Bike touring – Page 3 – Less Car, More Life

Salzburg and the Saint Rupert Festival.

Oh yeah. Festival stand selling cookies.

We’ve been traveling long enough now, entering our fourth year of nomadic life, that we have a good sense of when we need firm plans and when we can wing it. We planned on Salzburg. Always a good idea in popular cities to book ahead. Rich found a new hotel outside of old town that is one of the increasing number of hotels with no reception or staff. The Numa Salzburg Vogelweider. All automated check in and check out. Worked well. We could walk to old town in 20 minutes, it had a bike storage room, kitchenette, and grocery store across the street. As we looked at restaurants recommended by a friend’s Aunt (thanks Gisela and Tante Hannah) we saw that slightly ominous Google maps message that every traveler fears: Hours may vary due to St. Rupert’s Day.

Thank you for the warning Google. Now who is this Saint Rupert? And what might his day mean to our stay in Salzburg?

With stalls selling all kinds of things like cookies?

And beer and wine? (That wine stein was not as huge as this photo makes it look.)

With loads of happy people in Tracht, or traditional dress.

Saint Rupert is, among other things for which he is venerated, the patron Saint of Salzburg. Born around 660, he is usually portrayed with a vessel of salt, as he helped establish the salt mining industry around the city which he named for salt: Salzburg. And, the city throws him one heck of a five day festival every year around Sept. 24, which is the day his relics (bones) were transferred to the Salzburg Cathedral in 774.

Folks are encouraged to wear Tracht, traditional dress, and they do.

Nothing cuter than a little one in Lederhosen.

The city makes a lovely backdrop for the festival.

Traditional dress, or Tracht, is more popular now in Austria and Bavaria than it was ten or so years ago. I love this. But, I do admit that I have a little squeamishness about the clear gender lines of the outfits. What if you as a woman don’t particularly like dresses (Dirndls)? Why, I asked Rich, don’t ladies wear lederhosen? Well the ladies are way ahead of me and they are wearing lederhosen.

Dirdnl or lederhosen. Whatever you prefer.

We visited the festival, which is centered around the cathedral, all three nights we were in town. we spent our two rest days walking around the city, hanging out in our hotel catching up on laundry and travel planning, and resting up for our climb over the alps to Italy.

We put in our earbuds and did the Rick Steves walking tour early in the morning. Before the crowds got going.

Visiting the cathedral while it’s quiet.

The water mill, built in the 17th century and in use up to 1958. Restored in 1975. Hohensalzburg Fortress in the background.

A restorative caffeinated beverage later and we were ready to climb up above the old town.

The edge of old town butts into Mönchsberg hill. Literally.

Up we go. Up to
Mönchsberg, one of the five mountains of Salzburg.

Getting a bird’s eye view. And leaving the increasingly crowded old town behind.

Charming little winding streets on
Mönchsberg.

And stunning views of the fortress (which we skipped visiting.).

Between walking to old town and climbing up Mönchsberg, and back to old town that evening for festival fun, our first “rest day” totaled over 10 miles/16 kilometers of walking.

Mirabell Palace and a happy second rest day. It’s not often I talk Rich into two rest days in a row. But it was my 60th birthday.

Spending all of our days on bikes doesn’t mean we’re tired of thinking about bikes on rest days. We enjoy seeing what cities have done for bikes. Bikes are one of the best ways to get around a city. Our second rest day we spent avoiding the morning rain and doing laundry, and then walking around admiring bike infrastructure. Before going back to the festival. Gotta love a five day festival. And what did we eat while in Salzburg? Raman twice, once for dinner and once for lunch, Indian food for dinner once, and burgers at the festival. We usually go for Asian food when we’re in cities since it can be tough to find while biking in rural areas. Gotta get our eat around the world fix.

Our first hint that Salzburg would be a good bike city was this bike path hung under a bridge over the Salzach River on our way into the city.

The bike station at Schallmoos train station.

So many bikes parked in a relatively small space.

My favorite sign. Except bikes. No entry, except bikes. One way street, except bikes. No right turn, except bikes. Love it.

I’m sure every city has bike theft problems, but the seemingly carefree locking of bikes sends a nice message.

Wandering around old town admiring the shops full of things we don’t buy is another fun pastime.

Fancy umbrellas. Yes please, but how to carry on a bike tour?

Little chocolate hedgehogs! Ok, these I would have bought if the shop was open.

And the famous sites of Salzburg played second fiddle to Saint Rupert.

Rich’s favorite. A half liter of draft dunkel.

Our trip so far. Far left heart is Geneva area, train to Zurich, and the blue dot is us in Salzburg. Hmmm…there seems to be a big mountain range between us and our next country, Italy. Did we rest enough?

The happy travelers and their rest days strategy.

The Bo-Ko. That’s Bodensee to Königssee-Radweg to you and me.

Talk about spoilt for choice. Which route?

Not the angel hugging a pretzel route. Or the horse cantering over mountains route. Not the Mooserunde. Or the Spitzenblick. We were mostly on this one. The Bodensee-Königssee Radweg.

Storm Boris was still lingering over Bavaria, so wet roads.

But the snow on the alps made for dramatic scenery.

The ride into Oberstaufen where we spent the night.

Bavarian towns certainly know how to plant flower beds.

And we know how to class up a nice hotel: hang wet bike shorts in the window to dry. Oberstaufen was a bit pricy, so a good time to use some Hyatt points at the Linder Hotel.

Heading out of Oberstaufen. Still cloudy.

Owly! Amusing roadside art? Advertising?

Pastry break at 20k. Yes that is sunshine.

Another farm field cat. So many farm cats.

The Großer Alpsee and a happy cyclist. The alps are peeking through the clouds.

After five days of peddling starting to feel strong.

The quiet town square on a Sunday in Immenstadt.

With a sweet cat happy to accept petting.

Now for some jaw dropping views of the alps with a coating of fresh snow and clear air post storm.

But first a nice long break on a trail side BarcaLounger. The Bo-Ko has good amenities along the way. We were early for check in at our hostel so we took a nap.

It was a good thing we weren’t pressed for time, each view was more stunning than the next.

See what I mean? Will you go stand in that field please?

The forecast for the next day, Monday September 16, was pretty miserable. Wet and cold. Loads of discussions about train versus no train. We decided to start out and see how the day went. We were riding close to the train route so if it got really miserable we could bail and take a train hop. Unfortunately I had a cold coming on. I’m pretty sure no one ever prescribed a long cold wet day riding a bike as a cold remedy. It’s not easy to skip some beautiful riding though, so we started out in light rain.

We set out. Bravely. And then the rain came.

Sheltering in a rural bus stop where a kitty came out to cheer me up.

And finally sheltering at a small train station. We took a train hop to save ourselves a few hours riding in the rain on the way to Füssen.

Füssen is where both Neuschwanstein Castle and Hohenschwangau Castle are located. The heavy cloud cover and rain hid both from view for our one night in town. Bike touring is like that. We see so much that only other bike tourists see, but when we get to town, we tend to see less, especially when cold and tired from a long wet day. The weather was forecast to clear up, and we planned a rest day in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, our next stop. We veered off the Bo-Ko route into Austria for a stop here, and we’ll join it again after Garmisch-Partenkirchen before leaving it to go to Salzburg.

Füssen has a lovely main pedestrian street.

Riding out the next morning along the Lech River into Austria.

A curious cow greeted us at the top of a climb. Those cattle guards we went over were there for a reason.

Heiterwanger See is ridiculously beautiful.

Plansee, the connected lake, is also stunning. A long gravel decent is waiting for us at the end of the lake.

Rest day in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. And such beautiful clear skies post rain.

What to do on a rest day? Let a gondola carry you up the mountain.

To be specific, the Wankbahn carried us up to Wank. 1,780 meters/5,839 feet is the peak of the Wank.

Yes, we made all the jokes all the way up and down.

And yes, we got to be the silly tourists wearing sandals in the snow.

One of these things is not like the others.

The view across to Zugspitze peak in the snowy alps was spectacular.

The Zugspitze is over Rich’s shoulder to the left of the photo. 2,962m/9,717f.

Another dinner, another healthy German pour of white wine. A Rivaner, or Müller-Thurgau.

Heading off down the Loisach River valley. This beautiful day certainly makes up for riding in the rain.

When the sun is shining everything is more fun!

Like this chicken made from big hay bales advertising the egg hut where you can buy fresh eggs.

And the stork signs announcing a new baby for this family! (I blanked out the last name.) We saw a lot of these, what a fun way to celebrate and let your neighbors know the baby has arrived. By stork, right?

And the houses painted with religious imagery.

We have Salzburg in our sights, just three more nights before we cross into Austria and have three nights to enjoy the city. We won’t go all the way to Königsee, the end of this route, since it’s a bit of a dead end for us. At this point my cold is waning (or was it getting worse still? Who can remember.) and my rear end was getting used to the hours on the bike. Feeling good. Got my blue tooth speaker on my bike, pod casts, music, pastry. I can pedal all day. Rich can always pedal all day. He’s a monster.

Does every German town have a lovely pedestrian street?

And off again. Our route took us through a golf course.

Through farmland where farms advertised their products.

Tegernsee was a perfect pastry break spot, complete with shaded BarcaLounger.

