The Wandering Idiot

For all you Ozzies out there, France has Big Things too

Today has been a brilliant day.  The ride to Tours went very well – nice and flat – another day on the banks of the Loire.

Catherine sent me off with a bag full of fresh walnuts from her garden (thanks Catherine!)

and my first stop was a local patisserie.  With fresh baguette and pain au chocolate in hand I set off for the quiet side roads that Catherine had directed me to on a map.

The riding was pleasant – the day started off slightly overcast but the clouds lifted towards the end of the day – there were may beautiful houses and château to enjoy along the way.

The only issue that I am having right now are my knees.  Not sure why, but they just started acting up yesterday, and today the left one is exhibiting a dull throb – quite painful when I pedal – at rest it’s ok…a little worried about it, but tomorrow I will have the day off in Tours so hopefully the break will help.  I’m also going to buy a knee brace to help support it.  If anyone out there has some experience or advice on this please get in touch.

Once I reached Tours I had a few hours to kill before meeting up with my hosts for the weekend, Sebastien and Aurelie, so I parked myself at a pub to update a few things on the blog, check my emails, etc.

This evening was absolutely fantastic.  Seb and Aurelie are really great and I feel fortunate to be able to stay with them.  They are both real travellers with lots of stories of adventure to share.  Seb has completed a year of cycle touring in South America and still spends a month every year touring a new country.  Their stories are inspiring.

Aurelie and Seb

For dinner, two of their friends joined us – also avid cycle tourers!  It was great – lots of talk of touring, great food (thanks Aurelie!), some French cider, plenty of Belgian beer, and finished off with some of Seb’s father’s home made liquors which were older than me!

Great to find people that I feel I can connect with.

Tomorrow is a day of relaxing and maybe some sightseeing in Tours.

68km Bicycled Today

750km to Date

Today was my first cycle along the banks of the Loire.  After a nice breakfast with hosts Diane and Alex, I set off for Blois.  The day was the best day of riding so far…pretty much all down hill (I was following a river so it would be…), some fun dirt tracks…and miles and miles of car free tarmac winding through the farms and following the curves of the river.  The sun was out and warm, but not hot.  Perfect.

Today was also the first day that I started to see lots of other cyclists out.  Haven’t yet seen and fully loaded tourers, but lots of groups of cyclists…  The funny thing about riding by other cyclists is that they always aknowledge you in some way:  ‘bonjour’, a nod of the head, a wave…whatever is may be.  It kind of feels like we all know each other already…or that the cyclists are all in on a big secret…like we know something the rest of people (the walkers) enjoying the path don’t!  I’m not sure what it is, but is just feels that way…like we are a part of something grand!  ok… so maybe I’m getting a little carried away…perhaps I just like the fact that I saw other cyclists and that was fun for me…who knows….

On the way to Blois I wanted to take a quick stop at Chambord castle…however, somehow I missed the turn I was meant to take and suddenly I was in Blois…it was only 3pm so I figured I would take the time to cycle back to the castle anyway…I had time to kill and I really wanted to see it…so that was an extra 40km detour…but no worries – it was worth it:

After my visit I went back to Blois and then set off to find the home of my host, which is not in Blois, but slightly outside in a village called Chouzy-sur-Cisse…but I got lost.  And then it got dark…and then I had to cycle through a 8km forest in the pitch black trying to find a village I’d never been to before.  It got a little hairy…thanks god I had an extra head lamp (thanks CJ) to help me navigate my way there.

When I was nearly at the village a little scooter shot past me…he then slowed down and waited for me – said a few things in French (which I didn’t understand) and then rode next to me until I had cleared the forest – I guess he was just being kind of enough to provide some light to get out of there!  Was quite a cool experience.

The funny thing was when I finally found my hosts house – it turns out he was a friend of the host – and also the president of the local bicycle club!  Brilliant coincidence.

Blois at Sunset

This evening I am being hosted by Catherine…something of a world traveler and cycle tourist.  She was a brilliant host and welcomed me as if I was family she hadn’t seen in years!  We had an absolutely great evening of conversation, bernache (wine in the early stages of fermentation – something of a speciality of her area), and roasted chestnuts.

My host in Chouzy-sur-Cisse, Catherine

I continue to be amazed by the couch surfing programme.  Everyday is a totally new experience…you really can’t imagine what the next day will be like.

Nothing like a nuclear reactor to spoil your view!

117km Bicycled Today

682km to Date

Sunrise in Dreux

Today was a very lazy 43km ride.  Nothing really to write home about.

I had a nice leisurely morning in Dreux…had a walk about town, went and looked at the church and village centre.

While looking at the church I was paying special attention to the gargoyles.  Most were your average scary creatures hanging off the side of the building…

but one gargoyle had assumed a slightly different position…

It seems that the early church goers of Dreux had a sense of humor!

