Carol and tournesols (sunflowers), near Saintes.
Carol and tournesols (sunflowers), near Saintes.
This is a log of a trip I took with my wife Carol and two other couples (Brooke & Rosie Keneford and Jim & Mary Holmes) in July of 1994. In one sense it was a miracle trip because Carol had fallen on the ice in early February and had broken her hip. However, despite her appearance, she is very determined and as tough as nails. So, barely five months after breaking her femur into two pieces and with a stainless steel plate and a half dozen long screws still in her leg, she was on her bike for a 1100 km cycle trip in France. She's quite intimidating. Our cycling friends call her "the horse" and at 165 cm and 51 kg (5'5" and 113 pounds) it's not because of the way she looks!
The attached map outlines our route. Click on the thumbnail pictures below to see the full sized photos.
Day 1 (76 km): We landed in Nantes from Montréal early on a Wednesday morning (July 13). By 8:45 we were all assembled and ready to go. We headed out en peloton and meandered aimlessly for about 10 minutes before returning to the airport to buy a map! Thus armed, we tried again and this time made our escape. After a little early traffic, the roads were more or less ours. We stopped for lunch at a restaurant - not our normal experience. We were to find that travel with these companions involved: a) very good eating (this is a good thing!) and b) very good eating twice a day (this is a bad thing!) By 4:00 PM we had arrived at St. Jean-de-Monts on the Atlantic coast where Jim had pre-booked accommodations for us at a resort. I napped while Carol sat by the pool. Lots of kids having lots of noisy fun. We had a nice light meal (omelette aux champignons - it seems that the ability to make great omelettes is genetic in France!) and lingered over coffee. The ride today was a little too long after an overnight flight.
Day 2 (50 km): We detoured into the town to catch a glimpse of the ocean and then stopped at a little snack bar outside of town for café au lait (in bowls!) and baguette with confiture (jam). We continued down the coast, cycling along the beautiful Corniche Vendéenne into St.Gilles-Croix-de-Vie where the women did some power shopping down a crowded pedestrian mall while the men sat by a grand double-deck carousel and watched the bikes. The town was very turista (in fact, as was the entire coast all the way down to Les Sables-d'Olonne). We stopped at a little beach-side restaurant for lunch - we had cider and galettes (crêpes filled with cheese or ham or mushrooms (or all 3) instead of sweet stuff). By mid afternoon we had arrived at our hotel in Les Sables-d'Olonne. Carol and I went for a walk down the quai to the lighthouse. When we returned we took the ferry across to the city and joined the others for a drink. Brooke introduced me to an interesting Belgian beer called Mort Subite (I think that translates to "sudden death" - not a very accurate description but a nice beer.) Good dinner - then we walked along the quai in a very cool breeze and watched a fireworks display - it was Bastille Day - July 14. An easy day - almost completely flat.
The beach at Les Sables-d'Olonne
Day 3 (75 km): 25°C and sunny again. We got a late start (Jim & Mary slept in). We finally got on the road at 10:45 and continued along the coast through a lot of resort towns with beautiful beaches. Finally, at nearly 5:00 PM, we arrived at St.Michel-en-l'Herm, our destination for the day. Nice hotel (Le Central) with a pleasant courtyard where we lingered with cognac after a nice evening meal.
The Port of La Rochelle
Day
4 (47 km): Another beautiful, warm sunny day - another late start.
We're in the Venise Verte now - the "green
Venice" - very flat land, crisscrossed with canals, reclaimed from
the sea. It's like Holland! We circled east of the
Anse
de l'Aiguillon (an "anse" is a bay and an "aiguillon" is
a spur. If you look at the map just north of
La
Rochelle you'll understand why it's so named.) We
stopped for our first melon with Pineau des Charentes. Pineau is a
lovely apéritif made from mixing
cognac with unfermented grape juice and it is the perfect
accompaniment to add to the cavity of a just seeded melon. While we
were stopped the others checked out a church while
I
did a little roadside maintenance.
