Back in Toronto

Made it safely home.  After yesterday's travel adventures, the final leg home was easy.  I'm now enjoying the Toronto rush-hour traffic from the comfort of an Airport Express bus.

I won't be blogging anymore for the next month (sorry mom...no more daily updates on my life) but check back again around June 9th for entries from Roe & my cycle trip across England and Ireland.

Back to the UK

Today I packed up my things and flew back to London.  Tomorrow morning I fly home to Toronto.

It was definitely sad to see the group split up and head our seperate ways.  I wish that I lived closer to some of them, so that we could see more of each other, but I suppose its nice to have some friends in England and Australia for the next time I go travelling.

Members of the group have already been on literally dozens of epic adventures: 100 mile walks completed in less than 48 hours; 1,200km bike rides completed in less than 90 hours; driving from Capetown to Cairo; and cycling everywhere from India to Cambodia, the United States to New Zealand.  I look forward to hearing about their future adventures...and contributing some more stories of my own.

Despite the lack of pedaling, today's travels were pretty tiring.  After a 30 minute drive to the Nimes airport, I flew to Luton airport with a few other members from the trip.  My bike was travelling in a "please take pity on me" clear plastic bag that Kevin gave me.  Happily, it seemed to survive the trip without injury.  (At least I haven't found anything yet.)

From the airport, I took a shuttle bus to the Luton rail station.  That was where things went slightly off plan.  Because of construction, I couldn't take the direct train from Luton to Gatwick.  In fact, I couldn't even take the train, tube, train combination that I had planned.  Instead, I took a train from Luton to Ketish Town station, walked to King's Cross station (where trains weren't runing today), took a taxi to London Bridge station, another train to Gatwick and a taxi to my B&B.  All of this was done with my large purple backpack (thanks for the loaner Jenn) and my partially disassembled bike.

When I got to the B&B, I put the bike back into my hard-shell case and I'm watching a bit of TV now before bed.

Day 15

Saturday, May 13
St Hippolyte-du-Fort to Stes Maries-de-la-Mer
112km

We did it.  We arrived at the Mediteranian.

Today's ride felt a bit mediocre compared with the breath taking scenery of the past few days.  However, it was a nice recap of the trip...almost an overture...as we finished.

We had hot, bright sun to start but that turned to overcast with scatterings of rain.  We had a pretty steep climb, with switchbacks, and a rapid decent, and we also had long stretches of flat road through fields.  We had narrow little windy country lanes, and busy main roads.  I rode with Steve, Charlie and Tara to start the day, but we met John and Roger when they stopped with a flat and spentthe rest of the day with them as well.  There were slow bits where we just bumbled along, and quick bits where John and I charged to the front.  There were boulangeries and wee breaks in the bushes, and even a short ferry ride across a small river.  All of these things were elements of our longer journey that made a final appearance today.  A nice recap.

The unique element of the day was the vinyards.  We had seen a few small vinyards on the trip before, but today there were many of them.  I was surprised by how small some of the individual fields were.  Some were only an acre or two, surrounded by little bits of forest.  There were other, much larger fields as well, whose symetrical rows looked much more like the vinyards of Niagara-on-the-Lake, close to where I grew up.

The other unique element was the canal that appeared as we approached the Mediteranian.  We rode along the long, straight, still canal for miles.  With some headwind, we soon formed little pacelines, and John and I had the group moving along at 30 and even 40km/h.  Even the girls were enjoying the speed as we chased the other group of cyclists in front of us.  Perhaps we all had a bit of extra energy when we knew the the finish was so close.

There were a lot of cars on the main roads, which was a new phenomenon on this trip.  On other days, we could go hours without seeing a car.  Today we got a few honks as we rode side by each.

Its a bit disappointing that the weather wasn't nicer today.  Its spitting with rain and there is a cool breeze as I sit on some rocks watching the waves roll up the beach.  I brought a swimsuit for today's arrvial, but that will have to wait for another trip.

One last dinner tonight, and we'll all head our seperate ways in the morning.

Day 14

Friday, May 12
Ste Enimie to St Hippolyte-du-Fort
111km

Another wonderful day.  Mediocre weather and tough climbs, but good scenery and wonderful decents.