Tiny churches dot the countryside in this Catholic region.

Hey Rich. I think there’s a cow behind you.

Farm cat who owns the road. They came out for a cuddle.

Always appreciated after a long day which included a flat tire on Rich’s bike – ice cream vending machine!

And a lovely cafe set up to sit and enjoy the ice cream.

Garden goals. Love the giant teacup pot.

One of our many room hacks. This helps block the light through the too sheer shades. I’m particularly pleased with clothes hanger ladder. Just be careful to not overload.

We rode into Salzburg on a Sunday. So many other cyclists out.

Traditional house and garden under modern solar panels.

From leaving our dear friends’ place in France, we’ve pedaled 600 k/372 miles so far. One flat tire on Rich’s bike, which did already have a slow leak, but was only our second flat on these new bikes (shhh…don’t jinx it!).

The far left heart is where we started, biked into Geneva and took the train to Zurich. The blue dot is us in Salzburg.

Although the map makes it look as if we were not in the Alps, we did have some substantial climbs and decents. Although the mileage isn’t massive, there was 5,000 meters/16,400 feet of climbing, on loaded touring bikes. Sometimes on dirt or gravel roads and paths. Phew. No wonder I needed this rest in Salzburg.

Four countries in four days. By bicycle.

To Californians who are accustomed to having to drive hours to leave the state there’s a funny thrill to crossing country borders. Even the non-controlled sometimes unapparent borders of the EU.

Heading out of the Vallée Verte, France. And into a cool and wet weather pattern.

First stop: Boulangerie. On to Switzerland.

Even more fun when you ride a fantastic bikeway from France into Switzerland.

A map of our travels by bikes in Europe would look like the wanderings of a neighborhood cat, on a large scale. Between vacations when we worked and our post retirement bike tours we’ve crossed, criss crossed, meandered, train hopped, ferry hopped, head down and pedaled, woken up with no plan, gone with the tail wind, and any other description you can think of about our pedaling in Europe.

Our last bike tour, spring of 2024, started the same way, pedaling to Geneva, but we pedaled right through and out the Via Rhona. This time we hopped a train to Zurich, Switzerland, to get us to a new starting point.

Dueling train lunch decisions. Gazpacho for me, not Rich’s favorite.

We stopped outside the train station in Zürich to put on all of our rain gear and started the 10k ride to our hotel.

After a good nights sleep, which was very welcome as the jet lag got us bad this time, we headed out towards Wil, Switzerland. Riding out of Zurich was like riding out of any city, getting through big box store areas, crossing highways and motorways, through large roundabouts, and finally seeing the wide open countryside. Well, almost any city. In the Netherlands of course, you can easily ride anywhere – including into and out of big cities. We still reminisce about our ride through Utrecht a few years back and how absolutely easy it was.

Welcome to my world. And don’t feed me, said the sign on his fence.

One of our pastimes while traveling is building the perfect country, taking our favorite things from each place we visit and adding them to our fictional nation. We didn’t get very far on this ride before I was reminded of my favorite thing from Switzerland, Austria, and Germany. So many farm cats wandering the fields.

Usually the farm cats are too far away or too skittish for photos, but this one came over for a visit.

And then started following Rich up the road.

This covered bridge had windows and ladders so you could admire the view.

Some cow barns have automatic scratchers which start turning when the cow leans into the brush.

I’m sure the locals and farmers laugh to see us snapping photos of their farmyard animals, but who can resist chickens wearing feathered footies?

Smooth smooth asphalt on the bike paths.

Apple season! There are so many apple trees. Well tended orchards and random trail side trees. We only pick apples from those which are not obviously part of someone’s orchard.

Our lovely historic room in Wil. This is before we dumped the contents of our panniers everywhere.

The view over Wil from our hotel. The clouds are so dramatic.

We’d been lucking out with the weather, grey skies and threatening clouds and we got to Wil before the rain and hail front moved through. The hail did catch us out without an umbrella and forced a dinner decision on us – the close burger place versus the Thai place which would have meant arriving drenched. And did we walk out of our hotel right past a big bucket of umbrellas to borrow? Yes. Lesson learned.

Heading out after our second and last night in Switzerland. It was a cold morning.

What’s the first stop? A bakery. Always.

No, this giant cookie did not come with us.

Apple trees so loaded that their limbs are propped up.

More apple trees. And threatening skies.

The villages, all centered around a farm, are so charming.

And welcoming. With benches and a fountain.

A perfect place for a pastry break. And then the rain came down.

And a very nice woman across the street invited us to shelter under her barn overhang.

Climbing up, we’re almost out of Switzerland now, about to cross into Austria. My handle bar covers are still working well. Keeping my hands warm and dry.

Beautiful Swiss cows wondering why we are leaving Switzerland.

The signage makes you feel so welcome as a cyclist or hiker.

Schloss Hagenwil. We went inside and had a look around. Mostly restaurant space but quite stunning.

Hagenwil is the only intact water castle remaining in Eastern Switzerland. Imagine what it took to build and maintain this castle.

Lake Constance to the Swiss and Austrians or Bodensee to the Germans.

A train crossing. That’s an Austrian train. We’re so close!

Wait! How did we get on this side of the border already? We’re in Austria after crossing a little bike pedestrian bridge.

To refresh your Austrian geography, here is a map. The little left side tail which touches the lake is where we entered. That’s Lake Constance.

Our one night in Austria would be in Hard, and we were both quite impressed with the space for bikes and pedestrians on this bridge into town. The engineer said “Now that’s how you build a bike lane on a bridge.” Yes, we’re looking at you West Span SF Oakland Bay Bridge.

Another pristine hotel room. Before bag explosion. As a bonus, it started to hail just after we checked in. This early and cold storm, named Boris, will dump snow on the Alps and cause flooding in Czechia and Austria. We are fine though.

Another cold and wet day. I’m clutching my tea thermos which is extra swaddled to keep it warm. And a bag of pastries.

My favorite: quark tasha. Like a cheese danish. And a photo bombing Rich.

Riding through the countryside gives us a bucolic look at a place. It’s unique and refreshing to us, coming from the western USA, to be able to ride from town to town on safe connected pathways. We are used to some cities, including our own San Francisco, being quite bicycle friendly, but if you were to ride town to town, or city to town in the US, you would find almost no bicycle infrastructure. You would simply be sharing the road with large fast moving motor vehicles. That’s why crossing county borders by bike like we are still thrills us. It’s why we travel, to see what it’s like away from home. To get to do something we don’t do in the Western US.

And speaking of borders, hello Germany! Country four, day four.

Bavaria. The southernmost state of Germany’s five states, and the largest by land mass.

The happy travelers- some cold wet days have tested us, but we’re still standing.

Dijon through the Alps

Even on long travels, the end of any travel segment can start to drain your enthusiasm as you start thinking about the next phase of your journey, or worse, the work waiting for you back home.

Heading to Albertville on a beautiful spring day in the Alps. Our minds are now addicted to new.

We’ve all had that end of vacation feeling or remember our childhood summers of freedom coming to a close in late August (Ugh!). But one of the reasons we gave up or locked up most of our material possessions three years ago was to experience the world without that constant end of trip deadline. No limits or boundaries. It’s a magical feeling and one I appreciate more and more as we traverse the world. We are lucky and know it. We recommend everyone tries it someday.

Spring in the Place de la Liberation of Dijon

But our last few weeks of spring bike touring in France took a concerted effort to stay focused and motivated. Don’t get me wrong, parts of it were wonderful, and some warm spring (summer?) weather gave us a “vacation from our vacation” feeling in Annecy, a perfect cap to our recent journey.

Signaling my intentions for Cheryl and the locals in Dijon. Église Saint-Michel in the distance. BTW, French cyclists don’t signal much, and seem to thrive on the organic flow familiar to the Dutch.

After a brisk morning cycle to our train hop from Les Laumes – Alésia on the Burgundy Canal, we rolled into Dijon Ville station mid-day. We were pleased to see a train platform ramp and the option of an at-grade exit to the street. Outside the station was a bikeway towards center ville. This abundance of bike infrastructure is one of the major reasons why we’ve been exploring France by bike for nearly 3 months!

Dijon Gare. We love platform access ramps; the best station solution for all when space permits.

This was our second visit to Dijon while cycle touring, but this time we planned to spend two nights to allow a bit more time to explore the beautiful city at the heart of Burgundy. It’s an extremely pleasant and lively city, with a bike and pedestrian oriented core, parks, and beautiful architecture. Free museums and a wide array of food options add to the draw. It’s also extremely well connected by train on the Paris-Lyon mainline.

History plaques add to the joy of wandering historic Dijon. Many stately buildings with grand courtyards were built by the wealthy in the mid 1700’s. Vive la Révolution!

A few hours to kill before checking into our bike friendly hotel. Often nomadic life includes sitting on park benches; maybe travel planning, reading a book, or just watching the world go by.

This area of Dijon was being upgraded this year to meet the Mayor’s goals for livability. We noticed a lot of new streetscape improvements and tree planting in urban areas of France.

Upgrading to City 2.0 – more walkable, more trees, and limited car traffic.

E-bike cargo and mail delivery is really put to the test in France and the perfect tool for compact urban centers.

What is behind these beautiful blue doors?

