Out into the countryside, Bordeaux to Limoges. For better and for worse.
Yes, we do stay in a lot of small privately owned atmospheric, charming, quirky places. But it can be a relief to check in to a corporate hotel. Here, leaving Bordeaux.
We love cities. When bike touring and when not on bikes. Public transport, loads of food options, museums, great people watching. But the countryside has a lot to love about it too: birds and animals, tranquility, beautiful scenery, quiet cycle paths and long stretches of empty roads with nice pavement. No museums but lots of history. There are the downsides too: not a lot of lodging options, even fewer food options – grocery stores and restaurants are a bit more simple, not a lot of choices. And those lovely roads? They go up and down a lot for no damn good reason.
Now that’s a bike lane on a bridge! And so much pedestrian space to the left. Pont Simone Veil crossing the Garonne River leaving Bordeaux.The first information sign of the day.Three routes converge on a partially sunny day; Eurovelo 3 is international, Route 80 is a French National Route and the last is a local route.Giant wine casks! 7,000 liters each.“Twin-foudre wagons. Built in the late 19th century, they were primarily used for transporting wine. The numerous imports from Algeria and Spain transited through Béziers and Sète.”
Stopping to read about the wine wagons led to finding this article about the Algerian wine industry, which of course led to a rumination on colonialism- as it does.
Repurposed rail lines are fascinating. Imagine all the wine that went through this tunnel.We are firmly in the Bordeaux wine region now.Buttery yellow stones and blue shutters.Wildflowers galore.The wine industry has created wealth for so long.Happily rolling along, looking for a lunch spot. We’re carrying our little chairs but it’s nice to find a bench with a view.A quiet riverside road in Branne, along the Dordogne River.Better know a French river, the Dordogne. 118 km long.More local yellow limestone buildings. And Rich.I love that this little dirt road has a name: Chemin des Grandes Bayches.Pastoral bliss and dramatic clouds. Getting close to Saint-Émilion, a very famous wine town.Which wine chateaux is this? No idea, but it’s sure pretty.The town of Saint-Émilion. Beneath that lovely skyline heaves a mass of tourists on this Sunday of open chateaux. Actually, it was only awful if you were trying to park a car. On bikes it was fine.We didn’t stay in Saint-Émilion, too busy. We headed to Libourne. On a bend of the Dordogne and at the confluence with the Isle River.
I took a quick dislike of Libourne riding in to town. It seems to suffer from ‘famous town adjacent’ syndrome. Folks were not friendly. Car drivers were downright hostile, and it managed to be both dead, with little activity in the streets, and hectic, with car drivers behaving as if they were negotiating a busy crowded downtown. It’s a difficult note to strike, dead but hectic, but they managed it. The first restaurant we went to, where our hotel had made a reservation for us, only had tall tables available. The last thing two tired cyclists want to do is perch on backless high stools to eat. We said no thanks and headed to the Vietnamese restaurant, the only other place open on a Sunday. It was quite good and with an impressive wine list. That must be expected in this area of famous wines.
The wind may have been adding to our crankiness. There was so much seed fluff blowing around that my eyes itch just remembering it. Leaving Libourne. Later nasty car drivers! Attitude adjustment at the hyper market on our way out of town – the Wall Of Gazpacho! My favorite cycling lunch. Who could stay irritable when faced with these cartoon-character-like sheep?Or this cute calf grazing in a vineyard?Joining the Voie Verte at Clériic.Quite a lovely color scheme going on, the luscious green and bright white.Fantastic dinner at the wonderful Le Domaine du Haut Preau chambre d’hote. Run by a Belgium woman who does everything just perfectly while being so welcoming.It’s a beautiful old farm building.Back onto the Voie verte Galope Chopine. We didn’t make it far before the first informational sign beckoned us.All about the folks who worked lighting the lamps for the trains, and who were usually blamed for any crashes. This gives you a sense of the detail on the trail side signs. In a world of neon cycling clothing, be the fuzzy pink sweater. Outside of Reignac. First lunch. Second lunch in Barbezieux-Saint-Hilaire, with a chateau view.The view from the wall of the chateau. You can see Congnac noted on the map.Châteauneuf-sur-Charente, where we spent one night in a BnB in an old old building. Full of old old furniture.But with a friendly garden cat! Hello kitty. Creaky floors and loud plumbing is forgiven.
