wheelieharro

Friday, 22 June 2018

Note to blog readers

At last I have been able to get good connections to publish my blogs of the past several days and hence the days are somewhat out of order

Apologies to you all but technically I am challenged sometimes

Hope you enjoy the reads.....

Day 10-Le Mans to Saumur- 127 kms

After a great sleep we awoke to a beautiful day in Le Mans at about 7.00am and the youth hostel had a lovely self serve breakfast where we loaded up on baguettes for the day ahead

Our plan was to get out of the city to go to the Le Mans 24 hour race track to say we had been there and send a note to a few of our “petrol head “ mates

Getting to the track was really easy and although we could not get in as the track was closed, we managed a photo of the entrance courtesy of a chap from the UK who was doing a similar thing as us.... he was traveling back home on his motorcycle after traveling through France

After visiting the race track it would be fair to say that the exit out of Le Mans became a little challenging so we made for a baloungari to settle our nerves and recalibrate our travels

This was a wise investment of time and only goes to prove our routine of taking at least an hour to get out of major cities

From Le Mans we made reasonable progress to Le Flèche which is a pretty city on the banks of the Loire. Lunch consisted of a baguette sandwich a rhubarb cake and a drink of fruit juice on the banks of the river.... very pleasant

After lunch we made our way to the bike path along a disused railway track and although it was pretty the surface made for slow travel compared to the road

The 50 km ride to Saumur was punctuated by several stops to look at some very impressive houses and to refresh ourselves with water.... I managed 3 refills of my bottle during the day despite the temperature being in the mid 20’s

We arrived at our hotel in Saumur close on 7.00pm and had a quick shower before heading in to town for dinner

The most efficient way to travel was on bike... a lot lighter without our bags

Along the way the route we took reminded me of the trip Ric Hallgren and I made a few years ago with Bikestyle Tours when we stayed in Saumur

Chris and I managed to get through a plate of pasta each,half a pizza and a bowl of ice cream ( 2 boules) .... we were hungry!!!

It is now 10.20pm

As I do this blog and the sun is setting after a another wonderful day of riding in pretty country

At the Le Mans race track

On the Loire river in Le Flèche at lunch

Another view of the Loire at Le Flèche

A lovely building in Le Flèche

A canal off the

Loire

..... Drinks at last with 10 kms to go!!!

Chris and I thought we might buy this house????

Home for the night in Saumur

Day 6 - Amiens to Rouen- 135 kms

The day started early with. 6.00am rise so we could pack and have breakfast ahead of our warm showers hosts who were off to work at 7.30 am

We bade goodbye to Marine and Jean who were magnificent hosts for 2 days....

Getting out of Amiens proved to be an interesting experience....seems that roads and bike paths are difficult to navigate!

Anyway we made some progress along the Somme valley which is really quite pretty. We stopped at a place called Conty for morning tea and toast. The cafe was attached to a riding school complete with indoor dressage facilities...all very impressive but understandable given this area seems to be an equestrian hub

Some of the bike paths were “interesting “

There was a gentle climb out of the Somme valley which was a bit of a change after riding on the flat for the past 2 days

At about 85kms we stopped at Formerie for lunch at a pub

The fare was traditional French and Chris selected ham and mushrooms and I chose liver....needless to say I lucked out

leaving most on the plate.... the frites were ok!!!

After lunch we really encountered a strong headwind in the Ruoen and Chris and I took turns to take the lead...every 500 metres which went well except when we struck the hills!!!

We had one big climb of about 3kms with an average gradient of about 3 pc. Several rests were taken which helped the 50 km ride after lunch

Getting in to Rouen was relatively straightforward with only 2 mishaps due to navigation.... one of which was due to me going well ahead of Chris

Arriving at our hosts home was timed to perfection in terms of our tiredness after traveling for nearly 12 hours

Our hosts Jean Pierre and Christian were very welcoming

They are both retired teachers and their family has left home

We were their first guests under the Warm Showers scheme. After a beer and shower we had a 3 course dinner and then they took us out to show off their city

For me it was a real wake-up on the history of this area POF Normandy where Joan of Arc was to meet her end being burned at the stake

The wander rhythm old part of town was delightful and the buildings quite stunning with most on the Left bank of the Siene river being saved during bombing during WW2

We arrived home at 11pm after a great night

Me giving the thumbs up for the path ahead ... why I am not sure

Chips and cows liver!!!!

Chris was delighted with his choice for lunch

A well deserved rest at the top of a big climb!!

Home for the night at Rouen

Me with our hosts- Jean Pierre and Christiane

Delightful hosts

Day7 - Rouen to Evreux - 87 kms

Well today we thought we would have a short ride to Evreux and planned to do some shopping at the bike shops in Rouen ....

so after a great breakfast provided by our hosts it was off to the shops and a coffee and croissant

We managed the shopping trip well and arrived back at our hosts having left our baggage there whilst we shopped. To our surprise we were offered lunch which was delicious

Leaving our hosts was rather sad as they were truly delightful and could not have made us more welcome in their home....

We thought that leaving at about 1.00pm would make the 42 km trip to Evreux an easy 2-3 hour ride.... well getting out of Rouen was more complex and it took Almost hour to navigate our way through the industrial sector of the town.

