Picture

John and Sheila
  • HOME
  • Tandem Tours
  • Flowery Bikes
  • Postcards
  • Bicycles
  • Wavy Walls
  • Patchwork
  • Blog
  • CNF
    • Cycling New Forest website
    • Lymington Tuesday Cycling website
  • ★ ★
    • West Country Way 1997
    • Sea to Sea C2C 1998 >
      • StoS 1
      • StoS 2
    • York to Harwich 1998 >
      • YtoH 1
      • YtoH 2
      • YtoH overwrite WCW
    • Coventry to Lyndhurst 1998 >
      • CtoL 1
    • Lymington to Holyhead 1999 >
      • LtoH 1
    • Orange to Orange 1999 >
      • OtoO 1
      • OtoO 2
      • OtoO 3
      • OtoO 4
    • End to End + Orkney 2000
    • Auvergne 2000 >
      • A 1
    • Cambridge and Norfolk 2001 >
      • C+N 1
    • Dordogne and Lot 2001 >
      • D+L 1
    • Provence 2002 >
      • P 1
    • Suffolk Circular 2003 >
      • PSC 1
    • Ardèche 2005 >
      • A 1
    • Yorkshire Dales 2006 >
      • YD 1
    • Scottish Western Isles 2007 >
      • SWI 1
    • Manche to Med to Manche 2009
    • Baden-Würtemmberg and Bavaria 2010
    • Sault to Sault + Mont Ventoux 2011 >
      • Diary pre tour
      • Diary Day 1
      • Diary Day 2
      • Diary Day 3
      • Diary Day 4
      • Diary Days 5 and 6
      • Diary Day 7
      • Diary Day 8
      • Diary Day 9
      • Diary Day 10
      • Diary Days 11 and 12
      • Diary Day 13
      • Diary Day 14
      • Diary Day 15
      • Diary Day 16
      • Diary Day 17
      • Diary Day 18
      • Diary Day 19
      • Diary Day 20
      • Diary Day 21
      • Diary Day 22
      • Diary Day 23
    • Brittany 2012
    • Alicante + Pyrénées 2013
    • Alicante + Pyrénées 2013xxx
    • Vercors + Alps 2014 >
      • Vercors + Alps 2014 1
      • Vercors + Alps 2014 2
      • Vercors + Alps 2014 3
      • Vercors + Alps 2014 4
      • Vercors + Alps 2014 5
      • Vercors + Alps 2014 6
      • Vercors + Alps 2014 7
      • Vercors + Alps 2014 8
      • Vercors + Alps 2014 9
      • Vercors + Alps 2014 10
      • Vercors + Alps 2014 11
      • Vercors + Alps 2014 12
    • Germany + Switzerland + France 2015 >
      • G S F 1
      • G S F 2
      • G S F 3
      • G S F 4
      • G S F 5
      • G S F 6
    • Pyrénées 2016
    • France and Italian Alps 2017
    • Provence and more 2018
    • On Tour + Pyrénées 2019
    • Avoiding Covid in France 2020
    • Stay in England Covid Year 2021
    • Paris à Velo + le Tour de France
    • Tour of Britain Final Stage 2015
    • Twinning Trips
    • Weekends Away on Wheels
    • Tandem Rallies
    • Lymington Tuesday Cyclists on Tour
    • Paris Brest Paris
    • Wedding and Honeymoon 2006
    • Wedding
  • frame 1
  • frame 2
  • Germany + Switzerland + France 2015
  • test Germany + Switzerland + France 2015
Three Cycling trips to Vitré (2008, 2012 and 2013) and Two to Mosbach (2010 and 2015)
More about Lymington Twinning (LITA)

Picture
Tandem Trike to Vitré - 2008
Our first cycling trip to Vitré, in 2008 was also our first trip on Gertie Greenspeed the recumbent tandem trike we bought earlier that year in Ireland, and had just finished refurbishing. (more about GG)

DAY 1   We cycled from home to Portsmouth via the Isle of Wight, using the Lymington to Yarmouth and Fishbourne to Portsmouth ferries, and then travelled by overnight ferry to St Malo arriving early in the morning on the next day.
We had planned a two day sightseeing trip to reach Vitré, with a more direct one day journey back to St Malo at the end of our twining trip.
We know where we went, but a lack of diary notes means that at the time of writing this we cannot remember just where we stopped for coffee, lunch and similar cycle-touring necessities.

