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:
![](https://images.cycleblaze.com/osnyo2pyq822nop9yae89j6cqmv_2000.png)
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![](https://images.cycleblaze.com/t9qidevsvmzs4vnmuvy0lb4etco_2000.png)
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![](https://images.cycleblaze.com/ytwjqrmutm1smi9b6yb905uphk4_2000.png)
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![](https://images.cycleblaze.com/gxgbuqkpkl5985pitg4tb2359qy_2000.png)
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3 months ago
![](https://images.cycleblaze.com/cz3k6ytva51go368ztr4kk14ed0_2000.png)
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![](https://images.cycleblaze.com/0r1i6wky0ses9k9qku0dxj4hhc1_2000.png)
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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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