Champagne region
We were up at 6am to leave at 6.30 for the drive to the shuttle through the tunnel. We arrived in enough time to catch an earlier train. Through passport control with my new passport!
At the other end we drove straight out and onto a main road with no hold ups. The satnav said carry on straight for 262km! There were police officers on every bridge and we couldn't find out why. We stopped at a service station and had a horrid sandwich. We saw vast vineyards and wind farms and huge areas of crops. We found our Airbnb easily and stored the bikes in a room round the corner. We had just the ground floor. The house was just by a champagne bottling facility. We walked along a footpath to a supermarket to stock up for a few days. In the evening we watched the Tour de France and the Euros on BBC and ITV with the VPN.
The few of the village from a nearby hill
The next day we rode our bikes about an hour down the canal which was a flat ride on tarmac path but our bums were getting numb. We had a drink at 1 village in the local meeting place and later lunch by the canal. It wasn't too busy on the cycle path and the weather was ideal - warm and cloudy. There were loads of pondskates, butterflies, dragonflies, pretty flowers, we could hear birdsong all the way along and spotted a kingfisher. We saw massive holiday barge boats which even had hot tubs on board. Vineyards lined the route and there were chalk cliffs at one point.
We visited Epernay but were disappointed - there was the famous champagne Avenue but it was just posh tasting places.
When we got back we walked around the village we were staying in.
We moved on to Troyes stopping at a village to do a walk. It was staggering how vast an area the champagne vineyards cover. We parked by the local Mairie office as our car was loaded with all our bags and bikes. We were thwarted at the start of our walk because of flooding but eventually found a way. There were lots of insects and frogs chorussing. There is definitely a civic pride in each town and village. We ate lunch by the canal and then drove to our apartment in Troyes. The apartment was large and comfortable and luckily very quiet. We walked into the town to visit the tourist office to suss out route for the Tour de France.
We had a full day to see Troyes before the Tour circus arrived. It is a lovely medieval town and even has a museum of hand tools. There is one street called the cats road as the buildings are so close cats could walk from one roof to another.
We used the map to decide our tactics for the day: out to see the caravan then back for lunch. Cycle to see the starting roll out at 2km and back to watch the race on the TV and back to the same spot to see them 2km from the finish.
The caravan was not what I was expecting - it was just commercial giveaways. The French were well up for collecting every single something and the atmosphere was crazy! No polka dot t shirts though.
At the start it was amazing to see how many vehicles and bikes go through. We saw the cyclists roll out and that was all over in a few seconds. It took a bit longer to see them come to the finish as they were strong out. They were dirty from the gravel sections. We watched the front of the race finish on my phone which used 1.2GB of data! I was disappointed to see lots of people wearing the polka dot t shirts which we had missed. All in all it was a great experience and the next morning there was no sign of the event left.
Massif Central
We had a long drive to Lioran and had a few holdups with roadworks. We stopped at a picnic area on one of the toll roads and saw people looking at boards and maps. Fortunately I went over to have a nose and it was explaining that there were free pass tolls on the route where you have to pay online. It was only 1 euro for us but goodness knows how much it would have been if we didn't pay.
The rooms we had were mainly for skiers in the winter with a ski locker room downstairs in the building. Communication with the airbnb was very sparse and the wifi was rubbish - Martin got a good signal hanging out of the bathroom window! We knew we had to take bed linen and towels but there were no bin liners and hardly any loo roll so we felt it wasn't good value.
View out the back
I went for a walk into Super Lioran to get info from the tourist office so we could plan our day watching the Tour finish.
The next day we had wonderful weather and took the cable car up to the top, walked along the ridge then down back into the village. We had fab views and there were lots of wildflowers in bloom. When we sat down for our lunch near the bottom we saw a runner who was carrying a baguette and a box of 6 eggs!