DAY 2   A warm sunny day greeted us as we disembarked and we soon found our way out of St Malo onto small country roads. A good first view of the River Rance as we reach Saint Jouan des Guerets; and at Port Saint Jean we cross the river by suspension bridge to climb uphill to reach Port Saint Hubert. After 35km we reached Dinan and clamber up into the town, resorting to pushing the small wheeled trike over some of the more bumpy cobbled streets. Time for a refreshment stop.

We leave on the D12 for Calorgen and continue through Trefumel and Pouasne. Finally at 92km we skirt the lake and chateau at Combourge and head into the town to the Logis de France hôtel where we are booked in for the night.

DAY 3  
The Rue de la Renaissance takes us into the town centre, from where we continue to leave Combourg and head for Lourmais. A coffee stop also gives us a shopping opportunity to find a Breton flag. We have an orange safety flag on the trike together with a St George cross flag for England and so need a Breton one too in order to complete our twinning relationship (more than once on future tandem tours in the south of France we are asked by local French people what place the black and white flag represents?).

In good time we roll along the Route de Robiquette over a lake (la Cantache) to reach the home of Guy and Marie-Annick, our twin family hosts, who live just outside
Vitré. After greetings, trike admiring and some refreshment we head into Vitré town centre to meet the rest of our twinning party who are travelling by coach. Quite a long wait gives us plenty of time to photograph the trike with Vitré in the background and to chat to other waiting French hosts. Finally, whe everyone has arrived we leave, taking time to stop beside a Vitré town sign (and two-flowers Ville Fleurie sign) so that Guy, who is following by car, can take a photograph tp record our arrival in our twin town by pedal power.

Route Sheet directions St Malo to Vitré via Combourg and return by direct route
Click on any photo to enlarge and scroll through gallery

**************************************************************************************************************

Picture
Tandem from Mosbach - 2010
Not a cycling trip in order to reach Mosbach, our twin town in Germany, but a circular tour out and back from Mosbach. We travelled by car to Mosbach and then spent some time with Rudi and Johanna, our twinning friends who live in Sattelbach, near Mosbach, before setting off on a tour using our Thorn tandem.

We chose two wheels for this trip because we expected to be using some unmade paths and gravel cyclepaths in various river valleys. Our trip included river valleys: the River Neckar, the Altmühltal, River Danube and the Taubertal; and involved
crossing the Schwaebische Alb and returning on cyclepaths through the Odenwald to
Sattelbach again. Unfortunately our camera broke on this trip and not only could we take no more photos, but we also lost all but a couple of those previously taken. (more about this trip in Tandem Tours)

**************************************************************************************************************

Picture
Tandem Trike to Vitré - 2012
Our second cycling trip to Vitré, this time accompanied by Judy on solo bike.
The plan was to cycle to Portsmouth via the Isle of Wight and take the overnight ferry to St Malo; and then to straight cycle to Vitré using a version of the route we had followed on our way home from Vitré in 2008.

Well that was the plan....
DAY 1   Lymington to Yarmouth on the ferry across the Solent
was OK and we set off across the island in lovely sunny weather, but after not going very far the offside front wheel on the trike developed a rhythmic bump. A roadside stop revealed that the tyre carcass had failed and the tyre was beginning to bulge badly. A bit of a set back but we had a spare tyre with us so it was not too difficult to fit it as a replacement. We
travelled on through Newport, exited a roundabout and the offside front tyre burst with a loud bang. We were on a quite busy road, but managed to lift the trike onto a narrow grass verge out of the way of passing vehicles. This was not good - a two-wheeled tricycle is not a lot of use and we had used our spare tyre and had a cross channel ferry to catch in Portsmouth. Mobile phone time - lengthy call to directory inquiries to find a bike shop that might be open and numbers of taxi services, followed by lengthy call to Halfords somewhere the other side of Newport. Yes, Halfords had two 406 BMX tyres of unknown provenance. Called taxi and sat down to wait. Taxi arrived and departed with Sheila. Decided that there was no point in Judy also risking not catching the overnight ferry to France so she set off for Fishbourne leaving John sitting on the verge watching the cars go by and trying to be positive - after all it was not raining. Waiting always seems to be for ever, but eventually a car stopped and asked if he could help, explaining that he to was a cyclist. The situation explained he gave John his phone number, saying he lived nearby and to call if Sheila had failed on her tyre mission and we required further assistance. After another long wait the taxi + Sheila + two BMX tyres arrived. They were unbranded low pressure objects, but heck they were tyres. One was fitted to the front wheel and the other was lashed on top of the panniers as a spare.

