps away from the Halle aux grains, home of the Orchestre national du Capitole Toulouse. 

The weather today was unseasonably hot for mid-May, rising to about 34C by mid afternoon, so after one last load of laundry, we got out early to do some shopping. Serendipitously, we were perfectly situated to visit the amazing Sunday morning Saint-Aubain Market. Amidst the throngs of people, we were able to buy everything we needed for our last supper in France—such a nice change from having to find ingredients at some tiny village "supermarket" that happened to stay open till 7:30 pm. 

Then it was back to the apartment for a snack and, ultimately, lunch, after which we headed out to explore the city before the heat became too unbearable. Toulouse is quite a lovely city; we both like it better than Bordeaux. It is somehow less crowded and more open, with more green space and lots of tall plane trees shading the major avenues and boulevards. We took in the Théâtre de la Capitole, the Basilique Saint-Sernin (the most impressive church we've seen on this trip), the cooling Jardin Japonais, which though filled with people escaping the heat did not seem overly crowded, then up along the Garonne past the Pont Saint-Pierre and Pont Neuf, and back along Avenue de Metz and home to rest and get out of the heat. 

After a welcome beer and a snack (and perhaps a nap), we made dinner and then went out again, hoping to wander through the Grand rond and Jardin des plantes, but both were "exceptionally" closed for public safety reasons. After enquiring after a local passerby, it turns out that the civic authorities close the parks at the slightest chance of high winds (there are thunderstorms forecast for this evening, but they have yet to materialize), so we walked along the esplanade north and south of the Grand rond, cut over to the Canal du Midi, and found our way home. Tomorrow morning, we pack for the flight home and then do our last ride in France.

Cycle Tour 2022 – Day 19: Some days, a good pastry is all you need

As usual, we have been extremely lucky when it comes to the weather. In all our touring, over almost 10 years now, we've only had to ride through serious rain twice that I remember, plus a few times where we had to deal with brief showers. On this trip, we've seen literally only a few drops of rain. It rained overnight in Chaumont-sur-Loire, but by the morning, all that remained was the wet pavement and a forecast for generally sunny skies. We were on the bikes by 9 am, as usual and headed down the road to today's destination of Beaugency. 

Our first stop was Candé-sur-Beuvron, a tiny little town with a patisserie that, judging by the way our Chaumont host's eyes lit up when describing it, was more worthy of investigation than that town's tiny chateau. The Loire à Vélo/EV6 route often takes tortuous detours through towns and cities to take cyclists past what are deemed worthy sightseeing stops. On this occasion, we decided to take a direct route to the patisserie and bypass the chateau and church. And boy oh boy, what a good decision that was. We bought some bread, a sandwich for later, a chocolatine (which, now that we are north of some arbitrary border in France, is called "pain au chocolat") and something called a cruffin—a sort of puff pastry muffin filled with crème patissière and jam. When we stopped later for second breakfast, we saved it for last, and holy... I don't know that I've ever had such a perfect pastry. The fact that it survived 8 kilometres in a bicycle pannier is something in itself. But the blend of textures, the perfect amount of sweetness (i.e., not too sweet), the absolute perfection of the crème patissière... it was mind blowing. 

Sonia using the Merlin app to identify birds by their songs

Presenting the cruffin (a terrible name for a mind-blowing pastry)

🤯

After that highlight, we pushed on to Blois. The weather had cleared a little and we had a pretty stiff tailwind propelling us along at over 20 km/h at times, so we made good time, soon crossing the Loire and pointing our bikes up the hill to the chateau. On our very first trip to France in 1992, when Sonia was the tour accompanist for a choir, we apparently attended a sound and light show in the courtyard of the chateau, but I have absolutely no memory of this. It is a lovely chateau though. Then it was back down to the river and downwind. 

This part of the ride was very nice, but though it was still mostly overcast and cooler than yesterday, it was also very humid, so we were a tad warm. We passed some lovely little towns right up against the Loire, but then the path veered onto a levee, and we were zooming above the surrounding lowlands, the river on our right, with the wind urging us on. By now we were getting quite hungry, and we found a nice little picnic area adjacent to a small lake to eat our lunch and rest with nearly 40 kilometres under our wheels. 

The final stretch, to Beaugency, went well, and we arrived at about 3:30, but there was a miscommunication with the B&B we had booked, and we couldn't get in until 6. Ugh. So we wandered around the town, which is fine but nothing special (though apparently Joan of Arc saw fit to liberate it during the Battle of Beaugency), and found a little bar to hang out and pass the time. We finally got into our lodgings in a well-preserved early-16th-century building and run by the town's deputy mayor of all people. After a quick shower, we went out to dinner at the same place we had hung out at earlier and had quite a nice meal. And though it's still quite early, I think we will be snoring soon enough. We've done 254 km in the last 4 days, and average of 64 km/day—quite a bit more than we're used to. 