When we got back Martin went out for a bike ride to suss out where we could watch the race. That night we had a bit of noise from a gathering in the apartments below and when they quietened down a lot of lorries seemed to be sounding their horns and people were cheering. We assumed that it was the Tour infrastructure arriving - people actually cheered them in!
Photos from the walk:
The next morning there were barricades up near the apartment and people had already arrived to secure their places 8 hours ahead of the arrival of the riders. There were stalls set up and the ones giving away freebies were mobbed. We took it easy in the morning, watching the race start on the TV, then cycled up to Super Lioran to eat our lunch. The place was very different to the previous day with the press compound and the finish etc all set up. We spotted Gary from the ITV4 coverage who went up on a chairlift to film a segment we saw later on the highlights programme.
We picked a spot at a bend on a hill. There were loads of campervans and people already there in the baking heat. I chose to stand in the shade of a campervan - the family were sat up one end. Martin stood under some trees and came down once the riders were due. When the caravan came through once again the French were grabby and there was a grapple next to me between a nine year old and an old lady. A while after the caravan went through a van arrived and was mobbed when it stopped - it was the polka dot t shirt van! I got one without having to be too pushy.
It was fab watching the riders go past - they were stretched out over 30 minutes from Vingegaard and Pogacar to Cavendish bringing up the rear. We walked back to Super Lioran and the tour buses hadn't been barricaded off so we were able to walk amongst them. Mark Cavendish was making his way back to his bus but didn't want to get involved with the crowd. I took a picture of Matt from ITV.
Screenshots of us on the TV coverage
Dordogne
Whilst we were packing the car we saw all the logistics vehicles leaving for the next stop. We made sure to clean to avoid the threatened 50e fine - probably left it in a better state than we found it. Our route took us through Aurillac and we hadn't twigged that this was the next stop for the race. At first we enjoyed seeing all of the team buses etc but then we got diverted and had to find our own way round the town - they were happy to close the roads but didn't provide a signed diversion. After a long drive to the Dordogne we found our ground floor apartment in the lovely village of Montfort. Cars had to be left in the main car park a minutes walk away so it was really quiet especially once the tourists had departed.
We walked down to the river that evening
Loose canoe needed rescuing
There is a chateau privately owned in the village. We tried to see it from the other side of the river but the footpaths had been closed
We had 6 nights here so took our bikes out to a walk each day.
Domme
Walnuts and foie gras are the area specialties
An outside escape room
Acres of walnut trees
La Roque Gageac and Sarlat
Our representation!
Good job we had had a rest as the following day we cycled all the way to Beynac-et-Cazenac and then walked.
Another long drive up to the Loire valley - we avoided toll roads so went through lots of villages, saw many sunflower fields and combines out for the harvesting. We had a small building to ourselves in the yard behind the owners house - she ran a creche for children in another building. We went for a short walk to a nearby chateau but we couldn't get a good view of it by the waterside without paying.
We went into an exhibition about a French film star who we had never heard of
We decided to visit Tours but to save on the parking hassle we parked about 1 hours cycle away in a small village again by the Mairie. We visited the botanical gardens and were surprised to see wallabies, turtles and flamingos and cycled through the medieval centre to the cathedral square where we ate lunch. I found the cycle back hard in the heat. On the drive back we were turned back at a level crossing due to works then stopped and held for ages at another one for a while until a very long train came through.
There is a bike ride along a disused railway line from Chinon to Richelieu - well set up for bikers with bike tyre pumps and water on tap. We took the bikes by car to the start but it was so hot and not a very inspiring ride that we stopped about a third of the way along. We diverted to see a chateau but again without paying the view was not great. We returned to Chinon to eat lunch and walk around the old town. There was a festival on but we went to the square to find that no-one was engaging in the karaoke.
We had another few nights in the Eastern Loire to go to - again we avoided the toll roads. There were vines growing on a roundabout
We stopped and walked around Amboise and wanted to have lunch in a nearby park which had a tall pagoda but there was an entrance fee so we sat outside the park in a picnic area.