I started the day with another flat tire.  The front one this time.  As far as flats go, I have been lucky to have both of mine (thus far) while at the hotel...as they are more convenient to repair there than at the side of the road.  My front tire itself was very old and worn, so I put on the spare tire that I had brought while replacing the tube.

The day started out along the canyon, and there was. a steep 6km climb up switchbacks to get to the top of the gorge.  From there, we had a steep decent down the otherside of the mountain.  It was very quick and long, but the sharp switchbacks (180 degree turns) made it hard to get any real speed or rythum going.

At the bottom of the mountain I found a lovely boulangerie in the town of Florac.  I picked up a big pizza for lunch, which was retangular and fit perfectly into the trunk bag on the back of my bike.  I also got some berry-tarts.

After Florac, the scenery changed from gorge to tree covered mountains. Not quite as "stunning" as some of the valleys earlier in the trip, but very nice.  Reminded me of Canada's evergreen covered areas...only with lots of big mountains.

There were three more cols today, which made for a lot of slow and steady climbing, with some occasional steep sections and headwinds as well.  Definitely the toughest climbing of the trip.  Some really entertaining decents too.  My skill and confidence with decending has improved dramatically on this trip.  I can lean the bike significantly into the corners and really enjoy carving back and forth down the hills without braking very much.  With the speed above 50km/h for a few minutes of decending, it starts to feel a lot like skiing.  The few times that I've encountered cars, I've been able to brake very rapidly (or just steer around them) so it feels pretty safe.

There were lots of nice vistas from the top of the climbs, with many other mountain peaks as far as the eye could see.  Unfortunately, it was pretty cool for most of the day, and it even spat with rain a few times.  Not exactly the way I pictured southern France, but not bad cycling weather really.  (Big John is very much out of his element in cooler, overcast weather.  He comes alive in the baking oht sun though.  That's the difference between Canadians and Australians.)

Around the 80km mark, one of our climbs took us through a very lush, humid forest.  There were so many overgrown plants and birds chirping tha it felt like a tropical aviary at a zoo.

Tomorrow is the last day of cycling before I travel back to the UK and then home to Canada.  It is advertised as an easy ride.  Hopefully we will get some nice weather.

Day 13

Thursday, May 11
Chaudes Aigues to Ste Enmie
103km

Another wonderful day of cycling, with some very different scenery.

Last night we had another fixed price menu french dinner in the hotel, as all of the other local resteraunts were closed each Wednesday afternoon.  How very french.

We lost another rider today.  Rob returned to his home in England with a sore tooth.  Aparently his filling (which he had put in himself using a mirror) had come out and the tooth was now aching.  As he is a dentist, we couldn't really argue with him, although I suggested that he could have come up with something more original.  Before Brian's trouble started, I had mentioned my stereotype that brits had bad teeth.  My case grows stronger by the day.

Today's ride started with a sharp series of switchbacks as we climbed out of the town.  After that, there were two more cols today, although the climbing was not as tough as the past few days.

In the moring, the scenery changed from the lush valleys of the past few days, to rolling moores with rambing loose rock "fences" and larger patches of exposed rock in the fields.  It looked like Scotland.

About halfway through the day, the scenery changed again as we climbed into rockey mountains and then decended into a rocky canyon.  There were many interesting rock formations along the canyon walls, some hanging over the road and others seeming to grow straight up to form giant pedastles.  There were several tunnels that the road passed through as we travelled along the canyon wall to our hotel.

The decent into the canyon was the best of the trip.  Lots of fun.  It was very long and very steep, with a series of regular left-right-left-right curves that you really had to throw your weight into to make it around.  At the bottom was a touristy little village, where we stopped for ice cream.  Big John, who was feeling ill this morning, impressed up all by riding up a huge series of switchbacks on the opposite wall of the canyon.  I didn't feel like any extra climbing myself, but he said that the view was lovely.

After we came down from the cols, the weather got really nice.  Bright sun and very warm. It finally felt like we were in the south of france.

The last couple of days have really ben fantastic.  Over dinner last night, Harold said that he had never experienced such a great combination of scenery, good road surfaces and low traffic.  Comming from someone with over 700,000km of cycling in his lifetime, it was quite the compliment to Kevin.

Day 12

Wednesday, May 10
Condat to Chaudes Aigues
92km

Another cool but scenic day with a lot of climbing.