I said goodbye to my hosts, Anne-Claire and Ludo and set off for Chartres.

My hosts, Anne-Claire and Ludo

The day was beautiful – a touch on the cold side, but the sun was shining all day with just a few wispy clouds hanging about.  What I did have though was a furious headwind…which meant my average speed had come down from about 21km/hr to 14km/hr.  But I guess that’s a fair trade off.  I’d rather have sun and a headwind, than rain and a tailwind.

It didn’t take long before the fields started though…most of my ride consisted of flat fields, inturreupted every now and then by a tiny French village no one has ever heard of…from the looks of them they had a population of maybe 6 or 7 people and some animals…

This is what most of my day looked like

Chartres is far cuter of a town than I had expected and the Notre Dame de Chartres Cathredal is out of this world.  Absolutely beautiful.  Work on the Cathedral began in the 1100’s …unbelievable… It’s kind of crazy to think people build these amazing cathedrals out of what some may say is a fear of god…I’m not a church going man, but walking through a building of this scale and magnitude and scare god into you!

Incredible place.

Notre Dame de Chartres

In fact you could see the cathedral towering about the field from about 10km from Chartres….that was the coolest site.

I’m being hosted in Chartes by a couchsurfer named Etienne.  We had a relaxed evening – a beer, a bottle of wine, some great cheese and meats, and excellent conversation – what more can you ask for.

Dinner at Etienne's

Tomorrow I am off to Orleans where I plan to stay for two days.

All is good – I feel like I’m starting to find some rhythm here…

This is Vinko out…bedtime

42km Bicycled Today

485km to Date

Aaahhh Paris… I arrived on Friday morning and left tonight, Sunday evening.
It has been a nice few days visiting one of my favorite cities in Europe. I won’t bore you with a description of the city – chances are that if you are reading a blog about travel around Europe, you have probably been to Paris yourself – but what I will say is that I had a few great moments, and I’m already looking forward to visiting again.
On Saturday I walked…and boy did I walk…I didn’t really have an interest in visiting the museums or galleries, but I did fancy just going for a stroll and seeing where the breeze takes me.
I walked from my hostel in the far east of the city – through Bastille, Notre Dame, the Latin Quarter, Invalides, to the Eiffel Tower, L’Arc de Triumph, Champs Elysee, Louvre and back through Bastille and to the hostel. All in I walked the best part of 25km and spent about 9 hours doing it. I had no real purpose in my walking other than I just wanted to avoid taking the metro, take in the lay out of the city, and enjoy the energy of the place…well – I did have one purpose…it wasn’t my reason for walking but certainly kept me entertained – and that was to find the perfect Apricot Croissant – the Oranais. I had three (I only bought the ones that looked like they might be up for competition).

Apricot Croissant

All were delicious, but none could compete with the first one I had in Offranville on the first day of the trip.

By the end of the afternoon I found myself confidently giving directions to other lost tourists as if I was a local!

On Saturday it rained…it poured…so I got a chance to put my waterproofs into use, but today (Sunday) was lovely and I spent most of the afternoon whiling away the hours on the steps of Le Sacre Couer listening to well rehearsed buskers entertain the masses.

View from the Sacre Couer

I also spent some time sitting just below the Eiffel tower, not to awe at the architecture, but I found watching the gypsies and the street sellers harassing the tourists very entertaining! After a little while I began to recognise their pattern and saw some definite flaws in their sales pitch…I almost considered helping them out!

During my stay in the hostel I’ve also had ample time to work on my route. By using the ViaMichelin.com guide I’ve basically traced a dot to dot route of the major towns I will be staying in and then trying to find accomodation through couchsurfing.com to match my route.

So far my route is as such:

Rouen – Vernon – Dreux – Chartres – Orleans – Tours – Poitiets – La Rochelle – Royan – Bordeaux – Marmande – Agen – Toulouse – Carcassone – Narbonne – Montpellier

My Couchsurfing host in Rouen helped me look at find a route which would appeal to me temperature and weather wise…so this route takes me throught the Loire Valley to the coast, and then from Bordeaux, follows the Canal Garonne and Canal du Midi to the Riviera. From there things should be all right as I work my way across the Mediterranean Coast. I haven’t really given any thought the the North Italian leg of the journey…so if anyone has some winter friendly recommendations that would be helpful.

All in all I am feeling a lot better about the trip…and I am so EXCITED to start cycling again tomorrow….I can’t wait to get further South.

I am now back in Rouen – found myself a little Irish Pub to sit down and type this out. Tonight I will stay with my host Jean-Pierre again, and tomorrow I will cycle from here to Dreux, via Vernon, where I have another couch surfing host waiting.

Below are a few pics from the last few days for your viewing pleasure….

Comfy? - art piece outside the Louvre

0km Bicycled Today

323km to Date