Our airbnb was on a farm with horses but wasn't like the photos on the site and I was disappointed with it. The farmhouse was built in the 16th century and our part used to be the Carters house.
This could have been our garden but it was undeveloped and used for the horses. We did have a place to sit but it was in the front in full view of the main house.
We had a quick bike ride down to the Loire to have a look - we wanted to paddle but there weren't any accessible places. The next morning I had a bad tummy so Martin went out for a long bike ride. In the afternoon we drove to look around Bloise.
Although Martin had visited the nearby chateau the previous day we both went back on the bikes, locked them up and walked around the grounds.
Brittany
Only 3.5 hours drive to Vannes to our apartment above a garage with a garden area. We took a walk to stretch our legs - supposedly to a castle but again it was fenced off and private.
We cycled our bikes to Vannes and had a look at the old town then parked our bikes down at the bottom of the canal. The circular walk we had planned came back over the bridge across the canal but that looked like it was open permanently. We came up with a plan to use the nearby road tunnel and were pleasantly surprised that this had a pedestrian walkway. When we emerged we found the bridge was available after all. The walk entailed a short ferry ride. It was very hot so we needed a drink and ice cream and had the best mint choc chip ever.
The following day we went to see the Carnac stones - we walked around quite an area but cut the visit short due to rain. On the way there was a lot of traffic - there had been some sort of forgiveness ceremony the night before in a nearby abbey.
We drove to the north coast of Brittany - a pretty drive much like the west country of England, and found our next airbnb which was very quirky and sadly quite smelly. Our room had once been a bar and they had left the bar and squeezed a kitchen in behind it. I debated whether we should leave but it was too late to find anywhere else and the location was great. We rode to Lannion to see the medieval bits of town and the river. We had coffee in a lovely cafe and translated the sayings written on the wall with the help of the owner. There was an unusual exhibition in a park of zoological dinsosaur artefacts and the river had a slalom course built into it. Unfortunately that night there was a wedding on nearby and some guests had parked in our car park but the noise was much less than I expected. Lucky the wifi was good as the TV didn't work and the Olympics was on.
On our first full day we cycled to St Perros Quay and secured our bikes so we could walk the coast path to see the pink granite rocks prevalent in this area. There was a 20k run finishing in one seaside village we passed through and a circus with a cow tethered outside with the ponies.
The next day we drove to Ile De Grand and did another coastal walk with lunch and a paddle on the beach. Every corner we turned gave a different view. Back at the car we drove to Treberden and climbed a small hill to find the face in the rock.
We took our time to drive to St Malo for our next stay and stopped off at Treguier and Lezarddrieux to see which Martin had sailed into. We also stopped off to take a look at Dinard and have our lunch by the sea. Dinard was very crowded and not as medieval as we had expected. Lovely to get away from the smelly place into a modern clean house.
We had a full day in St Malo - we cycled in and parked up the bikes. We walked around the 39-45 Memorial spithead then cycled to the walled town and walked around the walls. It was really busy. We cycled along the promenade and returned home when it got too hot.
On our second day here we drove to Cancale and found a parking spot. We walked along the coast path but it was up and down and very hot. We stopped at a beach for lunch and watched boats being brought out of the sea. It was a busy picnic area with 2 groups from local old peoples/learning disability homes enjoying the sun. We cut back along minor roads which were very quiet.
Our final journey was to Normandy in order to catch the ferry early the next morning. En route we stopped at Mont St Michel. We parked up in the village and cycled along the path to the abbey. It was so busy and 'Disneyfied' - the old buildings had been ruined by souvenir shops and creperies.
We checked into our last home in France and cycled down to the beach. I was dressed for a swim but the tide was right out and there were too many windsurfers and kite surfers. We had a wander and read the memorials - we hadn't realised we were at Juno and Sword beaches.
We got to the ferry from Caen in plenty of time and it was a smooth crossing to Portsmouth. Fab holiday and we loved France.
