On last year’s trip we struggled to get WIFI connection at all while I was doing the travelogue and inconsistent in-house internet connection. This year we have had WIFI connections everywhere we have stayed……..even last night which I discovered too late to get the login and password details to load the blog……..and I didn’t have too much confidence with the language difficulties between our host’s lack of any spoken English and my rudimentary French so didn’t bother to go down to get it. I took the notebook down to breakfast and got the login and password but every time I tried to do a second thing the connection dropped so gave up on it. Just goes to show how much things can change in a year!



The burbs in Arcachon from the hotel window on the way down to breakfast this morning

We headed off while the temperature was still comfortable and made a good mile. The traffic was intense again while we were on the main Motorway heading towards Paris but reduced a fair bit as we headed for Lyon and the scenery started to return to the lovely leafy green countryside and snapshot views of villages and church steeples and farm cottages intermingled with forests and farms. Initially the motorways seemed to just slice their way through towns and communities but once we were onto the country roads they seemed to wind their way through more gently and the towns and villages still seemed connected somehow and we felt intertwined with the incredible sights and scents and ambience of the road.



La Burge for lunch - looking across the water to the back of the church - a wall of water flowed over the wall behind the church and buildings and then continued on down the street - very quirky

Our lunch stop was at La Burge which was a beautiful little village, actually reasonably substantial as it turns out and the little Pub / Restaurant was doing a roaring trade. There was a lovely stream running through the town which was held back by a concrete wall behind the church as you will see below. Once we were back on the bikes the views and villages and everything which couldn’t become more spectacular just kept getting more so. What a day…..oh and the heat kept climbing as well. We saw a sign on a shop saying over 30 at some stage and it got hotter still.



First view of Chateau Beynac-Et-Cazenac. That’s the chapel top right hand side and the chateau rises up way beyond that and you can see part of it on the top left hand side. We were grateful of the cold drink from the little bar you can see across the road when we got down the hill

Next viewing stop was Beynac where we climbed to the top of the hill to the Chateau Beynac-Et-Cazenac which has been home to a series of Barons and their families since the 1100’s. The Chateau was solid and has been very grand in its day and is pretty well preserved but the views from here were like Ariel views and no matter where we looked they were incredible including the deepening autumn tones of the surrounding foliage which has been dropping like large confetti in wooded areas today.



Ariel type view from the roof of the Chateau

From there we headed to La Roque-Gugeac which was another spectacular village seemingly attached to the side of a great cliff face and even has massive caves visible above the village which have had stone walls built up to wall them off in centuries past. When we parked the bikes here there were a group of walkers admiring the bikes and Norm said ‘I’m sorry I only speak Australian’ to which the reply was ‘That’s okay mate so do we’. So, a group of Australians on a walking tour of the area and having a great time also.



Street scene La Roque-Gugeac

It was a short ride to Sarlat-La-Caneda where we are staying tonight and we gratefully had a cool shower after parking the bikes and walking some distance back to the hotel. No vehicle access to this part of town and the hotel is in a little lane up the side of the hill in the old village but we have sort of apartment type accommodation and there is a washing machine available. What a glorious thought (how sick is that!)

PS. You may remember I met up with a friend on top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris and this evening Sharen met a former work colleague and his wife at the washing machine in our hotel…….we all have the same Travel Agent so obviously a winning selection for this hotel since we (and I assume they also) had many options to choose from. Mind you the washing machine doesn’t have the same sense of romance as the Eiffel Tower but still, a massive coincidence you have to admit.

Bits and Bobs:



Couldn’t resist this on a building site in La Burge. We all know some project we have suspected that this contractor has been responsible for and now here is proof of where he actually operates from……..and he advertises the fact as well no less!

Last nights’ accommodation:

Villa Regina
11 Allee Corrigan
Arcachon France 33120

A budget accommodation choice. Recently refurbished room and reasonably basic but clean and had apartment type facilities e.g. hot plates, dishwasher, microwave and fridge which would have been handy if we had been here more than a night. Stately old building, lovely breakfast and also provided dinner but we didn’t know that and the host spoke no English so couldn’t learn anything other than our room number basically. Loved the pool! Also had a nice conservatory area. The biggest downer was the distance to the beach. A grand old building on its way back to being so.



The Vila Regina, our room faced the back overlooking the pool and the leafy suburb, very nice

Well we were back on the road again today and I was thankfully feeling a little more rested as well as less like an invalid which was a welcome improvement. The temperature yesterday got to 32 degrees in San Sebastian so we expected a hot ride today and by the end of the day it was certainly that though I don’t know how hot it got (29 in Paris so would have been hotter here). I peeled off all the layers I could except for one because I didn’t want to arrive at our accommodation with only a bra under my jacket! I was grateful this was the first hotel we have stayed at that has a pool. As a matter of principle I jumped in and lowered the core body temperature to a tolerable level.



A beach view at Biarritz

The highlight for our day was our visit to Biarritz which was a spectacularly beautiful spot. The terrain was hilly around the beach which gave character to the beach areas and the promontories had rugged protrusions of rock thrust up out of the sand and ocean. The beaches were just beautiful and everywhere we went around the beach there were little vantage points and alcoves with seats where you could sit and contemplate every possible angle you could think of. The town was well maintained and the newer buildings didn’t detract from the old so planning has been effective. We could have gladly spent a couple of days here and I would even have enjoyed swimming at one of the little beaches we found as well as exploring the rock pools. We spent quite some time wandering about before we got back on the road.



Streetscape Biarritz showing a variety of differing building styles and eras

The countryside itself today after Biarritz was incredibly flat and featureless and reminded me of the flat conifer forested areas along the Brisbane to Sunshine Coast Freeway. We were on motorways nearly all day and roadwork’s and reduced speed limits for at least half that time. The road looked like it was probably one of the early motorways and was in the process of upgrade but was obviously a main freight route between France and Spain and we were blown away by the sheer volume of trucks on the road (mostly single drive and tri-axle trailers). If I had a dollar for every one I saw today I could have paid for this whole trip! For the first time ever my eyes were burning and streaming from the diesel fumes no doubt because of so much slow travel so it was good to get into Arcachon and the suburban streets.



