To Saint-Emilion

September 29, 2019

It promised to be a sunny day, with little chance of rain until late in the afternoon. My plan was to cycle the Lawrence of Arabia cycleway until Soubie and then head southwest to Saint-Emilion. The Château was located on the opposite side of the river as the cycleway, between two access points. I had plotted a route backtracking a bit to get to the closest access point, but promptly headed off in the opposite direction. It was a couple of miles before I realized my mistake, and I tried vainly to find an alternate way to cross the river. I finally gave up and continued on D3 for another few miles, at which point the cycleway had crossed to my side of the river.

It was hunting season. Men in orange were all about and the air resounded with shotgun blasts and wailing dogs. It did occur to me that I might be safer cycling in traffic on the D3 - at least I was less likely to be hit by an errant shot or attacked by a frenzied dog. However, both the hunters and their dogs were well-behaved. The dogs ranged from small terrier types to large retrievers, providing scant clues as to the particular prey, especially to me, a non-hunter. My best bet would be partridge or some type of game bird.

The portion of the Lawrence of Arabia cycle route that I rode primarily followed smallish roads, with an occasional dedicated cycle path and short sections of D3. The route was well marked, except around the towns of Montpon-Menestrol where I got hopelessly turned around and ended up trying to sneak through barriers on the wrong side of the river. After a couple of miscues, I righted my course and was soon in Soubie heading through the countryside to Saint-Emilion.

But I want to be on that side of the river!

Finally on the Lawrence of Arabia Cycle Route - generally well-marked, but not by name

Hunters and dogs on the cycle path. We gave each other a friendly bonjour and I was feeling much more relaxed

We made it to the other side of the barrier before I realized we were on a path to nowhere on the wrong side of the river

The day was warming up and I was a little concerned to have only a single water bottle. Spotting a cemetery in Gours, I topped off my bottle and rested a bit while enjoying the antics of a middle-aged man on what seemed to be his new electric scooter. I was now in the renowned Vignobles de Bordeaux, and grapes were everywhere. What better way to spend a sunny Sunday afternoon than cycling through the vineyards of France. Unfortunately, the wind had picked up considerably and I was facing fierce cross-winds. It took a fair bit of concentration just to keep from being blown into the path of vehicles out enjoying Sunday excursions to the chateaus and vineyards – hopefully they hadn’t had enjoyed the wine too much! From Gours onward, there were alternating head and crosswinds, or sometimes simultaneously as if I was moving through a whorl. I stopped at Puynormand for a short rest/quick bite before crying uncle in Montagne where I found a corner niche in a churchyard to lay down out of the wind. I was roused from my stupor by some late lunch-goers, and made it the last two miles to Saint-Emilion.

A nice spot to top off the water bottle, rest for a bit, and enjoy the local color

This shot sums up my afternoon - grapes, châteaus and wind

Found a little niche for serious resting away from the wind

While certainly one of France’s most beautiful villages, Saint Emilion is not what I would call a bike friendly place. The village is built around hillocks, and the upper and lower parts of the village are connected by tertres, narrow steep cobbled passageways with “chaotic paving.” Even the streets wide enough for cars are cobbled. I had arrived at the upper village, which was teeming with people here for an arts celebration. My lodging was in the lower village, and both Ride with GPS and Google Maps were routing me down one of the tertres. No way. Walking and dodging my way through the throngs, I kept trying to find an alternate route but seemed to always end up at the top of another tertre. In my wanderings, I did happen upon a few nice viewpoints for photo ops, but was really wanting to put an end to my day on/beside the bike. I finally found success when I exchanged my cleats for regular shoes and forced Google Maps to find way down to my apartment that didn’t involve a tertre. Too tired to do much, I bought a few things for dinner and breakfast and went back to the apartment for an early evening, content in the knowledge that I had two days to explore Saint-Emilion.

The lines of parked cars heading into Saint-Emilion gave an indication of how crowded the village would be this afternoon

Tertre des Vaillants - the proposed route to my lodging. No thank you!

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Today's ride: 37 miles (60 km)
Total: 658 miles (1,059 km)

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Jacquie GaudetThere's a monolithic church in St-Émilion, I think. Having seen your photos of the one you visited, I wish I'd found the time to visit it when I was there. But we had just started our tour and were anxious to ride...
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