Author: mc4119

In no particular order, a wrap up of France. Mostly pictures.
Each day we would get an itinerary of the day, including a written summary of the history of the locations written by the Backroads staff. Good info. Below are copies of the overall route and the itinerary sheets.

If I had to pick a favorite day, it may have been Day 6. It was grey and drizzly, and also quiet along the miles we rode. Allowed me time to think and appreciate. That said, every day was a treat, some bit of magic and wonder. We were lucky to take the trip and savor the memory.

If all goes well, today really is our last day in France. Its a Saturday morning, different energy outside the hotel. And its grey and drizzly, kind of perfect. What seemed sketchy last night seems just fine this morning. I went for a good brisk walk and was able to quickly find Sacre Coeur. Very stunning, and lots of steps up!

Good cafe Americano for both of us and on our way to Charles de Gaulle.

No drama, yeah, we picked the right metro and we’re here, checked in, and hopeful for an on-time departure.

The cycling was hard no doubt, but the “concierge” travel was divine. Nice to have someone schlep your bags, check you in to great hotels and navigate dinner reservations. Normandy and Brittany coasts were divine, and on the shoulder season even better with less tourists.

Promise a wrap up summary but for now, time to shut down the laptop.

Hope to see you along the way.

We left the comforts of our Backroads shuttle at the Rennes train station and said our goodbyes to our fellow cyclists. Our next destination Paris for the night. We were early so we settled in at the station.

And the settling in went sideways quickly, I had booked the tickets for the wrong day.

With the train sign blinking “Complete”, meaning Full, Sold Out, and 12 minutes to departure, I sprinted back to the ticket station, summoned all of my Sacred Heart French, and all of my sales and marketing acumen to get us on the train. Not sure what convinced the agent, but we got a seat in the caboose (really) with train crew who were riding to work in Paris.

Sigh of relief was momentary, we arrived in Paris at the wrong station. Not exactly the wrong station, but I had not set Joe’s expectations that we would have to do a little juking and jivving to get to our hotel. And for some reason, he agreed to the subway and not a cab. Did I mention we arrived at Friday night rush hour? And that he is correctly hyper sensitive to pick pockets (they even announce it over the loud speakers). Away we go to find our metro, bobbling and weaving through the bowels of Montparnasse Station. Joe jumps on and I am nearly shut out, but he pries the doors apart to the wonder of the commuters. We are sardines for a good 25 minutes, until finally we get to our stop and hotel close by.

Phew, that was crazy, and at this point Joe can barely look at me. I am ground zero for every travel snafu on the day. But we get to the hotel, (yes of course its in a dodgy neighborhood, would you expect anything less of this story?) We check in quickly, the woman at the front desk can clearly read all is not well. To the small elevator we go, so small it will only fit one of us. I send Joe on his way upstairs so he can catch his breath away from the travel tornado known as his wife.

All good? Nope, not when Joe comes back down and looks through the elevator gates and says, “I’m stuck in the elevator”. I had to look away at this point, it was just too comical and I was so frazzled. “Oh how odd, this has never happened before”, nice calm unfazed French lady says. Joe at this point is grabbing the gates and shaking them and pushing all the buttons. The solution is to send him down to the basement to get off the elevator… and walk all the bags back up to reception… and then up the spiral (not kidding, no exaggeration) staircase to the 3rd floor.

Some apartment dweller in France is telling the story of the Friday night when he could hear yelling from the 3d floor of the Avalon Cosy Hotel, “never again Chris, never again”.

We gathered ourselves and went for a walk, and alas had a great dinner sitting at the bar of Brasserie Bellanger, kind of a farm to table place where we watched all the meals get prepped. It was perfect.

And yes we heard traffic noise and gendarme sirens all night from my quaint hotel pick.

Hope to see you along the way.

Way behind in my updates, very little down time this trip. From here, Dinard, we train to Paris, spend the night and head home tomorrow. Maybe some catch up time?