I started the day with a flat tire at the B&B.  Its my first of the year, and I had been wondering if I was going to make it through this entire trip without one.  Oh well.  The B&B was a very convenient place to change a tube.  And Roger has had about 9 flats so far...so I've got nothing to complain about.

Steve and the girls waited for me, so I rode with them today.  I'll likely ride with them for the rest of the trip, as we all get along well and they ride faster than anyone else up the hills.  (They also wait for me when I've got flats...which is very nice.)

It was pretty cold again today.  The news suggested 13 degrees, but it might even have been cooler.  I didn't really bring any cold weather clothing, so I had to make due wuth arm and leg warmers.  It was a challenging day to dress for anyways, since you get hot on long climbs and then cold on long decents.

The scenery was lovely again as we climbed into the snow covered mountains of the Col d'Entremont (1210m) and then the Col de Prat de Bouc (1392m), which are the points of highest elevation on our trip.  The later takes you to the base of a ski lift, wich unfortunately wasn't actually running although there were patches of snow on the grass.  The road to the top is covered with painted signs of encouragement such as "Allez Thomas Allez", from a previous Tour du France route up the climb. 

Climbing at 9km/h for 10km climbs makes for a lot of climbing, but the 10km decents were a lot of fun again.  We stopped for lunch near the top of a big climb, then enjoyed a gradual 15km decent before stopped for coffee at the next town.  Rolling along through open fields and little hamlets without pedaling at all.  Some of the other decents were much more technical, which lots of sharp turns.

With the long climbs, we easily caught up with the rest of the group, and we leapfrogged each other all afternoon.  John goes down the decents very quickly, and I enjoyed following him as it gave me some advanced warning of the turns.

We're staying in a somewhat larger town tonight, so we will probably be able to find pasta for dinner.  I'm actually not as fussed about it anymore, as the french food is generally good...although a bit expensive.

Day 11

Tuesday, May 9
Pontgibaud to Condat
106km

Glorious day of cycling today.  One of my favourite rides ever and definitely a highlight of this trip.

The only downside was that it was a bit cool up here in the mountains.  But with all of the climbing we did today, it was best that it wasn't too hot.

The ride started off poorly for me when I realised that I'd left my cycling sun glasses back in the B&B parking lot. I was almost 5km away at the time, and at the top of the first climb, but I decided to go back for my glases.  Unfortunately, I wasn't able to find the glasses, so I'll need to get myself a new pair when I get home.  I shed a few tears for those glasses on each of today's swift decents.

As I left the B&B for the second time I was at the very back of the pack.  I decided to cycle briskly, and attempt to catch up with others as soon as possible.  I go up the hills as fast as anyone here, so it wasn't too much of a stretch.  The real trick was not to get lost as I followed the route directions without Roger or Charlie around.

After a few up tempo climbs, I passed a few people and caught up with Steve and the girls.  We stayed together for the rest of the day, and were third to arrive (after Rob and Malcolm, who usually cycle alone without many breaks).  Roger had too more flat tires today, which slowed him down a bit.  John has been waiting for Roger and Phil on the hills, so they got in after us today.

The scenery is what really made today special.  Record for most photos taken in a day - smashed!. Initially, it was a few puys (mountains), including some good views of La Put de Dome.  These were tree covered extint volcanos, which created some lovely valleys between them.

In the middle of the day, the highligh was the rapid decents.  After climbing slowly for 30-45 minutes, we'd rush down the windy mountain trails at 40-60km/h.  One in particular was like skiing, with steady left, right, left, symetrical turns that you could really lean the bike into.  It was a lot of fun.

For elevensies (the British snack before lunch) we stopped at a small mountain top shack for hot chocolate and apple pie.  For lunch, we were in the town of Besse-en-Chandesse, with very narrow cobbled streets, and old stone buildings.  I picked up a few pastries from the boulangerie and at them at a fountain.

After lunch, the scenery just got better and better as the mountains got larger and larger.  We saw snow-capped peaks for the first time, and though we didn't cycle very close to them, they made a wonderful backdrop for many photos.  Although the climbs were long, they gave amazing views of lush valleys, with small hamets on the hills, cows and horses in the fields, little clumbs of trees, long rows of hedges and roads that snaked back and forth across the landscape.

