Vaucluse Dreamer

After what was possibly the slowest January on record, the time now seems to be slipping past so quickly that I hardly have time to mark each day passing.

The start of the year has been a whirl of trips back and forth to the UK for us both, which has left us feeling like ships passing in the night. We’ve made the most of the time we have had together, although our anniversary trip to Venice and Nice (just a couple of months ago) already seems like a very distant memory.

We’re now hurtling towards the summer, and another bike ride through France, this time from Saint Malo, and soon after that we’ll be off to Japan for what will be quite an adventure.

At the moment though, the spare time we have is spent planning routes for the bike ride, which has already changed many times.

We loved our first ‘Saddlebag of Memories’ ride, a couple of years ago, and we know we’ll never be able to reproduce it, as it was my first A to B trip, and such a challenge for me. The nerves, the excitement, the fear and the absolute emotion of reaching certain points along the route that I never imagined I’d get to.

I’ll never forget sobbing on the quay, waiting to get on the boat to cross the Loire near Nantes, on just the third day of cycling in France, overwhelmed by the fact that I had actually got that far. I honestly never believed I would get over Dartmoor on the first day! Saddlebag of Memories… Day 4 … La Gacilly to Bouin

Then again dissolving into a soggy mess as we passed the road sign marking the border into Provence, as we cycled towards Arles. The sheer emotion of that moment still makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end, and my eyes prick with tears now. Ridiculous that such a memory, can still reduce this hardened 58 year old to tears. Saddlebag of Memories… Day 16… Aigues-Mortes to Tarascon

It really was such a great adventure.

I suppose that the trip was about the challenge of doing such a long, unsupported cycle ride; but it was also about revisiting some places that we have loved over the past 36 years of visiting France together. Our route allowed us to stop off in towns and villages that have a little place in our hearts, reviving some of the memories that we have packed into our saddlebags, whilst adding some new ones too.

It was even better than I hoped it would be and I was bitten by the bug.

There is something wonderfully simple and incredibly liberating about stripping your life down to the absolute bare essentials, and getting from one place to another, just by turning the pedals. It is quite amazing just how little you need to carry, although the sight of me using the kitchen scales to work out which were the lightest pair of sandals to take, may have raised some eyebrows.

The first trip whet our appetite for more and since then we’ve had another few days away cycling and brocanting

And then last autumn, we caught the train to Madrid, cycling back through northern Spain to Sète, which was a whole new adventure taking us through amazing landscapes and introducing us to a country that neither of us have visited before.

Once again, it was an incredible ride, and we experienced some wonderful and remote places, cycling through a Gorge watching the huge Griffon Vultures circling above Saddlebag of Memories Madrid to Sète Day 4.. Pastrana to Beteta

Being brought to a standstill by the unexpected and spectacular sight of Molina de Aragon as we came around a corner Saddlebag of Memories Madrid to Sète. Day 5

And after what felt like days of climbing, swishing down the longest downhill I can remember, on our way into the beautiful city of Girona. Saddlebag of Memories Madrid to Sète. Day 12 Vic to Girona

Cycling really is such a great way to experience a country, and I always think of the Ernest Hemingway quote ‘It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best…’ but it’s not just the contours; it’s the sights, smells, wildlife and even the lifestyle, which if I’m honest in Spain, was a bit out of kilter with our own early to rise, early to bed approach to life.

This year, we really didn’t think we’d be able to do a ride, with Japan being our main focus, but we have to travel back from the UK after doing our summer events there this August, and cycling has to be cheaper than driving (doesn’t it?)

After doing some maths, it appears that it will be, as long as we camp. I have to add here that it’s not my favourite way to sleep, and is something Andy vowed never to do again, after carrying the tent during his cycle down with the boys in 2016. But if we want to do the ride, we have to do the camping too, and that’s what we’ll be doing.

Of course, there is a cost and the biggest was buying bikes that would be capable of carrying the camping kit. We had been saving for new bikes, so in the new year we bought 2 Trek Checkpoints (now called Lavender and Sage) with sturdy aluminium frames and decent gearing, with plenty of places to install panniers and bags.

I must admit that after a few rides, ensuring mine was set up properly, I am now besotted with her and love pootling round the valley and up into the local hills. In fact I think I now prefer her to my Bianchi, which is saying something.

We have bought a lightweight, but comfortable tent and the 2 best sleep mats we can find, which pack down into a tiny package, yet inflate up to 10cm thick. Believe me, at our ages just the thought of just sleeping on a thin roll-mat makes my back creak!

But in the great scheme of things, the cost of the camping kit has been small, in comparison to the cost of booking hotels or apartments each night. Although, we have said that we can book into places if we need to, and only have to use the equipment for 5 nights for it to have paid for itself.

So the ferry is booked and this time we’re starting our ride in Saint Malo, the beautiful old walled port that was the start of almost all our holidays in France for many years. It will give us the chance to walk around the old town, relive some wonderful memories and hopefully hunt out a couple of views from old watercolours of the town that we found in a brocante in Vannes..

We know that from there, we will head to Dinan, where we spent the first night of our honeymoon in 1989 and later revisited for the incredible Fête des Remparts too.

After that though, we had some decisions to make. Do we head along the Loire, cutting across country, below Paris towards the Burgundy region, making our way back through the Rhone Valley?

Or do we visit some of the other areas we used to holiday in and for which have a deep and very squidgy soft-spot. Perhaps the Marais Poitevin and other parts of the Charente Maritime and into the Dordogne and Lot?

And do we actually cycle home to Provence, or reach a spot where we can catch a train back to Avignon, as we did at the end of the ride through Spain?

So many things to consider and at first, I started to plot a route across France towards Macon, but the west coast kept calling me. Then the decision was made for us

When we did our first ride down, a lovely social-media ‘friend’ offered us a night’s stay with them in the Marais Breton, just south of Nantes. It proved to be the most perfect evening and the virtual friends became firm friends, and have invited us to stay again. How can we say no?

So the new route is being planned, taking us down through Brittany to their idyllic spot amongst the marshes and then we will continue through the Marais Poitevin, where we have cycled so many miles, over the years…

On to Cognac where, the last time we visited, we got soaked to our pants in a fierce rainstorm. Let’s hope the weather isn’t repeated this time.

Then we’ll find a route down towards Bergerac and on from there, although this bit is a little hazy and could still change depending on the weather, (trying to avoid having to cycle, when the weather map looks like this)

It will also depend on how we feel and also how time is going, as we’re determined to do slightly fewer kilometres each day than we have on the other rides. This time we’re aiming for about 80km per day (there or thereabouts) rather than closer to 100 and more often than not, even more.

At the moment, the maps are out across the floor

I have Google maps, Google earth and Komoot (you can Follow us here) open on my computer,

and each day, I’m plotting a little bit more of the route. Once again we’re aiming to follow quiet roads and back lanes, rather than canal paths or busy main roads, and there is nothing I enjoy more than trying to find a perfect way through.

So, as it stands.. we have the bikes, the panniers and the camping equipment and the ferry is booked for mid August. Just plotting the route is bringing back so many memories of holidays gone by that I know we will love pottering back through the areas that we’ve chosen.

Hopefully we’ll enjoy the camping, we’ll add some new memories to our already overstuffed saddlebags, and you’ll enjoy pedalling alongside us again.

Who knows what will.happen this time