We rolled into La Rochelle at about 1:00 PM. We dropped our bags
(rooms weren't ready) and headed into town for a quick lunch. Jim
tried moules (mussels) cooked by setting
them on a wooden plank, covering them with pine needles and then
setting the needles ablaze. It was spectacular but I prefer my
mussels cooked a little more. Rosie ordered a glass of wine and was
charged 29 francs for it! We'll be careful of that from now on! Carol
and I toured the waterfront aimlessly. This was our third visit so it
wasn't new to us. We rejoined our partners at about 7:30 and set out
to have dinner. La Rochelle has the best restaurant that Carol and I
have ever eaten in - Restaurant Richard Coutanceau. It has been
awarded (deservedly) two Michelin rosettes. The food and presentation
are magnificent and the view though the wall of windows facing the
ocean is incredible. We arrived at the restaurant and learned that it
was complet (full) for the evening and
closed the next day (Sunday). Disappointed, we decided to try La
Marmite (with one Michelin rosette. If a restaurant has such a
designation, bring money!) After a fine meal
we wandered around the waterfront area. La Rochelle has lots of
"action" - street musicians, buskers, etc., lots of people! It was
hot and hard to get to sleep but things cooled down after a late
thunderstorm.
Day
5 (97 km): We were staying another night in La Rochelle so Carol and
I headed out without panniers across the bridge to
Île
de Ré.
(The first time we had been here we had to take a ferry. The bridge
was a great addition.) We picked up pastries in
Ste.
Marie-de-Ré and had our coffee by a small
market.
We continued west along the south coast to
Ars-en-Ré
("un des plus beaux villages de France" -
one of the most beautiful villages of France - there are about 140
villages so designated around the country.) There was a large market
on and it was crowded with tourists (like us!) We followed a bike
path across the marshes (where we saw avocets and oyster-catchers!)
and went on to the extreme west end of the island -
La
Phare des Baleines (the lighthouse of the whales - saw
the lighthouse but no whales) It was very windy! We headed back along
the north coast, stopping in St.
Martin-de-Ré for a cider and continued to
La Flotte (another of "les plus beaux
villages de France") and then crossed the bridge and back to the
hotel to rejoin our friends. After a nice meal - there are lots of
good restaurants to choose from - we listened to some reggae on the
street and then strolled back to the hotel at midnight. A fine sunny
day.
Day
6 (30 km): We loaded our bikes on to a ferry and headed out to
Île d'Aix (where Napoleon spent his
last days in France before his final exile). We had a short cycle on
this tiny island and then we took another ferry to
Île d'Oléron. The ferry docked
at a wooden structure at the water's edge on a wide open beach. No
path! No directions! No signs!
We
had to wheel our bikes about 150 metres through the soft
sand to a stand of
pine trees then over a railway track into a private campground before
we found our way to a road. It was strange! After a light lunch
(moules et frites) we were on our way.
Île d'Oléron is the most westerly region in which cognac
can be produced. We stopped at a small operation and, after tasting
his wares, I bought a bottle to bring home - the contents of the
bottle had spent 20 years in oak casks. Very smooth! We couldn't find
accommodations on the island so we crossed the bridge and immediately
found a hotel in the little port of
Le
Chapus - the same hotel we had stayed in 5 years
earlier. It's an interesting little area - the local industry
revolves around the oyster and mussel beds in the tidal flats
fronting the village. Although we had only 30 km of cycling it had
been a fun and eventful day.
Day 7 (65 km): Jim and Mary headed off to the nearby town of Marennes to buy a tire for Jim's bike. The rest of us headed across the salt flats away from the coast. We were surprised to come upon a walled village with Canadian flags on the ramparts. This was Brouage, the birthplace of the French explorer Samuel de Champlain (the first European to paddle by my home town of Ottawa, Canada, about 400 years ago.) We rejoined Mary and Jim in the village of Champagne where we had a picnic lunch in a churchyard. We heard a woman singing in the church and went in to listen. She was just singing notes, using the building as an amplifier. It was quite dramatic. When she left, Mary, who also has a beautiful voice, tried it as well. The combination of voice and the special architecture of the church made a wonderful sound. We followed small country lanes by pastures and fields of sunflowers into the small city of Saintes. Good meal - as usual. Another enjoyable day of cycling.