Fishbourne was reached with no further excitement and we found Judy still there. With time to spare before the next ferry to Portsmouth
we headed for the cafe. The crossing to Portsmouth went smoothly and (unlike on the Yarmouth ferry) there policy was to park bicycles at the front and let them off first, giving us a good start to head across Portsmouth to the cross-channel ferry port with still a comfortable amount of time to spare. On board, refreshed and snuggled down in our cabins for the overnight crossing.

DAY 2   An early call, breakfast and disembarcation into a bright sunny morning
. Because we needed to have a balanced pair of front wheels we stopped to swap the tyres about to give us a matching pair on the front. Nothing else to go wrong.....well......the Garmin GPS that we had hoped would navigate us across town with a pre-loaded track refused to switch on despite lots of fiddling with batteries. We used to tour in the days before electronic assistance with navigation, so without to much fretting we set off. Managed OK until we ran into a stretch of brand new roads and development that all post-dated our maps ans where we rather lost it. A bit of to-ing and fro-ing and turning around ensued, but we cracked it and were under way heading in a southerly direction again. The irony of all this was that we were supposed to be the experienced cycle tourists who were "looking after" Judy. We tried to explain that normally we did not have quite so many problems before we had travelled less than 100km from our front door.

The day warmed up and all went well as we continued, although not on the route that Sheila had intended, until we came to a minor road T- junction devoid of signposts
without quite knowing where we were. Tried asking some passers by, but we were not convinced they had any more idea than us. We decided on a left turn and a short explore. In not too far we came to a level-crossing. The great thing about railways is that they tend to stay put so we now had a precise locational fix, knew we should have turned right and not left, but most importantly actually knew where we were. A garage provided us an opportunity to buy some new batteries for the GPS, which, in the annoyingly sly way that such devices have, immediately sprang to life as if by magic (before we put the new batteries in, but not before we had purchased them).

Nothing could go wrong now
.....well.....the good news was that we spotted a suitable cafe and cruised to a stop for welcome refreshments.
The less good news was that we then noticed that our rear tyre was de-laminating
at an alarming rate and the carcass would have collapsed completely in a short distance if we had not stopped at this moment. More tyre swapping and changing and once again we are without a spare. at least there was a nearby rubbish bin.

On again. The day got hotter and hotter and we were slightly worried that Judy, who was fully covered in an attempt to avoid sunburn
, was in serious danger of collapsing with heatstroke. Stops in the shade and lots to drink takes us to the outskirts of Vitré and the home of Guy and Marie-Annick. No one at home. No matter, we sprawl on the grass under a tree in the back garden.

Guy and Marie-Annick's daughter Nathalie from Paris is also staying and she demands a spin on the trike, first as passenger and then as pilot. Also, while we are there Guy takes us to a bike shop where we buy some more tyres. 406 tyres are not common in France, but we find some Schwalbe Marathon Plus tyres at great expense. They are very very stiff and heavy. Getting them over the wheel rims was a struggle spread over several hours and requiring lots of diluted washing-up liquid as a lubricant. I doubt that we could get them on and off to repair a roadside puncture, but they are so heavy we reckon that to be a very low risk. Steering the trike with these tyres is now a two handed heavy push. Nothing could further from the experience of "flying" the Windcheetah. (see cornering without steering)

Click on any photo to enlarge and scroll through gallery
**************************************************************************************************************

Picture
Tandem to Vitré - 2013
Our third cycling trip to Vitré, this time via Paris on two wheels.
Tuesday 16th July to Tuesday 30th July 2013.

The Plan was to cycle to Paris for the end of the Tour de France and to take part in the "la Randonn
ée du Tour". This was a cycle event around the closed roads of central Paris, which make up the final circuit of the Tour de France including the finish line on the Champs Elysées. We had pre-registered to take part in this event celebrating the 100th edition of le Tour de France. We were then to cycle on to Vitré to visit our twin town friends Guy and Marie-Annick before returning home via St Malo.
DAY 1   We left Lymington on the upright Thorn tandem in the afternoon and took the ferry to Yarmouth. Thence along the Island to Fishbourne with a following wind, so we got across on the next ferry to Portsmouth in plenty of time for the overnight ferry to Ouistreham. Usual waiting around in line with a few other cyclists but not raining, which is the most important thing standing on these bleak dockside areas. Finally got on board, stowed the tandem in the bike area and headed straight for our cabin and bed.