After enjoying a day off the bikes in Dijon, we had planned to continue south and east towards the Jura mountains and Geneva. But as I looked into the details of our planned route, I was thinking maybe we needed a Plan B.

Access to the Dijon city center is controlled by retractable bollards, making it a pedestrian and bicycle oasis.

First, there was a lot of flat sections of the Burgundy canal and Doubs River to pass along with a likely headwind. Blah. Second, lodging with food in the Jura is very limited and I was challenged to find places to stay early season once we climbed up to the 3,000+ foot plateau. (Probably better to camp up there.) Third, more unseasonably cold weather and rain was predicted. No thank you.

High boarding train to Lyon. Local TER trains are your best bet with bikes or IC trains with bike space reservation. TGVs also serve this corridor but have very limited bike space, so only work with advanced planning.

Two hooks with pretty easy access inside.

So we pivoted last minute and instead caught a train south to Valence via Lyon, and headed up the Isère River valley into the heart of the Alps. It was the route I had originally scoped for our return to the Vallée Verte. It has a lot more lodging options, lower elevations, and trains for backup. More importantly, we were excited by this new route, which is a key component of (nomadic) life. It’s good to suffer sometimes for the sake of a goal, but also ok to make sensible choices for yourself.

A perfect cafe to people watch in Dijon.

The Musée des Beux Arts permanent collections are free and it houses a wonderful collection of art, sculpture, and antiquities.

Paulus Potter’s “Head of a Sheep” at the Dijon Musée des Beaux-Arts.

The Isère River enters the Rhône north of Valence and is the namesake of the Department that is a part of the region of Rhône-Alps. We had actually passed through Valence in March on the Via Rhôna, so had to retrace a bit of our route upstream this time. Strangely, the lower part of the Isère River is actually still in the department of the Drôme.

The skies are starting to look threatening as we head up the Rhône near Valence.

Great bike bridges on the Via Rhôna and Isère

An homage to our favorite woodland creature.

We just beat the forecast rain to our first night stay in Romans-sur-Isère, but were a bit stunned by the somewhat incessant and gridlocked traffic through this old riverside industrial city. We slogged through to get to our surprisingly charming lodging on the edge of the city, and walked back into the center of the town in the rain for dinner. We did find a (the?) fun and friendly place to get a drink and dinner and everyone was very nice to the two noticeable American cycle tourists. The town clearly gets few cycle tourists, although sits on the recently developed V63/V62 cycle route know collectively as “La Belle Via”.

Heading into Romans-sur-Isère. We hadn’t hit the traffic jams yet.

Heading out in the rain the next day from the very nice Hôtel L’Orée du Parc.

Full rain suit and a feigned smile during a slight rain break

We did manage a pastry rain break under a shop awning. Can’t let our French baked goods levels get too low.

We love to learn about the history of places, even for a one night stay, and Romans has been influenced by its strategic location on trading routes and a major river. Shoe manufacturing is still a business and there is a small museum dedicated to the industry that was unfortunately closed by the time we rolled into town. Further down river are abundant walnut orchards. On the way out of town, we learned another source of major traffic was a nuclear fuel manufacturing facility. But Romans is not a bicycle city and the bike infrastructure was sad or non-existant. There was a renovation of part of the Main Street in progress which may help the pedestrian environnement, but otherwise it seemed to be a bit overrun by cars and parking.

We were following the V63 cycle route up (and down) the Isère which includes some dedicated path sections, but mostly quiet roads.

The challenge of the next day was 84km to Grenoble which would have been manageable except it was raining out the door and rarely stopped. We had a low point this day as the traffic getting out of Romans, steep hills, and incessant rain seemed to zap the energy and motivation of Cheryl, and I could sense it. We both have our bad days, but generally one of us keeps it mentally together. Today we were both just a bit over it. Travel, rain, eating out…all of it.

The Isère river valley was beautiful, even on this moody and stormy day

A lunch snack at a welcomed picnic area was cut short as we saw a massive thunderstorm front approaching. Ride fast!

We did manage to miss the worst of an epic thunderstorm and hail in a farmers shed. Cheryl is a travel trooper and rarely complians, but the ups and downs of 10 weeks of cycle touring was weighing us both down. (I generally complain first -;) We had a train bailout option in the small town of Vinay, but arrived to just miss a train prior to a 2 hour gap in service. The days lack of progress sent me into a travel tailspin too, and let’s just say, that afternoon was one of the low points of our France sojourn.

Made it to a farmers shed just in time for the skies to open up.

The rain and hail let up a bit finally so we headed back out.

Rain booties on, trousers off. It’s a look.

But the sun came out as we waited for our train. and the short train hop to Grenoble was fine. The city was lively and green, and the next day was beautiful. Travel and cycle touring can propel you on a rollercoaster of emotions, but that is why we continue on. The next day IS generally better -:) .

Grenoble was home to the 1968 Winter Olympics and now 700,000 people live in its region, making it the biggest metro region in the Alps.

Nope, not a cute animal, but the 2024 Paris Olympic mascot takes the shape and form of a Phrygian cap; a symbol of freedom and revolution! Love the theme and inclusion of a Paralympic prosthetic leg.

There was a surprising abundance of street art and murals in Grenoble.

Love the green tram tracks (but not all the rain).

Next level cargo bikes in a seriously green city.

The cranky travelers recovering in Grenoble and ready to explore another day.

We loved Grenoble but only stayed a night as hotels were unusually expensive due to a conference. We vowed to come back and explore more there soon as it’s nearby the Vallée Verte and has a lot of top museums, not to mention outdoor adventure in every direction. The next two days cycling further up the valley were inspiring and relatively short, so allowed for plenty of time to stop at sights, take photos, and bask in our positive attitude!

The ride out of Grenoble was flat but pleasant along the Isère River and valley.

But soon heads up some small hills into the Coeur de Savoie.

The Savoie wine production region near Chingin.

Views and history at Chateau LaViolette, a very friendly and lovingly restored B&B in the Porte-de-Savoie. This magnificent cypress tree was over 200 years old.

Views from LaViolette of vineyards famous for Mondeuse Noir and Jacquere. The infamous land sliding Mt Granier is obscured by clouds.

Our next day was greeted by spectacularly blue skies cycling the D201 road to Albertville. We passed on the steep climb to the historic Château de Miolans.

A wonderful day rolling through the tidy and historic villages of the Savoie.

Usually there is a great water source in these mountains…just need to make sure you see the “Eau Potable” sign.

The D201 road rolls up and down along the edge of the valley towards Albertville and is a great alternative to the flat V62 route in the bottom of the valley.

We found a nice little apartment in Albertville to spend the first two nights of the long Corpus Christi holiday weekend, as Albertville is actually not much of a tourist town, despite hosting the 1992 Winter Olympics. It’s pleasant enough and was a good place to relax, do laundry, and explore a bit, but otherwise would recommend other places in the Alps for scenery and charm. It has the old Olympic park and a small medieval town, Conflans, on an adjacent bluff. We realized all the charming Olympic shots you saw in 1992 were probably of Conflans, not Albertville per se.

Our cozy apartment in Albertville had convenient balcony drying

The medieval village of Conflans is just a short walk up the hill from downtown Albertville. We really enjoyed learning more about life and history of the Savoie at the small museum.

La Bicyclette in Albertville is a great bike themed bar with craft beers, a very pleasant garden, and of course, wine -:) .

Heading out of Albertville for a short day to Annecy. How can we make this longer and more fun?

Taking the rolling side gravel and dirt paths instead of the paved cycle path.

Happy to snag a lunch bench on this busy holiday weekend.

Another side excursion to get some views and hills.

Oops, too much hill and wicked steep in parts! A bike push assist.

Yup, the trail goes through this farmhouse. We’ve learned that France is quite liberal with protecting historic rights-of-way and unless there is a clear Privé sign, we press on.

Cheryl enjoying the side excursion downhill.

Fun descent in a bit of mud. First one to fall down buys the wine!

After Albertville, we had an easy day to Annecy planned, but I did my best to make it a bit more challenging as we couldn’t get into our apartment there until 5:30. But the weather was spectacular and the route a joy, minus a few rough patches off road. We got to the south end of Lake Annecy just after lunch, where our route joined the 40km lake loop. It seemed that most of France was outside that day as the weather was finally warm. We merged into the pathway mix of fast and slow, families and dogs, and racers kitted out still thinking they might achieve their personal Strava best weaving around thousands of people. It was fun and the scene was memorable as we got closer to the center of Annecy.

You can circle Lake Annecy on cycle routes which is a very popular day trip.

The lake path was full on France the Sunday of a long holiday weekend (Corpus Christi).

We were waiting for a mishap in the Sunday spring fever and lakeside chaos, but it all seemed to work out.

So this is what cycle touring in warm weather is like! We felt the joy of everyone as well, since we’d been experiencing the same wet and cold spring across France.

Chillin in the lake on the hottest day of our spring trip.

Annecy’s lakefront has the historic aire of a long visited and cherished place for relaxation.

The enchanting crystal waters of Le Thiou, a short river that flows out of Lake Annecy and is one of the clearest in the world. It eventually flows into the Fier and Rhône.