Tonight's hotel is just out of town, so I had a 2km walk to pick up some fruit and tarts for tomorrow and give Rosalyn a call from a pay phone by the road.

Dinner tonight was pork, with a huge helping of veggies.  (I believe we made a special request.).  Again, the highlight of the meal for me was an enormous cheese plate, with several local selections.

The hotel itsself is lovely.  Its on a lake, and we all have balconys with wonderful views.

Day 10

Monday, May 8
Pontgibaud
0km (Rest Day)

Much needed rest day today. 

With a private room, I was free to wash all of my clothes in the sink and leave them hung around the room all day to dry.  I left the heater on full, and occasionally rotated items to make sure that everything will be dry for tomorrow morning.

On the Tour du Canada, I learned to use rest days for rest, rather than exploring cities by foot and ending up less rested than I was to start with.  This is a lesson that I ignored today.

I got up at 8:15am, had a very minimalist french breakfast (four pieces of bread with butter and jam) and walked 1km into the nearby town, where some of the other riders are staying. 

Keving was taking John to a bike shop to replace his broken spoke, so he dropped Steve, Charlie, Tara and I off at the base of La Pue de Dome.  (Poor John couldn't find a spoke for sale...or even a new rear wheel, so he ended up buying a new front and rear wheel set for about 100 Euros.)

The four of us hiked up La Pue de Dome, which is the largest of the extinct volcanos in the region, and the main tourist attraction.  It was a steep ascent, with wonderful views for about the first 3/4 of the way, at which point we entered the low clouds and saw nothing but white.  It was definitely cold at the top,  but we were down to short sleeves on the way up because of the effort it took to walk up the steep dirt pathway.  When we reached the summit it started to rain heavily and then hail, so we quickly made our way back down again.  By the end we were 100% soaked to the bone.

Kevin picked us up and took us to a resteraunt for lunch.  Then we came back to the hotel, where I moved some drying clothes around and had a nap until dinner.

Interesting dinner to night.  Authentic dishes from the area.  Starter was a plate of shrimps, beans, and fish.  I liked it...nice to get some veggies.  Main was a huge portin of cured ham with something that looked like mashed potato and tasted like it had some cheese and other stuff in it.  It had a stringy, almost doughey consistency which remined me too much of the food in Ghana that made me sick...so I only ate about half a plate. 

Cheese today was great.  The highlight of the meal.  Huge wedges were passed around and we had as much as we wanted. All of the cheeses were from local towns.  The first two were from towns on our route over the next two days.  (They said that if we hit the home of the blue cheese, then we had gone too far.).

Desert was a cold blueberry "soup" with lemon sorbet.  We also had birthday cake for Sarah (who turned 50 today) and a magnum (i.e. Very big bottle) of real champaigne. I tried each of the cakes, but turned down seconds on the grounds that a fourth desert is almost always a mistake.

One the walk back to our hotel after dinner, Harold was skipping playfully along the side of the road.  I certainly hope that I can skip along a French road once night when I am 78.

Back on the bikes for five more days or riding tomorrow.  Weather is supposed to be around 16 degrees with a chance of light showers.  More climbing to come.

Day 9

Sunday, May 8
Montmarault to Pontgibaud
106km

Lovely day of riding today.  Probably the most climbing we've done so far, but very scenic.

At dinner last night, Brian complained of a sore tooth.  Apparently, it had been bothering him for several days.  By the end of the meal, it looked like he had a golf ball in his right cheek.  To make matters worse, there were no local dentists and everything is closed for a long weekend this Sunday and Monday anyways.  As it happens, there are two dentists on the trip with us (Rob and Sarah) and one doctor (Willameana, a British GP), so they all consulted and decided it was best to send him back to England.  Someone had some antibiotics to give him, and they put him on the train.  It doesn't seem likely that he will return.  Too bad, as he was a very nice man.  Very soft-spoken, but funny.  The only upside, if there is such a thing in these situations, is that I have a single room tonight, as I was supposed to share with Brian.

Today was our entry into the Massif Central region of France, which is a range of extinct volcanos.  That means lots of long climbs and long decents.  With seven long rides under our belt already, and steady rain in the morning, it was shaping up to be a tough day.

Luckily, the rain let up about 45 minutes into the ride and we had lovely weather for the rest of the ride.  It did rain off and on a few times, which meant a lot of stops to add or remove clothing, but on the whole it was very nice weather.

