Summing Up - or Not - Grampies Go Valencia to Paris: Spring 2024

May 16, 2024

Summing Up - or Not

We have been back about two weeks now, and it is of course more than 90 days since we first dropped out of the sky into Valencia, and got on the metro to go find our bikes. Without this blog, we have no hope of remembering details of what happened next. But there are a few lasting impressions. These impressions may not differ too much from our other European trips, but they are the things that keep us coming back: old city centres, with narrow streets, outdoor restaurants in pedestrian only zones, unbelievably tall and intricately carved cathedrals, tidy farm fields and extensive orchards. In Spain and Portugal, to us the exotic trees like orange, olive, and pomegranate made a huge impact, and these are lands of flowers everywhere. And in France, of course, bakeries everywhere.

If this reads like a jumble, it's because that's how it exists in our heads at this stage. I could try to organize it - choosing topics like the roads, the weather, the people, the food, markets, hotel quality, the sights, etc. and essentially re-present the blog but ordered that way, rather than by day.

It could be fun to do that, and maybe even useful. Instead I am presenting here a kaleidoscopic run though roads, food, markets, people, etc. somewhat as they exist now in my mind. There are 66 images - that just skim the wealth of experience that this trip brought us. Let's take a quick run through,and remember a little of what we saw and did:

Tunnels near Benidorm, Spain. Dodie is a good rider!

Dodie becomes a walker - hike a bike in Spain

Typical Spanish coastal road - near Cartagena

Acres of greenhouses on the Spanish coast.

Sunset on the Mediterranean - Aqua Amarga

The Spansh coast had lots of bays and coves and headlands. This is near Motril.

Bird of Paradise is seen throughout southern Spain, and Portugal.

Andre, of X Bikes, nicely adjusted Dodie's chain.

Boats and buildings in Portugal (Aveiro)

Dramatic processions of Semana Santa in Spain

Our friend Michel, with a flat near Ste Luce

Michel accompanied us up the Loire to near Ancenis.

Ian Satoor - we discover a great soul in Boubiers, France

All that and of course more is stored up somewhere in our memory. But our attention is already directed to the future. We have our tickets back to Paris for early August, and this time the Grampies will start out, on the Loire, with three Grandkids - Amelia, Evee, and Joe - and son Joshua, all from Montreal. We are planning the itinerary now - not being really sure how they will view the old city centres, pedestrian zones, cathedrals, farms, orchards, etc. etc. that fascinate us. Will they take to the seemingly endless kms of pedaling? Just how many kms of that per day should we plan for?

We (mainly Dodie) will dream up "The Plan", get it approved or adjusted in Montreal, and then watch for our next blog, coming soon!

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Karen PoretThanks for the re-cap! Lively and lovely!
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6 months ago

Carolyn van HoeveHey Steve & Dodie, how are the plans coming along for August? Ian mentioned he's getting bits and pieces for your bikes in readiness. Glad it worked out so well with him! He is gold!
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4 months ago

Steve Miller/GrampiesTo Carolyn van HoeveHi Carolyn, our trip beginning in August will have two parts. First we'll return to Ian's and then quickly make our way to Nantes. There we'll meet up with our son from Montreal and three grandchildren. We'll cycle on the Loire for two weeks before sending them back off to Montreal. After that, for part two, we'll head for Holland, then up the Meuse and finally down the Rhone to the Camargue. Then we'll follow the Med and on in to Spain, ending at Valencia. We have mapped this all out, and booked as far as Caen. We are looking forward to the first step, which is the return to Boubiers. We'll have one fun day there to play at bicycle maintenance with Ian. That is sure to be fun in itself!
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4 months ago