A view to the main beach across the ancient marina with many small boats moored there still and close to sitting on the mud at low tide but protected from the ocean

Arcachon is a quirky place and we are basically in the ‘burbs’ in our hotel…well what were the burbs in the 1800’s when it was built. At that time it was referred to as the ‘Villa Regina of the Forest’ and has been a grand building surrounded by what looks like many expensive smaller villas which would have been wealthy seaside accommodation where over time the space has gradually been filled up with other houses though many still in keeping with the original designs. The hotel halls are lined with photographs of many of the villas when they were newly built. We wandered down to the Plage d’Arcachon (main beach) and had dinner before walking back as the sun set.



Another Biarritz street scape back down a lane to the Ocean which led up the hill to a lovely open paved area and many upmarket and well preserved buildings and stores

Bits and Bobs:

Heaps more people of ALL ages smoking in France than Spain…and BIG numbers in France.

Bread of all descriptions in France is beautiful……much more basic in Spain.

Motorbike parking in France is pretty much anywhere and literally on any street (as in footpath) you can find but in Spain they definitely have to be parked in a parking spot and saw one getting a ticket even though it was no hindrance to foot traffic.
Car parking also seems more stringent in Spain compared to what appears more haphazard in France. On our visit to Comillas Sharen and Ken parked in front of the municipal offices where there were no signs or indicators NOT to park but when they asked some locals sitting close by if it was allowable to park there their response was ‘you may like it, but the police WONT like it’. Needless to say they kept driving until they found a car park.



The Spanish Do not Disturb sign from the Hotel cracked me up!

Last nights’ accommodation:

Silken Amara Plaza
Plaza PIO XII, 7
San Sebastian Spain

The hotel is a lovely building beautifully maintained with many different places to eat and relax. The rooms are generous as well as the supplied toiletries. The restaurant meals were very nice and the included buffet breakfast delicious. The reception staff is exceedingly helpful including almost instantaneous response to plumbing problems in the night as well as delivering my parcel (riding glasses) when they arrived…. I think this has been the pick of the hotels so far as far as actual hotels go though our Apartment Hotel in Paris made it possible to live cheaply and was yummy as well.

The Donostia title is the Basque name for San Sebastian. This is an ancient language native to the area and there is no memory or record of where it came from or how it developed. This northern area of Spain is part of the Basque region.

We have had a very slow paced day today which was welcome starting off with a sleep in and breakfast at 9.30am. It felt thoroughly scandalous after our disciplined beginnings thus far! We set out walking in the lovely leafy streets heading for a stop for the ‘Hop on hop off bus tour’ which we ultimately rode for the tour of the city.



Looking over Puerto de Santa Catalina (Bridge) then to Puerto de Zurriola (Bridge) on the Rio Urumea (River) to the ocean

The city covers around 70 square kilometres and has a population of approximately 180,000 (similar to Monash City in Melbourne) and yet the density of population is spread very differently here. There are massive areas of parkland which are beautiful and the population is housed in well laid out apartment blocks between 5 – 7 storeys high set around courtyards with lots of greenery and playground areas. The ground floors are taken up with commercial space and many small grocery and fresh food outlets, chemists and what reminds me of the old general stores we used to have in Australia i.e. some hardware, whitegoods and even clothing. There are many cafes and bars as well with tables spilling out into the streets and there is a lovely community feel to the place.

The streets are wide, well paved and leafy apart from the oldest parts of town which by European standards are not all that old as the town was all but razed to the ground in 1813 when the occupying French forces were expelled in disarray with the help of Portuguese and English troops. At that time of the original 646 houses, only 35 remained intact! Then in 1833 there was a massive fire when all Municipal records were lost. Mmmm. Makes one wonder that. Anyway it means that planning for comfortable living has been possible and the buildings are in very good shape in the majority of cases.



The Cathedral….Norm was relieved he was spared another ABC tour as it was all locked up

The beaches look good. The one on the actual shoreline was man made some years ago with a massive sea wall and imported sand and now there are world famous surfing competitions held here according to the tour guide. There were many people here lying about on the beach and some in the water whereas in the Bahia de La Concha (named after the shape of it as the shape of the Conch shell) had a wide sandy beach with what looked like hundreds of people walking one way or the other along the shoreline on the firm sand up to their ankles at most. Looked good and about as enthusiastic as I get at the beach these days. This bay was made popular by Queen Isabella when she built a palace and holidayed here making it a playground of the rich and famous and diplomatic corps of the time as such moves always do.



Bahia de La Concha

Once we got off the tour we opted for chilling for the afternoon so wandered through a couple of shops and had a cold drink and some tapas which were delicious before heading back to the hotel for a nap. Told you we were having a kick back day!

Bits and Bobs:

Millau Viaduct: The roadway level is higher than the Rialto Building in Melbourne!

Recovering: Yesterday was the first full day I have been able to hear everything since our ride into Gap! It sounded funny to all of a sudden be aware of the air noise in my helmet and to hear my bike properly again. The throat is also much more comfortable but I have developed a cough which sounds like I have been smoking for 100 years which as a non-smoker I resent. Thankfully it seems to be settling.



How freaky are these letter boxes at the main Post Office?

The day has become hot and humid but the riding through great sweeping curves and hills on the motorways has been enjoyable. We also learnt why it has been so smoky the last few days. We had wondered if there were fires in the area but it is very green and that seemed unlikely but on the way out of Santander this morning we discovered some forested areas which had been logged in the process of burning off the refuse on the forest floor, so there you go. We wound our way back through alpine regions which looked for all the world like the Swiss Alps complete with the mountain chalets. Very quirky. We have also travelled through some terrific tunnels today and we are so impressed with the engineering of theses European Motorways tunnels and bridges,

We stopped off in Bilbao to visit the Guggenheim Museum. The town itself had some very nice buildings and public spaces but felt cramped and grubby in a lot of areas. The Museum on the other hand was a spectacular building to say the least. There are twenty separate galleries and it confirmed for me that I am not into Abstract or Modernistic art on the whole. There were a couple of pieces that I liked and would have liked to see the water garden with fire fountains active but it was undergoing some work. The reflections of the fire on the water and against the shining titanium exterior walls of the museum would have looked spectacular.