The scenery was fantistic.  The long climbs would take us from about 200m to about 700m...over and over and over again as we crossed over river valleys.  Beautiful.  The climbs were several kilometers long, but pretty gradual for the most part.  I'd find a comfortable gear and then maintain a steady tempo, and didn't have any problems.

The decents were magnificent. Long and not to steep, I would maintain a speed of 45-55km/h for several minutes.  They were wonderfully windey to as they curled around mounds, switchedback on themselves, snaked onto an adjacent mounds, and so on.  They were as random as rollercosters, so you never new what the next turn would be.  Despite the wonderful views, I didn't bother to stop for many photos...the decents were too much fun for that.  I never get decents like that near Toronto, and they were a definite highlight of the trip thus far.

For lunch, I stopped and had a jambon et fromage sandwich.  It was huge.  (I did have time for a photo of it.). It was the equivalent of half a Canadian loaf of bread, with a thick piece of sured ham and a big block of blue cheese.  Lovely.

Immediately after lunch was the longest climb of the day.  I pulled well out in front, and felt very strong, until I reached the top and realised that I didn't seem to be on the right road.  This after 30 minutes of climbing!!!  I wandered through the town at the top of the climb, and was happy to meet up with Steve and the girls...who had also taken the wrong route.  When John and Roger caught up, we figured out where we were, and managed to carry-on without repeating the big climb.

Again there was a bit of confusion regarding hotel rooms, but I ended up with a big private room which I imagine I'll get to keep for the rest day tomorrow.

For dinner, we had another nice french meal.  For 23 Euros (all in) I got 2 glasses of wine, a fancy salade (with tomato, blue cheese and nuts) a steak (with blue cheese sauce), some veggies (not many...but a real treat all the same), 3 cheeses (that I picked off of the "framage chariot"), and a fruit and sorbet desert  ("Pudd"...as the brits say).

Day 8

Saturday, May 6
Charost to Montmarault
121km

First, a correction.  Harold is not 86 but rather 78...my mistake.

Also, I forgot to mention yesterday that Ian, one of the tour guides, replaced my front brake pads for me as they were wearing a bit thin.  He picked up some French brake pads the previous day.  I joked with him that french brakes wouldn't work between noon and 2pm. (When all the french stores are closed).  I also could have sworn that I saw the brakes smoking a little yesterday...at a cafe stop of all places.  :)

We've run into a lot of large flies on our travells so far.  They mostly just hang in the air waiting to smack into your face as you cycle into them.  I've had about 8 end up in my mouth thus far, and told John that I get more meat on the rides than I do in the french resteraunts.

I felt a bit sick last night over dinner (too many flies perhaps), and went to bed early.  Actually, I think its allergies to the rape seed crops.  Apparently this is common.  "Luckily" we start to climb into the Massif Central over the next few days...so hopefully my allergies will pass.

Today was a long, wet ride.

It looked nice as we left the B&B, and we had a nice morning ride.  It was a lot of rolling hills today, which make the ride much more scenic and interesting.  There were many fields and farms, and many of the small stone villages to pass between.  Most of the roads were on don't even have names...just signs pointing to the next small village.

We also passed through a few forrests og beech trees...apparently called Beech Forrests (which initially odd to me).  They were lovely though, with lush green branches arching over the road.  I really like how the french use trees in their landscaping.  Rows of very tall trees look beautiful along both sides of a road or driveway.

At about the 20km mark, Big John broke a spoke.  Unfortunately, he is using very specialized bladed racing spokes (vs the standard "light touring" spokes that most of our bikes have) and he does not have any spares with him.  He taped the spoke to its neighbouring spoke, and rode the rest of the day without incident.  Not sure how long this solution will last him, but perhaps the rest of the tour.

As we stopped for a drink at the 30km mark, it started to rain.  And it kept raining pretty steadily for the rest of the ride.  Not a lot of fun, especially since I didnj( have all of my rain gear with me, but not to bad really...now that I am dry in the B&B.

At about 40km, we passed through Bruere Allichamps, which has a small monument marking the geographic center of France.

After that, a clear pattern developed:  ride through rolling hills, ride through tiny town (many with no cross-streets, steep decent out of town, cross small river, steep ascent, repeat.

I'm pretty much exhausted now.  My left knee is stil a bit sore from my fall on day 2 (although it luckily bothers me much more walking than cycling), my derrier is a bit tender after seven straight riding days (the most I've ever done) and my nose and chest are still very congested from what I assume is allergies.  But other than that, I feel good and have been riding very strongly.

There was a bit of confusion at the B&B today as we beet the van again and didn't know who was in what room. Worse was the fact that we were all cold, wet and grumpy, and we didn't have any dry clothes to change into.  Rob and Roger showered anyways, and then attempted to sit in the dining room in their towels. The french matre D was not impressed, and immediately sent them back to their rooms...with a beer to keep them happy.

I need to get some euros from a bank tonight, since I have been told that we might not see any more banks on this trip. 

Tomorrow is the last riding day before a much needed rest day.

Day 7

Friday, May 5
Bracieux to Charost
100km

The big chateau from yesterday (the one I called "Le Chateau ...") was Chateau de Chambord.  I meant to look it up last night, but sent the message before I remembered.

Yesterday afternoon we all had a great laugh around the pool.  For context, Harold is the eldest in our group at 86.  He is from Vancouver, and has had a full lifetime of adventures...including completing a Paris-Brest-Paris 1,200km ride within the 90 hour time limit.  (A truly super human feat.). He's one of the slower riders nowadays, but he's got some good stories to tell...and its really quiet amazing that he arrives each day only an hour or two after I do.

In any case, we had our big laugh round the pool when Charlie came out from her room and said "I just had a phone call from Harold...he was trying to phone Canada."  He had tried to phone Vancouver, and ended up with the room beside him.  The best part was, Charlie had answered the phone with "Bonjour" and they spent the next two minutes trying to speak french to each other.

Dinner last night was at the little pizza resteraunt across the street from the B&B.  When they saw 10 of us join their 4 "regular" customers, they tried hard to warn us about slow service, but there wasn't really anywhere else for us to eat.  Thus, dinner stretched from about 7:15pm until 9:45pm.  All for pizza and salade.  The rest of the trips accomodation is supposed to be in really small villages, so I imagine that its French food from here on in.  C'est la vie.

We've really found a routine these days:  Wake up around 7:20am (my roomates are ALWAYS up first and wake me up), breakfast at 7:50am, discussion of the day's route at 9am, departure at 9:15am, I'll head off with Roger and Big John, snack at a cafe around 11:30am, met up with Steve, Charlie and Tara at around noon, lunch at around 12:30pm, arrive at the B&B around 3pm, shower, dinner around 7:30pm, bed around 10pm.

Some more lovely riding today.  The weather was a bit overcast this morning, but it brightened up in the afternoon and didn't rain at all.  Not much wind today either.

We were really steaming along at the beginning of the day.  With John in front, we were cruising along at 40km/h for a couple of km.  When we stopped for a break at about 42km, our average speed was 28.6km/h!

After that, the terrain began to undulate a bit.  This really makes things a lot more scenic, in my opinion. Windy roads up and down rolling hills are much more interesting than flat, straight roads.

There were a lot of little forrested areas, with small ponds and swamps aong today's route.  Some of the forrests were clearly man-made, as the large trees were arranged in perfeclt straight rows.  The tall trees with long white trunks and bright green leaves at the top were very atractive.  Occasionally, large houses would have a row of them on both sides of their long driveways.

We didn't ride much with Charlie and Tara today.  Tara got sore knees after Roger put toe clips onto her mountain bike pedals, so she and Charlie didn't bother to stop for lunch.  They left Steve with us for lunch and we chased after them for the rest of the day, finally catching them 5km from the end.

We arrived at the B&B at 2:45pm today, and the van with all of our clothes hadn't arrived yet.  Roger was a bit frustrated by this, since the same thing happened a few days ago, but it didn't really bother me.  We sat on some benches by a creek under some big tres and ate bannanas until Kevin showed up with the van at around 3:10pm.

Day 6

Thursday, May 4
Chateaudin to Bracieux
82km

Short, flat day today...which was nice.  Lovely hot sunny weather.

I was a bit congested last night.  I think that I might be allergic to all of the rape-seed that grows in the fields out here.  It doesn't bother me much while I'm riding, luckily.  I'm hoping that the crops will change as we continue to head South.