Day
8 (116 km): There's lots to see in Saintes. It's clear from the large
Roman arch that was part of an ancient bridge and from the ruins of a
Colosseum-like arena (still used today for concerts) that this was a
major centre in Roman times. However, since this was our third visit
to the city, we left the other four to tour its wonders and Carol and
I headed off to the southwest for a ride.
We
stopped at a small producer's and bought a bottle of Pineau. In
Cozes there was a large busy market (Carol
bought a skirt). We reached the
Gironde
river at the village of
Talmont
("un des plus beaux villages de France").
There's
a grand church there and flowers everywhere. We continued south along
the river, turning inland at
Mortagne-sur-Gironde. At
Pons we followed a
cycle
route on tiny lanes
back to the Charente river which we crossed
on a small cable ferry. We rejoined our friends (who also had a
wonderful day) and went out for another
fine
meal outside a small restaurant
in the pedestrian area in Saintes. A splendid day!
Day
9 (86 km): We followed the Charente east after breakfast. Near
Cherac we happened upon another small cognac
producer and bought another bottle to bring home. Lovely stuff, even
at 10 in the morning. We stopped in the city of
Cognac only long enough to have a
pause café. Carol and I were
surprised that the other couples, brandy drinkers all, weren't
interested in touring one of the great cognac houses. After a picnic
lunch in
Jarnac (home of Courvoisier) we
continued on to Angoulême in 32°C
(90°F) sunshine. It was hot! Entry into the city involved a long
climb, a descent and then another long climb to the city centre.
After the long ride in the heat, we were ready to stop. As we sat in
a shady square we struck up a conversation with 3 young girls from
Ireland here on a school excursion. They were a lively group -
at
one time entertaining us with the Irish national
anthem. After dinner
we were entertained by a rock group on the street outside a bar,
singing entirely in English but speaking only German or very poor
French between songs.
Day 10 (No cycling!): We took a day off. I could say it's because there were so many neat things to see and do in Angoulême but in fact it was because the two consecutive long days of cycling in the heat had left my crotch in bad shape. We had a quiet day, finishing with another nice meal and listening to the same group as the night before.
Day 11 (53 km): We got off to an early start - on the road by 7:30! We stopped for coffee and pastries at a tiny hotel in the hamlet of Marthon. They had a lovely flower garden in the courtyard behind the bar. We continued on over rolling hills, ending with a steep climb into Nontron. Carol and I went back to make sure that Brooke and Rosie made the correct turn while Jim and Mary went ahead to get rooms for the night. He went to the Grand Hotel Pélisson. "Désolée, monsieur. Complet!" Was there another hotel in the town? Yes, but it was full too. And the next opportunity - 20 km! Jim must have looked crushed - desperate - frantic! Whatever it was, Madame Pélisson had sized him up and made this incredible offer. They would provide us with three rooms in their home a couple of km away at the edge of town. We followed her out to the house and she showed us the rooms we would have in this lovely house overlooking a valley. She said "Vous êtes chez vous!" (You're in your own house!) She told us her son would come out in his van to pick us up at 7:30 to drive us into the hotel for dinner. Jim & Mary walked into town early to go for a swim at the hotel. The rest of us sat around their patio drinking some of the Pineau we had picked up a couple of days earlier. We had a superior dinner at the hotel and declined the drive home since it was such a beautiful evening for a walk. Another wonderful, memorable day.
Day
12 (73 km): Nice breakfast back in town at the hotel and then a long
climb and 2 descents into
St.Pardoux-la-Rivière. We had a
beautiful ride along the river Dronne into
Brantôme.