Today’s ride was shorter, only 12M, to allow shower shave aqua velva time before we catch the train. Option to ride or relax. We opted to ride. The timeline and the grey drizzly weather thinned the ranks this morning. Quietly to myself I said those that stayed behind missed a good ride. It was the perfect compilation of city, coastal, farm, and very quiet, little traffic. We just kind of took our time and soaked it in.

Gotta jump, find a way to stuff all these dirty clothes back in a bag. Next update from Paris.

So I know I owe you Omaha Beach (yesterday) and Mont St Michel (today), and cycle details from Dinand (crazy delish quiche) to Dinard (port city that is gorgeous!)

But a quick aside. Tonight is our only OYO, On Your Own dinner. We arrived at the Grand Hotel Dinard after only 20M, but them, there 20… brutal. Super long hills and steep! In my head the OYO was the carrot, so we kept pushing even when we were yelling all kinds of obscenities in our head. OYO means not a group, and not on a schedule. And the group is great, but nice to just be the two of us doing our own thing.

Anyway we arrived at yet another lovely hotel and found ourselves at the bar to celebrate our miles.

We have always relied friendly banter/chatter/convo with the bartender or someone on the staff… where would you go to dinner tonight. The recommendation from “Monsieur” as Joe called our hotel bartender, was a local brasserie, L’Abri des Flots,(the shelter of the waves? maybe?)
And it did not disappoint. Details to follow but the quick hit story is on the walk over to the restaurant.

Our toothpaste reserves ran dry, into the pharmacia we went. Again a kind of funny convo with the shopkeeper that included pantomime by both Joe and me. She said something akin to travel size, we nodded excitedly, and she went behind the counter and came out with small samples. I slapped down my euros, and she said “cadeau”. I kept pushing my euros, she kept saying cadeau. Oh I said, credit? No cadeau. And then I realized. Cadeau… gift, free. Joe and I were tickled pink and she was too when she realized that we understood.

Cadeau… brilliant… made our day.
More later.

Hope to see you along the way.

Trying to catch up, it very hard to cycle, eat great food, see amazing, things, and blog!! Sacre bleu!

If I was a great blogger, I could post a map. The most I can do is write that we met in Trouville sur Mer, where, PS, my in-laws have also had mussels. And tonight we are back in Port-en-Bessin France, our second night in this hotel. It is super shabby, not, the Cheneviere.

Our first night was at the Grand Hotel Cabourg, a hotel right out of central casting. And our room was a small apartment in NYC.

First night we ate at the hotel for a meet and greet. The group of 10 from Ann Arbor are clearly the alpha team… but the week is young. We independents from PA, CA, OH, and Canada may have them on their heels later in the week.

Our first ride on Sunday after meeting in Trouville was a quick shuttle to Cambremer in Pays D’Auge and then a 25m “get to know your bike” ride ending in The Grand Hotel Cabourg.

Day 2, Monday AM, we left Cabourg and cycled and marveled seeing Pegasus Bridge, Courseuiles sur Mer, on to Arromanches where we saw the remains of the first Mulberry Harbor, a temporary port constructed immediately after D Day, (or as we learned D day is a term for Day 1 – the operation was Operation Overlord) and on to Hotel Cheneviere. 50 m yes, but broken up by a cappuccino, the greatest almond pastry ever eaten, a slice of French version pizza, hilarious communication about said pizza, and marvelous trails through farm fields and quiet roads.

Today, Tuesday 9/20 was Omaha Beach and a private tour, super moving, but I am super tired. I’ll check in tomorrow and catch you up on Omaha Beach, and also St Michel which we travel to tomorrow.

Sleepy

More later, hope to see you along the way.

Sunday morning, brisk. We have met our group (20 ppl) and group leaders. A group of 10 from Ann Arbor, 2 from Ohio, 2 from CA, 2 from Canada, 4 from PA (another couple from Pottsville, PA.) The cycle leaders are both Americans living in France. Zoe, from Palo Alto and went to college at Bryn Mawr, what are the chances! Isabel from Michigan (the Ann Arbor crew was thrilled), and James from South Africa. All 3 seem great.

We are a mix of riders using electric bikes, carbon bikes, and 4 of us (me and Joe included) riding good old touring bikes.

Gotta run, more later.

Hope to see you along the way.