France Bike trip - part 2

July 10 - July 23

I.  Camping Le Lac to Montalivet, France

Below is not quite an accurate depiction of our route.  We went up the west side of that big lake and then cut over to the Atlantic Ocean coast.  (Couldn't get that to show up on Google maps).  Mostly a quiet ride with a few interesting sights.

We stopped in Moubisson for supplies - the only town we'd go through. 

Very French looking guy making very French looking food.  

Main market street in Moubisson.  This was a Sunday - most stores are usually closed.  But I think because this is a tourist town all the shops were open.  

No "Super Mario Bros" sign:

We went through Hourtin Plage on our way to Montalivet (EuroVelo route signs):

II.  Montalivet, France to Royan France:

Saw this leaving our campground in Montalivet.  I love goofy translations...."yes, I am pleased to put my household waste..."

Jules in front of some little Oceanside church.  Spain has many more churches...but France has some cool ones too.  

"How much further is it?  And when does this train come by?". 

Ferry to Royan...my 4th ferry trip and Julie's 3rd ferry trip (3 in France, missing my Morocco to Spain ferry).  This ferry was much larger - carrying cars and RVs.

Some cool, Victorian looking houses in Royan.

I had Foie Gras in Royan...only because I can't in Chicago.  Don't see what the big deal is. About the taste I mean...not the animal suffering.  

Some old, defunct, Soviet-looking soccer stadium in Royan. 

The mail delivery people in Royan use these bikes:

We saw a family of backpackers in Royan using a donkey (or mule?).

Cool food market in central Royan.

Ugly church named Notre Dame in Royan.

Due to two increasingly severe cases of Monkey Butt and the fact that we are lagging on time, we decided to spend an extra night in Royan (in a hotel, not camping) and then rent a car to drive north to Nantes.  

Interestingly enough, we looked into taking the train to Nantes.  1) It cost about as much as renting a car for the day.  2) The ticket seller could not guarantee we would be able to take our bikes on.  He said sometimes they make you pack up/box your bike on the train.  I thought Europe was all about bikes and trains.  Oh well.

III. Royan, France to Nantes, France (via car)

At our pace, this would have been 4 days biking...

Some pictures of Nantes:

For some reason, I like the sagging wood on this building.  

In Nantes, we caught up with Marlene and Brian for a day.  We went to this Lebanese restaurant. (Marlene in photo). 

We walked by an opera house at night...had these creepy dummies on balcony in back of building.

History museum in Nantes - old walled compound surrounded by a moat.

This artist's work is featured all over the city.  Reminds me a little of "The Far Side."

Giant mechanical elephant...marches around and shoots water out of snout.   

Sidewalk art from chalk.  Artist in foreground working from his butt.  

Another Notre Dame church...several churches have this stair case around a column mid-congregation.  

Flag at half mast following the tragedy in Nice, France. 

IV. Day Trip outside of Nantes

Since we are behind schedule and taking some trains, we have decided to do some day biking in the towns we are staying in.  On this day we rode out of Nantes and then back. We did about 25 miles...very nice without the luggage attached. We followed (or tried to follow) the Nantes-Brest canal.  

Our original plan (back in April) was to follow the canal the whole way to Brest (our final French destination) by bike.  But we will end up doing most of it by train, so today we took the opportunity to ride part of the canal. 

Some photos from the day trip...

When you leave a city in France (and Spain), there is a sign with the city name and a big red line through it.  Harsh way to exit a city. 

We stopped for lunch In a nice little town, La Chappelle.  It was very quiet - possibly because of Bastille Day..or siesta time...or the tragedy in Nice.  We had lunch on the steps of the church in the picture. 

Saw this cross in the weeds off the side of the road.  It looked like this was roadside at one point in time and they built a new road...putting this cross 30 feet off the road in some overgrowth. 

Cool house boats outside Nantes:

V.  Nantes to Quimper (by train)

Pictures of Quimper:

France is trying to catch up to Spain with cool churches...