Day 2   As usual we were woken early by soft music, but still had a rush for breakfast as the British Army was on board in force and all having the full English to set them up for their day’s work. Then off, through immigration and away down the canal-side cycle path towards Caen on a lovely clear sunny morning – it is such a wonderful start to a trip to France. At Pegasus Bridge we turned eastwards towards Troan where we bought sandwiches and pains au raisin (hereafter known as PARs). Pleasant quiet roads to Mezidon-Canon where we had coffee and our PARs. It got a bit hillier and hotter after this and we found some long steep hills worth walking up before and after lunch. Having nearly missed the tiny village of St Pierre, we backtracked a few yards and descended steeply to find a small bar. We ate our sandwiches sitting on a wall, then crossed over into the bar for cold drinks, where John topped up with a cheese French bread sandwich and we both had an ice cream.

A strategic re-route avoided a short but near vertical drop into the valley (yes, we had to walk up out of it later) and having completely failed to find a village with a bar, we perspired our way into St Victor de Chretienville and lay on the grass under a lime tree for a rest. From there it wasn’t  far (and happily downhill at the end) to St Aubin Le Vertueux and the Moulin Fouret.

We were greeted with a pleasant welcome, nice room, good shower, excellent washing line, and a very posh if rather over-rich Normandy dinner. The sound of the mill stream lulled us to sleep.

Day 2   Zigzagged our way through the cornfields and then the lane came to a halt in a field, with no more road in sight. A short re-trace solved the problem and only added a couple of kms. We bought lunch and had coffee and PARs in Conches-en-Ouche. A workman in the bar was a bit twitchy about Chris Froome’s lead in the TDF and indicated in mime that drug use might be involved! But, we decided not to respond nor mention Virenque. On through hot cornfields. The tar was melting on roads and went pop as we cycled over it, although John tried to steer for the least soft part of the road. Stopped in St André de l’Eure for lunch on a bench and a cold drink in the bar just behind in the oblong square.

Up and over to Houdan where a slightly roundabout approach brought us to the Hotel La Crepuscule on the edge of town. Greeted by a friendly receptionist, but no washing line. Received a phone message via Reception from Nathalie that her phone was broken and giving us instructions on how to get into her Paris apartment block.

Walked 10 minutes into town and after a bit of searching found just one restaurant open, the Tir Boulon (corkscrew) where we had a simple but acceptable supper. It was quite busy, being the only place open.

Day 3   The day started hot but our route-finding went okay and we hit the Paris ‘banlieus’ with cycle paths alongside main roads including the hectic N10. Not a lot of fun but it worked and got us into the edge of the city. It was fun to revisit the Hotel Pavilion Bleu, where we stayed for John’s Paris-Brest-Paris Audax ride in 2003, and we had coffee and PARs (purchased en route) on the patio. Then we reached Versailles and managed to pick up sandwiches for lunch at a side road kiosk, and found a free shady bench in the centre of the wide Avenue St Cloud to eat them.

A pleasant speed-restricted road, the Route de l'Impératrice, through the delightfully named Foret de Fausses-Reposes in Marne-la-Coquette gave welcome relief from the sun even if the speed humps were a nuisance. We soon came to the Parc St Cloud high above the Seine, and found our way through easily until the end where a bit of thought and the GPS helped us to find the correct steep walk-the-bike-down zigzag shady path leading to our exit gate. Further walking along one-way streets and a very short pedal brought us to the viaduct leading to La Passerelle, a pedestrian bridge over the Seine. We were delighted to discover that no steps impeded our journey at either end and we paused on the bridge to take photos of the Paris skyline. Then we entered the Bois de Boulogne where the route led us successfully along more nicely shady cycle paths. We had some trouble finding the right way across a junction over Boulevard Periphique but made it eventually and started the last stage along busy roads, often with bus/cycle lanes or dedicated cycle paths, mainly down the tree-lined centres of wide boulevards. There were plenty of cyclists about, lots of them on Velib, the Paris equivalent of Boris-Bikes, and the nimble local solo-riders wove in and out of the traffic. Passed the Folies at the Pigalle and soon reached our hotel.

