The shuttle over the Saint-Nazaire bridge runs every hour and since we're up pretty early, we'll try to catch the first one at nine thirty. We do an efficient run on the breakfast buffet, pack all our stuff back in the bike bags and are ready to leave before nine. I must admit my packing… Continue reading Back to the car
From Nantes we can make it in one go to the Atlantic coast near Saint-Nazaire. We get up extra early (seven!) in an attempt to avoid the tourist groups this hotel seems to specialize in, but fail utterly and have a basic breakfast in a very busy room: very quickly. We drag our bags to… Continue reading To the coast
I've had to juggle with the segments because the route after Nantes city is a bit bare of accommodation and restaurants on Monday evenings, so today we're only doing 22 km. Having some trouble with the Wi-Fi, my post draft was lost and I don't have time to write it again before going out to… Continue reading Nantes
Breakfast, again, only from eight thirty. That's a bit later than we'd like, but then I realize it's the weekend! Weekdays don't matter much when you travel by bike, except that you have to remember that shops and restaurants might be closed on specific days. In France, that's Sunday afternoon/evening and Monday. Today is Sunday.… Continue reading Fields and valleys
Breakfast is served from eight thirty, so we’re making an effort and set the alarm only at seven thirty. In the small breakfast room I have baguette with smoked meat, with a soft brie-like cheese and one with a boiled egg, with crème d’Anjou as dessert, yummy. It started raining during the night and the… Continue reading Rain (and some castles)
Up at seven, breakfast at eight, it's raining just slightly when we leave around nine thirty. We load the bikes in front of the hotel and leave Tours along the same route we followed the day before yesterday to enter it. A bit boring, but at least it's a safe cycling path. We follow the… Continue reading The long way around
Today is a day off, we haven't even set an alarm. The bikes are locked in the secure hotel garage, the contents of the bags are strewn all over the hotel room and the first batch of hand wash is already drying on hangers. We roll out of bed around seven thirty and by the… Continue reading Tours city
We're cycling to Tours today, by way of Chenonceau castle. Only 68 km planned, so it should be an easy day. We gave the B&B hostess our breakfast preferences yesterday, so aside from the ubiquitous baguette with sides of butter and jam, we get the requested pains au chocolat and croissants. I don't translate this,… Continue reading Châteaux de Chaumonts et Chenonceau
Up at seven, we had a pretty good night sleep except that the TV suddenly started playing in the middle of the night. Don't know what happened, but it certainly worked like a wake-up call. Breakfast is the typical for large business hotels, not great, not bad, just average. We pick up the bikes from… Continue reading Biking by the Loire
Breakfast is from eight, so we've set to alarm at seven thirty. I slept well, I think, though I only turned in around around ten thirty, after reading a few chapters in my new Jessie Mihalik book. Breakfast is a impressive spread, with a selection of cheeses and cold cuts, eggs with bacon and/or sausages,… Continue reading A wolf? And of course a castle
The alarm is at six, a bit early for a holiday but we have a train to catch! I hop out of bed, for Arne it's more of a lurch, but we have no problem getting everything packed and ready by seven. I even have the time to cull a bit in my t-shirt pack:… Continue reading Train & bike
I wake up at six, wide eyed and ready to start the day, but the rest of the household is still fast asleep, so I read until the alarms go off at seven fifteen. I hop down the stairs, it's a beautiful morning, warm enough even to have breakfast outside. Considering we're near the Belgian… Continue reading A hot day in the car
Today starts out as a working day, but we'll leave towards France in the late afternoon. That makes the day a bit challenging: I'll need to focus on work in the morning (working from home), wrap up and let it go, then focus completely on the packing. Though the work progresses pretty well, my subconscious… Continue reading Wrap up and go
We're getting ready to leave! To be honest, all the prep work until now has been mental/administrative, so I can't say there's much readiness, though we leave tomorrow afternoon.. A bike trip! Again! but what can I say, we just really enjoy the format. It's a bit later in the year than usual due to… Continue reading To the Loire!
We're sleeping in the loft of the shed and left the window open, so we wake up before six with the birds and the sun. It must have been a cold, clear night, because the grass outside is frosty instead of dewy and we have a great view of the change from black to blue… Continue reading and back home again
Alarm is at six thirty, but I wake up a bit earlier, courtesy of the cat. I've prepared my bags yesterday evening, so I can take it easy this morning. I have some water, take my meds, put in my lenses and generally hang around. I'm doing 16:8 intermittent fasting to help my IBS and… Continue reading to Racour by bike
Is this a 'broek' or simply a cut off arm of the Ijzer river? In any case this white heron was enjoying it until it saw me with my camera..No rain! The wind has picked up and is blowing the clouds away.The momument to the brothers Van Raemdonck, volunteers in the Belgian army in WW1.Did… Continue reading Summary
Alarm is still at six thirty, but we both wake up at six with an urgent urge to use the facilities. It's dry when we hop the 20 m to the common building, though the ground feels like it's been raining during the night. When we get back to our hut, we figure we might… Continue reading difficult knees
I must have woken up ten times during the night, every time I wanted to turn I got my legs tangled up in the linen sleeve inside the sleeping bag.. nevertheless I feel rested when the alarm goes at six thirty. We undertake a first express expedition to the facilities, it's not raining! Breakfast is… Continue reading Easily satisfied
Up at six, my Mom is the most polite wake-up alarm ever. We check the weather radar during the eggs and left-over sausage for breakfast and decide to put on Gore-Tex from neck to toes. All the luggage back down (over the narrow stairs, the lift is broken) and we load up in the entry… Continue reading A Gore-Tex day
all the luggage together Today is both a working day and a holiday: up at six, first work meeting at seven thirty - there's a few early birds at work and these early hours are the best for complicated meetings. It's quite busy, lots to do and somehow I manage to finish most of my… Continue reading pre-trip: hop to Mom’s
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