We
got rooms in the modest Hotel Versaveau Frères and then
had
a wonderful lunch at
the hotel (served across the street by the river). There's a
beautiful but expensive hotel here in Brantôme, the
Moulin
de l'Abbaye. We've
been here before and Carol longs to try the hotel but it's
so much money! We all headed off
after lunch to visit the nearby village of
Bourdeilles. We had been there years before
with Mary & Jim. There's a grand, well furnished chateau there
and the other four went off to tour it. Carol and I slipped away to
revisit a fond memory. The last time we had been to Bourdeilles I was
told there was a restaurant a couple of km out of town. I went out on
my own to investigate and when I inquired I was told that it wasn't
really a restaurant; it was a school for waiters! However, they did
have a genuine chef and a fixed menu (which looked good) so we walked
out there that night and had a wonderful meal served by the most
nervous waiters we have ever encountered. So we went out to see if it
was still there.
It
was, but it was closed on Sunday! Too bad. We carried on and had a
nice 20 km ride along the Dronne and returned to meet the others who
had escaped the long and tedious tour of the castle by climbing out a
kitchen window! We had a disappointing meal in a small restaurant
that night. After our lunch experience, we should have eaten at our
hotel!
Day
13 (55 km): There had been rain through the night and that morning
but it had stopped by the time we left the hotel. I tell people it
never rains in the south of France. That's
almost true, from our experience. I probably should say it never
rains on us! We cycled east along a pretty little road to
St. Jean-de-Côle ("un des plus beaux
villages de France") where we had a coffee. It would have been a nice
place to stay but it was only 10 AM. We had a long climb into
Thiviers where we lunched at the Relais St.
Jacques which was filled with local workmen. It was hearty,
inexpensive and very good. We carried on over a long series of ups
and downs toward Sorges. A dog trotted along
with Carol for about 4 km before turning around. We hope he found his
way home. We stayed in Sorges at the Hotel de la Mairie which was an
"annex" of the Auberge de la Truffe. The annex was better because we
had a
wonderful
view from our window
and also because the Auberge was on the busy route
nationale while the annex was a block away from that
noisy road. The meal at the Auberge was wonderful. Carol still raves
about her dessert - sabayon aux fraises avec
Monbazillac.
Day 14 (84 km): It was already warm when we started out after breakfast. The others decided to head straight for Montignac, about 40 km away. Carol and I wanted to meander a little more so we agreed to meet them in Montignac. They would leave word at the tourist office where they were. We stopped at Tourtoirac for coffee then on to Hautefort with its magnificent chateau. After a few hills we stopped in a little hotel in Badefols-d'Ans for a drink (Hotel de Tilleuls). There were wonderful smells coming from the kitchen and although we had already eaten a little (fruit, tomato) we decided to try the plat du jour. Good decision! It was poitrine de veau farci (stuffed breast of veal) served with frites and a quarter litre of the local red wine. It was wonderful! Carol asked me to ask the waitress what the stuffing was. She told me and I began to translate for Carol but then I realized the waitress was talking to me in English! It turned out she was Irish and had been living and working in the Dordogne region for some years. We carried on east to St. Robert ("un des plus beaux villages de France") and then turned south toward Montignac. We got separated briefly in the town of Condat - always a scary thing - but then finally rolled into Montignac. It was very hot - 35°C. Jim had left a note for us at the tourist office. He had booked us into a lovely hotel - with pool!! The man's a genius! Montignac is the site of the Lascaux caves where the prehistoric drawings were found. The caves are not open to the public - apparently high concentrations of carbon dioxide and water vapour due to too many visitors was causing rapid deterioration of these paintings. A copy of the drawings has been made at Lascaux II and those can be visited. We didn't try - too hot!
Day 15 (57 km): It was market day
in Montignac so after our coffee and pastry we toured the market for
a little while. By 9:30 we were on the road following the
Vézère river downstream. We
drafted a tractor for a couple of km. We had our pause
café in
St.