The Museum entry complete with an interesting piece of artwork – A Floral dog

We were gobsmacked at the end of our tour when we wanted to purchase a calendar to find they have postcards and calendars of their art but none of the building! Clearly they want people to buy one of their obscenely expensive books which I was too mean to do. Ah well, you get that! The building itself was exquisite. It had beautiful soaring spaces and changing shapes of marble, glass and steel on the inside and glass marble and titanium sheeting on the outside. It was apparently built to look like a ship in full sail on the river which on some angles probably does. My practical self-wonders about the cost and overall purpose, but I loved the space and feel of it.



Another piece of external Artwork and so able to be photographed guaranteed to freak out my girls....but having said that I wouldn’t like to walk past it closely myself!

From Bilbao we headed to St Sebastian and it was largely a hot though spectacular ride with momentary relief from the temperature on the shady sides of some of the mountainsides and we were glad to get into the hotel and have a welcome shower and just chill in the bar. The temperature is 27 degrees and the same is expected for tomorrow and then 28 the next day.

Bits and Bobs:

An observation of the universality of human kind. Traffic on motorways / large arterial roads close to and winding through cities / large towns definitely have more aggressive / impatient daily commuters than out on the motorways on the weekends. Found some really aggressive pushy sods today with flashing lights and the works to get us back into the lane after passing ….even though the speed limit had changed and at that stage we were 13kmh over the limit! Needless to say he disappeared from view like a rocket with my best compliments behind him…..well okay that was a bit of a stretch but I refrained from giving him the finger or throwing my hand in the air in a ‘what the’ manner so I did well.

Last nights’ accommodation:

Gran Hotel Victoria
Calle de Maria Luisa Pelayo 38
39005 Santander Spain

A lovely hotel just a building or two back from the beach but with a lovely view of the beach. Rooms’ nice, bike parking, staff helpful but not much English which is fair enough because we don’t have much Spanish but we all muddled our way through. A lovely relaxed atmosphere with big veranda and grassy areas outside with room to relax. Lots of hydrangeas and other ‘simple’ flowers in the gardens here as well as the public areas (canna lilies and begonias and the like). I’m particularly grateful to the young man who spoke better English than most there as he has arranged to send my riding glasses to the hotel we are currently at as I left them in the room. DUH! Finally figured out how come the sun was so glary this morning when we were really too far to go back and get them.

Well we decided against another ABC tour and gave the cathedral a miss and instead headed off up the coast to explore some of the local villages and what a treat our day was. The motorway was full of big sweeping corners as was yesterday and the scenery was green and hilly or mountainous with random scatterings of villages seemingly everywhere we looked.

The first stop was in Comillas which was a beautiful old village remarkably well maintained given the age and we had lunch there after we toured through the Anton Gaudi designed house (El Caprichio de Gaudi) which was one of his first designs and it was beautiful, functional and quirky as we found his other houses we had visited in Barcelona a couple of years ago. Love this man’s work!



The Gaudi House – Yum!

From here we headed along the coast to the village of San Vicente de la Barquera where again we explored the ancient part of town occupying the high ground on a peninsula complete with a fortress, ruins of a hospital and what remains of a massive fortress and church. Incredible sight. There were several municipal buildings up there including a library and a couple of different police units (local and municipal….don’t know the difference).



The building at the top of the walkway from the lower village in San Vicente de la Barquera

From here Ken suggested we go a short distance to Potes which the hotel reception had said was worth a look and they were right but what they hadn’t said was that the journey to get there was unbelievably spectacular!

Soon after we left the coast we travelled through a little farmland then began winding our way up through canyon walls along the Deya River and let me tell you this would have to be one of the Great Motorbike Rides of the World!

The views were spectacular with soaring rock faces ever-changing in colour shape and form and each time we thought ‘it can’t get better than this’ it did! It felt like we were moving from one great cathedral to another for the whole journey and when the ever-changing rock views seemed exhausting we would ride through a beautiful leafy avenue and gain our breath. The trip was also interrupted with many little villages on the way most of which were impeccably maintained and clinging to the edge of the river or the canyon’s edge.

All in all a great afternoon and the town of Potes was just spectacular as well. What a treat. Mind you Ken has a little ground to gain with his estimation of what is actually a short distance but the endorphins we absorbed throughout the ride let him off the hook somewhat…not that we will let him know that of course. Ha ha.



A street scene in Potes complete with bikes on the footpath which led to conversations with a German girl who loved them and a Spanish family who were all excited about a daughter who wants to go to Australia and yes that is some of the Pyrenees Mountains in the background we had ridden through

Bits and Bobs:

Got a lot of toots and waves and thumbs up from passing motorists again the last few days on the road. I’m glad we put the sign on.

We enjoyed the walk around Pau last night and discovered some lovely old buildings though a lot in a sorry state and now undergoing some refurbishment as well as a big project of the municipality in paving some streets and establishing foot traffic areas which show real promise around the old heart of the city including some lovely large public spaces with water features as well. They have their work ahead of them!



A view across to what was a palace on the river in Pau

The ride today was spectacular! The temperature remained a comfortable cool for riding for the majority of the day with hand grip warmers on low early in the day and didn’t need to remove the jacket lining until after lunch to be comfortable.

The views for the day started off in flat to rolling country with corn and grapes leading to leafy hills and this progressively changed to fewer crops and more grassy fields progressing to steeper more rugged and stony hills into the very inhospitable Pyrenees Mountains which depending on the altitude were well covered in foliage (sometimes eucalypts once we were in Spain) or sparsely covered. The foliage no matter where we looked today was a delight and looked to be dusted with gold or mulberry powder and every hue in between giving shape and form to so many different trees and shrubs and in some places we even began to get a bit of yellow confetti of early autumn leaves falling around us.

Once we got into Spain proper we started to see some magnificent views to the ocean as well as climbing up and around more mountain ranges. It seems surreal that we have moved from the Mediterranean to Atlantic Ocean in a matter of a couple of days. The Motorways have been awesome again today. They may be expensive but they get us the distance we want to go in the time we have.