Notre-Dame de Beaugency Cathedral

Tour de César (donjon) of the Château de Beaugency 

Cycle Tour 2022 – Day 18: A hard but rewarding day along the Loire

Throughout this trip, I've been reflecting to Sonia that I've been trouble finding the joy in bicycle touring that I usually have, and I've also been having trouble figuring out why. Surely a not insignificant portion of it is that the process of discharging the accumulated stress of the past 2+ years, with Covid (and its myriad insidious knock-on effects) and the death of my in-laws, which has taken quite a lot of time to accomplish. There has also been a low-level dissatisfaction with my new bike, but that's a small thing. And there has been the fact that each of the first two weeks of this trip had a number of stretches of riding that I don't want to say was monotonous, but was, let's say, very similar day after day. 

But during this leg along the Loire Valley, I've been getting my mojo back, which is wonderful, because I was worried that I had lost the thrill of cycle touring. And I realize that one of the things I've been missing—one of the things I love most about cycle touring—is simply cycling through the countryside and farmland. None of which we did much of during the first two weeks. But the smells and vistas one experiences riding through farmland and vineyards are a balm for the soul, and I've missed it so much! 

We left Savonnières this morning at 9, stopped at the excellent local patisserie for a second-breakfast treat, and then set off down the road, the weather deliciously cool and, for the first time on this leg, with a tail wind. So we made excellent time getting to Tours, where we had our mid-morning snack and tea ceremony at a park on what we would call the South Shore but what the French call the Rive Gauche. Then, a short delay. I felt that my rear wheel was wobbling and, knowing that I had a spoke that tended to work its way loose, I proceeded to check my spokes. Finding several that were quite loose, I took out my spoke key and tightened all I could find. Alas, in the process, I overtightened several of them and managed to untrue my wheel, causing my brakes to rub. So I took all the panniers (etc.) off the bike, flipped it over, and learned, in that moment, how to true a bicycle wheel. (Of course, the few drops of rain that we have had in this whole trip chose to fall just then, but it was only a few drops.) I knew the principle of how to true a wheel, but I had never done it before, so I was perhaps unreasonably proud of myself when, after about 15 minutes, I had gotten my wheel true again and was back on the road. 

We road through Tours, stopping in at the pretty rundown cathedral, finding a bakery for a sandwich, and taking a perfunctory picture of the chateau before getting out of town. From there it was down the Loire to Montlouis-sur-Loire, where found a market just as it was closing down and bought some veggies, cheese, and fresh pasta for our supper, and after which we once again climbed out of the valley and into the upland vineyards.

The Château de Tours, of course

 

Unlike yesterday, benches and picnic tables abounded along the EV6, and we found the perfect spot for lunch shaded by a fruit tree of some sort and surrounded by grape vines. Paradise! Then we dove back down to the river and followed it to the town of Amboise, which seemed absolutely lovely. Alas, we reached it during the very hottest part of the day, and the noise of the town, combined with our fatigue and having to stop at a grocery store for a few last provisions, sapped any patience we had for looking at the chateau or the gardens or the house where Leonardo da Vinci once lived and ultimately died. These tours are definitely not about sightseeing, except in the most serendipitous of ways.

The EV6 then took us back into the uplands for the last stretch of this long day, which ended up being a solid 70 km. It was almost as lovely as the earlier part of the day, but by now we were eager to get to our Airbnb. We stopped briefly at a winery to pick up a bottle of local wine for supper (which turned out to be a fairly meh rosé), and coasted back down to the river to our lodging for the night in Chaumont-sur-Loire, which is quite nice. Chaumont has what appears to be a very nice chateau, but it is barely visible from the road. 

Our bikes safely stowed for the evening

Cycle Tour 2022 – Day 17: heat and contrasts

In several spots, the EV6 offers different routes along the Loire Valley, depending on whether you want to ride near the river or through the uplands; there are also loops that take you to various chateaux. After our experience on the Rive Droite yesterday, this morning we decided to try the Loire en Vélo par les côteaux, which goes steeply uphill from Saumur but then flattens out as you reach the plateau above the valley. 

It was a tough way to start the day, but once we got up there, the views were lovely, and we were riding along country roads through vineyards. Absolutely gorgeous. The path dipped down to the valley floor to take us through Turquant and its strange troglodyte houses built right into the cliffs. Then another hard climb to the uplands before coming down to the valley floor for good at Montsoreau (which I have jokingly been calling Mon Snorro), where we found a perfect spot for second breakfast.

The rest of the ride was along the river, either through forest or along a road immediately adjacent to the Loire. Beautiful as it is, it would be even nicer if there were more benches and picnic tables along the route. We had to ride quite a ways before finding a little park with some shade where we could eat lunch. Alas, the few picnic tables were either occupied or in the sun, so we set down our picnic blanket under a tree and sat our tired butts onto the hard, hard ground. (I know, I know. Somewhere, someone is playing a tiny violin.) 