Warm welcome, ideal little courtyard for the tandem, and gloriously air-conditioned room with plenty of clothes drying facilities within. Supper at an Italian restaurant just down the road – too tired to explore further!

Day 4   Very hot. Decided to find a café for breakfast as 13 Euros seemed a bit steep for the hotel version. Not too difficult as there was a café just round the corner and less than half the price. We became regulars for the duration of our stay. Wandered on foot to the Rue de Rivoli (vital loo stop at the end of the Tuileries for Sheila – it just opened up in time) and then back to the Champs Elysées to find the TDF boutiques still setting up. Rather vaguely advised by a gendarme we found a cafe some distance away and returned to buy a TDF  T-shirt for Sheila. Since they had no yellow TDF caps for John (who was looking for a bright coloured new cap for use on the trike), we went back to a shop in the Rue de Rivoli where Sheila had spotted one and got it okay. Then crossed over to walk through the Tuileries and along the Rue de Rivoli towards Samaritaine (with rooftop terrace lunch in mind) only to find it closed permanently for re-development. Went to look over the embankment at the beaches of the delightful Paris-Plage and then headed up towards Les Halles (also being refurbished) for a lunch of galettes in a corner cafe.

Back to the hotel to watch the Tour and eat chocolate. John has a nasty blister on his heel by this time. Went by Metro to Nathalie’s for lots of alcohol and nibbles and a fish fondu. Her studio is tiny but in a pleasant mixed development very handy for the Metro and she has nice neighbours, some with families. She drives southwards out of Paris to work.

Day 5   Extracted the tandem from the courtyard and initially retraced our route of two days before to meet Nathalie at the Trocadero. She had planned to ride her borrowed bike from home, but a basement flood and the need to alert the caretaker delayed her. Being Nathalie however she persuaded the woman on the Metro to let her take her bike on it (highly illegal) and she arrived only five minutes late. Took photos of us and the Eiffel Tower while waiting, then walked with our bikes to the park for cold drinks by the Aquarium. Nathalie insisted that I visit the Trocadero Metro Art Nouveau Ladies Loo – well worth it. We then headed down to the Avenue Foch by about 12 noon where after a false start we were admitted into the waiting area quite quickly and collected our T shirts. Nathalie kindly did a second tour and got T-shirts for Steve and David with the paperwork I had taken, and a spare for herself! It was extraordinarily hot waiting in the sun. We ate our lunch and eventually, being beside the barriers, leant our bikes on these and hopped over to the shade of a tree. An oompah band played in the distance and a PA system roared out encouragement to wave our arms and sing. John chatted with some other UK cyclists, and we spotted some Union Flags, a few tandems and a triplet. Quite a few riders had helmet-cams.

Approaching 2.30 p.m. we were allowed to ease forward, at first walking and then scooting ourselves along up to the Arc de Triomphe where it gradually became possible to cycle. Very crowded and John had to be very alert. It was okay for me to take photos from the rear, but seeing all the solo riders doing so with their phones was rather unnerving. Nathalie shot up and down like a photo-journalist taking snaps with her borrowed phone – nice as she got some of us both. Waved to some of the crowd already assembling on the roadside for the real thing to follow us. We enjoyed every minute of the quite slow ride, and were sorry when we got back and collected bottles of water and chewy bars. We sat under a shady tree and nibbled stuff. Nathalie then went off to cycle home and we returned, quite expert on the route now, to the hotel for a shower and rest. > la Randonnee du Tour slideshow

Took the Metro to the Assemblé Nationale and after a lot of argument with a gendarme and nearly having walked away, we saw him give in to the charms of some younger women and we raced back to cross the Pont de la Concorde over the Seine to find a fairly shady but still very sun-warmed wall overlooking the Quai des Tuileries. As our bottoms baked gently we waited with the crowd to see the ten circuits, at increasing speed, of the peloton. Saw a rider in white having a puncture – didn’t realise it was Cav until we got home to Lymington and watched the action replay on ITV Player. As everyone moved off we asked someone and discovered that Kittel had won the stage – poor Cav.
Feeling hungry we wandered up to the Rue St Honoré and found a café on a corner which served up a perfect omelette and chips. We then wandered back towards the Champs Elysées thinking that there were to be fireworks. No policemen had any idea but we finally asked an ITV staff person who said no fireworks, just the Arc de Triomphe light show. However as they had not yet taken down the barriers along the Champs Elysées we couldn’t get into the road to see this. Footsore and weary now we walked to the Franklin D Roosevelt Metro to get back to the hotel.