Annecy is a lovely French city with a great density, beautiful lake front, summer swimming, boating, and strolling. It benefits from easy access by train including daily direct TGVs to Paris. For our California friends…imagine a 2 hour train from San Francisco to North Lake Tahoe. We can only dream.

New play space for people as Annecy had recently expanded the car free core.

Bollard access again keeps the lakeside traffic out of old town core.

We stayed another night in Annecy after the holiday rush to enjoy a more tranquil experience and more swimming!

Beers with friendly British cycle tourists we met on the path. Greetings Clive and Alan!

Our final route from Annecy to the Vallée Verte included a morning train hop as the V62 route is sadly incomplete and we’d been warned about the road near Cruseilles. The terrain is steep and rugged north of Annecy and it would be too long to do in one day as well. So we enjoyed a scenic hop on Line 2 of the recently upgraded and completed Léman Express system centered around Geneva. The trains are modern, frequent, and bike friendly. Bike space is somewhat limited, so we imagine at peak times it could be challenging, but we had a very peaceful ride on the 10am train which starts Annecy. Note that you need to buy a Swiss bike day pass if you stay on the system into Switzerland. (we did not.) The fixed price Swiss bike day pass (regardless of distance) is not a cycle friendly solution for short hops and really should be revised by SBB.

The final day push up the Col de Perret. Cheryl climbing with little effort and record speed; a testament to our almost 3 months on the bikes

France does fresh vending like no others. This wonderful 24/7 farm shop had artisan yogurt, cheeses, eggs, and a wide variety of vegetables.

Biggest farm vending ever near Reignier. We got fresh broccoli and some yogurt. A great solution for staffing costs while still providing access to fresh foods.

Feeding our kitchen scraps to the neighbors pig; strangely they don’t like cabbage.

Reunited with our great friends and their visiting family for a spectacular day hike in the Alps.

Happy to be back in the Vallée Verte after another successful bike tour.

We shaved over an hour off our last time climbing up the high valley route and felt a strong sense of accomplishment as we rolled into our friend’s house again. We appreciate everyday of our freedom. Happy travels!

Riding out of Paris to Fontainebleau and beyond.

From where we stayed in the 12th, Fontainebleau would be an hour by car, or an hour and 15 minutes by train. But where’s the fun in that? Where’s the sense of geography and urban transition to countryside? Where, I ask you, are the super muddy trails and deep puddles when going by train? Ok, that last part wasn’t exactly a selling point but thankfully we didn’t know about the bad pavement and mud holes called trails since none of us had ever done this ride before. We did want the sense of accomplishment that comes with leaving a city by bike, that feeling when you load up your panniers and just start pedaling. Self sufficiency, freedom to set your own schedule and stop and look at sights more closely.

Enjoying our start through the Bois de Vincennes, after a stop for lunch provisions.

Crossing the Seine and the railroad tracks on Charenton-le-Pont.

As soon as we left the Bois de Vincennes we left the city of Paris. We were cycling through the municipalities which make up the Île-de-France, the most populous of the 18 regions of France with 12m inhabitants. The cycling infrastructure stayed quite good at first, with lanes and signage to guide you along the Scandibérique. The what? The French part of EuroVelo 3, which links Trondheim (in Norway) to Cap-Fisterra passing by Santiago de Compostela (in Spain).

Scandibérique signage. I always snap a photo of the different route signs.

So many construction cranes in Ivry-sur-Seine.

Vitry-sur-Seine. A nice path separated from the road.

The path did look as if it had been flooded recently, with a layer of mud covering it.

Looking more country-like in Draveil. Jason would be taking a train back to Paris from Fontainebleau.

Étiolles, where the path starts to look a bit less welcoming.

The worst trail guards ever. What are these even supposed to accomplish? Fine with an unloaded bike, but the added width and weight of a loaded bike made these barriers so slow and difficult to cross. Saint-Germain-lès-Corbeil.

And then the trail got nice again, such smooth asphalt. Le Coudray-Montceaux.

Smoked salmon and bread. There was a serious lack of benches along the route so we ate standing by the trail. Dammarie-les-Lys

We were surprised in Bois-le-Roi to discover some truly jaw dropping mansions, known as Affolantes.

They are considered a symbol of 19th-century bourgeois ascendancy. I failed to capture a photo of the horrors of the pavement quality.

Coming in to Fontainebleau another unpaved section that got quite muddy. It was surprising to have the marked bike path to the train station be unpaved and muddy.

It was great to ride right out of Paris with our friend Jason, but would we ride this stretch again? Probably not. Jason’s fiancée Katie told us she wouldn’t ride that stretch again, and would prefer to take a train out and ride on from Fontainebleau. I agree with her. It seems to be a big huge missed opportunity to not have a coherent paved or smoothly surfaced trail along that stretch – it would be a huge draw. We had to ride through deep mud on overgrown paths on some stretches. No photos because we were all too busy trying to ride through deep mud!

Château de Fontainebleau the next morning on our ride out.

Aww…look at those smiling morning faces. Little did this happy couple know what trials would face them on this ride from Château de Fontainebleau to Sens.

Trials? A bad day riding in beautiful France? Yes, it happens. First, we got stuck in a dead end construction zone leaving the Château. That ate up about 20 minutes.

And then this dead end into a huge processing plant near La Grande-Paroisse. If it hadn’t been a holiday, Ascension Day, we think a connecting gate would have been open to take us back to the river. It was not. That took another 45 minutes or so.

But wait! We pivoted to this river side path. We’re still along the Seine and now between the large industrial site and the river.

There were lovely roses blooming along the mud path. Are we coming out of the mud pit?

Nope. More mud ahead. This stretch slowed us down so much. Really threw off the timing of the day.

Mud packed fenders. A miscalculation of how deep one mud puddle actually was resulted in very dirty socks and sandals.

Finally, one those traditional laundry sites came in handy for me to wash my sandals off.

The sun was out and we dried off our muddy bikes. Rich rides past an asparagus field in Vinneuf.

Later than usual arrival in Sens, thanks to two dead ends, one long muddy stretch, and a pretty warm day. We’re on the Yonne River now.

The beautifully restored Mairie de Sens.

From Sens on the Yonne River we headed to Migennes. We met another bike touring couple from Paris who were headed to Villeneuve-sur-Yonne to take the train back to Paris. We joked to each other that with start of May, and some nice weather, there had been a bike touring hatch out. We saw more cyclists in a few days than we’d seen since we left the Geneva area on March 10th.

Porte de Sens of Villeneuve-sur-Yonne, riding through the old gate after a stop for lunch supplies.

Ah, a bench in the shade to enjoy the river and the ducks.

Enjoying the warm weather as we ride through Armeau. I have two different helmet hats with me. And two other hats. Four hats. Too many?

Koomoot had told us this section was unpaved, but not only has it been paved, but some nice bike amenities have been added.

We’re headed in the direction of Joigny. We came from Sens that morning.

France continues to impress me with the nicely upkept state of historic sites, like this traditional laundry near Saint-Aubin-sur-Yonne.

Second lunch break across the river from Joigny.

Migennes. Where we spent the night at a decent hotel with a fantastic restaurant. Hôtel Restaurant Le Mitigana. And we meet the Canal de Bourgogne. Hello canal.

Happy canal faces which will turn sour in a day or so.

We had some long days cycling into headwinds and through mud patches and getting to towns a bit late, so the discussion in Migennes was whether to ride the entire way to our next stop, in Rougemont – 81 kilometers away – or to take a train hop.

Train hop! It was only a 15 minute ride, but it got us far enough that a day of riding a flat canal path into a headwind was a tolerable notion.

The rental boats were out on this lovely long weekend.

Oh yes. Canal riding. It’s flat and a bit boring.

It was warm enough that we had to search for a shaded spot for lunch (so few benches or tables on the canal trail) at Château de Tanlay.

Wheee! A hill! After our off the canal lunch break.

Ravières, another off the canal town. This is what I miss when we ride the canal, seeing interesting architecture and small towns.

The Mairie in Ravières. It’s always nice to take a break in a small town and watch life unfold around us.

This stretch of the canal, a few kilometers before our lockside accommodation, is quite beautiful. The curve of the canal and the cliffs add drama.

Folks gathering to watch a boat go through the lock near our BnB. Big canal activity.

The lock gate and the old forge across the canal. We could hear the water running through the lock gate all night.

Next morning- back on the canal into the headwind.

Any cyclist will nod their head in agreement with this statement: Headwinds are demoralizing. Rich updated his favorite and only client (me) on the day’s agenda: get to Dijon, an almost 90k ride, with a headwind and a lot more canal riding. He knew I would not be thrilled so the next sentence was – or there’s a train hop.

On our way along the canal to the train.

Everyone was happy to be leaving the canal behind.

Dijon! We had two nights booked and were both looking forward to exploring Dijon.

On any trip you have ups and downs. After more than two months pedaling around in France having fun and staying upbeat and positive, we were due for a bit of frustration and anxiety. We have a deal that we both can’t freak out at the same time. It works out for the most part. And it did this time. We overcame a few trying days, and a few more to come, and pedaled on. More on that with Rich’s next post.

Paris with touring bikes? Oh là là!

