France – Less Car, More Life

Quimper, Brest, Roscoff. Following the wind to the English Channel.

Where were we? Quimper. Another one of those amazing French cities where we get to be the only American tourists. As far as we can tell, anyway. One of the best things about visiting non A list sights is how friendly and nice and patient the locals are with tourists. A nice city for a rest day after a cranky ride from our last stop. You never know when the moodiness will hit. Sometimes it’s obvious, long ride in the rain or wind, sometimes it’s just bad luck of the day. Quimper was definitely an antidote to travel moodiness.

Le Steir, a canal off the Odet River in Quimper. That turret is part of the old wall of the city.

So many half timbered buildings in Quimper.

Beautiful old wooden carved figures still adorn some of the buildings.

Examples of different Breton regional wear in the Breton County Museum .

We saw depictions of this ceremonial hat in carvings, paintings, and even stone as we rode the countryside of Finistère. Apparently it is a fairly recent adaptation from the early 1900s.

It’s easy as a tourist to focus only on the quaint history of a place and forget to look at the modern life. Yes, this is our fun vacation, but people live their modern complicated lives here as everywhere.

Smurf beating up Mickey while Mario … watches? Tries to stop them?

Cubist cool French woman with ubiquitous vape?

As usual a rest day involves taking care of business. This stop in Quimper allowed us to have our front hydraulic brakes looked after. The kind man in this shop installed new pads and rotors on both of our front wheels. Good timing as Rich’s really needed replacing. A big Rich plus a loaded bike means serious wear and tear on the brakes.

We rode the bikes over in the morning and got them back that evening. Phew!

Rich searched on line and picked a shop fairly close to our hotel that specialized in pretty high end mountain and gravel bikes. And of course e-bikes.

And I did some laundry! Fun fact, both laundromats I’ve been to include the laundry detergent. Lessive Incluse. I was worried it might be scented but didn’t notice any strong smell so all was good.

It was a bit rainy/misty/mizzly during our time in Quimper, which was fine since I’d rather walk around and have a rest day in the rain than ride in it.

Tucked up in a cozy crêperie drinking
La bolée de cidre.

Still catching the spring blooms in parks.

Then where did we go? We headed out to Brest after two nights in Quimper. It was still raining lightly but since the route from Quimper to Brest isn’t completely bike friendly, as we were warned by on line resources and a fellow cyclist we met waiting for the train, we rode a fairly short ride to Châteaulin, 26k/16 miles but with 480m/1600ft of climbing. There we would catch a quick train to Brest, as the V45 route that traverses most of the Finistère coast had a gap here. It’s one of the few places we’ve encountered in France that has no bike routes marked and online forums confirmed parts of the route were on steep and often busy roads. No thanks.

Quéménéven chapel. The color of the granite stones continues to fascinate me. Worn from sea wind and rain, speckled with lichen and moss, but not blackened by city pollution, they have a unique look.

Climbing the final ridge to Châteaulin. Two things cheer me up on this damp climb: 1) I know wind turbines are always at the crest of a mountain or hill, and 2) The way the turbines are facing means we have a tailwind.

Some curious horses and the storm being pushed our way by that lovely tailwind.

Top of the climb! And still a tailwind. The rain is chasing us.

Châteaulin. L’ Aulne River and some more pretty flowers. Yes! We’re getting on a train now! Not so fast, says Rich, the train station is up a decent sized climb above the river.

And relaxing on our well timed train ride as the storm caught us and started pouring down rain.

By the time we got to Brest, about an hour and a half later, the sun was out and who cares about the wind when your hotel is only about 500 meters from the train station? Brest has been a ship building and important military port and harbor since the 1600s. It served as a crucial embarkation point in WW1. Thousands of US troops came through Brest heading to the front lines. And WW2 saw Germans use it for submarine and ship docking and repair. Which made it an important target for Allied forces to destroy. Only a tiny number of buildings were left standing after 1944’s Battle for Brest.

On arrival we pedal out of the Brest train station on a lovely bike lane. Look at that beautiful tram.

I lobbied for a rest day in Brest to visit the Musée National de la Marine. 400 years of navel history in a castle! It was supposed to be open the Thursday we were there. It was not. Extraordinary closure. That face says, I plan and I plan, and still.

Denied the Military Museum we had to take a deeper dive into Brest attractions.

Off we went to Tour Tanguy museum. Which turned out to be a charming museum.

It’s full of dioramas of old Brest, pre 1939. all created by a local artist
Jim-E. Sévellec.
(1897 – 1971)

Each has detailed information on what you are seeing, in French and English.

The dioramas show and tell the story of Brest and helps you realize what got destroyed .

But as we explore the city more, we are reminded what hardy and innovative people the Bretons are. Here is the Téléphérique De Brest, which crosses the Penfeld River harbor area.

Riding the Téléphérique back across the harbor.

This mural does not lie about the blue water and white sands of Finistère. And yes, there have been cats too!

What a great storefront celebrating the sights of Brest.

Even though the Maritime Museum was closed, we still had a good rest day in Brest. The city is different than the rest of Finistère. Wider streets and more car traffic due to post war rebuilding. No half timbered buildings as we’ve admired in other Breton Cities. But nice tram lines and good bikeways, as we’ve come to expect from French cities. In fact, our ride out of Brest was one of the more pleasant rides leaving a city.

Bike path, tram tracks, sidewalks. I think there is a car lane far left.

Now that’s a protected bike lane. The bikes get to do what cars do, cross a valley on a road. When I see something like this I say with envy “Oh France.”

And another bike ped bridge saving us from a down and up.

Reading some WW2 history and the resistance in Gouesnou, not far out of Brest.

Well designed and comfortable bike paths are very welcome on this day since we have 85k to ride to Roscoff, and the English Channel to greet. We’ll finally be leaving the Bay of Biscay.

On days of long rides it’s best to eat early and often. Our favorite Gazpacho flavor, cucumber and mint.

Champagne gravel. Such a pretty path. Such blue skies.

Fields of shallots. It took us a minute to remember what they are called so from now on we will call them scallywags.

The style of chapels and steeples in this region is called Pont-Croix school style. Nothing exists to document if this style was the work of one architect or a guild of workers versed in specific techniques. The steeples look noticeably airy and with distinct buttresses.

The English Channel! I texted this photo to a friend in Wales “We’re waving to you!”

Made it to the Channel. Plouescat and the dramatic rocks of a low tide.

Now get back on that bike and keep pedaling.

Another stop for food. I think this is our third lunch.

The fearless tour leader. Successfully getting his one client (me) through a long day.

The port of Roscoff was more charming than we anticipated. The big ferries from Ireland and England stop a bit further north, saving the historic harbor from the deluge of cars and trucks.

Some of my favorite things: pretty gate, blue shutters, and a well behaved gull being picturesque.

It can be difficult to tell if buildings are inhabited. Shutters in disrepair, but curtains in the lower window.

Rolling out of Roscoff the next day. Église Notre-Dame de Croaz-Batz behind me. Headed to Morlaix.

Église Notre-Dame de Croaz-Batz has a very unusual and distinctive steeple.

We had been joking about not seeing high tides as we always seemed to leave harbor towns at low tide. Finally – a high tide!