Léon-sur-Vézère ("un des plus beaux
villages de France") The Vézère is the river of
prehistory. There are caves throughout the region with drawings
dating back 15000 to 20000 years and evidence of habitation back as
far as 50000 years. Some of our group opted to take the 40 min tour
of the cave dwellings at La Roque-St. Christophe. They were
disappointed. We had a 3½ km climb to just above Les Eyzies-de-Tayac and a very fast descent to the town. Brooke and Rosie
got separated on that stretch. She had continued on down to Les
Eyzies while he, thinking she was behind him, kept going back and
forth up and down the hill, looking for her. They had an animated
discussion about strategies to employ when that kind of mix-up
occurs. Carol and I have had that problem a couple of times over the
years - once for about 5 hours in Germany - and it always ends up in
an animated discussion about strategies. "Animated" is a euphemistic
way of describing the discussion.
We
had a nice light lunch (omelette aux cèpes again for me) and
then headed off in 37°C sunshine to go over the mountain to the
Dordogne valley. It was a tough climb
because of the heat. We'd cycle from shade patch to shade patch.
Rosie was cheerful, as usual, but she was getting too hot and too
tired. I went ahead as we got near the top and descended quickly to
St. Cyprien at river level. There was a bar
with an awning at the base of the hill. I ordered 3 distinguées
(pronounced
'dee stang gay
') and waited for the guys to arrive. (A distinguée
is a half litre of beer - "a gentleman's portion" an elderly Englishman once
called it. It is also sometimes called a sérieuse
(pronounced
'say ree use').
You can also get a full litre. It's called a formidable!(pronounced
'for mee
dab')) As I expected, they showed up about 5 minutes
before the women so that by the time our whole group had reassembled
those first 3 beers were long gone! When we had cooled down enough we
set out east along the Dordogne to
Beynac
("un des plus beaux villages de France") where we had booked rooms.
Some of the group were still so hot that they went swimming in the
Dordogne. Not me - too many unidentifiable things floating along for
my tastes. Nice meal; nice evening stroll; still very warm. A tough
ride today because of the heat.
Day
16 (66 km): We were staying in Beynac for another night so we took
off (without panniers) in different directions. Carol and I headed
over the mountain to Sarlat while the others
had decided to climb to Domme
("un des plus
beaux villages de France").
[It's a
good thing that this software has "copy/paste" capability because I'm
a slow, "hunt-and-peck" typist and I'd be getting tired
of "un des plus beaux villages de France" by
now!] We had breakfast in
Sarlat and Carol shopped the old centre of the town
while
I watched the bikes.
(She bought a purse.) We hid under an arcade during a short shower
and then headed out, back to the Dordogne and across it to the south
side. We stopped at a farm and bought two small cans of
foie gras de canard. ("Foie gras"
(pronounce 'fwah gra') literally means "fat
liver". They force-feed geese (oie
-pronounced 'wah') and ducks
(canard) in a cruel looking process called
the gavage ('gaver' = 'to stuff'). The
bird's liver becomes enlarged and fatty - and, unluckily for the
goose/duck, once it's gently cooked it's incredibly tasty on a
crouton, especially with a sweet wine like ice wine, Monbazillac or
Sauternes. It's big business in the
Périgord (that's the old name for
this region) and it's why there are so many goose and duck dishes on
the menus around here. What else are you going to do with the rest of
the duck after you've taken the liver? Well, you'd roast the breast
with the skin on until the meat is just past saignant
(pronounced 'sang yaw' -
literally "bloody" - we'd call it "rare") and the skin is crispy,
slice it thinly and serve it as "magret de
canard". And you'd simmer the leg and thigh, skin on and
salted, in the duck fat until it was very tender and then store it
under the cooled fat until you were ready to eat it. (That's what
they did before refrigerators and freezers.) Then you'd reheat the
duck in it's fat until the skin was crispy and serve it as
"confit de canard". ('confire' = 'to
preserve') It's tender, salty, very rich and very tasty and you
really don't want to know how many grams of fat there are per
serving. Even the duck giblets are preserved in this way and you'll
find them on the menu as "salade de gésiers
confits" (salad of preserved gizzards! Really! It's a
favorite of ours!) Sorry about this lecture on the cuisine of the
Périgord. I'm a retired teacher and when I see a "teachable
moment", I can't stop myself!)
