May 30, 2024
To Pont-à-Mousson
After a good sleep and a good breakfast, we’re heading back to the Moselle, at a city called Pont-à-Mousson. Janos is going to drive there with our panniers so we can travel light. He will then cycle back to meet us three gals somewhere along the route.
It’s overcast and cool, not inspiring weather but who cares.
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From the chateau there’s a steep downhill off the ridge, but at the bottom is the village of Vigneulles-lès-Hattonchâtel, and they have a boulangerie. We need provisions for elevenses, of course. I got some beignets. This March I was in New Orleans for the first time and had the Cafe du Monde beignets. Sorry, NOLA, nothing compares. Very different beasts, but I’ll take the French version.
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We were about four kilometers along when Susan had a realization: she’d left her pannier with the day’s supplies at the chateau. She had to go back up that hill, no two ways about it.
Suzanne and I continued on, knowing Susan would be able to catch up to us, maybe by the time we were done visiting a nearby reservoir that our friend Michel in Puxieux said was worth seeing. It wasn’t so interesting on this gloomy day. Suzanne and I didn’t spend a lot of time there.
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The road was a bit busy in Pannes. I pulled off to get my bearings near an interesting building that apparently had been a lavoir, or wash house. Take a look at Suzanne’s account of this day for more info on the lavoir. She is a wonderful photographer.
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I didn’t end up getting my bearings after all. My brain was still all over the place. Partly that was because I didn’t create the route so didn’t know it as well, and partly because my head is on a swivel taking it all in. Between my RideWithGPS app and my Garmin GPS I get corrected eventually, but I was glad Suzanne was there to make sure I went the right way.
Right after the lavoir we turned off onto a low-traffic farm road (I would have kept going for a while on the main road). Another great routing choice by Susan. Gentle ups and downs, multi-hued fields, old farmhouses. I felt like we were in the middle of nowhere, and we kinda were.
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3 months ago
3 months ago
We stopped at a route turning to take a break and to see if Susan was catching up. Not yet. It was time for elevenses, which we had on the side of the road in a chill little breeze. Less than a half kilometer later we came to a village; Suzanne counted 10 places we could have sat and eaten. She said that’s always the way. Perhaps we could have looked at a map and at least found church steps to sit on. Learn from us, fellow cycle tourists.
Susan was still behind us, taking her elevenses about the same time. But she was getting closer.
Suzanne and I were pretty compatible riders, because she likes to stop at almost every leaf and petal like me.
I passed Suzanne, coming out of the woods and out onto a plain with more fields of grains. I saw there was a text from Susan, so I stopped to look at it. It said, “I c u.” I turned around.
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We three gals stopped in the middle of the road and had a fine time laughing and catching up. While standing there I’d noticed a bike headlight coming our way from the other direction, but Susan was the one who realized it must be Janos.
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We were about halfway through our mileage for the day, so we carried on towards Pont-à-Mousson. We rode through more crop land and a few villages. Our original route had us go up a big hill, but Janos, who came over that hill, told us to stick with the main road all the way to the river. Traffic wasn’t an issue, so that was a good call.
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3 months ago
Susan and I were staying in an apartment on one side of the river, and Suzanne and Janos on the other. It took us a while to find ours because the location was one of the places where google and Apple Maps don’t really understand where the front door is. Luckily our host, Anne-Sophie, was on the lookout for us. It was a very comfortable place to stay. It’s right on top of the Moselle cycle path, but you can’t get there from here with a bike due to stairs. Unless you have no trouble taking a loaded bike down stairs.
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Susan had the presence of mind to ask Anne-Sophie for a dinner recommendation. One of her favorite places was La Petit Gourmandin, a family-run restaurant. Highly recommended. We left there bursting but happy.
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One of the biggest laughs I had on this whole trip took place at dinner. I was sitting across from Janos, and I for one felt the need to keep stretching out my legs after the day’s ride. I think he did too. We kept accidentally playing footsie with each other until the last time when he suddenly started broadly winking at me with the most ridiculously lascivious grin. I lost it. That man is so funny, with or without words.
I’m glad we had a little walk after dinner to get back to our apartment because I was stuffed. We found the main square where they are, like all of France, celebrating hosting the Olympics this summer.
Today's ride: 43 km (27 miles)
Total: 218 km (135 miles)
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3 months ago