A view across the beach and peninsular to the harbour in Santander

Santander was burnt to the ground pretty much in 1941 with massive bushfires and pretty much the only building surviving was the Cathedral which we might get to see tomorrow, though this was gutted, so has been rebuilt since then and is now a city of 183,000. It was a comfortable ride to our hotel and we were pleased it was on the side of the hill closest to the ocean as the area definitely looked more agreeable and we have lovely views of the ocean from our room and enjoyed a stroll down onto the peninsula and an ice-cream before we returned to the hotel.

Bits and Bobs:
Norm now has my cold bug and I’m driving myself silly with a dry irritating cough as well as a leaking tap for a nose….just delightful. NOT!

Last nights’ accommodation:

Best Western Intercontinental Hotel
2 Rue Marechal Foch
Pau France

A reasonable price and a lovely old building with beautiful old furniture and surrounds which has been well cared for though showing its age. We had a large refurbished room so they are gradually upgrading. The staff was friendly and helpful and the dinner we had at the restaurant was one of the best we have had in France.

Breakfasted looking out over La Cite from the restaurant as we had at dinner last night and it truly is a fairy-tale view as you will see below. The old city was saved from demolition by the efforts of Victor Hugo and another author some years ago so now is literally a living monument to what an ancient walled city really was. Quite lovely.



La Cite – straight out of a fairy-tale

Been scattered showers today so wet weather gear on and a bit of road spray but managed to tramp around Lourdes without getting wet which was good. Didn’t know what to expect of Lourdes and the approach down a winding lane to the Basilica and the Grotto was jam packed with tourists, coaches and hundreds of tacky souvenir shops and was flat out full on hustle and bustle and I hated it but once we got into the grotto grounds and wandered around the basilica and grotto the pace and noise subsided and I enjoyed the quiet peacefulness of the surrounds which was amazing given the huge number of people. We lit a candle for family and friends past and present in St Bernadette's Chapel.



A view to the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception

Headed to Pau independently and we arrived first only to get a call a bit later from Sharen and Ken to say their GPS refused to turn on and they were somewhere in Pau trying to find a hotel with someone at the desk so they can get a map and navigate their way here. Life continues to be a challenge! We might argue with and abuse the GPS units but we really are snookered without them.



Across the forecourt from the Basilica to the old fortifications of Lourdes

Pau is a large town, a lot of it looking pretty tired on the way in so we will have a wander and check it out before dinner. If I find anything picture worthy I will include it in tomorrow’s blog.

Last nights’ accommodation:

Des Trois Couronnes
2 Rue Des Trois Couronnes
Carcassonne France

A nice hotel with helpful friendly staff and a killer view across the river of the Ancient Walled City of Carcassonne (Le Cite’). Bed was comfortable and secure parking for the bikes so didn’t need to cover them which was good.

Been a big day today and we headed off well before Sharen and Ken as we were on a mission to ride over the Millau Viaduct on our way to Carcassonne and they took the shorter more direct route. The early morning pink light gave a beautifully soft view to all we saw as we wound our way through many ancient villages and communities. We had croissants and apricot juice for breakfast at Montpezat to the amusement of the local kids on their way to school then lunch at an alpine chalet.



One of a string of viaducts which snaked around the valleys out of Nimes

Once we heard about the Millau Viaduct it became a ‘must experience’ on our list even if it did mean an extra 180 kms and 3 hours on our trip. We were not disappointed. We had a very challenging ride there some compliments of the GPS sending us on shortcuts which were a bit hairy and one we turned back on and in frustration tried to put the address of the Viaduct in the GPS which wouldn’t recognise it so finally entered it as a landmark only to discover that means you can look AT the landmark rather than ride ON the landmark! Ah well, we wouldn’t have gone to the base of it by choice but it was awesome and we are glad we did as the view was incredible.



Under the Millau Viaduct

With some perseverance we loved the ride over the viaduct but the ride to it was equally spectacular…in fact all kinds of spectacular with ever-changing countryside from olive groves, grape vines and farming to precipitous valleys and bare rock faced canyons. Incredibly beautiful!



On the Millau Viaduct

Nothing other than an Ariel shot could do the Viaduct justice so have added it below with some other statistics from Wikipedia so you can explore it further. Check it out it is just AWESOME and a must if you get to ride a bike in this region!

History
Problems with traffic on the route from Paris to Spain along the stretch passing through the valley near the town of Millau, especially during the summer when the truck traffic combined with holiday makers and gridlocked the local villages. The first plans were discussed in 1987 including 4 possible motorway alternatives and by October 1991 the decision was made to build a high crossing of the Tarn River between two limestone plateaus. After much activity the jury decided in favor of a cable-stayed design with multiple spans, the rest as they say is history.



The Millau Viaduct (compliments of Wikipedia as are the statistics below)

Statistics
• 2,460 m: total length of the roadway
• 7: piers
• 77 m: Pier 7, the shortest
• 343 m: Pier 2, the tallest (245 m at the roadway's level)
• 87 m: height of a mast
• 154: number of shrouds
• 270 m: average height of the roadway
• 4.20 m: thickness of the roadway
• 32.05 m: width of the roadway
• 85,000 m3 : total volume of concrete used
• 290,000 metric tons: total weight of the bridge
• 10,000–25,000 vehicles: estimated daily traffic
• €6.00–7.50: typical automobile toll, as of December 2009
• 20 k : horizontal radius of curvature of the road deck

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millau_Viaduct#Location

Last nights’ accommodation:

Bristol Hotel
44 Cours Jean Jaures
Avignon France

A really quirky building (actually a joining / grouping of several I suspect) in a really quaint little town within the walled city of Avignon known as the city of Popes from centuries ago. The place has many differing floor levels on the same floor level…if that makes sense. Bike and car parking under the hotel behind old timber doors we assume used to be stables.

Decided to lie in bed for an extra half an hour to give the old body a bit more recovery time then headed off to explore the Palais Des Papes (The Palace of the Popes) which was pretty impressive and discovered among other things that nine Popes resided here prior to the seat of power of the Catholic Church being moved to Rome following political involvement of the Church which wasn’t welcomed by the then King Louis VIII. We had a coffee in a little coffee shop in a tower overlooking the outer surrounds of Avignon then headed for the Pont D’Avignon.



