We are going to France!

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The we in that statement is Kathy my wife, Maddie my daughter and me. France has been on Maddies travel list for a while but due to other trips butting in and a global pandemic we are only now getting there.

The bicycle portion of our trip will start in Bordeaux and head north through the Loire, up to Fontainebleau then across to the Champagne region. The route is 664 miles (1068km) according to Komoot including a couple of day loops in the Loire. We have aimed for between 40-50 miles (60-80km) a day as this gives us plenty of time to stop and look around.

I spent our snow days over winter planning the route. As a concession to Maddie we are traveling light and using pre-booked hotels for the entire trip. This is only the second trip Kathy and I have pre-booked hotels as we normally get distracted by shinny things people tell us about along the way. 

On one of our trips to Tasmania a fellow cyclist flagged us down for a chat on the side of the road. He mentioned he had just gotten off Maria Island and it was worth a diversion. So off we go for a night on Maria Island. On the ferry across to the Island the Captain convinced us we need 3 nights. So we rationed our 1 nights food into 3 and headed to the far end of the island for a chance of hearing Tasmanian devil's in the wild. 

On most of our trips about the only thing you can count on remaining the same is the start date, everything else is fair game. Because of this we have made sure all our hotels have free cancelation just in case.

Kathy and I arrive in France on 15th May. We have hired a car for the first week and will be driving out through Normandy and down the coast to Bordeaux. Maddie is meeting us in Bordeaux on the 20th of May for a couple of days in the wine region before we start cycling north.

I use Komoot for route planning as I find it delivers the best cycling routes. I often tweak the route as the ride progresses and by having Komoot connected to everyones GPS the changes automatically sync.

Route on Komoot

We are in the last week before we leave getting everything squared away. 

• Bike Serviced, check
• Maps for France loaded, almost.
• House sitter organized, Yep.
• Bags packed, are you kidding that's a last day job.