When we started planning for our tour in France, we organized to meet up with some friends on route and we would cycle together for a week on our way to a house that we had booked for a week in Provence. The original tour planning included routes along the Dordogne, the Lot and the Tarn rivers. After completing and thoroughly enjoying the first two sections of the tour, weather looked to become an issue for the third and final section along the Tarn. As well, recognizing the rigours necessary to complete this section, it was decided to play it safe with our friends (Lucia was five months pregnant) and travel south to the Mediterranean and then east towards Gordes where our one week stay was located. The Tarn will need to wait for another trip.
This plan B worked out fine with overnight stays in Carcassone, Gruissan, Marseillan, Aigues-Mortes, Arles and Noves. We have stayed in Arles previously and timed the massive Sunday morning market perfectly. We found the small towns of Marseillan and Noves to be most enjoyable. The experiences in these slightly off the beaten track places always seem more authentic and rewarding. The cycling was fine along the route but the roads are much busier as you go south through the more populated areas.
Riding along the Canal du Midi. The trail conditions can be a bit rough for our small wheeled bikes.
Coffee stop at Saint-Étienne-du-Grès. This was part of a weekend celebration in this community involving Spanish bullfighting. It is always such a treat when we luck out coming across local events.
Pat and I really enjoy creating a record of our travels in Cycleblaze and marvel at how many of the regular bloggers make wonderful day to day journals seem so effortless. I have great respect for their talents to provide detailed accounts of their tours. I may be reasonably skilled at planning and executing a cycle tour, but documenting the experiences is an additional challenge as I do not consider myself a natural writer or journalist. That is, writing does not come as easy as procrastinating does for me. So unfortunately, with the added socializing that comes with riding with friends, this blog ended abruptly in Albi and regretfully has been left in its unfinished state ever since.
I would like to thank Ann Mahr and any other Cycleblazers who may have been concerned about our well being. We are both fine and the tour was finished without any incidents (except for some annoying credit card blocks) or even a single flat tire. A relief after my flat tire disaster in Corsica. Of course, we were well prepared with multiple tubes and fresh repair kits this time. We sincerely apologize for leaving the Cycleblaze blog readers questioning our well being.
The last week of our tour was spent in the hamlet of Les Gros which is just outside, or should I say down the hill, from Gordes. It is a great area for cycling that we first visited in May 2017. We joined up with two more friends and the six of us made day rides to all the surrounding hill top villages including Ménerbes, Bonnieux, Roussillon, Lacoste and of course Gordes. Some of the unexpected high lights include the medieval fort ruins in Buoux and the small town of Fontaine de Vaucluse. We enjoyed warm sunny weather, not too hot and very little wind. We completed day rides and prepared our evening meals together cooked over the natural wood barbecue and of course lots of fine wine.
Pat on a downhill with Bonnieux in the background. The day rides on the back-roads of Provence were all excellent.
At the top of the rocky spur, the Buoux Fort served as a refuge for the population during the invasions in the Middle Ages. In 1660, King Louis the 14th ordered the fort's destruction. Completely without restoration or tourist trappings - It is a wonderful place to explore antient fortifications in a natural decaying state.
To finish this blog I would like to tell of two stays that we found most remarkable. In both cases, it was the people that you meet that make travelling so special.
The first was in the small town of Noves which is promised to provide an off the beaten path authentic experience. We picked Noves simply because it was on route to our destination of Gordes. We stayed at Maison de Village (aka Novissime at 8 rue Jean Moulin Noves), a beautifully remodelled 18th century home that has a couple of suites but we were the only guests. The small town was busy celebrating Saint Eloi - the patron saint and protector of draught animals and on this day the farm animals receive their ritual blessing for bring the crops in from the field. It is wonderful when you feel like you are the only tourists in town as the locals celebrate their traditions. But best of all was our host, Micheline, who was so interesting, helpful and kind She even drove us in her car to a restaurant just outside of town because she knew it was superior to that offered locally. I know this sounds like a booking.com review, but the breakfast served the following morning in her courtyard was beyond compare. Noves is not really on the radar - but a small town very worth a visit.
The second experience turned out to be the perfect beginning and ending to our our tour. Our tours begin by booking three nights at a location where we plan to start an and end the ride. We find this a comfortable time frame to recover from time change, build up the Bike Fridays, deal with anything forgotten or broken items and explore the area. This trip we planned Paris as our base and booked a very reasonable studio apartment in the 14th arrondissement very near rue Daguerre. We really enjoyed our stay here. It was great that our hosts Regis and Christelle also offered to store our bike suitcases at their home while we completed our ride. However, when we went to book the apartment for our return dates the little studio was already booked.
Regis suggested that we come to his home as this is where the suitcases were being stored while we were away and we could stay with his family in Gressy. Wow.
We boarded the TVG train in Avignon for the CDG airport as it is there nearest stop for the small town of Gressy. But on route the train stopped for what seemed like a lengthy time just short of our destination at Marne La Vallée–Chessy which is Paris Disneyland. So on the spur of the moment we decided to unload early and find our way. We found the area a bit tricky to escape, perhaps that's the idea, but after a few way finding errors we began our relatively short 25km ride to Gressy.
Gressy is a small and pretty bedroom community linked by a 30km bike path to Paris. After meeting our most incredible hosts, Regis and Christelle, we took a short walk around the neighborhood and nearby lake - truly beautiful. Scott then packed up the bikes and afterwards we enjoyed an excellent meal in our hosts' backyard. The conversations were so much fun as our two families had much in common. We stayed in their daughter's room who was away at school and the next morning Regis even drove us to the airport. Their generosity had no bounds. They made our last night in France and departure incredibly enjoyable and stress free. We cannot thank them enough for everything they did for us and hope that one day we can return the favour in Canada.
It has been several months since this tour ended and we hope to be able to organize another trip soon. Scott is always imagining new routes and exploring options. Perhaps we will again be on the road before the end of the year and if we do, we will post our experiences here on Cycleblaze.
Pat leaving Disneyland in Paris - it was harder than it sounds.
For anyone following from day one of the blog -- This is the promised "after picture" of the vegetable garden planted just before our departure. Onions, peppers, eggplant, basil, leeks and tomatoes.