A plus for small countryside towns is that the locals aren’t tired of tourists. We reliably get into conversations in small towns. Here it was with the restaurant owner who had moved from Chile decades ago. She told us about the fears of the US tariffs destroying Cognac sales, and by extension, the town we were in. She also walked us through the local dialect a bit – the name of which I cannot remember.
Cartoons by the town dentist. At the Beaujolais Nouveau party: “It tastes a bit of banana.” “A taste of cherry, no??” “There’s red fruit too.” Final snail “It’s a shame it doesn’t taste like real wine instead!” Local wine humor.“This is the only heaven where angels are not welcome.” I don’t get this one.Heading out of town to the riverside path called Le Velo Flow.The Charente River. I feel like we’re collecting French river badges. 381 kilometers long.It’s a beautiful river, with clean water which attracts swimmers, kayaks, and boaters.At Mosnac. Rich is grinning because I convinced him to ignore the sign saying path closed due to construction. Since it was VE Day the crew wasn’t working. It was a beautiful stretch of river.Time out for some artistic close ups of grape vines.How do we get anywhere, with all the photo stops?Our bikes posing for their glamour shots.Trois-Palis. We’re on our way to Angoulême, which we have just figured out is up on a hill.Such a fascinating town, Angoulême. Full of young hippy types, and hipster folks, against the backdrop of an old fortified city.
We noticed an animation school and did a little googling: Angoulême hosts 40 animation and video game studios that produce half of France’s animated production. Wes Anderson‘s The French Dispatch was filmed in this city. We were not imagining all the young arty folks.
Football being shown makes for a lively evening on the plaza.I was hoping for the Green Mouse sign to be lit up after dark, sadly it was not. But how cute is that little pipe smoking mouse?The town is on a plateau overlooking a meander of the river Charente, and has the nickname “balcony of the south west.”The gorgeous murals I saw climbing up to town, and didn’t stop to photograph, made sense given the city’s visual arts connection. Here’s one from our ride down.
Now brace yourselves for my new favorite river: the Touvre.
For starters; only 12 kilometers separate its source from its confluence with the Charente. Yes, a 12 km long river.It has four sources, four springs (Le Dormant, Le Bouillant, La Lèche, and La Font de Lussac, the most recent of which appeared following the Lisbon earthquake of November 1, 1755. Chronicles of the time tell us that “on the same fateful day, an underground noise was heard, and shortly afterward, the earth opened up, and a torrent laden with red sand flowed out (…).” This is from the trail side info signs.The Touvre has an average flow rate of 13 cubic meters per second. Experts will tell you that the volume of water flowing here is disproportionate to the surface area of its topographical watershed (which covers only about 100 km). Really, some seriously good info signs.So much learning so early in the day?
It wasn’t until the early 20th century that science finally unraveled the mystery surrounding the origin of this water (which allows the Touvre to double the flow of the Charente). Several explorations then established the existence of a system known to geologists as the Rochefoucauld karst.
Scientists discovered that a formidable network of underground rivers extends over 450 km beneath the Braconne forest and in the La Rochefoucauld region. It was gradually formed by the infiltration of rainwater into highly soluble limestone rock, and by the inflow of water from the Bandiat and Tardoire rivers.
The springs of the Touvre constitute the second largest resurgence in France after the Vaucluse fountain. And if you’ve read this entire bit you too have now earned your Touvre River badge. Congratulations!