First view of the Palace of the Popes when we entered through the gates

The view of the old city was quite spectacular from the Pont D’Avignon which was a bridge initially constructed 1177 – 1185 only to have a third of it destroyed by Louis VIII in 1226 then in 1633 reconstruction was abandoned. In any case it is quite a spectacular structure and gives a beautiful view across the Rhone River which was once tidal but now has a series of 26 dams and or locks.



The Pont D’Avignon

We were supposed to do a round trip today through several villages and see some other sights but I was still not in great shape and we have a big ride lined up tomorrow so we piled into the car with Sharen and Ken to visit Arles this afternoon and I did the blog in the car then had a nap while the other three did a bit of exploring. The trip there and back was very picturesque through many olive groves, market gardens and rugged stony canyons but the town seemed very tired. The troops were surprised to discover a Roman Amphitheatre in the process of refurbishment for the princely sum of 45 million Euros. Unbelievable.



Part of the Roman Amphitheatre with old and refurbished stonework visible - Arles

Bits and Bobs:

We are glad to have survived the ‘French Riviera road experience’ in one unscratched, scraped or dinged up piece. After reading much on the area this is apparently a rare occurrence and one we were grateful of. We certainly came across plenty of crazies, but the majority of people were patient and didn’t want to be scratched, scraped or dinged up either. Needless to say there were plenty of suicide jockeys around….particularly on motor scooters but we even managed to avoid them..…not to mention the fast reversing cars and vans up one way streets they weren’t allowed to enter. Kept us on our toes. Actually it has been weird to hear so few motor scooters in Avignon after the predominance of them everywhere to this point; they have obviously been the ‘daily commute’ for people from larger towns where more were obviously walking to and from work today in Avignon.

Well the waterproof and padded lining didn’t stay in the jacket for long tody before I ditched it and had a much more comfortable ride. I was feeling a bit under par today with a bit of a cold bug so the day felt big by the time we got into Avignon this evening.

Our journey started with a ride down the coast to Cannes with a stop off at the ancient walled village of Antibes which was a delight. We wandered around there then had a coffee before we headed off to Cannes which in comparison was another version perhaps of Noosa at home. A lot of very nice real estate without the tackiness of the Gold Coast. We had a nice lunch at Cannes before we headed for Avignon.



A view of Antibes with a couple of motorbikes parked up. So much easier to find a spot to park a bike than a car

The traffic on the motorways (and there was lots) flowed well and most other vehicles weren’t all that scary though I generally felt safer around the trucks as they were much better behaved and predictable than the cars. We saw some spectacular vistas of rugged mountain ranges today including a bare red stone range which would have looked quite at home in the Arizona desert.
The surrounds have gone from many olive groves and Spanish or Italian looking stone houses with terracotta rooves and has retuned now to more leafy surroundings. We’ll see what tomorrow brings.



A view across the harbour at Cannes. Big numbers of luxury cruisers and yachts in evidence here. Check out all the vapour trails. We saw a lot of planes landing and taking off from Nice

Last nights’ accommodation:

Hotel Beau Rivage
24 Rue St Francois de Paule
06300 Nice France

A nicely appointed hotel just one street from the beach and a short stroll to the old part of the town and hundreds of dining options. Considering the traffic (foot and vehicular) it was reasonably quiet. Motorbike parking outside the front of the hotel and access to public parking a couple of blocks away.

After our disagreements with the GPS directions yesterday and admittedly we had the extra challenge of multiple river valleys and changing traffic conditions we tackled the maps again and headed off to explore more of the French Riviera / Cote d’Azur. The traffic this morning was reasonably quiet and we explored the little village and surrounds of St- Jean –Cap-Ferrat where there is serious money evident in both the spacious residences on land and yachts and cruisers on the water. We had a coffee looking out over the harbour and pondering how the other half lives.



Looking back over Nice as we head for St-Jean-Cap-Ferrat

The water we have seen both close up and in the distance all along the coast has been crystal clear and where there is sand on beaches (very few) we could see the shadows of the boats on the ocean floor. As the depth increased it just became more deeply blue. Spectacular!

After coffee we headed for Monte Carlo in the Constitutional Monarchy of Monaco and oop a day found heaps of traffic very quickly in the maze of tunnels under the city and finally found a car park and left the bikes and came upstairs to find ourselves straight in front of the Casino would you believe!



The Monte Carlo Casino where we walked into the foyer to ogle at the spectacular building and left without spending any money so a lot richer than a lot who left throughout the day no doubt



The view from the McDonalds window (arguably the best one in the world) where we lunched, again, ahead of a lot of the punters

From Monaco we headed off again to find Eze where we sat and had a very expensive drink of juice on the hotel terrace in the ancient city overlooking all of what we had visited in the morning and varying shades of Blue Mountains disappearing in the distance in the magnificent blues and turquoises of the Mediterranean Ocean. WOW! So not what we would normally do and loved every minute of it.

The old bodies appreciated having a bit of chill time yesterday afternoon so we felt ready for the ride this morning and headed out of town in the wrong direction. DUH! Selected the wrong address in ‘Favourites’. We had to continue on up the mountain for quite some distance before we found a spot to pull over and do a ‘U’ turn but on our descent the whole of Gap was laid out in front of us in the bright sunlight unlike the rain shrouded view we got yesterday. This experience more or less set the tone for the rest of the day, that is to say, getting lost, seeing spectacular sights in spite of that, trying to decide where the GPS was actually trying to send us and where the hell Roussillon which was supposed to be a via point was anyway?



On the road - Les Mees in the distance to the left

Despite all these trials and tribulations we had a cracker of a day. The scenery changed from lush mountain backdrops with the start of autumn tones differentiating tree shapes on the mountain sides to rugged limestone outcrops and bare stone mountainsides and finally rugged stunted growth between cliff and valley walls leading to olive groves and stony fields.