After we found our way the kms seemed to go by quite quickly. After 34 kms we stopped for an ice cream in a lovely pub and thought longingly of the remaining 12 kms ahead....then checking Garmins we realised the tip was more like another 40 kms to Evreux!!!! SHOCK HORROR it looked like the relaxing ride was put aside for a bigger push

Luckily the roads/ bike paths were very flat which made for fast travel

Arriving at the outskirts of Evreux it became apparent that there were some hills to negotiate to get to our Formula 1 hotel. All in the day of a traveling cyclist!

The hotel is very basic but serves the purpose

Dinner was available in a hotel next door which was quite pleasant and our spaghetti was good

The weather today was slightly warmer in the mid 20s and more humid

A good days riding despite the longer than expected travels

Saying goodbye to our delightful hosts

Chris cut his leg on blackberry bushes on a rather “hairy” stretch of road/path in the industrial district

Where we had ice cream and discovered we had the wrong trip distance!!!

Home for the night in the Formula 1 hotel

Day 8 - Evreux to Chartres - 90 kms

After a good night of sleep in the top bunk of our room in the Formula 1 hotel we were ready to leave at about 7.00 am.

The day started with a bit of fog and it was quite chilly but after the fog lifted it was perfect riding weather at about 27 degrees with sun!

Chris awoke earlier than me, I suspect it was due to my snoring (but he is too kind to tell me) and he had found a belongarie with coffee on the web so we headed there to get or breakfast. It was quite delicious with croissants etc and a coffee for me to get started. As there was no seating in the bread shop we availed ourselves of seats in the school yard in the school opposite the shop. We both think this caused some amusement to the school staff some of whom were looking on at us.

After breakfast it was on to Dreux for lunch. We passed through fairly intense farming land with a sprinkle of villages along the way. As Chris pointed out it seems the farmers live in town rather than in houses located on the farms. Interesting comparison to Australia where the farmers live in homes on their farms.

The crops we saw included wheat, corn, peas and some crop which had a purple flower

Stopping in Dreux for lunch was good and we both had a baguette sandwich on the steps of the local church. I picked up a map and we both enjoyed an ice cream as the weather was getting quite hot. We also organised our accomodation in Chartres which I will come back to later.... The interesting point here is that we struggled to get accomodation through Warm Showers and had to resort to using a hotel booking website

Leaving Dreux we had about 45 kms to Chartres. We traveled for the first half of the afternoon ride in pretty village roads then for the second half it was largely on the major road to Chartres. Again the country was intense farm country

Chris swapped his trusty Garmin to me to do the navigation so he could look at the scenery. I was rather nervous st this stage as I did not want us to be lost. To my surprise it worked well.

Arriving at Chartres at about 4.30 pm we headed for our hotel. Well despite the fact that our Garmin delivered is to the address we could not find it....we spent about an hour looking for it. Finally Chris went to the front door of a house which had a ramshackle front yard and a very inconspicuous front door .”

Chris spoke to the owner and sure enough it was our place for the night!

Getting inside the house it was apparent that the owners had spent funds on the interior which was quite lovely. It operates on a guesthouse model with 2 bedrooms for rent and the owner is the host.

It was good to have a shower and begin the daily routine of updating my blog

Tonight we go out for dinner in town!!

Home for the night....Mmmmmmm???

......but inside WOW!!!

Day 9 - Chartres to Le Mans - 140 kms

After a great nights sleep in our guest house in Chartres we wake at about 6.30 pm to a cloudy morning which cleared throughout the day to temps in the mid 20’s

Our host left a lovely breakfast of cakes which together with tea was a great start to “fuel up” for the day

I was taking the role of tour guide for the day with Chris’s Garmin and as per usual we tok our normal hour to navigate our way out of the town. For some reason we seem to get send through the industrial sectors on each city and can see factories that have been closed and left to rust....I guess all the jobs have gone to Western Europe or Asia

After exiting Evreux our next objective was to find a cafe and bakery/Boulangarie for morning tea....well trying to get a shop in small towns has got to be one of life’s great mysteries.... finally we found one in a town called Combray

Good croissants but no coffee unfortunately....what is it about France and coffee in bakeries....could be a good opening for a business

Then on for lunch.... well again trying to find a cafe for a sandwich ( read baguette) was another of our great mysteries.

After traveling over 100 kms with our stomachs hitting our spines we found a shop in Lamney.... thank god!!!

Those reading this blog mark the shop down as a must see for lunch

The next 40 kms in to Le Mans was through undulating country with a few uphills and luckily a few downhills. With the wind behind us we made really good time to be in Le Mans ahead of our self imposed 6.00 pm curfew!

As per usual we had a bit of a SNAFU trying to navigate our way through a private road and were summarily ticked off by a French resident... not sure what he said but it did not sound nice!

Arriving at the youth hostel it would be safe to say we were both “cooked “ and looked forward to a shower and rest

But..... it was music night to celebrate the summer solstice so Chris and a ventured out to investigate the music and there were thousands in the centre of town!!!

Wow what a great night

Off to bed now after a tough day of riding but a good night of celebrating the middle of the year

Morning tea

A lovely Château

Chris at lunch.... finally!!!!!

The cafe you should all visit.... very welcoming I can assure you

Home for the night after celebrating!!!

Tuesday, 19 June 2018