Day 6   Bought and washed some cherries after breakfast. John’s blister being an issue, we strolled gently to the starting point of a Paris open-top tour bus (posting T-shirts to Steve and David en route) We planned to use all four of their routes to visit familiar and less familiar parts of the City – very worthwhile and we didn’t have to wait too long anywhere when changing routes. No elevenses but the juicy cherries were great. Paused at the Place des Vosges in the Marais for a nice salad lunch in a café. Then back to the hotel, resorting to the Metro for the last short stage when the final bus wasn’t forthcoming. Showered and changed, and off to Nathalie’s to take her out for supper outside a nice little Italian place near the Place d’Italie – rather appropriate. Quite a noisy corner but that doesn’t seem to worry Parisians.

Day 7   Set off early and crossed the Place de la Louvre on our way to Montparnasse. The route worked well and we seemed to have missed most of the traffic. There we picked up the Coulée Verte cycle route southwards out of Paris. The frequent road crossings and constant getting on and off the tandem drove John a bit mad, but as the traffic was building up by this time it was better than being on the road. The ‘corridor’ is like a long thin park with the cycle path sometime shared with pedestrians, grass and trees and the occasional children’s play area or benches. It finally popped us back onto roads, sometimes with cycle paths alongside, and at Massy Palaisseau we bought sandwiches, cold drinks and PARs in a supermarket and sat eating the PARs and drinking the cold drinks on a bench by the station and a small fruit and veg market.

Continued toward Rambouillet with more trees and greenery when a small thunderstorm caught us. The rain being heavy, we stopped and took shelter behind a thicket of tall bushes, putting on our waterproofs. Finally it gave up and we set off, only to find a perfect church porch with bench inside some 500 metres further on! And when we reached Rambouillet a couple of kms on, there had been no rain. Nonetheless we ate our sandwiches in a bus shelter just in case, and chatted with two older ladies waiting for their bus. Rather a café shortage after lunch, but finally we found a little one at Hanches where we had cold drinks, shortly before arriving at the Hotel du Cygne in Maintenon rather early.

A plain little hotel with our room on a rather noisy street, but okay and cheap. The woman proprietor kindly opened up early for us and we rested before finding supper in one of two cafes, with lots of people arriving for a sort of Son et Lumière at the chateau opposite.

Day 8   The day started cool and cloudy. Back into the town to buy lunch and PARs, then on our way. Cold drinks, and coffee and PARs in the Bar St Hubert in St Arnoult-des-Bois. A fairly easy cycling morning across cornfields again, but hillier in the afternoon as we crossed the Perche region, where the hilltops reach 1000 feet. Walked up a short 16% hill in Condeau and up several longer hot hills afterwards too. The day got hotter and hotter. Cold drinks at the Café de Paris in La Loupe then lunch in the shade on the Town Hall steps, next to a UK wall-hung postbox given by their twin town, Royston. Good idea.

Stopped for water in Nocé as no café. Then continued to arrive at Bellême early before the Logis hotel opened. By this time Sheila was in trouble with an imminent UTI due to the heat and cycling. Visits to the pharmacy first produced some homeopathic remedy then the address of a local doctor. The pharmacist failed to raise him on the phone but said we could just present ourselves there, which we did, and after a wait and a brief examination he prescribed a one-dose antibiotic and some soothing cream. Back to the pharmacy and Sheila took the antibiotic at once. It worked like magic!

The hotel room was well-appointed but Madam was a pain, not letting John put the bike in the private garden himself but saying Monsieur knew all about bikes. This made us anxious as we feared how he might move it with the drag brake on. Sheila later needed the route sheet holder off the bike to prepare for next day and had to press Madam hard to get this brought to us. Excellent supper but Madam avoiding our eyes. Sheila didn’t sleep well worrying about the bike.

Day 9   Woken early by baby crying in the room next door. Breakfast in the conservatory which was high over the steeply sloping garden.  Sure enough John caught Monsieur dragging the bike across the garden and tarmac to return it to us. John grabbed it crossly, making it clear how displeased he was. Backtracked slightly into town to the only open boulangerie, which we had checked out the previous evening, for PARs but no sandwiches.