Our touring bike adventures have taught us a few things about trains and bikes. And we keep learning new helpful tidbits. One of the best tips is to try to book a train that starts at the beginning of your journey, and ends at your stop. There are few things as stressful as trying to get your bikes and panniers on or off a train at a mid point station. Although we’ve found French train staff, SNCF, and passengers to be pretty darn chill and helpful, it’s not very fun. One of our new discoveries on this trip is that, unlike the US, France doesn’t mind if bikes use the escalators. Using an escalator is so much easier and faster than the elevator or lugging bikes and bags separately up or down stairs. And, with our hydraulic disc brakes you feel confident that you have your bike under control and won’t cause an accident, even with loaded panniers. We came down the escalator at Gare de Bercy.

Oh, Paris. With your protected bike lanes and lovely trees.

Earlier on this trip we had dinner at a Chambre d’hote with a couple from Vichy, France, who warned us about going to Paris with our bike. So dangerous, they said, to cycle in Paris. Oh no, we replied, we’ve been through Paris on our loaded bikes and it’s fine. The Rue de Rivoli, for example, has almost no private auto traffic, just bikes and taxis. They were not convinced, and did not believe the crazy Americans. Ah well, their loss. I’m glad we’d been in Paris and knew how good it’s gotten for bikes, or they would have made us nervous. Taking advice from people who don’t bike is very different than hearing from cyclists.

Arriving in Paris is a treat. It was a Saturday afternoon and the city was calm and peaceful, to our eyes.

What made us think twice, or three times, about going through Paris, which we desperately wanted to do to catch up with friends, wasn’t the cycling conditions, but the trains in and finding a hotel with secure bike parking.

Bike friendly accommodation. This was the Aparthotel Adagio Paris Nation, in the 12th arrondissement.

The center of Paris can be tough, with smaller spaces and less secure bike parking, but one set of friends were in the 12th, and Rich found an Aparthotel with secure bike parking very close to where they were staying.

How Parisian does this look? Our good friends Michelle and Alan came to meet us for dinner on their last night in France.

La Vega, also in the 12th. Recommended by our friends Jason and Katie, who are living in Paris.

Ah the dreaded (by me) menu board. All the food we had was fantastic but I have such a struggle reading the beautiful French writing.

We bid farewell to Michelle and Alan after a long and delicious evening.

On Sunday it was time to ride our bikes around Paris with Jason.

Rich and I are long time bike commuters and used our bikes for transportation and recreation in San Francisco. We have spent decades pushing for bicycle infrastructure improvements in our beloved SF. What a joy to ride around in Paris which is leaping ahead as a bike friendly city, and in a city where we don’t know the backstory and fight over every street. Jason, as a professor of urban geography who writes books about the politics of urban mobility, does know. He kept us regaled with the background about the changes in Paris.

Paris putting on its Olympic Games face. Hôtel de Ville.

Paroisse (Parish Church) Saint-Paul Saint-Louis, 3rd arrondissement. Bicycles are absolutely the most efficient and scenic way to get around Paris.

Don’t blink, now we’re in the 19th arrondissement. Those threatening clouds only spit on us a little.

On Monday we headed out on foot, following what I’m sure all American visitors refer to as Paris’ Highline, the Coulée Verte René-Dumont, which had an entrance right near our hotel. It’s a repurposed railway line and similar to the High Line in New York in that you get to walk above street level through gardens and art, and try to resist the temptation to peek into folks’ windows.

Parts of the greenway are lush with plantings.

Street art on the side of a neighboring building.

Olympic Smurf! I think this is by Invader, a French street artist who does pixilated tile mosaics, but could be an imitator.

The greenway goes right through two buildings. What a way to walk in Paris.

The wide sidewalks of the 13th. That’s the metro line No. 6 running above.

Gifted leftover metro tickets from Alan and Michelle. Thank you!

Back over the Seine to our apartment for well deserved napping. Something we don’t get to do while actually biking.

What a lovely familiar feeling it is to meet up with long time friends. We took advantage of being able to socialize as much as we could. Tuesday, our last full day before we cycled out of Paris, it was back on the metro to visit Musée de Montmartre. Recommended by our friend Eve who had just been in Paris.

The metro had a delay but I was busy taking photos of the Olympic ads in the stations, advising about how to get around during the games.

TO MOVE
EASILY DURING GAMES
The important thing is to anticipate
The Games will have an impact on your travels. To prepare, go to:
anticipatejeux.gouv.fr

Paris is already a busy city. But, has experience coping with many many visitors. Friends who are visiting for the Games are hoping that things will go as smoothly as the London games did.

Everything in Paris looks picturesque to me. Even folks waiting for the metro.

Off the metro and a walk uphill towards Montmartre.

We are quite crowd adverse, so why head to Montmartre, one of the most visited areas in Paris? Sure to be heaving with tourists? Would the Musée de Montmartre be worth it? Yes! As with any A list site the trick is to arrive early and pick a less visited part of Montmartre. Thank you Eve, great recommendation.

You enter through lovely gardens where Renoir once worked, and the 17th century house takes you through the history of The Butte, as Montmartre was called.

A painting
For Au Lapin Agile, a cabaret.

Artist Théophile Steinlen. Part of the frieze ‘Cats and Moons’ (c.1895)

The studio where Suzanne Valadon painted. I appreciated the focus on a female artist.

A rather impressionistic photo of me and the only vineyard in Paris, Vigne du Clos Montmartre, from the garden of the museum.

Just to torture ourselves we walked by The Basilica of Sacré-Cœur de Montmartre to see all the crowds.

We hoofed it back to the metro to get back to the lovely and calm 12th.

Ah. Lunch at Le 217 Brasserie Restaurant.

Rosé at lunchtime. Another biking day no-no. That’s a 50 cl pichet.

France has absolutely spoiled us for wine opportunities and prices. Have we had a bad wine? Only once, at Chambre d’hote, we were too polite to mention it to our hostess.

Dinner with Jason that night, his fiancé was working late. He made us fantastic creole food.

There is a lot of chat in the constant travel groups about avoiding crowded destinations, what we call A sites or cities. There are certain times of year when these popular places are just about guaranteed to be over run with visitors. In incredibly popular cities, like Paris, it seems the crowded times are more and more frequent. Go to B or C, or even D places. Or, as Rich and I managed in Paris, go to an A city but stick with less popular areas or attractions. It helps to have a travel planner like Rich who can spend hours on a single train puzzling to find the perfect solution. And then scour Paris for bike friendly accommodation in a good location. Actually, ‘helps’ is the wrong word. Depends is the correct description. Traveling by loaded touring bike into a big city could be a stressful recipe for relationship disaster, but with good planning, and a rule we’ve adopted from another traveling couple – no fault travel days (where no one can blame the other person for any problem encountered on a travel or transition day), we make it work. Paris was a wonderful break from cycling. Seeing friends was a great recharge. Next: we ride out of Paris with Jason.

À votre santé, Paris! (Thank you for the photo Michelle!)

Issoire to Paris, surely the weather will improve?

After barely getting all our wet gear dry in a hotel room with no heated towel rack, and only barely warm radiators, we loaded up and took the train for a boost from Aurillac towards Issoire.

Even after a long date with the hair dryer my shoes are still a bit damp.

Ready to roll off the train in Brassac-les-Mines.

Our train ride took us through a tunnel and got us past the Parc naturel régional des Volcans d’Auvergne, a mountainous area with ski slopes. Looking out the train windows as we emerged from the tunnel I was quite thankful to not be pedaling, although the area was gorgeous.

The Allier River was still raging from all the rain.

Raging muddy rivers were starting to seem normal.

Now we’re on the Via Allier. The French regional routes are super scenic.

Riding through Orsonnette. We’ve entered the Puy-de-Dôme department.

“The love is in the Fields.” We needed help with this translation, thank you Finn.

The look of the buildings has changed. No more slate roofs and buttery yellow stone buildings, now it’s red roofs and more of a grey or brown tone.

The cats are still cute in this new region.

Climbing up a ridge towards Lamontgie. Grey skies, but still dry.

Lunch stop at a bench with a lovely church view. And the rain started.

Quick, stop in front of that beautiful gate at Château de Parentignat.

It will come as no surprise to Europeans and perhaps a medium to big surprise to Americans what an impactful holiday May 1st is in Europe. May Day, Labour Day, or Fête du Travail will see shops and museums closed, and many restaurants as well. We planned two nights in Issoire since the weather on May Day was scheduled to be rainy again. We cozied up in our hotel room after dinner on April 30th and planned to rest, read, travel plan and blog. We went out to find lunch and see what might be open for dinner. Lunch was a Chinese restaurant, and we saw a few other places open, brasseries and cafes mostly. However, when we ventured back out in the rain for dinner, we were having no luck. Those businesses which had been open for lunch were now closed. Uh oh. Panic setting in. Rich spotted a restaurant whose hours on line proclaimed a 7pm opening. The metal shutter was half open and people were inside! Success? Not exactly. The four guys inside were staff having a Fête du Travail celebration. When the Manager, Hugo, figured out we were Americans he hustled us inside for a drink.

Enjoying a Fête du Travail drink and camaraderie.

They may have been a few drinks ahead of us but we had a fantastic 45 minutes talking and laughing.

What had been a slight stop of desperation in Issoire turned into a memorable experience. Towns with fewer tourists seem to lead to fun interactions. No one in Issoire is tired of American tourists clumping around town.

