May 16, 2019
Baleyssagues to Romagne
Why I carry paper maps
This morning we left the garden and the dogs (there were 4) and our hosts for our second-to-last day cycling together. According to the forecast, it will be our last day without rain for a while too.
My original plan had us following the yellow road to Sauveterre-de-Guyenne and then following the Roger Lapébie bike path to Romagne, an approximate distance of 29 km. However, the white roads were so pleasant yesterday and we'll be on the bike path tomorrow to ride to Bordeaux, so we decided to squiggle our way (thanks to Scott Anderson for the verb!) to our destination on white roads.
I carry my map in an Ortlieb map case attached to the top of my Ortlieb handlebar bag. Al carries his maps in his last-minute-purchase frameless handlebar bag and relies on his Garmin for on-the-road navigation.
The trouble starts with Garmin, though it seems other GPS devices are equally guilty. We select a white-road route on the map and enter the name of the next or next-but-one village in Garmin's search function. Once we've confirmed that what it's found is the destination we want (there are so many duplicate place names in Europe), Garmin will plot a course. The trouble is, that may not be what you were thinking of!
For example, change to map view in the RideWithGPS window below using the drop-down menu in the upper right. Zoom in on the first part of today's ride. Can you see our intended route from our start point near Baleyssagues to the first waypoint we searched, St-Ferme? You might need to zoom in to see that there are little roads that connect fairly well going almost straight west. But Garmin kept trying to route us onto the busy yellow road to Monségur and, thanks to our lack of vigilance, it won. Once we discovered ourselves in Monségur, we decided to pay much closer attention at every intersection (and they are usually well signposted in France).
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Later, we both entered the same waypoint (into identical Garmin 810s loaded with the same OSM cycle maps) and got different navigation instructions. This has happened before, most notably when we were in Geneva two years ago, so we always stop at intersections and stay close when riding through cities and towns. Poor Al, he does so much waiting!
The countryside today was mostly agricultural, changing from cereal crops to vines as we rode further into the Entre-Deux-Mers region. I didn't take many photos today or yesterday; the scenery was nice but not spectacular like it was earlier on the trip. We've been spoiled!
The photos below are from our lunch stop at the ruins of the Blasimon Abbey.
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We are staying tonight at Château de Crécy, a family-run winery that offers chambres et table d'hôte.
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I had been asked when we booked if we wanted the table d'hôte as well. I convinced Al that we should accept (my French is poor but his is worse and he's not very comfortable eating with people he can't communicate with) so we ate with our hosts.
The food and the wine (included in the 25€ per person price) were delicious. We started with little canapés to accompany our apéritifs, then a lovely salad as the entrée. The main course was aiguillettes de canard with endive (in season now, I think) and the portions were huge. Al finished mine so I guess not so huge to him. Our hosts ate much less, explaining that they'd hadn't been cycling and that they couldn't eat large meals every day.
Next was the cheese course, with five or six different cheeses on the platter. I did my best to try a bit of each, but I might have missed one. Then dessert, the best crème caramel I've ever had--and I love crème caramel so I've had a lot! Both Martine and Bruno cook and they said this is the one dish for which they both agree on the best recipe.
Then, even after a small espresso, we couldn't keep our eyes open so it was time for bed.
Today's ride: 46 km (29 miles)
Total: 828 km (514 miles)
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5 years ago