Very hilly route most of today (walked up some) and cloudy at times but no rain. Stopped for sirops (French equivalent of squash and very refreshing) in Courgains. Diverted into Fresnay to find lunch and Sheila located sandwiches for purchase in a small café. Then had coffee in market square café (chatted in English with man with dog); and then ate sandwiches under the modern Town Hall arches.

Rather a busy exit road to start with, but soon back on the smaller lanes. Mid-afternoon sirops (2 for John) and apricot tart and ice cream after walloping downhill into Bais (lady at the Le Lion bar/café was very friendly indeed). Less hilly after Bais, and a short walk up an N road brought us to our Logis hotel by the river at Moulay. Very pleasant large hotel with various buildings. Lots of Brits there, and the tandem lived with hotel hire bikes in a huge subterranean store room.

Day 10   The day started with a lovely shady 15 km run down the tow path alongside the river Mayenne. Saw a water rat towing a pile of grass across the river, and a few ducks and cyclists. Rather hilly after this but we only walked up a few of them. Coke and sirop and PARs in a café overlooking the church in Andouillé. Bought sandwiches at a Super U in Le Bourgneuf and ate these on the war memorial steps by the church in Bourgnon. John spotted a cat stalking and then pouncing on an unfortunate mouse – no respect for church mice. After a hilly bit and the second ‘route barrée’ of the trip, arrived at Guy and Marie Annick’s at about 3pm to a warm welcome.

Day 11   Set off up the now rather busy D794 and felt that, like so many roads that were once delightful and quiet, it had been upgraded and changed since we first used it (note – don’t use it again). But it was a fast way to get some kms under our belts, and we rolled up and down the undulating road quite satisfactorily. Bought PARs and sandwiches at a ‘Huit à Huit’ in Sens de Bretagne after a woman spotted us searching for an open boulangerie. Ate the PARs in the square on a flower-planter-cum-bench. Tried to find somewhere for lunch in Combourg but there was a huge and busy market so we went on to Lanhelin for a café stop and picnic lunch afterwards on a stone bench by a war memorial.

After Combourg the route used quieter roads but rain threatened and we stop briefly three times. Each time we managed to find shelter – first in the Lanhelin café, then behind a gas terminal box under a shrub outside St Père, and then in a bus shelter in Chateau Malo. In spite of missing the GPS, Sheila managed to follow the instructions and map to bring us into St Malo.

The Logis hotel turned out to be the same as we had used last time, although this time the tandem lived in the garage not the laundry room. Outside our first floor window was a good marine mural to replace the missing view as we were below the level of the town walls. Had a wander round the old town  and walls and later pasta for supper in a nice little pizza place.

Day 12   A really boring day sitting on the St Malo to Portsmouth ferry, but managed to get off quickly as there was only one other bike. Took the long way round  Portsmouth partly on the road – it is hard to stick to the cycle route coming back – but still made the Portsmouth to Fishbourne ferry with 15 minutes to spare. Then sped flat out in top gear along the Island into a head wind (all 3 sets of traffic lights were green) and caught the second last Lymington ferry from Yarmouth with just 5 minutes in hand (Note from John: I can’t remember when there was so much power coming out of the rear tandem motor). So home in time to buy milk in Tesco, i.e. before the departure of the last ferry of the day from Yarmouth at 10 p.m.

....and more cafés
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture









.
**************************************************************************************************************
Picture
Tandem from Mosbach - 2015
Not a cycling trip in order to reach Mosbach, our twin town in Germany, but a second circular tour out and back from Mosbach combined with a Twinning visit. We travelled by car to Mosbach and then spent some time with Rudi and Johanna, our twinning friends who live in Sattelbach, near Mosbach, before setting off on a tour using our Thorn tandem.

We chose two wheels for this trip because we expected to be using some unmade paths and gravel cyclepaths in various river valleys. Our trip included river valleys: the River Neckar, the River Enz and the River Rhein; Hills in the Black Forest and Alsace; and we cycled through parts of Germany, Swizerland and France in our circular tour.
(more about this trip in Tandem Tours)

More about Cycling Events on our other website cyclingnewforest.org
CONTACT US
Picture
BLOG
Picture
Picture

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.