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2009: France: Two Tours
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"Our greatest fear is not that we are inadequate, but that we are powerful beyond measure."
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2009: France: Two Tourswritten by Rene K. Mueller, Copyright (c) 2009, last updated Mon, June 11, 2012
A brief description of two tours or rounds in France in summer 2009, total of 5900 km and 66 days (47 days riding):
Quick Facts
Tour 1: Three River Tour: Loire, Garonne / Canal du Midi, Rhone
DetailsI started the travel from
From there I went along - the Atlantic coast to Rayon, and Bordeaux, and followed the
and ending the trip there.
SummaryThe main purpose of the travel was to travel the Loire as long as possible, yet, I didn't start at the source, but at Digoin where the Loire - Saone canal reaches the Loire.
The Loire is one of the longest rivers with over 1000km length, and mostly has remained untouched and is "wild" - bathing is forbidden as the stream is fast and has undercurrents.
Long riparian zones (so called Auenwälder), forests along and within the river go for miles with little intrusion by man - for me a wonderful area of nature.
I personally bathed a few times in the Loire, but at only 30cm or a foot deep water which already had a strong current, and a bicycle collegue I rode with for a few days told me a bit where good places for bathing were available and what to look for and pay attention. Since I camp wild so is washing or bathing is a big plus at arrival at a wild campsite. Unfortunately washing at canals or channels were not possible, too dirty were its waters - an exception were canals which rejoined the natural river for a while again, like along Le Doubs.
From a wind direction point of view, as well from a seasonal consideration, it wasn't the best choice to go first north and west, and the south and reach the hotter region at July - but the "weather" god was supporting me at impressive manner: at had tail wind almost all my route, only for 2 days I had head wind from Digoin up to Orleans, otherwise when I was driving west I had north east wind, which was cooler than usual, but with the sun a very balance temperature experience, and the moment I reached the Atlantic near St. Nazaire, north west wind started, and again tail wind, and at Bordeaux and going east the usual west wind kicked in and so forth. What can I say, usual there is west wind in France, and yes, at it rains less than the rest of central Europe.
Mid of July I was reaching the Meditarean sea and the Provence, and the heat with over 32°C and almost no temperature reduction at night isn't what I'm very good at, it made me slow and feeling tired all day. Some people love the heat, but riding in moist heat the bicycle can be tiresome, I ended up with over 8L liquid (mostly water and fruit juices) usage, and when you start to drink the 9th liter at night you think this becoming crazy - at least for me. Interestingly, when I rode north at the Rhone, reaching Lyon, the slightly cooler air really at a refreshing impact on me, but the temperature fall of 15°C the next days were hard for me to adapt quickly: my body was still trying to sweat and heat up, but with 12-15°C air temperature and rain it was rather cool, and I had to eat more "heavy" things, and the liquid issue soothed down significantly down to 3L per day again. I finished the tour in Basel, and just before still in France at Dannemarie a TF1 film crew was filming me and a younger german comrade I just met a day before - and we did a brief interview about the Eurovelo No 6 route, and why we chose it, how it is to ride solitary for a long time and so forth. When the broadcast is available download I will link and include it here. DiaryI wrote a daily diary in a small paper-based notebook and will write it in electronic form as soon I have some spare time.