The path only hugs the Touvre for half its 12km length, so off we went on Eurovelo 3, la Flow Velo, Tour Charente, and one I can’t even read. Again, just amazingly detailed history signs. Our average speed was going down down down with all the stopping and learning.Tiny little tunnels that ran under the rail line originally for small tractors and livestock.History- the line of demarcation.Separating free France from occupied France in World War 2.Really, how can we get anywhere when there is so much to learn, and then we need to stop to eat.Peppers and cheese on crackers today. And cute dogs to snuggle. This is Cola, his owner, a lovely Irish woman, had been living in France for over twenty years.More stops for artsy photos. More up and down roads where the rail trail, the Velo Flow, couldn’t follow the rail line.An old mill which powered the forge which made cannons for the French military. Nontron, our destination for the night. How do you even keep a building this old standing?Another quirky, cold, not super well run lodging.The Velo Flow crossed over a newly restored trestle. Nontron has some tourist gold with this bike path and a lovely town.Nontron on the hill. Back on the bikes! Ride! Oh wait, divert to cute cafe in Saint-Jean-de-Côle where the town was prepping for a flower festival.Delicious cookies at the Pink Elephant Cafe.So many pink elephants.Ready for the festival.On the Côle River another lovely house.Carry on! Headed to Jumilhac-le-Grand for the night. Highly rated BnB, two restaurants in town. What can go wrong?Both restaurants closed. We threw ourselves on the mercy of the one bar open, not serving food that Friday night, and the lovely proprietors fixed us what she claimed would be a very simple meal. It was lovely.The group of ex-pats outside the bar happily absorbed us into their evening drink and chat and we spent a pleasant evening.A view of the privately owned Château de Jumilhac and gardens. Imagine keeping that repaired and running.It’s a beautiful town, Jumilhac-le-Grand. Us after going from thinking we can choose between two restaurants, to pleading for food from the one place open. But again, lovely lovely people.Leaving Sous le Chateau Chambre d’hote. Very comfortable, very well run.Out of town up some more hill under the watchful eye of the school cat.And this stallion who looked like he was spoiling for a fight.
Just after this handsome horse there was a field with a huge bull standing very close to the road with his herd of ladies on the other corner of the field. At first I could see no fence at all between me and him. As I got closer I could see one single strand of wire – electrified? Maybe? The wire barely came up to his chest. I wish I had a photo, he was like an anime cartoon bull, so muscle bound and very angry looking. I was way too nervous to stop, seeing Rich riding away in his red cycling jersey made me think this bull was not up for photos.
Our favorite sign of the trip. Richard the Lion Hearted Route.Who are the friendliest cyclists? The Spanish! We saw him twice in one day (failed to get his name), he was headed to Limoges that night, we had one more night on the road to Limoges.Downside of road riding, not many places to stop for a picnic lunch. This shady wall came through for us. Flavignac. It’s on a Camino Route. It’s on a bike route. The one new Chambre d’Hote will probably do quite well with a steady supply of hikers and bikers.I love the color of these roses. An easy walk into town along a small lake. What had been part of the owners barn was now accommodation.Breakfast greeter. We had a short day into Limoges so we tried to wait out the rain before heading out.What rain? Said the cute dog.Breakfast was pretty slim so we were tempted by the pizza machine. But heavy rain and no shelter made us decide no.Limoges! Arrived in the rain. Got a chance to walk around.We stayed for two nights, which was honestly one night too long. Other than the porcelain museum, Musée national Adrien Dubouché, which had an extensive collection of pottery, there was not a lot to recommend Limoges.A cute old town, but it was quite small, and ringed by unpleasant roads. Awful town in which to be a bike or pedestrian. On a hill. Long traffic signals. No bicycle infrastructure.So off we go! To the very dramatic train station. To catch a train.To Paris!From Bordeaux to Limoges. Each heart is a place we slept.
We cycled for 8 days with no day off. Taking a day off in a small town, at a little pension or BnB isn’t super easy or interesting. But moving every day for 8 days isn’t easy either. It can make travelers cranky. Every morning as we pack up our panniers it seems like one of us packs something in the bottom of a pannier that we actually wanted out for the days ride – rain gear, seat cover, leg warmers, something- if we manage to get going without one of us having to reopen a bag it’s a miracle! And, the amount of route planning and lodging research that Rich puts in for each day is significant. He’s constantly adjusting his plans and figuring out where the grocery stores are that are on or close to the route. To go back to a familiar place, like Paris, is such a treat.
The happy travelers back in a city.Spring 2025 tour so far. Up next, four days in Paris and on to…?
After decades of living and working in wonderful San Francisco we gave it all up to travel the world. Not owning a car allowed us to save money and live hyper-locally. Now we’re living around the globe. Follow along to see where we are and what cats I manage to pet.
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Less Car, More Life 