Abbatiale Saint-Austremoine which has uniquely painted walls and columns.

Rainy streets on our way to an Indian restaurant for dinner. We ate there both nights, it was that good and open!

Farewell Issoire, thanks to the hospitality of a crew of celebrating workers we had a memorable time. But, May 2nd and we’re back out into the rain to ride to Clermont-Ferrand. We’re timing our train from there to arrive in Paris for a four night stay to catch up with friends, so we have a two night stay planned in Clermont-Ferrand. The amazing travel planner Rich figured out the puzzle of loaded touring bikes/trains/Paris.

Nothing like a climb to warm you up on a chilly morning. Col de la Croix des Gardes.

From here we get a lovely decent to Clermont-Ferrand.

Dramatic volcanic mountains with a dusting of snow.

Equally dramatic Pain Suisse enjoyed in Vic-le-Comte. My favorite riding snack in France.
Pain Suisse is brioche dough filled with crème pâtisserie and chocolate chips.

Some lovely new pavement on the cycle track.

An old water mill on a side street of Les Martres-de-Veyre.

This signage was worth making Rich turn around and come back for a drama shot.

We didn’t expect much of Clermont-Ferrand. Rich had read that it wasn’t that charming a town. It’s funny how quickly and easily we can have our minds made up, or changed about a place. Coming in up a climb up a commercial street, grump grump grump. Construction zone, grump grump. Oh! A plaza. Oh, street cars. Hey, we’re really liking this town.

Drying out our fluorescent yellow shoe covers after another day of rainy riding.

Fascinating rubber tired single rail streetcars.

The town is bordered by the volcanic Chaîne des Puys mountains.

Which makes for some fantastic views, like this one of the Puy-de-Dôme.

And the stunning Notre-Dame of Assumption Cathedral? Not dirt or soot blackened as you might first assume. Carved from black lava stone! It really stands out from the red roofs when viewed from Parc Montjuzet.

Very dramatic, the black spires against a grey sky.

The black stone makes for some fantastic contrast.

This building is like a giant pumice stone. Well, not exactly. It’s made from scoria which is denser than pumice.

Inside the cathedral. The black stone makes the lighting and windows really pop.

What else did we enjoy about Clermont-Ferrand?

Fountains which had drinkable water were clearly marked with this symbol.

L’Adventure Michelin. A museum all things Michelin here at the headquarters of the company.

And we learned why the streetcars are rubber tired. Yup, Michelin money.

It’s a university town. With 140k students come some good restaurants. We had Mexican food. The best we’ve found in Europe so far.

The graceful Pl. de Jaude, just outside our hotel, had a statue of Vercingétorix. He was a Gallic king and chieftain.

The statue is by our old friend
Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, who also created *Liberty Enlightening the World* (the Statue of Liberty) and whose own statue we saw in Colmar, France.

And yes, the weather did dry out for our day of fun in Clermond-Ferrand. It got a bit windy but our next mode of transportation was a train to Paris so no worries about wind. Rich booked us on a train that started in Clermont-Ferrand and ended at Gare de Paris Bercy. With loaded touring bikes end to end trains are so much less stressful than trying to board and disembark mid line. One more story about how wonderful people are in cities that aren’t overwhelmed with tourists. We got to the train station super early, as we do, and as we stood staring up at the big board, waiting for a platform to be listed for our train, a station police offer came over and asked where we were going. When we said Paris, he leaned in and told us it would be platform H. The doors won’t be open yet, he added, but you can go to the platform now. The train is there. Super grateful to get a jump on the eventual platform rush we headed to the elevator to do the one by one transfer down and back up. The elevators barely hold one loaded touring bike, so we’re slow, taking turns in the elevator. Once out at the platform an SNCF train worker helped us find the bike car, and our seats. By the time the rush of passengers got to the platform we were settled in.

We were as chill as this little guy on the train.

He developed a bit of a fascination for Rich.

The happy travelers thinking ahead to Paris and friends to visit!

A few pickles between the Le Lot and Le Célé

After a nice rest day exploring Cahors, Cheryl and I continued our spring tour further up the valley of the Lot River. The middle Lot is a magical place of endless meandering and pretty villages with a variety of terrain to match.

Riding out of Cahors over the Devil’s Bridge

The Middle Lot is still navigable with occasional weirs and locks

The route out of Cahors immediately took us up a hearty 300m climb over a ridge, but the reward was a descent down to the beautiful Saint Cirq de Papopie. It’s a storybook medieval village perched on a rocky edge above the Lot. Our friend Dan had mentioned his time in this area and we thank him for the tip.

The route does not always hug the river and has some pretty decent climbs to connect the rugged and remote parts of the river

Apparently we were also on the Vagabond route…very appropriate.

Cheryl was fascinated with these mortarless stone buildings known as capitelles or cazelles, which are endemic to the region

Apparently tourism exploded in the town after a popular French television shown voted it the most scenic place in France in 2012. We can’t disagree with that call. It was sparsely visited the weekday we passed through and is really a beautiful spot.

We couldn’t pass up this prime view spot to picnic on some yummy quiche and veggies

Sometimes I do some further exploration while Cheryl minds the bikes and maybe reads a bit. « Oh no, you go ahead »

The ride from Cahors to Cajarc spans the Parc Naturel des Causses du Quercy from west to east. The villages are extremely tidy, with some restored houses, cottages, and farm buildings. There are also nice sections along the cliff walls, and the roads are not busy. We made it to the scenic village of Cajarc and our Logis inn (with dinner!) after a rewarding day of cycling, and I began to plan our next day.

Saint Cirq feels like a movie set. Picture perfect and so tidy

What’s this? Fossils on the canyon walls?

We love interpretive fossil trails. This was a nautilus from the old sea bed.

Many piped water taps have still been off for the « season », but we found most of the hand pump and twist wells delivered.

But the weather was starting to get tough. The next day a front was coming through with winds of 25mph and gusts to 50, and if we headed up the Lot route it would be right into the headwind. Yuck. We could shorten the day to account for the wind, but instead decided to head over the big limestone ridge to the next valley of the river Célé and the small city of Figeac.

Another interesting Komoot trail choice from our grocery diversion out of Carjac. But one of our mottos is “never
go backwards!”. It usually works out.

Inside the ruins of the Abbey Saint Pierre, parts of which date back to the 9th-11th centuries.

The ruins are atmospheric and the adjoining church has been restored and is still active.

I had picked a fairly direct route using my goto navigation App Komoot, and mentioned this to the friendly hotel host as I checked out. Good thing as he suggested an alternate route that turned out to be a gem. More climbing and longer, but it would take us deep into the scenic Célé river valley and keep us in the park longer.

The climb was quiet and the aspect of the huge limestone gorge that defines the Cele valley protected us from a lot of the wind, or at least made the ride alternate between headwind and freakish tailwinds off the canyon walls. But you can’t escape gale winds and the last 10k into Figeac were exposed and a bit hellacious, with grit blowing in our eyes and branches falling from trees. But we made it to town before the rain started to dump and salvaged a memorable day from a potentially mundane slog.

A power picnic lunch in Marchihac-sur-Célé. PB and banana on Wassa crisps

Cheryl demonstrating how to spread the peanut butter with the back of the wooden spoon, so it’s easier to clean -:)

We are always impressed with the French dedication to a proper and social lunch. Despite the increasing cold and winds, we watched behind us as they set up tables and laid out a spread of food.

Figeac is a pleasant river town with enough of a buzz on Saturday night for us to get rejected at our first Creperie restaurant pick, so we settled on a fast and casual burger place and a beer before we had a meltdown. We were very hungry and a worn out from the wind.

A 3 star village is always worth a stop.

Riding through the old town gate to find our second break stop.

This route is along one of the French Camino routes and we were surprised by the number of pilgrims/walkers we saw in this region. Almost no other cycle tourists.

And accompanying millstone. Our friend Nancy says you can tell what kind of grain was processed by the groove pattern.

Getting closer to Figeac, and the wind picking up.

Wind filtered Wisteria pedals in old town Figeac.

We wanted to get back to the Lot valley, so that meant going back up over the plateau of the river canyons on Sunday morning. But we are pretty strong now and Cheryl powered up over the two fairly steep climbs. Here’s the thing with loaded touring bikes, they are actually surprising easy on flats a gentle grades, even carrying 20 kilos or more. A 4 or 5% grade is pretty sustainable for longer climbs, but each percentage increase after that really makes a difference. Physics, gravity, and vectors. Over 8-10% and you may need to start serpentine S tracks across the road to keep on the saddle for a longer climb. You can even stay in the bike for short bursts of 12-15% grade, but it’s tough to sustain.

This climb indicates an average grade of 7%, fairly manageable.

Touring bikes are so much more sensitive to headwind and grade than a lightweight road or mountain bike. They fly downhills with the extra weight and often act as sails with a hefty tailwind. As we continued to push up some of the steeper hills, you can’t help but think about the extra junk in your bags; the two kryptonite locks, cable, tools, 4 spare tubes (really?), ground coffee, binoculars, a small backpack, a yoga mat…extra socks and shirts, and my biggest luxury, 3 pairs of footwear. The thing is we are living on our bikes for three months and really appreciate the extra gear at times and when we are off the bikes for house sits or city stays. So we press on with twice as much weight as we could manage for a short tour.