Looking towards our coffee stop in Les Mees which along with the rest of the village was wrapped around the bare rock of the mountain behind

After an incredible ride with views to die for to our left, right, straight ahead and in the rear vision mirror we stopped for coffee at Les Mees, where the locals seemed amused with our rudimentary French in the little bar cum coffee shop cum betting agency and town meeting place. Then we headed off through a series of glacial valleys with spectacular wind tunnels between narrow walls and broad stony valleys and everything in between. We lunched at St Andres les Alpes and again enjoyed the narrow winding streets and quaint surroundings. We didn’t need to get to where we planned….other than our hotel of course, because everything was spectacular.



An Aussie biker in France looking like a black Michelin Man compliments of the waterproofs which we needed for the chill factor today throught the mountains

It was good to get to Nice and see the ocean which is a spectacular blue though the beach looks like a building sight with great chunks of rocks and gravel..…we are clearly spoilt with our beautiful sandy beaches in Australia!



The beach at Nice - This section is reserved for our Hotel complete with restaurant bar and boardwalk

Bits and Bobs:

Was a bit of a challenge getting wet bike jeans and the like dry yesterday. To get enough heat happening to do it meant a hot steamy room so finally opted for air dry and live with the result so we could breathe. The hotel caters for motorbike riders with free parking for 'Motos' and last night with our 2 there were 43! The majority were the Lucerne (Switzerland) HOGS group and others from all over the world.....literally, not just us. There were some great bikes and paint jobs. Candy for Norms eyes.

RIP

We toasted little Peggy Bell last night at dinner as it was the first Anniversary since her death. I’m confident she would have been pretty chuffed with her daughter and adopted son this trip….as she always was. Sadly missed.

Last nights’ accommodation:

Ibis Gap
5/7 Boulevard Georges Pompidou
05000 Gap France

Another budget Hotel but very nice and a very friendly and service oriented staff who even sorted a yummy snack for us when we returned from tramping around town without finding anywhere open to have lunch. Nicely refurbished room and dinner and breakfast were also quite acceptable.

There was much thunder lightning and rain overnight and the day started very dark under low cloud and it pretty much rained from when we left Annecy to our arrival in Gap. But…….the scenery was spectacular in spite of it!

Talk about sensory overload. We rode up and down mountainsides, overlooked wide and narrow valleys with little settlements drifting up from the lowlands to more rugged slopes and then forest taking over and continuing to climb to the rugged rocky escarpments, bluffs and cliff type mountain walls. We even saw evidence of some old Roman Forts which we recognised from our trip through Switzerland and parts of Italy last year. For good measure we passed a number of Lakes with some rugged glacial streams as well complete with the massive litter of rocks and tree trunks not to mention galloping muddy water.

The weather was so brutal that travel especially on the narrow winding mountain roads once off the motorways was slow and at times torturous and not at all conducive to stopping to take pictures of the spectacular views. In fact, often the views were shrouded by a gossamer veil of rain and mist and where there should have been mountain tops there were mostly cotton wool looking caps of cloud. In spite of all this, we met dozens of bikes so that confirmed again what awesome bike riding the roads provide, just a shame the weather was so rough so that very little attention could be turned to the view. In spite of that we oooh’d and aaah’d and wow’d our way through the mountains and gratefully arrived to a hot shower and got the gear off at about 1.30pm.



The only picture I took today in Gap to prove we were not the only silly people out on bikes

I thankfully stayed dry everywhere apart from the bottom of one jean leg and thermal leg…and squishy wet socks in my boots but Norm had a serious wet butt and back of thighs where he sat. Our hands had a bit of a broiled appearance from the combination of wet gloves and heated hand grip warmers. In spite of this the last of the ride in was very cold and my knees were aching by the time we got here. I was grateful for my leather vest and thermal tights and will also don my polar fleece jacket tomorrow as it is supposed to get to 0 degrees overnight and I’m sure we saw a dusting of snow on one of the Alps in view of our walk this afternoon….oh and yes, once the bikes were parked under the hotel (with many others’ I might add) it stopped raining and hasn’t rained since. Ya gotta love Murphy!

Bits and Bobs:

We actually got to within 12 kms of the Swiss border yesterday and watched the planes climbing out from the Geneva Airport as we walked across the motorway to the café for lunch.

Last nights’ accommodation:

Best Western International Hotel
19 Avenue Du Rhone
74000 Annecy France

This was a budget choice but still close to the old city. The staff was warm and helpful and the breakfast yummy but the rooms were very small and in need of a refurbish to match the nice new bed linens.

We donned the wet weather gear after a forecast of lightning and thunderstorms but really only experienced road spray from wet roads so the trip felt hot and humid until we got into the Alps when the temperature was more tolerable. The ride here was wonderful and even if Annecy was a dive the ride itself would have been worth the effort. We started out through rolling fields of corn and dried off sunflowers with green leafy lines across the land where the roads snaked their way across the surface. We soon came to more hilly ground reminiscent of some of our Swiss tour last year then we entered a huge tunnel and when we emerged found ourselves launched into a massive rugged mountain range and wound our way around the mountainside on massive viaducts and more tunnels and ever impressive views. WOW WOW WOW!!!



Annecy - the old Prison - supposedly one of the most photographed sites in France

From there on we alternated between rugged mountain views, picturesque villages perched on the side of mountains and glacial lakes. What a knock out. The view you miss when you fly!
Once we arrived in Annecy we stowed the bike gear and headed off on foot to discover the old part of the town which was spectacular to say the least. The views were just beautiful between some wonderful old buildings and views down to and on Lake Annecy (the second largest Lake in France). We tramped for several hours, explored Annecy Castle dating back to the 13th Century and had a drink then had some dinner before we returned to the hotel feeling somewhat pooped.



A pretty canal view through the old town towards Lake Annecy

Looking forward to more spectacular views on our travels tomorrow but the forecast is looking seriously cold and wet……..anyone would think we were in the Alps!



Looking across lake Annecy

Bits and Bobs:



A picture for Phil and Gareth....a shop next door to our hotel. There were a lot of muso types hanging around outside a club type door as we returned to our hotel so not sure how much sleep we will get.

Last nights’ accommodation:

Hotel De La Poste
5 Boulevard Clemenceau
Beaune France 21200
http://www.hoteldelapostebeaune.com

A lovely rambling old hotel comfortably situated across the road from the moat and ancient city walls and one of the entries to the old Village of Beaune. There has been a hotel on this site since the 1660's. The staff were terrifically friendly and helpful and the rooms tastefully decorated and comfortable. The public spaces of the hotel were stately and welcoming. Great Ambience. A nice stay.

