"Everybody is normal until you get to know them"
In which Sid and Doris idle away a day walking around the town, seeing the docks and writing. Every afternoon Sid and Doris shower, do laundry, drink, write, eat, plan a route, book a hotel and sleep. One of the best things about our holidays is breaking that routine, fun as it has been. We get up later, lingering over…
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This is an important concept for a touring cyclist, and even more important for the TC’s eager blog audience.
Read moreIn which Sid and Doris take another ferry to visit Rochefort, the naval centre in the time of Louis XIV. In the night it rained – but not on us, ha ha – and we set off into a cool misty morning on the shadowy forest roads. The vines are behind us for now. We take back roads up to…
Read moreIn which Sid and Doris visit the submarine pens and eventually cycle past Medoc chateaux and Pauillac port on the Gironde.We continued down the river, past the elegant stone houses now much further from the bank than when they were built. The river is big. Say what you like about the french, they do a good river. And with it…
Read moreIn which Sid and Doris visit Chateau Roquetaillade on their way to Bordeaux, a very fine city. Musing on whether we were still being Epic enough we felt that we were not doing and seeing the things, and in danger of turning this into a Delivery Ride. So we set out for Bordeaux (which is not short of Things)…
Read moreFor quite a long time in the middle of the trip we didn’t need to think about other cyclists, because there weren’t any. But now we are in the richer (and dare I observe, flatter) areas of southern France, the numbers are starting to build up. They come in the following categories:– Men (always) in full club kit whooshing past…
Read moreIn which Sid and Doris start out along the Garonne canals before striking out up hill, down dale, but mostly across country to the Gironde.We are at peak French holiday season and today is the Friday between a Bank Holiday and the weekend so hotels are as much a limiting factor as our legs. Bazas is broadly in the right…
Read moreIn which Sid and Doris have a ride along the Garonne and its lateral canal. Today is the Feast of the Assumption, when virgin Mary was told she was to be mother of Jesus. This is a Bank Holiday in France, and in common with Bank Holidays everywhere associated with poor weather. In fact today has been perfect for us:…
Read moreIn which we fall out of love with the Pyrenees and think about Brittany instead.We have been really struggling to work out how to get over the Pyrenees. Armed with a large map of the area (approximately double bed-sized) we can see a range of choices. From the left:– go round the west end, which will drop us onto the…
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