One thing that has amazed me about Spain and France (and Morocco too) is how clean the streets are.  All 3 countries have an army of street sweepers.  Here is one in Quimper pulling some sort of street vacuum. 

Illinois license plates for sale in a resale shop...for about $40 each!  New business idea...import old plates to France.

VI. Quimper to Brest (by train)

Bikes loaded on the train:

Our VRBO in Bohars, outside of Brest.  Was a cottage attached to a large farmhouse: 

We made it to Brest, where there is a huge boat festival.  Marlene and Brian (boat owners in Seattle) were especially excited about reaching this festival.  Over 1,000 boats there. Some pictures from it: 

Smoked herring at the festival...

Andouille - a French Sausage like dish.  It is awesome.  

Marlene outside the Marlene hair studio, Bohars, France (outside of Brest).

VII. Brest, France to Cherbourg, France (sailboat)

Our original plan was to take a two day bike ride from the boat festival in Brest to Roscoff, France to catch a ferry to Ireland.  It turns out that the Roscoff ferry runs once a week and was sold out.  So we got tickets from a ferry in Cherbourg.  However, that was a 4-5 day bike ride away...and we only had two days. 

We considered trains or rental cars.  But walking around the festival, we saw a flyer for a 100 year old Dutch fishing ship that was looking for passengers to sail to Cherbourg... leaving on the day we wanted to leave and arriving on the day we needed to be in Cherbourg.  Too good to be true, so we met with the captain and arranged for four people and four bikes to hitch a ride.

Our route:

Pictures from the sail boat, name the "Gallant."

Loading the bikes on board.

We paid to be on the ship, but it was not much and the deal was we had to contribute some work.  Mostly this was Marlene and Julie cooking two dinners for 18 people on board.  But here is Julie cleaning a tarp that would cover our bikes 

Sunset...

Several times dolphins swam next to us...

Steering...

Jules steering...

Halfway through we anchored by the island of Guernsey to await currents or something.  A few people rowed ashore. Guernsey is actually part of England, so this marks my first trip to England. 

A few shots of the Gallant docked in Cherbourg:

VIII. Cherbourg, France to Rosslare, Ireland (ferry)

After about 40 hours of sailing we had a few hours to spend in Cherbourg before getting on a 17 hour ferry to Ireland.

The only picture I took on the 17 hour ferry ride was off the Gallant as we pulled out. Taken from the helipad of the ferry, the 100 foot Gallant looks small below. 

IX.  Rosslare, Ireland to Dublin, Ireland (train)

After 40 hours sailing and 17 hours on a ferry, we caught a 3 hour train ride to Dubin.

X. Dublin, Ireland to Rathcoole, Ireland (bike).

After 40 hours sailing, 17 hours on a ferry and 3 hours on a train, we biked 2 hours to Rathcoole, home to Brian's brother and his family. 

It was a mostly uninteresting ride...although we did get on a cycle path along a canal for a bit.  Ran into some horses.  No idea where they came from...

This picture of horse poo on the way to Rathcoole marks the end of the documentation of this journey!  We will visit around Ireland for a bit, but no more major travel.  

France Bike trip - part 1

July 5 - July 9 

We have entered France.  For most of our trip through France, we will be following the "Euro Velo 1" bike route.  Euro Velo is a network of bike trails throughout Europe.  More information is available at www.eurovelo.org.  

Here is an overall map of our planned route through France: 

The goal is to make it to Roscoff where there is a ferry to Ireland.  

My last post showed us crossing the border and reaching Bidart, France.  We pick up the journey there. 

I. Bidart, France to Soustons, France (approximately).  

We actually stayed in a campground near Soustons.  It was really nice, right on the ocean. 

If you need a helicopter rescue, dial 112 from your flip phone.  

We camped next to some German surfers who were extremely nice to us.  They gave us 4 chairs (traveling by bike we don't have camp chairs) and they gave us 4 German Pilsner beers.  Here is a shot of the bottle.  Evidently brewed with pine cones?  

