Day 48: Consenvoye to Saint Mihiel

September 26, 2024

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Today's story seems to be about voies vertes (bikeways), or the lack thereof, with our account blurred in our minds by being absolutely blasted by wind and rain, sometimes on rocky dirt path hills in the open fields (the voies vertes) and sometimes by being blasted by wind and rain with cars and trucks passing at high speed (the not voies vertes). Our record of the whole thing is also weakened because we could not taker pictures in the downpours.

We started out without rain, and on a nicely paved path. You can see the sunflowers on one side and corn on the other, waiting for some really dry weather so they can get harvested.

Before long, our nice paved track turned to single track (well double track, that became single track). But it was still a lovely ride, which inspired my second photo below. The water is not the Meuse itself, but a canal beside the Meuse. We even ran into a group of cows that trotted through the trees to come up and say hello at their fence.

The path turned back into pavement. If you are getting confused about whether there is or is not voie verte in this area, so were we.

But on the pavement - chestnuts. These can actually throw you, or your bike can throw them at passers by.

The GPS showed that we needed to cross the canal, here. But there was no way we were going up this.

A little later our paved path went over the canal, in a normal, sane way, and continued nicely on the other side. Who had dreamed up those steps?

So that was our first 20 or so kms, and it landed us basically at Verdun, not wet or particularly frazzled. I got parked in front of Intermarché witht he bikes. Dodie went in to implement our big plan -We knew we would be finishing in an apartment, and assuming that would have a microwave there was a prospect of having a hot meal. So she was after microwavable TV dinners.

Just as Dodie exited with her treasures, another cyclist pulled up. We never did get his name, but he was from Netherlands. Of course there ensued the usual comparing of notes, about routes, equipment, weather, and etc. etc. I enjoyed listening to the man, because he had that measured, rational manner so typical of the Dutch, and for that there was not way you could label this ten year traveller a vagrant. Dodie had to pinch me, to shut down the latest topic - compact zoom cameras - and get us back on the road. That little lady can pinch hard!

Dodie and our unknown Dutchman. He is also heading for Spain. Maybe we'll see him in Barcelona.

The rain began as we left the Intermarché, so there was little opportunity for photos as we passed through Verdun. There was also little incentive to tour the city, so we stuck to the Meuse and rolled on through.

Despite the risk of taking out the camera in the rain, I seemed to think this shot was worth it. It probably is the cheapest artisanal baguette in France. Again we didn't need one, so we can't say if it was any good.

Verdun has many WWI war memorials, a battlefield one can visit, and some destroyed villages that have been left as is. This is one memorial, in the centre of town.

At Dugny sur Meuse there is a lime quarry and kiln that is so huge it tempted me to pull out the camera again. It was a really fast sneak shot, because the rain would really threaten the camera.

After Dugny we found a bus shelter. There was no bench, but we were still glad of a shelter where we could eat something.

It's great when you have a place from which you can look out at rain.

The map book "La Meuse a Velo" that we had picked up contained a come on that said "want to avoid high traffic? scan this QR for the latest voie verte development gpx". I did that, and got a 20 km track from Tilly sur Meuse, though to our destination at Saint Mihiel. We actually spotted this beginning before Tilly, and it was nicely paved. But soon, don't ask me how soon, it took off into hills, through open fields, and with an all but unrideable surface. We found ourselves up there, out there, and with a condition that I remember well from other rides: It's the situation where the wind driven rain is pounding so hard against the hood that is over my ears, that it is deafening. In such cases I do rather appreciate all the water that is being thrown in my eyes, because it is rather lubricating. But I think of Dodie with her glasses and wonder how she can see where to go. She tells me that indeed her ability to make out details of the path, like rocks, is gone, but she is otherwise able to guess.

As I followed behind Dodie in these conditions, I was trying to assess the likelihood that she would go down. I was figuring on about 50%, but was impressed that she had already made it so far. Finally, the combination of wind and rain and hill and rough terrain was too much. But rather than go down, Dodie wisely stepped off. From there, we just pushed the bikes, our new goal being the "safety and comfort" of the high speed D34 road. By high speed, I mean that the road was narrower and windier than the 60 kph road in front of our house at home, but the posted limit here was 90, not that some were sticking to that.

We made it to D34 and carried on with that. One idiot tried to sideswipe us, and did a lot of honking, but he was just the worst of a bad lot of drivers. The road is an official European bike route, eh!

Our apartment is at the far end of Saint Mihiel, and maybe we are in the slums. You can judge from the photo. But the place itself is actually reasonable (we had to phone to drum up the owner from somewhere, to let us in). Our microwave gamble paid off, and so there was hot food. There is also a bathtub, and you can bet that is where I'm going as soon as I get to the end of this sentence!

The slums, or just a normal French town?

Today's ride: 68 km (42 miles)
Total: 2,398 km (1,489 miles)

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Keith ClassenWe have been using Cycle.travel site for routing and navigation the last several days and am quite impressed with it. Really like the color coding of roads based on traffic volumes. Seem to route you on very quiet roads. Prefer it to Komoot which I also have been using but don’t like its goat track feature. Bathtubs are one of my favourite accommodation features.
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2 weeks ago

Steve Miller/GrampiesTo Keith ClassenThe track we are following is the "official" one for EV19, the Meuse a Velo. Someone who designed the route has a warped sense of humour. Yes, bathtubs are great! Only problem for Dodie is, with her knees, she always worries about being able to get in, and more importantly, out. She has had difficulty with this on the past!
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2 weeks ago