We’ve ridden a lot of places. I can be forgiven for sometimes forgetting for a moment where we are. In this lane I looked up at Rich and thought- Wait, are we in Wales? The narrow lane up a hill brought back strong memories of Pembrokeshire.

But this allée of trees says France to me.

And I will definitely remember the coast of Finistère.

The marked cycle route took us down along a boat ramp which made for a perfect break spot.

Our much loved and well ridden Koga World Traveler S bikes. Taking yet another break in Penzé.

A picnic table! Perfectly timed for lunch.

Next post will continue the ride to Morlaix and on.

Mood Swings in Finistère

Getting sick while traveling. It’s inevitable, especially when eating and staying in so many different places. And when you are sick bike touring, it can feel particularly dark.

Just one of the risks of bike touring. Big wind, tides, and storms are part of life in Finistère, the westernmost department in France.

Taking a walk along the bluff south of the hotel. Feeling a bit better after 24 hours…

Leaving the lovely Les Sables Blanches Hotel where I spent the better part of 36 hours in bed with a lovely ocean view as my body recovered from a stomach bug. It could have been worse-:)

The coast around Concarneau is part of the famous
GR34 long distance walking route, which covers an incredible 2000km along the coast of Brittany. Much of our coastal bike route ( V45) covers the same zones, but not always as close to the sea.

You generally don’t know where you caught a specific ick, but this time we definitely have our suspicions. The lovely Chambre D’hôte we stayed at in Josselin had two visiting grandchildren, both of whom served us multiple courses by hand at breakfast. It was very cute, (and I guess France has more lax labor laws allowing 3 and 5 years olds to work!) but as we left, we were told the younger one had a stomach bug so was staying home from school…oh? It will be fine, since we’re tough.

First meal after a stomach ick is always the exciting and a bit daunting.

Well, luckily it’s 36 hour incubation period got me perfectly through our final two pleasant days of cycling as we headed to the coast. But then I got hit hard by a stomach flu type illness and I missed 4 meals, with a day of rest, saltines, hydration tablets and watered down apple juice. It always amazes me how strong our bodies are, until they aren’t.

Cheryl loving the unique designs of every cidre “coupée” in Brittany, and the fact we were eating together again.

Cheryl’s pick with spring white asparagus and even some greens!

My choice of classic emmental, egg, and a touch of andouille sausage went down ok (and stayed down, yea!).

But luckily the worst resolved fast and we were able to enjoy a lot more of our second day in Concarneau. But it would linger in my system for a few days more, making everything a bit tougher. And I suspect Cheryl also had a milder case, but she will never admit it. But ha, as we’ve been travelling together for almost 5 years straight, I know -;) She was slower too for a number of days. I know.

Cheryl ready to explore the walled city of Concarneau

So one expat somewhere recently commented to me about Concarneau with “Well, the French seem to like it”. Now I kind of get it. It’s pretty from above and famous in France, but super touristy and honestly, a little Disneyland like with a crammed single street of tourist shops inside the walled city. And the adjacent town itself is also fairly plain and lacking in character, with a frustrating layout of unimproved streets with narrow sidewalks. Not really much charm, but the coast and area surrounding Concarneau are beautiful. If you travel about Brittany, you will experience 100 more scenic and authentic places, maybe in a single day.

I’m ready to walk after a day in bed, and the lunchtime crowds are thin.

You can walk the ramparts for free now as there used to be a fee, but I suspect too many people complained, as it’s a bit overrated, even when you explore at peak French lunchtime (12:30-1:30), a great travel hack anywhere in France.

The ramparts take you behind the Main Street and restaurants, complete with Medieval plastic skylights and vents and exhausting fried food smell….

Ok, I’m a bit crazy as my second meal recovering was a fairly spicy Thai curry. But it tasted so good. That look from Cheryl is “Are you sure about this?”

Meeting this friendly cycle tourist Lukas leaving our second hotel in Concarneau cheered me up. He is Czech but lives in Italy and is currently circumnavigating the European Coasts to raise awareness for organ donorship. @ Wild.lukaas . The owner of our hotel had comped him a room and we gave him a little dinner money too -:)

So to facilitate another rest day and allow us to explore the walled city, we moved just 800m down the road, as unfortunately our lovely sea view room hotel at Les Sables Blanches was booked up for Friday night. But the other hotel was just fine and actually had a decent view, kind staff, and nice covered pool that had just opened for the season (most are covered here as it’s never that warm!). So we walked quite a bit, took a refreshing swim, and I even managed two meals successfully. So I was really looking forward to getting back on the bikes.

Swerving a bit to get up a 15-20% slope. I would pay for this early effort.

Cheryl more sensibly hiking her bike up the same long grade out of Concarneau.

But despite being only a mere 35k from Concarneau to Benodet, and starting out feeling pretty good, my body started to revolt at about km20, as I realized that I still wasn’t really recovered and my body was not producing normal energy. I could eat, but it would take a few more days to get back fully to normal.

I was still on the mend, but the Boulangerie stop is still essential.

The route swerved and weaved from dirt to pavement through a beautiful stretch of the Finistère coast.

Every turn was a new view and perspective on this jagged coast.

A lovely stretch of coast near Near Cap Coz. Here they did exactly the street treatment that Concarneau needed. Turn the two lane road road one way, and make a wide bike and walking space.

Then through marshy backwaters with a ton of birdlife. (Cheryl’s intense look BTW)

My intense look as the face actually matches how I felt… crampy and weak…but it was beautiful.

It went from sun to wind to rain to all at once every 10 minutes or so. The weather can be crazy here at the ends of the continent.

So as we approached Benodet, we decided it was now or never for lunch at 2:30p, so of course it was crepes, as they are everywhere here and a staple. Also, it’s pretty hard to get a bad crepe in Brittany, sort of like pizza in Naples.

The lighthouse at Benodet. A very tidy town with lots of nice vacation homes and beautiful coastline.

Benodet was a fancy coastal town that didn’t really grab us, and we had to force two pizzas down quickly as the one Italian restaurant was booked (my fragile stomach really wanted pasta) but we agreed to take an early table, only order pizza and finish fast. You have to eat, but sometimes it’s tough in France given the rigid schedule and reservation culture. We often do make reservations, but the town didn’t feel busy on this slow Saturday night.

The next day to Audierne promised some winds and a surprisingly varied route. It proved to be challenging but very rewarding with historic sights and an overload of scenery.

The smiles were authentic the next day as I paced myself better and felt stronger.

The somewhat forgotten Pont L’Abbé, a once strategic control point for commerce and defense, including a stone bridge first built by a monk in the 14th century, complete with buildings atop.

Our route included a gravel section on the old “Carrot Train” route, a small railway that brought goods to sale to and from Pont L’Abbé but was abandoned in 1935 with the rise of truck transport.

A perfect lunch spot at the Church ruins along the Route Du Vent Solaire. The “Solar Wind Route” is named after the work of Pierre Jakez Hélias, a writer born in the Pays Bigouden region, the Solar Wind Route is like the wind: it often changes direction.