After lunch, we embarked on the final 20ish kilometres to our destination of Savonnières. The day was getting very hot, though the wind didn't seem quite so dry today. Just short of our destination, at Villandry, we found a welcome roadside bar and had a refreshing drink under the patio umbrellas. But so eager were we to get to our Airbnb to have a shower and rest, that we didn't even bother to look at the lovely chateau in Villandry. 

Seen one, seen 'em all?

Cycle Tour 2022 – Days 15 & 16: a bunch of trains, and a hot and winding road

I didn't bother to blog yesterday because, well, it was basically a travel day. We left the Airbnb in Saint-Jean-de-Luz, headed to the train station, and began a longish day of train travel that, all things considered, went pretty well. We took a regional (TER) train from Saint-Jean-de-Luz to Bordeaux and then transferred to an Intercité train to Nantes. The difference between the two types of trains is that you can take a bike on a TER for free without a reservation (though this varies by département) —the not insignificant caveat being that there are limited spaces and if there's no room for your bike, the conductor may not let you board. Fortunately, Saint-Jean-de-Luz is the second stop on that particular line, so when we got on, there were still some spaces. But from what we understood, there was some serious drama at one stop. Fortunately, we only heard tell of it in our car at the front of the train. 

The Intercité trains have limited spaces for bikes, and you have to reserve them in advance when you book your ticket, which means at least you know you have a spot. So, after a 70 minute layover at Bordeaux, we boarded our train to Nantes, where we and the one other cyclist who booked a spot basically had a compartment all to ourselves. The train arrived at 6 pm, and after booking another train for the next day (more on that later), we headed to our hotel, settled in, went out to dinner, had a short walk, and crashed. A long day that took us a long way. 

Château des ducs de Bretagne in Nantes

This morning, we once again left our lodging and headed to the train station to catch the 9:13 train to Angers. And this is where we officially started the third leg of our bike trip. 

After some hemming and hawing about what to do and where to go in this third week of the trip, we decided to head north and do at least some of the Loire Valley. I had heard great things about it, and this was essentially confirmed by every French cycle tourist we met. So though it involved a fair bit of train travel, here we are. Now we have five days to get to Orléans on Saturday afternoon, where we take another Intercité, already reserved, back to Toulouse. Nantes to Orleans is just a little too far for us to do in five days, hence the train ride to Angers this morning. 

It took us 6 or 7 kilometres just to get out of town, but once we hit the Loire, I was in my happy place again, riding along quiet country roads through farmland, past lovely, tidy little farmhouses, through minuscule hamlets. We had second breakfast and tea beside the Loire in the little town of La Daguenière and then continued along the river, following the EV6. We had lunch in a tiny triangle of shade—attracting cyclists like flies—behind the church in the town of Le Thoureil. 

Second breakfast

Lunch

Donkeys, for my friend Nat

By now, the temperature was about 30 degrees, and we were riding into a hot, dry headwind. We crossed the Loire again to take the "Rive Droite" route, but that may not have been the best decision. Various guides suggested this was a nicer, more natural route, but most of it was along either a rough gravel road right up against the river, often with a levee wall reflecting heat onto us, or down a single-track gravel path that bikepackers with narrow loads and 42 mm tires might have found fun, but which we found to be fairly challenging and tiring. 

Presenting the EuroVelo 6

We finally rolled into Saumur at about 4:15, quite hot and tired. We stopped at a grocery store for supper provisions, got into our Airbnb which, though a 3rd-floor walk-up, is quite comfortable and, importantly, has AMAZING internet. We showered, had supper, and, with a second wind, went out to explore the lovely little town of Saumur, with its beautiful chateau. I really enjoy towns of this size—just big enough to have all the basic services and some character to them, but not so large that it takes you more than an hour to explore the whole place. 

Cycle Tour 2022 – Day 14: A day off with good friends

Today was a rest day, and we took advantage of it to see some old friends who moved to northwestern Spain last year. They kindly agreed to drive the two-and-a-half hours from their home to Saint-Jean-de-Luz to meet us for the day. 

We hadn't seen Patti and Ueli since before Covid started, so when they pulled up outside our Airbnb at 9:30 am, big hugs were in order. After chatting for a spell, we went out for a walk along the Grand Plage of Saint-Jean-de-Luz, across the bridge over the Nivelle River and into the neighbouring town of Ciboure, then up the other side of the bay, where we thought to get to the Fort de Socoa. But the day quickly turned very hot, and we were starting to get hungry, so we entered a bakery, bought sandwiches and drinks, found a bench to picnic on, and then decided that dipping our toes in the water (or, in Sonia's case, her whole body) was a more appealing prospect than trudging on to some old fort. 

We wended our way back to the Airbnb, slowly melting in the heat, stopped at what was apparently the only open grocery story in town this Sunday afternoon, bought a few provisions for dinner, and headed back to the relatively coolness of the apartment, where we had drinks and continued catching up. 

Thunderstorms swept through at around 4, which cooled things down deliciously, and then we made a light dinner before our friends headed back to their home in Spain. It's always a delight to see them, and we hope it won't be so long before the next time.