In the great scheme of things, Pezenas isn’t really very far from Provence, so we had always planned to have a day off, on the way across, and Sommières seemed to be the perfect place for it. It’s a beautiful little town on the River Vidourle, with a castle, wonderful cobbled streets, and a fantastic … More Join our bike ride :Day 3 Exploring the Gard and finding Orchids
After a glorious evening on the boat we had rented for the night, watching the sunset along the Rhone-Sete Canal, at Beaucaire, we woke this morning to grey skies. They weren’t enough to dull our spirits, and after a slow morning, enjoying coffee on the ‘poop-deck’, watching the day start around us, we loaded everything … More Join our bike Ride: Day 2, Beaucaire to Sommieres
After what has felt like a couple of weeks of ‘hurry up and wait’, we finally set off on our first cycling adventure of the year, this morning. Today we had planned a ride that would take us along La Mediterranée cycle route, to make our way towards Beaucaire for our first night’s stop, on … More Join our bike ride .. first turn of the wheels: Caseneuve to Beaucaire
Over the last couple of weeks, we’ve happily noticed a decided shift towards the settling down of spring, in Provence. Arriving back, after watching the Paris-Roubaix, we stepped off the TGV at Avignon into a bitterly cold, and fierce Mistral, which stripped the warmth from our bodies and left us shivering, as we waited for … More 10 years of Spring in Provence
Yesterday was about being a tourist and sightseeing in Bruges. The rest of the weekend is about the Paris-Roubaix. It started today, with a full day walking sectors of the route, watching the amateur riders taking on the cobbles, at ‘Pavé du Nouveau Monde’ and the iconic sector of the ‘Pavé Mons-en-Pévèle’. It would be … More Up close on the Pavé: Watching the Paris-Roubaix Challenge Riders
After all our worries following the stressful start to the trip, with the cancelled train and chaotic, diverted route in the UK, we had been a little bit anxious about the trip we had booked to get us back from Bordeaux to Aix-en-Provence. But we needn’t have been concerned, as everything went as planned, and … More Day 17 … We left the toughest day till last.
Well, what a wonderful last 2 weeks this has been, and yesterday, we pedalled the last leg of the trip through western France, arriving in Bordeaux. We had really enjoyed our couple of days cycling along the lanes around Duras, avoiding the storms that had been a constant feature of the weather forecasts. But, on … More Day 16 … Wet, but happy in Bordeaux
Since deciding to accept that we will just ride from Duras to Bordeaux and avoid the storms that had been predicted, we’ve just relaxed into enjoying our time here. Today, we decided that as we cycled in from the north, pedalled the roads to the east yesterday, and will be riding out west to Bordeaux … More Day 15 … Second breakfast in Marmande.
Last night, we had a long chat about the plans for the next few days, coupled with looking at every possible weather forecast we could find, hoping that one may give us (even the slimmest chance) of being able to camp (storm-free) on Wednesday night. But however hard we sought for a glimmer of hope, … More Day 14 … Exploring the Dropt valley
We really enjoyed our day off in Mussidan yesterday, and after another good night’s sleep, we were ready to go on again this morning. I had planned various routes to Duras, which we had decided would be our next stop, on the revised route towards Bordeaux. We had the ‘If it’s bucketing with rain’ route; … More Day 13 … Hiding from the cloudburst
Postcards from Provence and beyond 