We have seen some beautiful sights today of whimsical chateau’s complete with maidens towers, multiple church’s in villages and as many different versions of French cottages and manor houses as you could imagine but nothing compares to the unspoiled beauty of the little village of Beaune. It is a great credit to its people and its municipal authority. That doesn’t mean we didn’t see a lot of other beautiful things but Beaune is the pick as far as buildings go.



One of the lovely buildings in Beaune

It was lovely to see the many different varieties of grapes in the acres of vines draped across the landscape with some leaves starting to change colour and others still very green. We rode and walked around many little villages including on the back streets with lots of views of grape harvesting machinery in garages under houses and the smell of fermenting grape juice was everywhere and of many different strains of fragrance. Quite delicious really and the flower boxes everywhere were spectacular with massive begonias’ and impatiens as well as lovely leafy vine type things which were a great contrast.



Looking into the Hotel Garage (in the dark) as I kit up before we headed off in the morning

We are back at the hotel now (only a little damp) and warming up in the bar before we have dinner here. We are dining here tonight in their lovely dining room which is a series of five separate rooms made into one. Quite delightful, in fact the whole building is delightful with lovely leafy garden spaces with splashes of colour and beautiful period furniture. Yum!



Streetscape in Dijon

After setting the GPS for the Railway Station in Dijon so we could get good parking for all we discovered that they are installing a monorail (or something) throughout the CBD and heaps of the streets were dug up and railed off which meant on our way to and from we kept being directed to intersections and streets we couldn't access. Once we were out of there we then found entries to Motorways blocked off as well. At some stage we stopped at some traffic lights and Norm asked how I was doing? I told him my response couldn't be published. Fair dinkum, the fact that we don't have two-way communicatin between bike helmets has probably saved the marriage.....on more than one ocassion!

Didn’t sleep well overnight. I had a really sore hip from too much walking yesterday and the nerves were building for getting out of Paris in spite of all the positive self-talk. I swear if the quick trips to the loo are going to be routine before departure each day I will be a mere shadow of my former self on my return!...not a wholly bad thing but a crappy way to do it…if you’ll pardon the pun.

Norm was determined to get an Iconic / Recognisable French shot of us with our bikes in front of the Eiffel Tower before we headed out of Paris. How hard could it be? We keyed in the address to the GPS and headed off and thankfully found the traffic not all that heavy or pushy. We parked the bikes and figured out where to stand to get the entire Tower in and started to eyeball passers-by to see who would do the picture taking being conscious all the time that we would likely be asked to move on at any time. The answer to the ‘how hard can it be?’ question was ‘apparently impossible’….even from the woman who proudly told us she had the same camera. End result is that the test one Norm took was the ONLY one with the whole Tower so have cropped and included that.



Nola standing her ground in front of the Tower

We had a great time in Paris. We loved everything we saw and found the people and communities we moved amongst to be very friendly and welcoming. We were relieved that the traffic was surprisingly light and although a bit weird on some streets and intersections, as in the dividing lines for lanes apparently being more a ‘suggestion’ rather than a ‘requirement’, didn’t feel unsafe and we were soon on the Motorway and heading south through magnificent sweeping vistas of farmland and forest on our way to Beaune.

We took a break at a roadhouse and waited for Sharon and Ken to catch up with their car then headed off together. We came straight to Beaune and wandered around the beautiful old walled city before we had a delicious dinner and came back to the hotel to fall into bed. We have two nights here so will explore more of the surrounding towns and countryside tomorrow. The old bodies decided today they hadn’t fully recovered from hanging on in gale force winds on our way from Calais to Paris so it will be good to have a quieter day tomorrow. The town is remarkably well preserved and feels a bit like stepping into an ever changing picture postcard.



Part of the Hospices De Beaune - Musee de l'Hotel Dieu which was both a magnificently well preserved building and also served a valuable purpose of being a world renowned and progressive Hospital from 1453 until 1971 when a new hospital was built to replace it. They retained the retirement homes only. We toured through much of the building including many of the wards / chapels, the kitchen and the pharmacy. Very impressive.

Bits and Bobs:

Sometimes it’s hard to maintain even a hint of femininity on the bike but check out the serious ‘Bike Bling’ I found in the window of the ‘Wedding Dress Couture’ shopfront close to the hotel! I didn’t arrange to have it shipped home….not sure how the sparkly bits would survive having bug guts washed off them and to be truthful it’s not really my style. Ah well.



Last nights’ accommodation:

Citadines St Germain Paris
53 Ter Quai Des Grands
Paris France 75006
http://www.citadines.com/en/france/paris/saint_germain_des_pres.html
A lovely Apartment Hotel on the banks of the Seine and a convenient distance to all the highlights of the city. Compact apartment type accommodation with direct internet access and beautifully comfortable bed…..ahhh!. Nicely maintained, quiet for sleeping and very friendly and helpful staff.

Another full day of exploring started with grabbing a day pass on the metro train (great value as we zig zagged our way all over Paris all day) and a visit to the Eiffel Tower including a ride up to the very top in the lift and a look at the magnificent panorama of Paris at our feet. As if that wasn’t enough to make us gasp who should we run into than a friend and fellow Women in Supply Chain (WISC) member Jennifer and her husband Steve from Melbourne. Now what would be the chances of that? I know we both work in the area of logistics but that’s ridiculous, cracked me up!



The photo to prove it from the top of the Eiffel Tower looking towards the Arc de triomphe

From there we headed back to the Louvre as it was close to the hotel and Sharen and Ken got their ipad issue sorted at the apple shop in the Louvre and we went back to collect our Museum pass’s I had left in the room safe..…only to find I had already put them in the backpack..…so I forgot that I didn’t forget or something. Anyway the Louvre was awesome and we saw the Mona Lisa in person as well as a lot of other beautiful things not to mention the building itself including some of the apartments occupied by Napoleon which were quite beautiful.