Tour 2: Paris, Limoges, Toulouse, Lyon
DetailsA few weeks later I returned to France, from Basel going along
Strasbourg, from there to Nancy, along
and rather complicated route to reach Chelles, a suburb of Paris, then entering Paris from the east, through Porte de Vincennes, leaving Paris south east, Porte de Bercy, and via small roads to Evry, then via N152 riding to Orleans, then along
Tours, then continue via D910 Chatelleraut along
then Bellac and further Limoges, where it's quite hilly, further via D704 which leads through a wonderful region,
further to Cahors, and from there visiting again Valle al Cros, where I stayed a week and then continued my trip via Montauban, Toulouse and then again
following the 20km long beach of Sete, Montpellier this time I circumvented, but entered Nimes this time and visited the amphitheater briefly, continued to Beaucaire again and reaching
Avignon and until I reached Lyon, which was a bit easier then on left side of the Rhone, and the Saone side of Lyon is very nice, further up north along
then on a busy N73 to Dole, and then along the Le Doubs to Besancon, and further on
Dannemarie, when I parted the bicycle trail, and tried another route to Basel: Schwoben, Jettingen, Knoeringue, Folgenbourg which is a nice steady climing compared to the rather hilly D419, and then descend from Folgenbourg down to St. Louis and return to Basel. SummaryAt the first trip to France I skipped Paris near Orleans, and I thought if suitable return to France the same year, which I did after roughly a month. I started at Basel again, and drove to Strasbourg and found a trail which was indicated by small blue stickers "Vers la Mers" (Strasbourg, Paris, Mers). Just after Strasbourg the Canal de Marne au Rhin with bicycle trail starts, not as good signaled as other trails, but ok - just after Lutzelbourg I lost the bicycle trail, no signs anymore - somehow made it to Niderviller, and then via department roads to Lunelville, and then entered Nancy.
When I exited the valley at Meaux, then I was close to Paris, so I thought - but to reach Paris really it's hard with the bicycle: e.g. around Esbly you reach the Marne, with a nice trail, but bicycles aren't permitted to ride on it, instead on hilly roads through small villages - stupid. And I was told, it is as if Paris doesn't want long distance bicycle riders reaching Paris, who knows. To enter Paris from the east turned out very complicate, and instead to take N6, which local bicycles riders didn't recommend me, I slowly approached Paris going north and south and a bit west - finally I reached Chelles, at that point it was easy to reach Paris then. Paris is the most beautiful city I have seen so far, it has charme, and is truly big, the core is just 17km wide, but with all the suburbs which align seamless it extends to 50-60km finally. I met a new friend I made during my first round in France and he showed me Montmatre, and I will revisit Paris to dedicate 2-3 days to explore the city in more details. I left Paris south east and then south west riding on N157 to Orleans, which was very flat. After Orleans I revisited the Loire until Tours which was very nice again, wonderful scenery. I went straight south from Tours, until Lussac les Chateaux, where I joined the N147 which I wouldn't do again and do not recommend, narrow busy and hilly road to Limoges, but rather stay along the Vienne until Limoges.
From Limoges, which I also like to revisit, I took D704, it's a hilly road going south - no rush possible with all the hills, and you get to see wonderful views, definitely recommended, in partialur the area around Montignac and Sarlat la Caneda. From the later a wonderful but short bicycle trail starts, just near city limit of Sarlat starts the trail at the right hand side and goes without any significant ascension or descension to Grojelac - it's build on old railway tracks and leads to most beautiful parts of nature. What follows are longer and wider hills, less villages, fewer people until Cahors. After Cahors I revisited new friends I made at Valle al Cros and stayed for a week. Then I contined my trip the same way as with Tour 1, except near Avignon I strictly stayed on the right hand (west) of the Rhone reaching Lyon, and further up then to Macon, and then rode N73 which is too busy during the week and not recommended.
The rest of the tour went the same way as Tour 1 again, except the last part at Altkirch where I followed through local small villages up to Folgenbourg with a steady ascension, but afterwards quite busy road (for a Sunday) downhill to St. Louis and returned to Basel. The interview for TF1 "Ton Velo", which was recorded at my first round, was broadcasted on my second round coincidentally, and a day later several people recognized me on the street and approached me and hinted to me that they saw me on TV, and wished me good luck for the rest of the trip. Generally said, aside this little episode being more exposed, the french are very positive to long distance bicycle travelers as I experienced, maybe also due the recumbent / velo couche bonus a bit: people are open, helpful and often very generous, car drivers and truck drivers included - this makes riding in France a even more appreciated experience aside of the wonderful nature.
More photos and more details follow later. Locations
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