Lots of 15th century ruins to explore all to ourselves

The next day was a hilly 55k from Benodet to Audierne. It was absolutely brilliant as I was filled with that post sickness euphoria that heightens the senses and makes you appreciate every mile, or kilometer. The weather also cooperated to keep the rain at bay and the strong winds only from the side.

A few free range chickens crossing the road. We don’t know why.

The ruins, sky, and sound of the crashing ocean in the distance is inspiring, and reminded us of Ireland…really not too far away and another Celtic culture.

Breton flags and language are ubiquitous. Many kids now attend bilingual schools in this area, keeping the language alive.

Breton flag and typical ceremonial dress, which often varies even from village to village.

Blue is the color of the region and buildings take a beating along the windswept coast.

Spring marks the start of festival season and small local events. The Sunday Microbrasserie event was tempting as we passed within a km but a break is tough to get restarted from and my stomach probably didn’t need an afternoon beer!?

The Bay’of Audierne is vast and exposed.

Rows of breakers from strong west winds. We quickly realized why the more popular swimming beaches are in less exposed areas of Finistère.

Neolithic sites are dotted throughout the region, including a cave indicating habitation over 400,000 years BP. Yes, you read that correctly. See the amazing Menez Drégan

This dolmen is new compared to the cave site below on the coast and only dates back 2,000 to 4,500 years BP.

These Neolithic burial sites still feel awe inspiring, and put today’s troubles in a bit of perspective. Time will pass and it will all be ok. Or it won’t. But time will pass.

Up and down relentlessly as we approached Audierne.

Destination reached! Another spectacular corner room over the beach at the friendly and nicely renovated TY YS Hotel in Audierne. Swing season is great.

The light of Brittany is both soft and ephemeral.

Rolling out of Audierne for the interior on another beautiful day.

Audierne is built on a major inlet for protection and reminded us of Scandinavian ports such as Bergen.

So psyched to be riding and digesting again!

These small hearts on the road signs were unique

We arrived to the city of Audierne, which feels like an outpost near the ends of the continent, because it is. No one passes through here on a whim, and the people seemed extra hearty, even for the Bretons. We loved our small modest coastal hotel, and another night of ocean waves breaking to lull us through a solid night of bike touring sleep. We headed out the next day on an route that arced to the northeast and then back into Quimper, the cultural heart of Finistère.

Heading up Le Goyen from Audierne. A spectacular morning.

The tidal reach up the river is extensive.

Finally heading upland towards Douarnenez.

The architectural church style here is the “Pont Croix” and sure enough, you can walk all the way to Santiago de Compestela from here if you have a few months and good shoes.

The beautiful Chapelle Notre-Dame-de-Kérinec, literally in the middle of nowhere. Why?

Water was definitely a reason for this Chapels Location.

Calvary cross and outdoor pulpit. Oh, and an access point to get up there….

Apparently in the 1700s, the occasional Sunday Pardons (religious festivals) required an outdoor venue as crowds gathered from the countryside.

Perhaps the spring was a draw here and motivation to build a church. It may also have been the drive to override the pagan Neolithic sites of the area.

And onto the Menhir with my spring camouflaged panniers!

This day of riding summed up bike touring perfectly as we started out blissfully into the morning sunshine and a beautiful interior trail along the Goyen River. We then explored empty chapels and Neolithic sites as we crested the hills toward Douarnenez. But the afternoon was a drag a Cheryl had a somewhat unexpected hangry meltdown after we bought groceries at a crowded supermarket, and then couldn’t find a place to eat for miles…it still stuns us how moody bike touring can be. But what always helps is a bit of patience and understanding as we’ve all been there and we have to remind each other, it will all get better. And it’s all worth it.

And after a brief afternoon meltdown (Cheryl’s turn) on a somewhat dull gravel rail trail, the happy bike travelers make it to charming Quimper.

Bike touring bingo, part two. Nantes Brest canal.

Château de Josselin in the flattering sunset light.

An Irish ex-pat couple we chatted with along the canal path told us that we would love Josselin. Very very pretty town, they said. Rich does a lot of research about distances, what we can reasonably ride in a day, places to stay which are bike friendly- and that generally means an enclosed space where we can lock the bikes – and grocery stores and bakeries to fuel us up for the ride. That means he, or we (I’m not super involved in that part of planning), don’t look at a lot of online photos of the actual towns and villages. Which means we get to be surprised! And that’s often a total treat.

Our lovely room in Josselin at 14 st-michel chambre d’hôte. A super well run place.

Josselin has 54 half timbered buildings. Some date back to the 1530s.

And the super helpful and informative history plaques add to our enjoyment.

A small cafe run out of one of the historic buildings.

So well maintained. And some work going on right nearby.

Cat shaped bell. Doorbell or bell to call the cat home?

Rolling out of Josselin. It’s a warm day and we’ll be shedding our jackets after the downhill.

What a fantastic bike route. Complete with comfort stops.

It’s going to be another warm day so we’re happy to refill our bottles and use a toilet (instead of a nature break.).

Warm weather and sunshine means another helmet cover comes out, the hat! Perfect for the sun phobic cyclist.

We’re crossing a ride we did in Brittany in 2023, we visited L’orient and Pontivy on that ride.

How many cute lock keeper houses did I photograph? A lot.

Bingo. Juice with Jesus. We love the small roadside shrines to Mary and Jesus because they frequently have shade and a bench. Outskirts of Pontivy. A town we stayed in and I cannot remember. Rich remembers it.

Guémené-sur-Scorff, our next stay. Aux Sabots Rouges, a hôtel and restaurant in a stunning old building.

It’s now Tuesday and a lot of the restaurants in town are closed. After taking a walk around to make sure we’d get food somewhere- we sat for an aperitif while we waited for the crêpe restaurant to open. Hopefully.

The town had recently lost its
Petites Cités de Caractère status, which was upsetting for the owner of our BnB. It sounded as if it was an administrative lapse on the part of the mayor. We found Guémené to be loaded with character.

Delicious goat cheese, mushroom, walnut and greens crêpe.

Another stunningly old house of character.

And the best addition to any town, a cat of character.

Rich named him Gravlax. After his slightly salmon tinged color. Murder mittens of character.

We have a long ride ahead of us, so a grocery store stop is the first order of business. Tonight, we sleep at the coast!

Back to the land of cartons of Gazpacho! Yum.

And making bike touring nachos. Laughing cow cheese (kind of sacrilegious in a country with so much good cheese, but it goes down easy and travels well), tortilla chips and guacamole.

Eat early and often. That’s a bike touring rule. Especially on a hot day. And a long day. We had 85 kilometers to do which is a long day this early in a bike trip and half on dirt and gravel. So, lots of snacks, electrolytes in our water bottles, and pod casts and music in our ears.

Meslan. The color of the stone houses and blue shutters. Adorable.

Another food break in Le Faouët. The 16th-century timber market hall behind Rich is still used. It’s a rare surviving example of a large timber structure from that period, per Wikipedia.

We left the canal and were on small roads, complete with farm vehicles.

Uh oh. Rich flagged down a passing car to ask the driver if they thought we could get through. Yes. So on we went. We always say to each other “they don’t mean bikes”. Bingo.

We’re on a rail trail for the last 30 kms or so. Which is nice. It’s hot and we’re getting tired.

When it’s hot and you need energy? Ice cream bars.

Magnum Mini scene of destruction. Yes, we did feel a bit ill a few miles later.

I had just enough mental and physical energy to stop and snap a picture of this leopard Appaloosa horse. I had to check with my sister that it was an actual type of horse, not a genetic accident. It’s rare, she said. And beautiful.

We made it to the North Atlantic Ocean. The Bay of Biscay, actually.

Our nice big room for two nights at Les Sables Blancs.

Our trip so far. The far right hearts are our friends near Geneva, and Lyon. The long gap was the 6 hr train from Lyon to Angers.

And a closer view from Angers to Concarneau, where we are now.

Unfortunately, since this nice sunset photo on the beach was taken, Rich has been felled by a stomach bug.

There were other Bike Touring Bingo moments, the well dressed gentleman strolling the canal path while reading a book, the small river otter darting out across the path and then changing their mind when they saw us and darting back to the canal bank. A farmer in a beret leading his draft horse along the Loire River path. And this is also a form of bike touring bingo; who will get sick? This time it’s Rich. Usually he has a stomach of iron and it’s me who gets an upset digestive system. In the midst of his illness he is still travel planning, trying to figure out where we go next as this hotel is full for the Friday night.

Concarneau on a sunny day. What will we do now?

Bike touring bingo, Nantes Brest canal.

A sunny day with a tailwind on Nantes Brest canal. One of the many écluse buildings. Lock keeper houses.

The Nantes Brest canal, conceived by Napoleon as a strategic inland connection of two important ports to avoid the British controlled ocean, is 390 kms long. That’s a good distance for a nice long game of Bike Touring Bingo.

Leaving Nantes. The canal starts a bit outside of Nantes proper, and the leaving of cities is frequently a bit of a jumble.

Pastry break! At 17 kms. That’s a chocolate babka from marguerite Boulangerie du coin in Nantes.

Bike Touring Bingo is an adaptation to the office game BS Bingo, where you and your co-workers would have made up Bingo cards on the xerox machine of all your boss’s favorite and overused phrases, to be checked off during interminable conference calls.

Babka ready for its close up. Hazelnut and chocolate.

Bike touring bingo is much more free form. It’s any bike touring eventuality – such as having to open all four panniers to find the thing you’re searching for. Or getting stung by nettles. It can also be any French cliche, for example an elegant French woman bicycling by with a baguette in her basket.

Canal this way! Oddly named snail restaurant also this way? That sign deserves a bingo square.

It’s steadily getting warmer and the day is calm but with a nice tailwind.

The travel planner stops to admire a helpful map.

Lunch break in Nort-sur-Erdre. We’re appreciating how well benched and picnic tabled this route is.

We’re on a Camino de Santiago trail. We chatted with one pilgrim and saw two others. They had 1,200 kilometers to walk to Santiago de Compostela, Spain.

We’re headed the opposite direction from the pilgrims so merrily we roll along.

Bike touring bingo square! French gentleman in striped shirt smoking a ciggy while piloting a boat. I got bonus points the next day when I saw the same guy (I think) having a wee by the side of a marina.

Our first night on the canal in Blain at a lovely Chambre d’hôte, Le Nid d’Omer. We’re trying to remember to take photos of our rooms before we dump our panniers and make an ugly mess.

Bingo! Well behaved chambre d’hôte cat observing breakfast.

The canal links up four rivers, so it’s fascinating to see the change from canal to river. It was quite a clever engineering feat as only 20% of the route had to be made from scratch.

Here’s a tiny Rich riding past a boat in a canal section.

And here he is waiting for me to catch up in Fégréac on a section of L’Isac River. So many birds!

Between those two photos was a coffee/tea/Easter chocolate break.

And a lunch break. Although the path was busy this Easter Sunday, we always found places to stop and sit.

In our travels around the world we’ve always felt welcome as Americans, or at least not disliked. We always say people are good at distinguishing between a person and the country’s politics. But these are different times. Awful things are happening and the USA is responsible. We questioned if we wanted our American flags on our bikes at all. But we are American, we have to own it. Rich has a French flag to show our affection for France, and my No Kings flag hopefully conveys our lack of support for the current administration. We’ve had quite a few conversations so far and no French person has been anything but kind and understanding and as upset as we are about the war.

“I’m a little potato and I believe in you.” Thank you little potato at the crêpe restaurant in Redon.

Crêpes and cider. The Breton stand by for dinner. Delicious.

Dessert crêpe with
caramel beurre salé. Salted caramel sauce. Yum.

No photo of the hotel room in Redon. It was adequate. And small. We thought Redon would be a bit of a nothing town, and quite empty on Easter Sunday evening, but it turned out to have a lot of half timbered buildings and some fascinating historical plaques to help tourists understand the history of the buildings.

Half timbered building from the 1600s, now with shops on the ground floor, as many were originally both businesses and dwellings it’s fitting.

Nettles. Rich won that bingo square with a “shortcut” suggested by Komoot. Thankfully it was a small nettling.

Person traveling with a donkey? Is that on my Bingo card? It is now.

I forgot his name, but he had just bought the donkey and he was headed out for a ten year ramble! With his cat too, who is wearing a GPS collar and was not happy about the crazy cat lady wanting to get her hands on him.

Lunch. Smoked salmon for Rich and peanut butter and dried cranberries for me.

Crossing through Malestroit. This is perhaps one of the most interesting and beautiful canals we’ve ridden.

The riding surface of the path is mostly really smooth fine gravel.

My ongoing love affair with French bike route signage.

Château de Josselin. On the Oust River. Still the residence of the 14th Duke of Rohan.

Part two of our canal ride up in our next post.

Nantes. Worth a second, or even a third visit.

Rich at the Quai de Versailles of the Erdre River in Nantes.

Yes, I admit straight off that we will need to visit Nantes again. We first came through in September 2023 and spent two nights mostly taking care of business and exploring the old town streets. We went to Les Machines de l’Île which is a fun steam punk type attraction. This time we spent two nights mostly taking care of business (laundry, blogging and travel planning) and exploring the new transit and bike improvements, and a trip to Trentemoult, a small fishing village turned art village.

But first things first. A beer and a glass of wine. Le Chemin De Traverse Bar à Bières. In the USA, beer focused places frequently do not have wine, that’s almost never a problem in France.

After a good night’s sleep, despite some fellow hotel guests being inconsiderate until a big American opened the door and scowled at them, we headed out to visit Trentemoult. Best part? You get to take a little ferry boat across the River Loire.

So much work going on in Nantes. A new bridge, the Anne de Bretagne bridge, is being built for two new tram lines, bikes, and “Beyond its practical function, the bridge was primarily designed as a place for strolling.”!

The towers of the new bridge, connecting the city to the Île de Nantes.

Yes, it’s raining a bit but that doesn’t stop anyone.

The new ferry terminal on the Trentemoult side.

It’s a short walk to the town from the new terminal and you have a few things to see. La Pendule. Yes, that pendulum is swinging – except in high winds.

Ador, a Nantes street artist with a lot of works in Nantes.

Good thing about cloudy skies? Nice light to take photos. That’s the river Loire, we’ve now cycled our missing link of the Loire and we can head off the river.

The narrow car free streets of the little village are very atmospheric. Especially in the mist.

Our bright cycling jackets fit right in.

I looked at this photo about five times before I realized it’s the zebra’s stripes hanging on the laundry line.

Our day in Nantes was technically a rest day. But with so much to see and do we end up walking about 20,000 steps anyway. Is that really a rest day?

Crossing the construction zone and seeing that Nantes is working on **three** new tram lines. Go Nantes!

Tram construction is catnip for the engineer and the transit advocate.

Street art and a bus built into this building.

The Île de Nantes is full of fun artistic delights.

An afternoon of laundry and chilling left us needing more walking, so off to the Jardin des Plantes we went. One advantage of early spring bike touring is the blooms.

The tram system, which Nantes is expanding, is already quite impressive. Not only for its free flowing movements, unhampered by car traffic, but also for the fun color schemes on the trams.

Rich added for scale in front of yet another patterned tram.

We were also very impressed with the intersections on one of Nantes’ main streets, Cr des 50 Otages. The name of the street is another reason for us to come back to Nantes, to visit the history museum. The name of the boulevard pays tribute to the 50 hostages or victims of a WW2 event.

The intersections along this street have been redesigned with traffic circles unlike anything we’ve ever seen. Almost zero markings. Here it is from the view of a cyclist biking through.

And from the Google street map view of a double circle. Tram tracks and pedestrian plaza space to the left, Bus and car lane, bike lanes in the middle, another bus car lane, and then more sidewalk space.

We rode this street on our way out of Nantes towards the Nantes Brest canal. It took us to an area we hadn’t visited and gave us another reason to come back to Nantes- the basin of the Erdre River with the Île de Versailles and live aboard boats and loads of quai side attractions.

Leaving our hotel. The Best Western Nantes Hôtel Graslin, with good nearby bike parking.

Yes, there was the obligatory boulangerie stop.

So many pastries, so difficult to choose.

Happy travelers sitting on the steps of the opera house enjoying the evening scene.

Wednesday Morning in Angers France

This is what I’ve been dreaming about for the past 9 months. To be back in France, over our jet lag, and ready to head out on our bikes again to live the simple cycle touring life. Carrying just what we need and no more. And a credit card or two, of course, as we’re not camping.

Wednesday Morning leaving Angers, France

It took a week from our home in Seattle to get to this place, but we also had a lot of fun along the way. Cheryl noted that this will be a new travel experience for us; home owners again AND retired, not nomads wandering from temporary home to temporary home. And indeed it has been different.

A nice walk with friends to fight off the arrival jet lag in the Haute Savoie.

But so far a lot has been pleasantly familiar. Ah yes, the wonderful maze of a Heathrow transfer at 6am in a jet lagged fog? (Follow the purple signs!) The windy but stunning flight approach along Lake Geneva? The new extra manic rush to immigration in Geneva post Brexit! (flight from London!) The indifference of the Genevois.

This area was our hub during our fully nomadic years (are we ”partially nomadic” now?) so coming back here is a bit like returning to an old friend, and actually, our old friends were here this time too. Bonus.

Some of our friends skied, but we opted for snowshoeing, as didn’t want to risk our 6 weeks on the bikes, especially when we haven’t been on skis for years!

It also turns out Seattle is closer to the UK than SF (thanks spherical earth) and it shaves 1-2 hours off getting to most of Europe. Add a strong tail wind and our flight was just 8 hours. Somehow it makes a big difference as the flight felt a bit more like a cross country trip. And we had almost no time or inclination to sleep, especially departing mid afternoon. But our British Airways Premium Economy seats were very nice and the flight was quite pleasant. It’s always great to be settled in your airline seat after a week of prep and packing. All done, bring it on!

After landing in Geneva there was no time for jetlag as we had a stimulating four days with our hosts and 4 other friends from the UK in the Vallée Verte. So much catching up on both conversation and wine! And we had the luxury of travelling light, since our touring bikes and most gear was still here. (Thank you kind friends) So we had a few days to prep our bikes, sort our gear; and decide what we would really take out on our planned 6 weeks on the bikes. We did have the luxury of knowing that we can easily mail things back via French post if we find them redundant, which often happens with your warm gear by late April.

Are we really heading out on our bikes again in this weather?

The calendar says spring, but the plants say winter.

Once on the bikes and with a proper send off by our friends, we roll out down a local road, still icy, and extra careful to not crash on the first 300m of our trip by dragging a foot along and being ready to slip and recover. All good. And a right turn onto the salted main D road and we are free and clear, knowing we have gravity in our favor today with over 700m down today and only 150m climbing to get to Geneva.

Finally loaded and heading down the valley below the snow line ~800m.

Cheryl getting used to her loaded touring bike again, but as they say, “it’s just like riding a bike” -;)

But first, mandatory stop at the boulangerie in Boëge for pastries and Poulet Curry Sandwiches for the train, tastier and only half the price of Geneva Station.

Cheryl staying warm on the platform in Geneva as it was a very cold and windy day. And no, the TGV/Lyria train which runs to Paris was not ours as it requires you to dismantle your bike as baggage.

Ready to catch our local train to Lyon, but alas, it’s 30 minutes late.

As usual, two French trains got us where we needed to be, albeit 30 minutes late each time; first a short 2 hour trip to Lyon, and then a 6 hour cross country intercity journey to the city of Angers; in the heart of the Maine/Loire Valley.

We have written endless scribes on the travails of taking two loaded touring bikes on trains and we’ve come up with a few golden rules. Always get on at the beginning of a train journey when possible; avoid transfers, and get off at the end if possible too. So we cycled all the way to Geneva this time instead of taking a train from Annemasse and transferring.

I had to try the new circular bike ramp to bike parking at the renovated Lyon Part Dieu

A tidy photo of our upgraded room at the bike friendly and well located Best Western Pont de Wilson in Lyon before we spread out our junk. If only all rooms bike touring were this spacious.

After a pleasant Sunday evening in Lyon we peddled back to Lyon Pernache station to catch a 6+ hour intercity train at its start (always!). Our destination was Angers, in the heart of the Loire Valley. Cycling back to the starting station was the right decision as we were ensconced in our seats and bikes/baggage stored by the time it got to the much busier second station – Lyon Part Dieu. We did have bike reservations, which are mandatory for intercity trains (not local TERs).

Cheryl was looking forward to her Pot Lyonnais, a slightly reduced carafe size with extra thick glass on the bottom, a relic of the owners cheating the silk weavers (Canuts) out a bit of weekly wine ration in the 19th century.

This was one of our favorite takes on Sichuan food we’ve ever had, Frites de la maison à la sichuannaise. Crispy red peppers and toasted sesame seeds clinging to all.

Enjoying an aperitif on the sunny and lively Quay de la Rhône in Lyon.

The beautiful new welcome cyclists get at Lyon Part Dieu after traversing Lyon effortlessly on new separated bikeways that feed into the station area from all directions. Ah France, je t’aime.

One down side I was reminded of on most French trains is the ubiquitous 4-person cafe table seating. It’s great if there are just two of us in a 4 seater, but otherwise I need to fold my legs back to fit under the table and therefore must stand up or walkabout frequently to stretch in the vestibule. The seats, table height and metal supports were clearly not designed for my 6’-5” lankiness. My discomfort stresses Cheryl out too, as seasoned travelers know when their partner is not happy.

Cheryl at Lyon Pernache making elevators look easy. This one was roomy, but the previous one down closed on my back wheel!

But I can adapt and get in a zen place as needed (really!) and it was all fine in the end as the French are pretty friendly and helpful on trains. And this time we decided to get all the outbound train pain over early in our trip as we got warmed back up to bike touring mode. And hopefully we won’t need to get on another big train journey for awhile; just the joy of linear bike travel; where every day is new, and there are no time or space constraints.

Our Chateau view from the super friendly (and bike friendly) Hotel Marguerite D’Anjou in Angers.

A stark reminder to us that our presidents used to help and inspire people globally.

Angers has a lovely old town and dozens of half-timbered houses dating back more than 600 years.

The majestic Cathédrale Saint-Maurice d’Angers.

Angers is a small French City that dates back to Roman times and I’ve always wanted to visit, yet we had just managed to miss it on our past trips on the Loire. It has about 150,000 people and a nice center city aspect up on a significant hill above the Maine River, a tributary to the Loire.

Angers is a center of urban horticulture for France.

Lovely spring gardens and a defensible space.

Clean, green, lively and full of endless pedestrian space, Angers is very pleasant to wander for a day or two.

Another dream of the past 9 months was a proper French Breakfast, and the Hotel Marguerite D’Anjou did a very nice version, with perfect croissants and baguettes from the bakery next door, local yogurt, and Museli.

This picture ca. 1962 in the history and Art Museum showed the threat of redevelopment on the historic city center of Angers as the French emerged from the economic challenges of WWII into a period of prosperity. The contrast of old and new is stark.

Heading down the Maine River to the Loire.

Our ultimate destination was Nantes, but in two leisurely days of riding.

Cheryl on the gravel in her pink wool racing jersey.

In the chaos of USA news this year, we somehow missed that the Department of the Maine et Loire had some of its worst flooding in 25 years in mid February. These historic markers in La Pointe don’t yet indicate the 2026 flood.

This friendly man was tracking every cycle tourist through town with push pins on a world map. Seattle, WA is now represented for 2026!

We were actually the first cycle tourists of the season at both our hotels in Angers and Saint Florent Le Viel, as it was a rough winter with 43 days of rain out of 48, record flooding and continued cold last week.

A reminder of our home neighborhood cat Charlie looking for the start of lunch in Savennières, but alas, a few minutes too early.

We mostly had the Loire to ourselves so early in the season…just the way I like to wander.

A separate bike path on a bridge is always appreciated as you can stop to enjoy the view.

Along a pastoral section of road, I was suddenly shocked to see the 2026 flood height indicated in blue chalk ABOVE me, outside this farm house!

To Cheryl’s disappointment, the yurts and bar are not yet open for the season. Babacool heaven.

A gray first day with a bit of mizzle reminded of us of our new Seattle home.

So you take some chances on your first full day out on tour.

But Pork Rillettes are officially off the lunch picnic menu forever.

A great room overlooking the Loire in Saint Florent le Viel. Swing season score.

And short days on the bike means plenty of time (and energy) to explore the cute little town.

Dinner at the little family run hotel was very good, especially the home made smoked salmon, which tasted more like fine sashimi.

Cheryl’s white wine glass choice, an adjacent appellation of Savennières, recieved high marks.

And another new Loire appellation (maybe?) for us was our red choice with dinner.

Family run for three generations…first cycle tourists of the season! There will be many to follow.

The second day on the Loire started to brighten up.

The path pleasantly followed the north bank of the river, with an occasional train whirring by.

Nearly our entire 110k between Angers and Nantes was on path, bikeway, or extremely quiet road.

Spring was following us to Nantes and time to shed some layers.

So our first week was great, but we both do feel a bit weird still as we settle into freewheeling mode again…we do have a home in the Pacific NW now which we like very much. We’ve planted things, decorated, and made new friends. Our bed is now a huge CA King, our coffee and tea just as we like, and the neighborhood is blissfully quiet at night.

Bikeways greet us into beautiful Nantes.

Yet we go forth and ride. We cuddle closer in a queen (or smaller) bed again. We search to find food we crave each day, and yes, I even sip instant coffee all day in my thermos again. Ah travel, I love it -:)

Sunshine and feeling back in the swing of things. Vive La France!

Like the old days of traveling?

Hiking along the middle fork of the Snoqualmie River.

Now that we have a home base again, what is it going to be like to travel? We spent four years with only a storage unit in California, so there were no worries about a house, or about things and stuff. We had with us what we had with us. It all got packed up and moved with us every time. A lot of thoughts and worries can now swirl around our brains. The house. The small garden. Our friends and neighbors. And, an even bigger worry is how will we be greeted in the world now that American leadership has lost even more international credibility and respect?

After seven months of no international travel – except one fun train trip to Vancouver BC – have we lost our nomad travel mojo? Well, we’re about to find out. We’re headed out for seven weeks of bike touring in France.

One big thing we don’t have to fret about is boxing and flying with our bikes. Our wonderful Koga World Traveler S bikes are still in France at our ‘What Did We Do to Deserve Such Good Friends’ place. We don’t really have to worry too much about our home either, since another set of WDWDDSGF will be checking in on it when house sitters aren’t in residence. We don’t need any new vaccinations or visas. So, any real worry is all in our heads.

Every heart is a place where we’ve slept.

But the biggest cloud over our American heads is what our country is doing to the rest of the world and ourselves. We always bike tour with small American flags flying from our bikes. We know that everyone’s first question about travelers is “Where are they from?” The flags answer that question and start a lot of fun conversations with folks. This time we’re adding a No Kings flag to show our dismay over our current leadership.

We can’t hide our nationality, we don’t pretend to be Canadian- which is always silly but particularly rude these days, in light of how we’ve been treating our lovely neighbors to the north. We’re American. It’s obvious in so many ways. So, we’ll see how the conversations are going to be different on this trip.

Riding the Centennial Trail out of Snohomish. Trying to get myself in at least a little bike touring shape. That’s my new US touring bike.

Rich is already in shape, he just has to practice waiting for me!

After a final cold snap and snow, spring is here in Seattle.

Cherry trees on the UW Campus are a good indicator of spring.

What is our basic itinerary? A fun meet up with friends in the Haute-Savoie, and sort out our bikes, then Brittany and Normandy, and Paris. The travel planner (Rich) has many ideas and tricks up his sleeve. And, since he’s actually had time to travel plan, bookings for the first week or two! Our usual fly by the seat of our pants travel isn’t necessary when he has time on a laptop to research and plan. His one client (me) has absolute confidence in him.

Headed to the Seattle airport on Link light rail.

So here we go! More from the roads of France later. As our SF friend BikeDave always said: “Have a nice ride home.”

70 days on our bikes in Europe. Closing the loop.

Saarburg. Our first stop in our swing through Germany.

