From Home to Tours: getting to the starting line

May 25, 2015

As I had little time to go touring, and I have visited most of the territory within easy riding distance of Dijon, near where I live, I decided to take the train to get me further away. The local trains in France carry bicycles, so its only a matter of stringing together enough trains to get wherever you want to go. The difficulties are twofold. First, some lines are only served either late in the day or early in the morning, to suit commuters, so it can be hard to find a way to make a connection between two trains without an excessive layover. Second, the railway system in France, which had been neglected in favor of high-tech, high-speed lines is in need of major repair. Summer is the time for most of the work, and that has led to the cancelling of a lot of trains on a lot of lines. With those constraints in mind, I had two options to get to the Breton Marches. Either take a train to Paris in the early morning, ride through the city to the Gare de Montparnasse and get another train to Laval, or to take the noon train to Nevers, make a connection to a train to Tours where I could spend the night, then by train to Laval, laying over briefly in Le Mans. On top of that, I was leaving on the monday of Pentecost, a holiday in France, which meant a reduced schedule on both routes. I chose to go through Tours, because the gare is friendlier than the Paris stations, and I could stay in a little hotel right next to the station that caters to cyclists.

The ride into Dijon was uneventful, and I arrived in time to buy a sandwich in the station before the train left for Nevers. The train was a modern multi-car set, and the ride to Nevers was uneventful. I had fourty minutes in Nevers to kill, so I rode around the area near the gare.

This sign translates roughly like this: HERE / As usual / Nothing but / the good stuff. Seen on a restaurant door near the station.

The remains of the old city walls and gates in Nevers. Just a taste of the castles to come.

Then it was back on the train to Tours. I drowsed away on the ride. The Hotel d'Europe put me up in an old but quaint room, furnished in the taste of the 1970's and stashed my bike in the back. I got a shower and went out for a bite to eat, which proved to be pizza. Back at the hotel, I read until my eyelids were drooping, then slept soundly.

Today's ride: 17 km (11 miles)
Total: 17 km (11 miles)

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