Goodbye Figeac. Very green and lush in this wet European spring.

A horse intrigued by the two bright things on wheels.

This is a popular hiking area with its limestone cliffs and jagged valleys.

And pilgrims are sometimes sharing the road with us.

Initial hazards of our descent back to the Lot.

Once over the climb we followed a Komoot route that took us down the side of a mountain on a rutted farm track that turned into a rocky debris blocked ravine and creek bed with steep edges. It turned a “10 minutes flying down to the river for our coffee/tea break” into an epic reconnaissance and stream forge that ranks up as our most memorable.

Hmm, Komoot is routing us down this muddy farm track. Better have some tea now as we discuss options.

It looks like only a kilometer or so down to the valley bottom and a paved road, and the alternative was way back and up, so we decide to go for it.

Hmm, the gps trail drops left down a rutted gorge blocked by tree so we decide to try to the farm field.

After a reconnaissance mission to the creek gorge on foot, we found a spot where we could maneuver the barb wire and get the bikes and gear underneath.

Cheryl followed determined not to turn back!

Resigned to walking the gear down the creek to a spot we could get up the embankment. That trail you see was blocked by a large tree fall and landslide.

Out of this pickle. A sense of accomplishment and amazingly no torn gear or flat tires as the area was littered with thorns and briars.

So we wiped off our bags and bikes, changed into our sandals, and put our soaked shoes and socks on our racks. Luckily, we were cheered up quickly as the remaining 35km up the Lot to Entraygues-sur-Truyère was peaceful and scenic. Our room for the night in Entraygues was up a big steep hill from town, which meant a bit of pushing. But the kind host was waiting for us at the door and offered to dry our shoes by the fireplace and gave us some fresh juice and cake. We would survive. And better yet, one proper restaurant in town was indeed open Sunday night, so that meant a bit of wine to warm us up.

Riding up the Upper Lot, wet shoes getting some air on the rack

Sant Partèm is the Occitan name for Saint Parthem. Occitan is still spoken in southern France, and bits of Spain and Italy

Saint Parthem had a bit of a hippy (baba cool!) vibe, including 60s and 70s music on a dozen mounted speakers from village end to end. We assumed it didn’t play all night?!

We entered another national park briefly.

We noticed the houses getting even fancier and were very well kept.

But that night set me (the travel planner) into a bit of a panic. I had planned that we would continue East on the V86 Lot route another 100k through the hilly Parc Naturel de L’Aubrac and then catch a local train north to get us closer to our booked train link to Paris. But I discovered part of that local train line was shut with replacement buses that don’t take bikes.

And the weather forecast was grim. Rain and lots of it the next day. No trains and no alternate routes out of this immensely rugged junction of mountains and river valleys. I explained this to Cheryl and she said, “Yup, we’re in a bit of a pickle.”

Le Lot route V86 continues and a somewhat mysterious sign about communities with burlesque names? Anyone?

Entraygues is dramatically located at the confluence of the Lot and the Truyère rivers. The Truyère is the muddy one.

Instead I decided that heading north to Aurillac was our best option, as from there we could catch a train over the highest parts of the Massif Central. But the routes would be tough, especially in a cold rain. We could try to wait the rain out a day, but that put our train travel on May 1st, a French holiday and the trains were very limited out of Aurillac. And there were flood warnings.

So we decided to ride.

Leaving the lovely and cozy Le Clos St. George. Its verandas and views would be even more stunning in better weather.

The rain was light as we started up the Truyère

The first tiny shelter for a yogurt and pastry. The cold rain had already soaked us.

How do I manage difficult days for my favorite (and only) client. First off, I try to note some of the difficulties of the day, especially climbing. But the key is to not overdo it. Don’t talk about too much. I knew this day was going to be extremely challenging, both mentally and physically. Our route climbed up and down short steep climbs up the Truyere and Goal rivers, up a steep ridge climb and finally up to the huge rolling plateau that separated us from Aurilliac. We are now better at eating something every hour and staying hydrated, but it’s hard in a constant and cool rain. And there were no real towns or villages for the entire route.

It was remote and a bit creepy as we headed further off the main routes and up the Gaul River. The hills and walls were flooded with oozing water and we didn’t see a car or person for quite awhile.

This tiny hamlet had a welcome little shelter and even a person who I was able to ask about our route onwards, gunshy from our Komoot mud and river adventure the day before.

Not a soul outside all day, even to hike the GR65 route. Hmm, maybe it was the relentless rain, cold, or flood warnings?

Finally up on the plateau after 3,000 feet of climbing, and the cows are in awe. Or dumbfounded.

The rain lightened up a bit, but never stopped.

Perhaps the worst part of the route was the main road we had to join for our plateau and descent. There was an option on quieter roads, but that added another 15k and 300m of climbing, and we decided that was even worse as we were cold and a bit shattered. So we decided to grit out our teeth for the direct route. It had speeds of 80-100km and was fairly busy with fast traffic and some big trucks, with no real shoulder. But sometimes you need to take some chances and we had some pretty bright clothes and lights. Thankfully the drivers were all pretty good, and the pavement was very smooth, so it was manageable but certainly not a segment we’d relish.

At the end of 30km of wet cold and steep climbs. Cheryl was a trooper but not loving this day. This is where we got on the busy D920 main road to Aurillac. No photos.

Boarding the train to Issoire the following day

But when we did finally roll into town and dripped our way through the lobby of hotel, there was not just relief, but a sense of accomplishment. We did it. It was over 1000m of relentless and occasionally steep climbing. And we could catch the train the next morning over the Massif Central to continue our tour. We were out of our little pickle. Happy travels!

Cycling the Lot River. Clairac to Cahors.

Pushing up from a lunch break spot on the Lot River.

After our rest day in Toulouse we hopped on a regional train, a TER, and got a jump on a strong headwind day to Tonneins, which is on the Garrone River, the same river as Toulouse. The Lot River and the Garrone come together at the confluence just southeast of Tonneins, so we rode east to meet up with the Lot and head upriver.

Our first sight of the mighty Lot River, in Clairac.

The Lot ends where it meets the Garrone in the west.

Look at that river course. So many bends and horseshoes.

One of the allures of riding a river is that you tend to stay on fairly flat ground. But, if you want to ride some hills you get that opportunity when you ride up to the towns along the rivers which are mostly tucked up high and dry above flood level. Or, you take a route up onto a ridge above the river. Most folks would think that flat riding along a river is ideal, but it does get a bit dull, and our legs and rear ends appreciate the hill climbs and coasting downhill.

Another view of Clairac from the bridge on our way to a grocery store.

A quiet tree lined road. Our train ride did not deliver us beyond the wind, we had a gusty day.

Feeling like bridge trolls at our lunch spot. But it was sheltered from the wind.

The regional route Rich was following on his map was V86.

La Vallée du Lot à vélo, the V86, like many bike routes, takes you to scenic spots and through town on very picturesque and historic streets. What can at first seem like a gratuitous turn or two, ends up somewhere lovely.

Castelmoron-sur-Lot felt like taking a step back in time. We had much more of this feeling to come as we continued up the Lot.

The reward for a day of battling the wind? Indian food for dinner and a bottle of local white wine in Villeneuve-sur-Lot.

Porte de Pujols, the last bit of the ramparts that surrounded the city in the 14th century.

Crossing the river on our way out Villeneuve-sur-Lot. The Lot is known for flooding, these buildings look ready for it.

Use your imagination to erase the billboard and the bollards and you could be back in the 14th century. Oh and Rich, erase that bike tourist in your mind too. And the car.

Work continues on the Vélo routes, and the mapping app Rich uses, Koomoot, isn’t always completely up to date. Sometimes new signs will contradict Koomoot directions. We had one of those contradictions at a single track trail by a rail line. Koomoot wanted us to cross the rails on a road behind us and stay in the right bank of the river. We ultimately chose the single track.

The sign was brand new. I love the added on ‘camping’ sign.

It’s always such a mental boost to get to ride where automobiles cannot go. Bike touring is hard, but the rewards are fantastic.

V86 for the win. The new routing took us to le Moulin de Lustrac. A perfect spot for a snack break.

Built about 1296. Right around the time work was being done to make the Lot navigable by building dams, facilitating the movement of goods from Quercy to Bordeaux.

A very impressive set of mill buildings.

Who doesn’t love a door that opens to a drop into water?

Another cool old mill building at Monsempron-Libos. This one definitely has folks living in it. I wonder what it’s like to have water flowing under your house?

Another stunning historic building on the Lot. No idea what it is.

A bridge over the Lot with a sign showing the bends in the river.

Puy-l’Évêque is on the narrow neck of a horseshoe bend of the river, and our next night’s stay. Our sense of riding back in time got stronger when we went for a walk before dinner.

The narrow side streets are named for the trades that were practiced on them, street of tanners, tinters, etc.

Looking over the medieval buildings to the River.

Nearly a fifth of the residences are holiday homes. The buildings are beautifully kept up.

A stretch of nice weather, no wind, and a beautiful river to ride. We were moving each night, riding happily along, but moving always means unpacking and packing. It gets tiring. Especially with bike panniers. What a mess.