Saarburg Germany. The Venice of the Saar region. That’s what they say anyway. I’m not sure one river through town makes it Venice, but it was one of those towns that’s not super promising as you roll in, and actually had a fascinating and beautiful old part of town. The 15km long Leukbach River runs through the charming old town and meets up with the Saar River.

The Wasserfall Saarburg. Makes a lovely backdrop and sound for the restaurants and cafes. More impressive is the fact that this was a 13th century project to redirect the Leukbach River through town.

The buildings rise right up from the river.

The sound of the waterfalls and the cool air rising from the river are lovely.

On our way out of town after a one night stay. That look says, can we just ride and not stop for photos every five minutes?

Heading out along the Saar River. It was a calm morning, no wind.

My dashboard. Many podcasts have been played on that Bluetooth speaker over the weeks of bike touring.

Germany can be relied on for good paths linking you from city to city, town to town. We’re up from the river on this stretch by an industrial site.

We headed up and over a hill to avoid a big bend in the river. Shortcut? Eh..it was steep so no real time savings, but what a view.

Could this tree be any more classic and beautiful? Big sweeping limbs, check. Picturesque hollows offering tantalizing home for small furry creatures, check.

Ah, the pastries as big as your head of Germany.

Since we spend so much time on bikes we entertain ourselves talking about bikes and bike infrastructure quite a bit. A lot. Ok, constantly! We had to detour off the river path to obtain that giant pastry and once again we were reminded that although Germany knocks it out of the ball park with bike paths connecting towns, in town is a different story. It was quite inhospitable in Merzig, the short ride from the river path to Bäckerei & Café Tinnes had zero bike infrastructure. The contrast with France, where so many towns have been given what we call the French City 2.0 treatment in town, with new bike and ped lanes and markings and calmed traffic, was dramatic. It was not an environment that would encourage bicycle use for errands and transportation.

Over the bridge to our destination for the night, Saarbrücken.

What’s the easiest bike parking? In our hotel room. Doesn’t happen often but boy it’s nice. Roll in roll out. In this case it was roll out into a steady rain.

Never stop smiling. We’re headed 25k to a train station to take a hop to shorten the day.

Off the train at Diemeringen and we’re back in France!

Feeling sassy. Drinking Sassy French cider at a Breton crepe restaurant lunch break to avoid the storm.

We don’t often stop for a sit down lunch, but we had hoped to hunker down and avoid the worst of the storm. Delicious crepes. Very friendly locals.

The rest of the day cycling was a series of hops to shelter from heavy rain. Overhangs at town halls, under a barn roof, and this community park with a covered picnic area. The storm moved slowly across the region so we didn’t avoid much of it, but we managed to duck out during some particularly heavy bits.

We rolled into Eschbourg and marveled at Maisons des rochers de Graufthal.

These houses were built into a rock cliff and the last inhabitant died in 1958. It’s now a museum.

We were booked into Au Vieux Moulin hotel, in a former mill and with a highly rated restaurant. After hanging our wet cycling clothes over every available surface in our room we headed downstairs to dinner. We opted for a four course tasting menu with the wine pairing – get ready for loads of photos of food. With only a few weeks left in France it made sense to maximize our dining experience. This meal certainly fulfilled that desire. The most French of modern French meals we’ve had. We don’t dine at fancy restaurants often, but French fancy is more attractive to us since the service is very straightforward and not overwhelming. The French assume that everyone enjoys food, it’s not a big deal, just life.

First, an amuse-bouche before we even decided on the tasting menu.

Presentation was amazing. For aperitif Rich had a local beer and I had glass of white wine.

Carte Blanche à Guillaume. Here we go. A wine pairing? Yes please!

Another amuse-bouche to welcome us to the tasting menu.

The first course was trout from Sparsbach served three ways. Small steaks, an airy foamy mousse of fennel, white asparagus from Ferme Waechter, and ground ivy. Close to Rich a small plate of tiny fried fingerlings. Troutelle, they were called. Or troutlings.

Trying to pay attention to and write down the details of this meal gave me so much respect for actual food writers. Ground ivy, the waiter said, I dutifully wrote that down and only now looked it up: Glechoma hederacea is an aromatic, perennial, evergreen creeper of the mint family Lamiaceae. It is commonly known as ground-ivy, gill-over-the-ground, creeping charlie, alehoof, tunhoof, catsfoot, field balm, and run-away-robin. Thankfully I had snapped a picture of the full menu, since these courses, or sequences, are mostly represented on the menu.

The largest green leaves are sorrel. The wine pairing was a delicious Riesling.

Get used to eating tiny flowers. The mousse was flavored with ground ivy.

Barbecued white asparagus, paired with
Cote du Rhone Amour de Fruits.

BBQ white asparagus with pistachios and pith of citrus. Amazing.

The squab course, served with
Le Migmatite Gamay Sur Granit. Which translates as delicious red wine.

Düwehof pigeon breast, thigh with giblets, porcini mushroom praline, green asparagus, stuffed morel and wild garlic, Mokxa coffee-infused jus. The wild garlic is the small dark lump, it’s cooked in a rice cooker.

Pigeon thigh with giblets. Yes, very rich this course.

The palate cleanser, rhubarb sorbet in a delicate apple and herb sauce.

With the dessert course an elderflower cider, Cidrerie de Reillon
Grégoire Jacquot
Fleurs de mal
2023 • Pétillant de miel.

Strawberry horseradish ice cream, and a white chocolate top. Sprinkled with little white flowers.

And finally, more little dessert treats. Raspberry tartlet, and a small Financier Cookie.

Chocolate truffles on a bed of cacao nibs. It was a good thing we’d been bike touring for almost 70 days and our metabolisms were running high.

We definitely needed a walk after that amazing meal, so we headed out into the misty moonlit night for a turn around town.

The hotel and restaurant glowing in the gloom.

The rain was over and we were ready to ride again.

Watched by a highland cow. Maybe. Are they asleep behind all that hair?

We’re riding towards Strasbourg in the French Alsace region.

I love the half timbered houses and steep gables. So picturesque. The hanging sign looks like an anvil, was this once a blacksmith shop?

What the what? How cute are these musicians? Humba Humba Dederle Dederle.

A striking stork against a stormy sky in Ernolsheim-lès-Saverne.

Lunch along the Canal de la
Marne au Rhin.

It’s a popular canal for hiring boats and touring along.

Which means we get to wave at lots of boaters and shout Bonjour!

This cultural region of Alsace certainly has a sense of humor.

The canal is taking us right to the Strasbourg train station.

Somewhere along the wet roads of the previous day, hiding from the rain, we decided that we were both ready to wrap this tour up and head back to our home base in France. Rich plotted out the fastest and most direct route: ride to Strasbourg, train to Basel and overnight, train to Geneva, ride to Annemasse and then up the valley to our good friends’ house. We were both looking forward to being in one place for a while before traveling back to the US, so off we went.

Train one of two to get us back to Geneva.

Hooks to hang our bikes. You do need bike reservations and I think there were only four spots per train.

Riding to our hotel for a one night stay in Basel. The Rhine River.

A border crossing, we stayed in French Basel.