II.  Soustons, France to Pelouche, France. 

The ride today was about 50 miles of bike route through sand dunes and a forest.  Here are some shots of the bike route and the signage that is available on the Eurovelo route.  Excellent cycling - well paved and easy to navigate.  

The blue and orange sign on the top right is for the "Euro Velo" route.  We did not see any in Spain or our first day in France.  But after Bidart, the route was clearly marked.  

Some shots of what today's route looked like:

We ended up stopping about 15km short of our goal for the day.  But we stumbled into an amazing campground.  Our previous campgrounds had tons of amenities (pools, bars, horses, etc...), but also tons of people.  This campground was quiet and on a lake.  The lake water was really warm.  

Also had a nice little bar/restaurant.  When we paid for the campsite we got a free drink coupon, so we visited the bar....when the check came, we realized that free drinks meant non-alcoholic.  Oops.  

III. Camping du Lac to Camping Le Petit Nice

Parking for pregnant ladies only outside a grocery store.  

Cement airplane.  Brian told me he thinks it has something to do with the Spirit of St. Louis...but I think he is full of crap.  

On this day we decided to split our group.  Julie and I were having trouble keeping up with Marlene and Brian.  On previous days we had tried picking points to meet during the day but ended up losing each other.  So this day we decided to meet at our end destination - Le Petit Nice Campground.  We picked it solely based on the name.  

By miracle, Julie and I beat Marlene and Brian (they took a 20km detour and went swimming in the ocean).  When we first checked in to the campground we were not that impressed.  It seemed very crowded - lots of RVs and lots of kids.  But the campground is located at the beginning of the a giant sand dune named Dune of Pilat.  It turned out to be an awesome campground for several reasons.  

Reason #1: great view of the Atlantic Ocean.  Our campsite was near the bottom of this road.  

Looking down at the dune from our campground. 

Julie and I spent an hour hanging out on the dune overlooking the Atlantic Ocean.  We were just cooling down after a hot day and waiting for Brian and Marlene to show up.  A bunch of young guys started setting up for a concert later that night.  Pictures below show a quiet bluff transformed into a concert venue.  They were an awesome band playing a range of French and American music (Prince, Chubby Checker, Cindy Lauper, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, etc...).  This is the kind of thing I dream about when bike touring.  

Here is Marlene and I as the concert is about to start.  

Reason #2: free concert

Front row seats... (yes I am drinking beer out of an old Powerade bottle).  

Sun setting and band playing.  That is our group front row.  

Our group with free style French dancer in background.  

At the beginning of the show, not many people were there.  Private viewing...

Gorgeous...

They lit off some fireworks towards the end of the show.  

Foot wash at the campsite.  

IV.  Le Petit Nice Campground to Le Canon, France

Julie and I took a shorter day and stopped in Le Canon, France.  Marlene and Brian continued on for another 25-30 miles.  We plan to meet them by bike, plane, train or automobile in a few days.  

Here is looking at Dune of Pilat on our way out of the campground.  

We went to Arcachon, France to get another ferry across the Bay of Arcachon (see map above).  We saw a guy who created these amazing animals out of sand.  He didn't speak English, but I assume he painted the sand.  Incredible.  (Yes these are all sand...including a sand banana for the sand monkey!)

On the ferry...

One last look at the giant dune from across the bay.  

V. Le Canon France to Carreyre, France (Lodging Le Lac)

A couple shots of Julie from today's ride:

Come on...catch up!

Mid day yesterday we split with Marlene and Brian. We couldn't keep up with their pace.   We will hop a train and meet them in 5 or so days.  Last night we stayed in a lackluster campground.  Crowded, lots of RVs, ants everywhere....felt like we were in Des Plaine, IL camping.  

But today we found our bike angel: 

We have found that aiming for lakes leads to great campgrounds.  Today we headed for the two lakes near Lacanau that you can see on the map above.  Our bike angel pointed us to this great campground (with tree houses!):

The inside had a little trampoline surface.  It was nice not to have to set up the tent for one night.  The lake was right across the road from our campground.  

I have been collecting data on what makes for a good bike trip.  Here is what it boils down to: