Vaucluse Dreamer

The last few days in Provence have been a bit grey, cold and soggy, so our minds couldn’t help but turn to the ideas we have for this summer’s cycle trip.

We took the opportunity that came with the bad weather, to pull the maps out of the cupboard and spread them across the kitchen table, starting to look at a route that will bring us home to Apt from the first stop on our trip, Amsterdam.

Last summer’s ‘Saddlebag of Memories’ adventure was such great fun that we were already chatting about what this year’s trip could be, as we cycled back along the Veloroute, through the valley on the last stage of the ride.

I’m sure that for many, the thought of cycling 1000 miles down through France is more of a nightmare than a daydream and for most would be more of a ‘holiday-hell’ than a perfect break away, but for us it was pretty much perfect.

I still remember how I felt, as we first turned the pedals to leave the little cottage in East Budleigh, on our way to cross Dartmoor to catch the night-ferry from Plymouth. Despite Andy’s unerring confidence in me, my nerves were off the scale. A 56 year old, who had never done anything like this before, honestly believing that I wouldn’t even manage to get to Plymouth, let alone all the way back home to Provence. Saddlebag of Memories Cycle Ride…Day 1 over Dartmoor to Plymouth

Yet, we managed it all and had an absolute blast on the way. So much so that we really didn’t want it to end, and even had a discussion as to whether we should just keep going all the way to Menton, rather than take the road back up the hill to home Saddlebag of Memories… Day 17… Tarascon to Home

There was a wonderful simplicity to the trip. Just us, and the bikes we love to ride. We took with us what we needed, and weren’t weighed down with the additional bits of life that we carry with us on a daily basis. Our aim was to fill our saddlebags with memories rather than physical things, and by the time we hopped off our bikes, they were crammed full-to-bursting.

I know that’s what holidays are about; having time away from the day-to-day realities and stresses of life, kicking back a little and switching off, but somehow this was different. Each day felt like a new adventure, as although we knew the general direction we were heading in, we made the route up as we went along.

The joy was that nothing was fixed in stone, other than we were heading home to Provence. This meant that we could shape and mould the trip to suit us, as we went along. If we didn’t like the road we were riding on, we stopped, found a new route and followed that instead.

If we thought we may have bitten off more distance than we could chew, then we just sat down over a sandwich at lunchtime to book the nights accommodation somewhere that we thought we would be able to get to instead

In fact, bad weather saw us shorten some days and even (when severe storms were predicted) change our route totally, from heading back through the Massif Central, to taking a better-weather option towards the south coast. Although we still had to cycle as if we were being chased by the ‘hounds of hell’ to keep ahead of a huge storm that turned Carcassonne into a swimming pool, seconds after we arrived. Saddlebag of Memories… Day 11… Toulouse to Carcassonne

I loved the uncertainty of the journey; not knowing the roads, not knowing how long, or how steep the hills were, even not knowing where we would be staying each night until lunchtime each day, when we booked somewhere. It took us away from routine to a whole new experience and it was one that I didn’t really want to end.

We learned so much on the way. Mainly that we just enjoy cycling together, but also that I love maps and that once I had a paper map, with a little line drawn on it, showing the general direction for the days ride, I was an incredibly happy woman.

There’s something tangible about a map, rather than a simple GPS route planner. A map, with its folds and creases adds context to an area and once I had settled into my ‘mission control’ system on the front of my bike, I was blissfully happy. There was something wonderful about refolding a map once a specific part of countryside was behind us. It gave an incredible sense of travelling and making progress, so much more so than just following a dot on a screen. Saddlebag of Memories… A few days on… What we learned

We learned lots more too, but the overwhelming result was that we loved the simple process of travelling across a country under our own steam, on 2 wheels. Being by ourselves, doing what we wanted to do, when we wanted to do it.

We missed it almost as soon as we finished and managed to fit in a shorter trip, in early autumn, testing taking our bikes on a train to get to the starting point of the ride, which worked well too. Bikes and Brocante … Day 1 Caseneuve to Montpellier

So the seed has been well and truly sown, and we’re now full on, into planning next summer’s adventure. Our next ‘Saddlebag of Memories’ ride, which will take us to new places and push us a little further out of our comfort-zone.

The maps have been bought and we’ve booked our first nights’ accommodation in a small apartment next to one of Amsterdam’s canals. We’ll give ourselves a couple of days to explore a city that we’ve always wanted to visit, before we start cycling home again to Apt.

We plan to take the train to Amsterdam, having bought bike bags to allow us to pack our dismantled bikes to travel on the TGV. Whilst assembled bikes can be carried on some TGV routes, the one from Avignon still needs bikes to be packed as luggage. Such a shame, but hopefully it won’t be too long before we’ll be able to take fully-assembled bikes on there too.

Already our plans are changing though, as we had originally thought to make our way through to the Rhine and ride a route between Koblenz and Frankfurt, revisiting some of the memories I have of taking part in swimming galas there in my teens.

But looking at the maps, we have seen another route, which skirts the Belgian, Luxembourg and German borders, where quiet roads wingle their way through forests and along river valleys too, with a fair few hills to keep us thinking. So once again it’s likely to be a bit of a finger-in-the-air trip, with a general sense of where we will be heading, but with the flexibility to find our own way there, or change the route if we want to.

There are some places that I’d love to see and experience and I’m keeping a list of those, just to see how many we can fit in. Our first thoughts are that we will pass through parts of The Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg and Switzerland, as well as France, but with us, who knows for sure.

The only things that are fixed are that we have a start date and have to be back in Provence to meet friends who are coming out for a week’s holiday with us towards the end of June. Perhaps, distance-wise we may be trying to do too much in the time we have available (not that I have any idea of how far exactly it will be as no planner takes us on even a generally similar route to the one we have in mind). But we always have the option to hop on a train if we need to, just to get back in time …. We have to keep every option open and that’s part of the fun.

So at the end of May (is that really only just over 4 months away?) We’ll set off on our Saddlebag of Memories, Amsterdam to Apt ride and look forward to sharing it with you again.

In the meantime, on dull days and during the long, dark evenings, you’ll find us poring over the maps, spread out across the tables and floor, with Google Earth open on the laptop and Via Michelin on my phone, looking for the roads that we love to ride along that will make our hearts sing as we turn the pedals.

I have a feeling that the next 4 months will pass by in a flash.