Saint-Louis actually. And yes the difference in bike infrastructure was dramatic once we crossed back into France. Oh, and hotels are about half the price of the Swiss side.

Back to the Basel train station the next morning- not too early so we miss the crowded trains.

A moment to celebrate the beavers, nature’s engineers.

The scenery on the train to Geneva was stunning.

The France/Belgium/Luxembourg/Germany/France/Switzerland/France portion of our final weeks of the trip.

We knew we’d be busy once we returned to the US, so a nice long 13 day break at our friends’ house was very appealing. The bike ride from Geneva to Annemasse is very easy, bike path the entire way, one night in Annemasse so we can ride up the valley after rush hour. It’s a great feeling of accomplishment to close our 70 day loop. We rode down the valley to start this tour, and now we ride up the valley to end the tour. In better shape, with even more appreciation of the countries we’ve visited, and looking forward to some days of rest.

Now that’s a bike path. Loads of regular bike riders commuting to and from Geneva.

A fun beer place on a street being pedestrianized in Annemasse.

Headed out. Final climb. Will the rain hold off?

Finally eating a very well traveled protein bar. I insisted on eating it since it was about to also complete the 70 day loop.

The rain did not hold off, but a playground pergola gave us some shelter.

The neighbors’ cows provide a welcoming committee. Or at least a gazing with interest committee.

Off the bikes and treated to a sunny day.

We could just transfer trains in Paris. Or….

We could stay in Paris for a few nights!

After quite a bit of countryside riding, with the food and lodging challenges taking their toll, we decided to just take a train from Limoges to…somewhere. Somewhere closer to Belgium which was on our want to go list. The easiest train from Limoges went to Paris, with just a few stops. Unfortunately we would not be getting on at the beginning of the run, the train was an Intercity coming from Toulouse. There was the usual medium stressful drama of getting the bikes and bags on the high boarding train, but two women, one taking her bike off the train, whom we helped, and another just boarding the train with no bike, both jumped in to help.

Two very nice Dutch cyclists whose names we failed to get were on our train. We had good platform chat and shared bike touring tips. They rode off to catch their connecting train in Paris.

We headed to our favorite neighborhood in the 12th, our fourth time in this area, this time at the Adagio Apartment Hotel.

Back to our favorite neighborhood bar, Bar & Beer Picpus.

And to Le 217 Brasserie Restaurant for dinner.

The joy of being somewhere familiar. Other nomads will understand how pleasant it is to walk out your door and know where the market is, where the metro is, how to pay for it, and how to get to the fabulous greenway down the block. And, as an added bonus we have our Amis des Louvre cards and they were still valid.

Somehow this was my first steak tartar of our time in France this year. Worth the wait as it was delicious.

The street life in the 12th is wonderful. So much density, wide sidewalks, and folks who take their house cats out for a walk.

This was the biggest and most curious missing cat poster we’ve ever seen. There were two attached to the front gate of a large apartment building.

Our Friends of the Louvre cards continue to more than pay for themselves. Once again we visited using the special members only entrance, and went to two of the special exhibits. The first was The Experience of Nature, Art in Prague at the Court of Rudolph II.

This work of art has a fascinating back story: Artwork recovered after the Second World War Provenance: Baudson collection, interior decoration (?), Paris; possibly acquired on 21 May 1941 by Jane Weyll, art dealer; auction Paris, Drouot, Baudoin, 16 December 1942, no. 41; acquired by Karl Haberstock, Berlin dealer, in 1943 for the Führer Museum in Linz, no. 2687; work recovered at the end of World War II; Central Collecting Point in Munich, 15 July 1945; transported to Paris on 25 June 1946; retained by the 3rd Commission for the Recovery of Works of Art and handed over to the Musée du Louvre on 22 December 1949 by the French Office for Personal Property and Interests; awaiting return to its rightful owners, should provenance research underway establish proof of spoliation or forced sale.

We’ve been to so many museums that display artwork still in limbo from WW2. It’s so moving to read the stories, and to see exhibits where remaining family members have made sure the work goes to a museum where it can be seen by the public, and the story of the family told, rather than disappearing into a private collection. The business of special exhibits also fascinates me. Imagine being able to put together an exhibit from not only the Louvre’s huge collection, but to borrow works of art from other world class museums to realize your theme?

Detail of animals from a painting by Roelant Savery, a Dutch Golden Age painter.

Rich and I decided we would have loved to been at the museum staff meeting where they discussed how to get visitors to venture into lesser known and less crowded parts of the museum. Maybe it was an intern who had the fantastic idea of placing 99 works of Haute Couture in the decorative arts wing?

Louvre Couture. Art and fashion: statement pieces.

Azzedine Alaïa, a Tunisian couturier who museum I visited with our friend Nancy on our previous Paris trip.

It’s not just inside the museum that we spot works of art. These new 100% electric buses are worthy of admiration. I call these the Bubble Butt Buses. Are they coming or going? That is the rear of the bus.

The push me pull you bus. Sadly we didn’t get to ride one, but I could see the seats in the rear were arranged in a conversation seating style.

Sunset bus glamour shot! I used the clean up feature to remove a car from the photo which is why the bottom left looks odd.

Bicycling in Paris is a blast. Rush hour can be pretty crazy but if you head out after rush hour it’s fantastic. You do have to be careful of the Parisian cyclists- they ride ‘em like they stole ‘em. Prepare to be buzzed with just inches to spare, and be super cautious when stopping at red lights or for pedestrians. You might get rear ended.

Our own bikes! Without panniers. So light and fun to ride.

The front is construction scaffolding free.

A mini Statue of Liberty, or Liberty Enlightening the World, and Le Tour Eiffel.

And back out in the afternoon for a visit to the Musée Cognacq-Jay.

During our last visit to Paris this museum was closed after a brazen robbery.

The museum has an exceptional collection of fine art and decorative items.

Our final day was a lot of walking. We were over our intense tiredness and ready to put some miles on our feet. Cimetière du Père-Lachaise.

What’s your one funny Paris tip? Ours is that the cemeteries all have public toilets.

New clothing! I ventured out for some shopping. Last dinner at Le 217 Brasserie.

Shhhh…don’t tell the French we bought our breakfast bread the evening before!

I can’t take many photos while cycling in Paris. Too much going on and a valid fear of crashing.

Gare de l’Est. We arrived nice and early, ready for the train dance.

But wait! What’s this? Smiling cyclist? Empty platform?

A very nice SNCF staff member saw us waiting with our bikes, confirmed which platform our train was leaving from, and let us on the platform early.

I’m sitting and reading my book, the bikes and bags are stowed, and all before any other passengers arrive.

The Happy Travelers celebrating a successful train boarding.

We needed that Paris break. To stop moving for four nights and rest. We slept a lot. We had breakfast and lunch in our studio apartment with kitchenette, and dinner out. After our month in Paris last year, four days felt short, but we knew our way around and had plenty to see, and eat. So we’re headed north now to the Ardennes and a few new countries!

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.

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.

“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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

An easy walk into town along a small lake.

What had been part of the owners barn was now accommodation.

We had a short day into Limoges so we tried to wait out the rain before heading out.

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.

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.