An interesting view of window cleaning at the Louvre

From there it was off to Museum Dorsey which was the original Railway Station in Paris until the platforms were no longer long enough to cater for modern trains. Such a blessing the building wasn’t scrapped, it is a magnificent structure and I enjoyed the sculpture and seeing many paintings I had studied in my school days by Van Gogh, Cezanne, Manet, Gauguin, Lautrec and many others. The building was a beautiful space and we were surprised that there is no reference to it having been the railway station…a major oversight in our opinion and somewhat disrespectful for its actual history. Opportunity lost.

Having walked our poor little legs off we decided NOT to return to see the Eiffel Tower with the lights on but to find a restaurant close by to dine at so we can be in better shape to tackle a big day tomorrow as we head out of Paris.



Notre Dame Cathedral from the land then from the Seine. Cannot believe that I would see this in person after studying it in my History of Art lessons all those years ago. Just beautiful!

Who would have thought that these two scared weird little country kids would ever be here in Paris and seeing the sights we have seen today? Not the two little country kids I can assure you and it’s only just starting to sink in that we really rode into the heart of it….been as high as a kite all day and just about needing to pinch myself to be sure it is real….there’s a bit of life left in the old girl yet!



The Eiffel Tower (as if you didn’t know)

We have had a great day exploring this lovely overall clean and well maintained city which is quite something given the age of so much of what we have been moving amongst. We have spent a good part of the day on two hop on hop off bus tours and then a boat cruise on the Seine.



A work shot – one of the many barges on the Seine passing the Louvre Museum. This one had 7 x 40 foot containers on board but has a capacity of 12. Very impressive.

We saw gravel, sand, cement, scrap steel and several rubbish barges not to mention dozens of other boats and restaurant boats and barges and river cruisers which would cater for thousands of people….and I mean that. In one spot there were 15 coaches lined up off loading their charges to barges. Quite a busy and effective highway!

To top it all off a lovely dinner at an Italian Restaurant around the corner from our hotel.



L – R Ken, Norm, Nola, Sharen

We left Marshside after a welcome cup of tea and headed off in the rain to the Folkestone tunnel. It rained all the way and was accompanied by gusty wind and a fair bit of water on the road for good measure so the travel was slow and while we had allowed plenty of time to get there we only had time to buy a Panini and some juice for breakfast which we took onto the train.

My nerves were getting the better of me and I seriously needed to get some miles under my belt in France to prove to myself I could do it without skating down the motorway on my face as I did last year. I felt really ill by the time I got to Folkestone and my instructions to Norm were that as soon as we got off the train and it was safe to do so would he please pull over in case I needed to be sick. By the time we rode out of the train and got onto the motorway I felt a lot better and next thing Norm pulled over and I told him I was okay and we could keep going but he reminded me we hadn’t put the electronic toll tags onto our arms so we had to dig them out and put them on. They have thankfully worked well so we haven’t had to try and get wallets out with gloved fingers so a positive outcome.

We didn’t get much rain on our way down to Paris but the wind has been ferocious and it was high on the endurance rather than enjoyment scale throughout. We stopped for a coffee and fuel then lunch which was as much about giving the poor old bodies a chance to recover as needing fuel or food.

I was feeling like I needed to get off the bike again about 30kms from Paris when we struck around 4kms of stop start roadwork’s which took us a good 45 minutes to move through by which time I was drenched in sweat in my waterproofs so I was dry on the outside and dripping on the inside. The trafic finally opened up then hello we were onto a massive multi-lane freeway complete with tunnels and huge volumes of traffic and that’s how it was until we turned off to get to our accommodation on the banks of the Seine just across from the Louvre. What were we thinking!!!!



Norm unstrapping the cases on the banks of the Seine…by the way we got a number of toots and thumbs up with passing traffic after seeing the Aussie sign which was good. It is French for ‘Australians on tour’

Sharen and Ken had arrived earlier in the day and met us at the foyer and we stowed our gear, had a hot shower and headed out for a walk around the Louvre then got some grocery supplies and brought them back here before walking a short distance down the street for a beautiful dinner. They were as exhausted as we had been the first night we arrived and we weren’t much better. We both ache all over our shoulders and back from holding the bikes up today and I feel a bit like Neanderthal man with arms hanging down to my ankles….well at least that’s how it feels. The bed is looking pretty good at this point.



On the bridge crossing over the Seine to the Louvre…the thing that looks like a light pole over my left shoulder is the top of the Eifel Tower

Last nights’ accommodation:
North Stream
Marshside
Canterbury Kent CT3 4EE

Delightful family cottage in a lovely leafy garden complete with family atmosphere and comings and goings of past and present residents. Superb ambience, hospitality, food and locality and a short walk to the local pub. Will have to come back here! (Phil said WHAT?!!) Ha ha....Thanks Phil and Jean, been a delight to catch up.

We woke to a sunny wet morning, had a leisurely breakfast complete with a visit by Pedro the village peacock and headed off to explore the Canterbury Cathedral. We thoroughly enjoyed the trip which was a real WOW experience from the moment we rounded the first corner as we approached and saw the massive towers and spire rising above the rooves of the village. The old village is magnificent with cantilevered buildings jutting out over lanes and streets and ancient timber skeletons visible amongst the brickwork. The sort of thing my childhood story books were full of so seems very surreal. We lit a candle and said a prayer for family members past and present and for all those caught up in the September 11 tragedy before we left the cathedral then gratefully sat and ate lunch in the sunshine surrounded by ancient buildings as we texted Sharen and Ken who we thought should be about to reach Kuala Lumpar on their way to meet us in Paris. When we got home we got a reply to say they were, so starting to feel real now.



Village view Canterbury

I’ve been preoccupied with preparations for our departure to France tomorrow. We’ve packed and repacked the bags and minimised the gear we will carry on the bikes and in the back pack so we can be ready to just get up and go in the morning. We have to be at Folkestone no later than 7.50am.The trip on the train in the tunnel is about 25 minutes then we have a ride of just over 3 hours to Paris. I will be pleased to get the first day’s riding in France out of the way…..feeling somewhat apprehensive so need not to think too much more about it so I can just relax and do what needs to be done.



An Aussie biker at Canterbury Cathedral