We crossed the Loire river, the longest of France's four large rivers.  The river itsself was nothing special, but the Loire valley's warm micro-climate inspired wealthy Frenchmen to build glorious chateaus along the river.  We went by 3 or 4 of the today, including "Le chateau ...", which is one of the largest.  It looked almost like a castle, with grey stone walls and tall round turrets.  Unlike a castle, there were lots of windows and very ornate details around the roofline.  We all stopped for an icecream at the chateau, and ate it on the lawn in the shade.  Lovely.

The rest of the short ride was similar to the last few days.  Lots of vast open fields broken up by some little towns.  The towns today were a bit larger, and we had good luck finding places to stop and get food.  I picked up a big slice of pizza, an apple turnover, an apple and a banna in the first town.  A bit later on I had some Flan, an orangina and a perrier.  I'm trying to force myself to drink more enroute because I feel a bit dehidrated.  Wine with dinner every night probably doesn't help.

Today's accomodation is very nice.  Big rooms with proper showers.  I'm been shaving every few days on this trip.  The lumberjack beard seemed appropriate in the Canadian Rockies, but not in France.  Perhaps a little musketeer goatee would work.

I've also done some more sink laundry today.  Hopefully all will be dry by morning.  With the bright sun and light breeze right now, it shouldn't be a problem.  We're al sitting outside by the hotel pool.  Several people have commented that we actually look like we're on vacation...instead of at boot camp.

Steve is sitting beside me, and has asked me to briefly describe his day today:

"I exploded out of bed this morning, grabbing a baguette and a coffee on the way to my bike.  As the local villagers cheered, I did a victory lap around Chateaudin's main square, before charging out of the valley...leaving my fellow cyclists in my wake.  With the wind in my hair and the sun on my back, I kept my head down for the next four hours as my mightly legs pumped away madly."

It's worth explaining that our "victory lap" this morning was caused by a navigational error.  Also, our leggs only really "pumped away madly" twice: once as Steve tried to catch us after he stopped for a pee break, and once when Steve, John and I chased after a tractor.  In the first case, John managed to catch us as we realized we'd gone past the proper turning.  Add in about 5 boulangerie stops, and Steve's version is basically right.

Day 5

Wednesday, May 3
Anet to Chateaudun
114km

My Blackberry appears to be working again.  However, it appears to be a bit flakey over here.  So if I suddenly stop posting, please assume that the Blackberry problem has returned.

Last night we ate together at a nice french resteraunt.  I'm getting a bit tired of French dinners.  They are usually pretty small portions and consist mostly of a piece of meat covered in a sauce, a few token vegetables (literally one baby carrot, one bean and one baby potato) lots of bread, cheese plate and/or dessert and, of course, wine.  Its very nice, but there is not much variety.  Same stuff every night.  And its not really "cycling food".  I'd love a nice big plate of pasta!

Lovely weather today.  Hot and sunny all day.  The terrain was flat again, with only one or two gentle climbs.  There was a bit of a headwind, but nothing to terrible.  The large, flat yellow and green fields were interrupted every 25km or so with a tiny little custer of farmhouses.  Most had old stone walls and many had a little river or pond.  Charming.  We even saw an aqueduct early on in the day.

I rode with John and Roger again today.  Right outside the hotel, Roger got a flat tire.

About half way through, we met up. With Steve, Charlie and Tara.  They were at the side of the road with a flat tire and a broken pump...we arrived just in time to save the day.  The typical setup was John and I up front (breaking the wind) with Charlie and Roger providing directions.  It worked quite well.

Having not had any fruit or vegetable in days, we stopped at a fruit stand today and loaded up.  (We also got a few things from the bakery across the street - apple turnover and chocolate crossant.)

For dinner just now we found a little Italian resteraunt that really went over well.  Pasta, pizza and salade doesn't sound as good as french cuisine, but it was exaclty what we were looking for.

Blackberry Trouble

My wireless Blackberry, that I use to post these messages, does not seem to be working right now. I can get a strong signal, but it says "data connection refused". Not sure what the trouble is, but I might not be able to post updates for a while. (I am sending this from a computer in a bar...but I have not seen many internet terminals in France.)

Otherwise, all is well and I had another great day of cycling. Will post again when possible.