To this. All tidily packed up and at the grocery store to get lunch provisions.

It was quite cold that morning as we pedaled past vineyards and waved to folks walking the Camino de Santiago. One of the routes through France goes right along the route we were riding.

The route is well marked and takes advantage of parts of an old railroad line.

Riding along the old railway route through Castelfranc.

And back over the river to Albas. This agricultural area of the Lot is mostly vineyards, all in the Cahors AOC wine region.

Another beautiful place up on a hill above the river.

Which means riding up up up. But if you were cold this warms you up.

Rich added for scale by the big fake wine bottle.

The trail stayed above the river for a while. I’d forgotten how cold it was until I see I’m wearing my down jacket. And a wool sweater.

Near Douelle, a chateaux above the river. All of these towns were also ports for the shipping of wine along the river, headed to Bordeaux.

Lunchtime in Doulle, where a small park had a table and chairs for us to enjoy.

Approaching Pradines, yes, another town in a bend on the river. A view across the vineyards.

Our next stop was Cahors, where we checked into our hotel and immediately decided to stay another extra night. Our hotel room overlooked the famous Pont Valentré, a medieval three tower six arch bridge. We got to town in plenty of time to unpack, shower, relax a bit and head out to a chocolate shop.

I love the window display at L’éclat Du Noir. I look for the independent chocolate shops.

And Rich looks for the independent beer bars.

Our rest day was lovely, we walked around town, visited the Musée Henri-Martin, whose paintings we also saw in Toulouse, and had a vegetarian lunch. And napped.

It was a good choice of rest day, since it rained quite a bit.

Post museum, post lunch, on our way to a nap through the charming old streets of Cahor.

A scallop shell showing the way of St. James and the bridge in the background.

The view from our hotel room. The Best Western Plus Hôtel Divona Cahors.

The happy travelers and that amazing bridge.

Stay tuned for more Lot River. The cold wet European spring is certainly not super great for bike touring, but we’ll take cold over rain. Unfortunately, some rain is in our future. The highs and lows of traveling by bikes.

Feeling at home in Massat, France.

Massat with snowy mountains on a lovely spring morning.

Our cycling trip could be called the nooks and crannies of France. As Rich mentioned we have a few anchors we plan around, and a house sit in Massat was one of these anchors. It’s a great feeling to be flexible enough to accept a house sit in rural France, tucked up a valley near the Pyrenees. We were up for the challenge of how to get there, and how to spend a week there without a car.

We did not become immune to the beauty of the Pyrenees.

One of the cycling tricks we’ve learned is to ride through the traditional French lunch break, especially when we’re on roads instead of trails or bikeways. There is a rush of traffic just before noon, as everyone dashes to the bakery to buy bread for lunch, dashes home, or pulls over at a restaurant to eat lunch, but then we have the roads to ourselves for about an hour. So we either stop for our picnic lunch early or late, and pedal through the quiet time.

Enjoying a local craft beer in the town square of Massat.

At the brewery in Saint Gaudens we were told by the bartender that Massat’s own local beer, BIM, was very good, and that Massat had a lot of baba cools. He and Rich were conversing in French and English so it took us a while to figure out that baba cool is French slang for hippie. Fantastic! We’re San Franciscans at heart so we love hippies and the culture that comes with them.

Heading up the 150m/500 ft climb from Massat village over 2.7k/2 miles to our house sit. A curious local watches.

Our first days in Massat were sunny and warm.

Our wonderful hosts confirmed that the area did indeed have a lot of folks who lived off grid, and raised their own food, and helped create an easy going communal vibe. Like many small villages in France there was a lot of depopulation in the 1830s and 1840s. The thriving town of Massat went through crop failures and epidemics that saw the town shrink dramatically.

Always read the tourist information boards.

It’s not surprising that a hippie/back to the land movement saw Massat as a fantastic place to settle. It’s an idyllic place, with so many small valleys and farmland and houses that have been fixed up and maintained by French, German, and British, all with the underpinnings of a traditional French village.

We were certainly living the traditional life, walking or biking to town to get our food and wine.

And enjoying our lunch al fresco while the weather held.

There were hikes starting from our doorstep.

The trails wound past old stone buildings.

And homes reached on tracks that would possibly maybe accommodate a car.

Farm fresh eggs to buy, watched over by a dog who observed us in silence.

None of the map or trail apps we usually use are useful in this part of France, but our host pulled out her topographical maps and marked a few hikes for us in highlighter. We’re always happy to get off the bikes for a few days and work our hiking muscles.

These old troughs are always tempting for a drink, but most are marked non-potable water.

We had a day of sunny hiking, stayed in for a rainy day, and headed out again on a changeable day.

Between the topo maps and the local signage we got some good hiking in.

We’ve been seeing these upside down town signs all over rural France. It’s a quiet protest or reminder from the farmers about conditions for agricultural families, and the difficulties around farming.

Spending time in rural France as a tourist it would be easy to simply soak up the charm and not think about how life is for locals, especially those who make their living off the land. But the time we’ve spent in the Haute Savoie at our friends’ place watching the long hours their neighbors who are farmers work, and now having this time in Massat, we have a huge appreciation for the hard work of farming. My sister in Colorado raises cattle so I have a good idea of how hard the work around food production is. Our hosts had a wood fired hot tub and after getting it heated up, which took about four hours, we’d sit in comfort and watch the sun go down. Across the valley we could hear the farmer getting his sheep moved to a new pasture with the help of his sheepdog. At times like that we are really reminded of our privilege. Just as when in the Haute Savoie the farmers will be haying at 9 in the evening to get ahead of predicted rain, while we relax on the terrace. Farmers and those of us who depend on farmers – everyone – are more closely linked than many of us acknowledge.

The wood fired hot tub, and Rich, who never met a hot tub challenge he wouldn’t accept.

Our French countryside week included two cats and two donkeys to care for. The donkeys were easy since they were grazing and only needed a daily check in and carrot. One cat we barely saw as she was super shy, but the other, a three legged charmer who couldn’t use the cat flap and never passed up a lap sitting opportunity, was a constant source of amusement.

Oh, a lap. This cat was in heaven with the two dogs off traveling with their humans and all the laps to himself.

Or preferably, on a human. A warm cat and a wood fired stove got us through a few cold days.

Some books and chocolate within reach, and the kitty and I were as happy as we could be.

Before we left our house sit we needed to replace the wine our hosts had graciously offered up. They told us that if we needed to replenish the seemingly limitless 5 liter boxes of local wine to go to the wine shop in town and the proprietor would sort us out. Although we didn’t empty the boxes we wanted to be good house sitters, and we were curious about the shop, so we did coast down to town on our bikes.

So many local wines, beer, and spirits. A treasure of a shop.

And some caskets for bring your own bottle.

The friendly owner knew exactly who we were, he is friends with our hosts, and sorted us out with two new 5 liter boxes of wine, one red, one white.

After a stop at the grocery store it was back up the hill with ten liters of wine. Rich did the toting.

We did one ride towards Col de Port, it was a grey day and misting. I turned around once it got cold but Rich pressed on until the rain and cold turned him around too. The area is loaded with road cyclists, so many beautiful views and small roads.

The other donkey, less friendly but still adorable.

We loved our house sit near Massat. Spending a week in a renovated stone farm house, lighting fires to stay warm, and cooking all of our meals in is such a wonderful break when we’re bike touring. The house was cozy and comfortable, and the area is stunning. We both agree that for us living in such a rural area is not something we want to do. Although we used our feet and bicycles for our week there, for the long haul you would need a car. We saw locals on bikes and e-bikes, which is great, but the closest major town, Saint-Girons with the fantastic Saturday market, is 27 kilometers away. And, as we discovered when we left our house sit on Saturday, hundreds (if not thousands!) of locals drive to Saint-Girons for that market. It made for a not so fantastic ride down the valley. French car drivers are quite good around cyclists for the most part, but a few encounters with impatient drivers on that ride down were enough to put me off. One challenge of living off the grid in a rural area is having to get to things in your old car or van.

Hello 60k ride to Boussens to catch a train.

Once we got to and through Saint-Girons and its market day crush of cars we got onto the rail trail to Boussens. Ah, rail trail. Separated from automobiles, catching glimpses of life as you pedal by and through towns: a garden party here, a Boules tournament there, hawks and buzzards soaring overhead. And it was slightly downhill all the way to our train. Yes it’s a bit stressful for the planner having to get us 60k in time for a train, but we made it.

Our train started at Boussens, and ended in Toulouse. That’s our favorite situation, no rushing on or off with all our panniers and bikes to wrangle.

This building is a Toulouse treasure. It’s the city hall, the opera, and where a series of stunning paintings by Henri-Martin are displayed.

The artist is known for his large scale works adorning public buildings- where else would this fit?

His work is described as having a melancholy, dreaminess and mystery.

Leaving a house sit is always a bit of work, we always want to leave the house squeaky clean for the hosts to come home to, and make sure all the animals are where they should be with sufficient food and water. Add the travel day to that and we decided a rest day in Toulouse was a good idea. We had spent a day in Toulouse but there was definitely more to see. It was a treat to have a full day to walk around Toulouse. Another French city that is working hard to make itself a pedestrian, public transportation, and bike friendly place.