August 10, 2006
Day 32: Sauveterre - Bordeaux: The Piste Cyclable Roger Lapebie
Sauveterre is a bastide. Bastides were medieval villages usually built on a strict grid pattern around a central arcaded square and enclosed within defensive walls, the result of an early urban planning policy in this part of France. Sauveterre-de-Guyenne, founded in 1283, has kept its arcaded square and its four fortified gates. We have fun investigating the little town before we set off for Bordeaux.
In the Départment of the Gironde there is a network of bicycle paths of varying quality. The path we take today is hard to beat. We travel 55 km on the Piste Cyclable Roger Lapébie from Sauveterre to Bordeaux, a beautifully maintained and sign-posted bike path built on a disused railroad track. We have gentle ascents and descents through stunning countryside: wine country, woods, fields of sunflowers and corn. At one point the path goes through a 290 m lit tunnel. In the beginning we have to watch out for the racing bikes, they don't want to slow down for anyone, later we run into families out for a ride with the kids, again we must be careful, children on bikes are unpredictable.
The only town we pass through is Créon which we know from previous travels. We don't detour to any of the interesting sights off of the route. What I haven't mentioned so far: we do have a deadline for this trip. We have train tickets for August 17 from Paris to Munich. We know from previous trips on some trains it's easier to get tickets for us than tickets for the bicycles. There is only one train on the Paris - Munich line which transports bicycles and the tickets had to be reserved in advance. We won't have enough time to cycle to Paris but we would like to get to La Rochelle and take the train from there.
As we get close to Bordeaux, we find ourselves cycling along the banks of the Garonne once again. Here the bike path comes to an end and we get out the map, we're on our own. Then comes another one of those historic moments of the trip when we sight the city of Bordeaux. Hey, we rode our bikes here!
We find a hotel in the center of the city and decide to stay in Bordeaux a day longer. Of course Bordeaux would deserve more than just one more day - it's a beautiful city with impressive buildings from the 17th and 18th century, all in light yellow stone. Here the cyclist is king. You are allowed to ride your bike the wrong way down one-way streets, the crowded pedestrian zone is open to cyclists and there are stands for locking up your bike throughout the city.
Today's ride: 60 km (37 miles)
Total: 1,914 km (1,189 miles)
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