Where was I? Oh yes. We had bought the tins of foie gras. We stopped
for lunch outside a little hole in the wall place in Groléjac
where they served us confit de poulet with
frites. (They
even make the confit with chicken ('poulet') but have to add extra
fat because chickens aren't as fat as the
ducks.)
It
was great even in a place like that. It's because the restaurants,
great and small, get their confits from the producers in cans so you
don't have to be a great chef to reheat the already cooked meat. We
crossed the Dordogne to the north side, cycling by the beautiful
private Chateau de Montfort and into
La
Roque-Gagéac
("un des plus beaux villages de France" - even though there are only
about 140 of them in the whole country, there are lots of them in
this area!). We had to walk our bikes through a roadblock. There had
been a rock-slide a couple of days before. Back to Beynac where we
rejoined the others. They had had a wonderful day highlighted by
lunch in a grand restaurant in Domme with a magnificent view of the
Dordogne valley far below. A fun day - a little
cooler.
Day
17 (31 km): We headed east after breakfast, back through La
Roque-Gagéac and across the river, heading southeast towards
Gourdon. Carol and I split from the others
about half way to try a hillier route but we all got together again
in town for lunch. We went to the
station
and bought our tickets for the train to
Toulouse. It was a short trek from the
station to our hotel in Toulouse. After cleaning up we went out and
wandered around, looking for a place to eat. We ended up having a
pizza! Short cycling day - train days usually are.
Day
18 (No cycling): A shopping/touring/relaxing day! We shopped. We
toured. We relaxed. There's a lot to see in Toulouse although Carol
and I had been there a couple of times before so our emphasis was
more on the
shopping
(Carol) and relaxing
(me). Jim had made reservations at a very good restaurant - Le
Fregate. We had a wonderful (if expensive) meal - a great end-of-trip
celebration.
Day 19 (52 km): We all had breakfast together at a small café and toured the farmers' market. The Kenefords joined us for a ride on the bike path that follows the Canal du Midi east from Toulouse. We stopped at the village of Montgiscard for lunch. A market had just finished and the merchants were all at a little hotel having lunch. We decided to eat there too. Carol asked the proprietor if she could see the menu and he motioned with his thumb to a little blackboard: salade de gésiers confits ou mélon porto; confit de poulet et frites; glace; un quart vin - 60 F. (Salad of conserved gizzards or melon with Port; conserved chicken with fries; ice cream; a quarter litre of wine -$12 Canadian or $7.50 US) It was great. Back into Toulouse, we picked up our stuff and headed out to the town of Blagnac where the airport is. Jim and Mary had decided to stay in the city one more night. Just as we got into the hotel in Blagnac a wild rainstorm passed through. We were lucky. We had stayed at this hotel another time and didn't like our meal so we headed out into the town to a good restaurant we had tried before. Closed Sunday! We couldn't really go back to the hotel. A man was out walking his dog and asked us (in English) if he could help us. He was an American working in Toulouse's aerospace industry. (Toulouse is where they build the Airbus). He offered to drive us into Toulouse but we asked him if there was someplace we could get something light. He drove us to a new shopping centre near the airport and dropped us off. We ended up on our last night in France eating in a McDonalds-style fast food place. Disappointing. The rains returned so we called a cab and got back to the hotel. At least the first half of the day had been good.
Day
20: Mary and Jim joined us at the hotel for breakfast.
Monsieur le patron
was very gracious. He
even went out to his garden and picked a beautiful coral rose for
each of the ladies. Off to the airport where everyone was checked in
by 11:30. We stayed around to make sure that the bikes were all taken
care of and then went down to watch the people coming in from the
incoming flight from Montréal because......
I was
staying on in France for three more weeks of cycling with
three
friends who
were just arriving! Brooke & Rosie, Jim & Mary
and Carol (and my 2 bottles of cognac) were heading
home.
It was a great trip because it worked out so well, considering the uncertainty surrounding Carol's injury. We certainly ate well, the cycling was great, the company was fun, the weather was fine. France never lets us down!