As an aside, this french keyboard has the letters in different places than an English keyboard. How odd!

Day 4

Tuesday, May 2
Lyons-la-Foret to Anet
94km

Much nicer weather today.  The sun was out, I rode in shorts, and there was no rain at all.  There was a bit of a headwind for most of the day, but it was a shorter ride without any serious hilly, so it wasn't too tough.

Although the sunshine was very nice, the scenery was somewhat less interesting today.  It was a lot flatter, with huge fields of grassy green and bright yellow crops.  It looked a bit like the farming areas around Toronto.

We did have a nice decent into the Sienne Valley, which was picturesque.  There was on Old Castle on a hill that was built by Richard the Lionheart.  (Kevin, the tour leader told us that it was built by Henry the first, but Gavin (the retired history teacher) set us straight.

For lunch, we stopped at a Boulangarie and got a long, skinney baguette sandwich, a chocolate crossant, and a brownie.  Yum.  Nice to have all of the little shops open.

Thus far, breakfast and lunch have both been great.  Dinners have been good food, but French food is not really. "Cycling food".  Saucy meats, small portions, lots of wine, bread and cheese, and almost no veggies.  I would love some pasta and salade...but no luck thus far.

The group is getting along very well, and I am enjoying their company a lot.  Lots of funny characters.  I am definitely the youngest, but everyone is very adventurous and young at heart.  Unlike the Tour du Canada, the riders tend to ride at relatively similar speeds.  As a result, we meet up with many other cyclists throughout the day as we stop for breaks at different times.

Tonights B&B is nice, but the shower was terrible.  The French clearly have NOT mastered showers.  The shower head is on a long tube, which does not atach to the wall.  It just joins the faucet at the bottom, meaning that you have to hold it yourselt.  Since there is only a small "splash screen", which does not go completely around the shower stall, water goes everywhere!

Day 3

Monday, May 1
Abbeville to Lyons-la-Foret
123km

Great route today. Wonderful scenery. Lousy weather. It was cold, windy and rainy the entire ride.

Last night, we stored our bikes in a self-storage garage down the street. Retrieving the bike this morning made it clear that we were in for some bad weather today. I wore all of the warm and waterproof clothes that I have here...and managed to stay relatively dry and warm.

Again, I was completely impressed with the little roads in France. They are PERFECT for cycling. Nice pavement, no cars and lots of dips, sweeping turns and climbs and switchback decents. Since there was pretty good visibility, we really let loose and built up a lot of speed on the decents...which is a lot of fun. I can't get over how narrow the roads are. Some were only about 2 or 3 meters wide. There was a lot more climbing today, with some beautiful views from the tops and a lot of small wooden-house villages.

I rode with John (a big Australian) and Roger (a shorter bald guy from Norfolk England) again for most of the day today. A few times I'd drop off to cycle with some of the other cyclists that we met up with, but I always seemed to end up back with John and Roger. No one on this trip is particularly fast, but most maintain a very respectable pace.

At one point, Roger got a flat at the top of a big hill. Since John had already gone down the hill, I stayed to help change the tube. I got half an apple tart as a thank-you.

Most of the shops in France are aparently closed on Mondays. Since today was a bank holiday, even less was open. I bought a chocolate crossant and a mini-keesh in Abbeville to tide me over. In the end, we did find one open resteraunt on route, where I had a toasted ham sandwich with cheese on top called a "croques monsieur". Yummy. My appetite is definitely increasing with all of the cycling.

At the resteraunt, we met up with Steve and his wife Charlie and their friend Tara. They all ride mountain bikes and are pretty funny. They are quick but the stop a few times a day for coffee (from flasks) and flapjeacks. (Enery-bar type stuff made with oats and honey...I though a flapjack was a pancake. Is that a wierd British thing or am I confused?). Charlie is also the authority on directions, so we'll frequently run into them several times a day after we make a wrong turn.

After meeting up with them, we stayed together for the rest of the ride. Amazingly, with both Charlie and Roger on the maps, we made a wrong turn and ended up several km off course. It was a beautiful, sweeping downhill...which was a lot nicer on the way down. Oh well.

Finally, I wanted to mention that www.multimap.com seems to be a good website for locating french cities...just in case your not exactly sure where these little French towns are.