We can`t believe we got this far and have not told you about Louis, our little green dog. He has been with us since London and first met Ais when she was in Uni and helped her complete her final year project.
He used to ride under a bungee rope on the back of Ais`s bike but complained about it so much that he rides up front on the handle bars. He too has strong legs and a little fat tummy so he fits in well with Ais and Pugz. Although rather quiet, we believe he is a distant Irish cousin of Brian, the dog from Family Guy. We know he is Irish as for some unknown reason, when he is made to talk it is always with an Irish accent. He is quite dry witted and at times a little lazy. For example he gives Ais a lot of support when she is going up hill but never gets off and gives her a push. He also hates the rain but does not like it when Ais puts him in a bag as it often stinks. Little does Louis know that he too smells like a mouldy tent.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Italy - Land of Rain, Food and a hostel stay
Well as you can tell we are far behind in our blog entries. We are now in Slovenia and I hope to do justice to the Italian part of our trip in two entries!
Our route took us through the north of Italy , once again avoiding major towns like Milan and Venice. We went via Asti, Pavia, Cremona, Lake Garda, Trento and then towards Slovenia, through more mountains.
We have had some really lovely experiences in Italy. Many people make an effort to talk to us and help us. We seem to only stop for a few minutes with our map and someone will try to help. We have been offered coffee and food from strangers who clearly think we are mad in trying to cycle to Istanbul. We took two of these offers up as we felt that people were slightly hurt or offended when we said no.
One amazing experience was when we stopped in Feltre, where Gian Vittorio talked to us on the street, then invited us for lunch with his family. He and his wife, Roberta, spoke some English and Adrian`s Italian is getting better. Ais is clearly useless in the spoken language but likes to think she can read social situations reasonably. Between all four of us and Gian Vittorio and Roberta`s children we were able to have a conversation and a lovely meal together. THEN Gian Vittorio and Roberta took us in their car and gave us a "quick tour" of the old town of Feltre. We were so glad of the family`s kindness and really appreciate that they showed us around their beautiful home town. This gives me the confidence to try to speak to strangers in my own area and I hope that Gian Vittorio and his family do come to Ireland or England and we can return their kindness.
We also had three days of rain in Italy, in the Lake Garda area. We tried to dry our shoes with the Daily Express. (Daily mail was not available) We tried to dry our tent with our dirty washing but we could not hold back the forces of nature. Everything was soaked and for once Ais was missing the heat of 30 degrees. So in Trento, we gave in and went to a hostel. We asked for double room and there were none available so they gave us a dorm room for just the two of us.
We hung our tent in the shower to dry, emptied our bags to dry and finally got our shoes dry.
The room smelt quite strongly of mouldy tent when we left.
The Hostel experience was quite different from our Oz experience. There were no cooking facilities and no one talked to anyone else. Ais had to hold Pugz back from getting out the petrol stove in the crappy institutional breakfast room. It only had vending machines which were very over priced. We just went to the supermarket and made salads in the "Breakfast room" in our saucepans and metal plates. Apart from the cold, sterile hostel, Trento is a really pleasant town and we would recommend it for a day trip if you were in the area.
Our route took us through the north of Italy , once again avoiding major towns like Milan and Venice. We went via Asti, Pavia, Cremona, Lake Garda, Trento and then towards Slovenia, through more mountains.
We have had some really lovely experiences in Italy. Many people make an effort to talk to us and help us. We seem to only stop for a few minutes with our map and someone will try to help. We have been offered coffee and food from strangers who clearly think we are mad in trying to cycle to Istanbul. We took two of these offers up as we felt that people were slightly hurt or offended when we said no.
One amazing experience was when we stopped in Feltre, where Gian Vittorio talked to us on the street, then invited us for lunch with his family. He and his wife, Roberta, spoke some English and Adrian`s Italian is getting better. Ais is clearly useless in the spoken language but likes to think she can read social situations reasonably. Between all four of us and Gian Vittorio and Roberta`s children we were able to have a conversation and a lovely meal together. THEN Gian Vittorio and Roberta took us in their car and gave us a "quick tour" of the old town of Feltre. We were so glad of the family`s kindness and really appreciate that they showed us around their beautiful home town. This gives me the confidence to try to speak to strangers in my own area and I hope that Gian Vittorio and his family do come to Ireland or England and we can return their kindness.
We also had three days of rain in Italy, in the Lake Garda area. We tried to dry our shoes with the Daily Express. (Daily mail was not available) We tried to dry our tent with our dirty washing but we could not hold back the forces of nature. Everything was soaked and for once Ais was missing the heat of 30 degrees. So in Trento, we gave in and went to a hostel. We asked for double room and there were none available so they gave us a dorm room for just the two of us.
We hung our tent in the shower to dry, emptied our bags to dry and finally got our shoes dry.
The room smelt quite strongly of mouldy tent when we left.
The Hostel experience was quite different from our Oz experience. There were no cooking facilities and no one talked to anyone else. Ais had to hold Pugz back from getting out the petrol stove in the crappy institutional breakfast room. It only had vending machines which were very over priced. We just went to the supermarket and made salads in the "Breakfast room" in our saucepans and metal plates. Apart from the cold, sterile hostel, Trento is a really pleasant town and we would recommend it for a day trip if you were in the area.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Ant Bolognaise and other Italian delicacies
Looking through our blog, we don't appear to have written much about western Italy. We briefly mentioned some of the big places on route in our blog of 24 September, but to recap:
Col. Angello (France-Italy border)
Frissanco
Piasco
Canale
Asti
Castagnole Monferrato
Valenza
Lomello
Zinasco
Pavia
Codogno
Cremona
Sospiro
Asola
Medole
Peschiera del Garda
Garda
Malescine
Nago-Torbole
Roverto
Trento
(places in bold were overnight stops, places in bold italics were were rest days)
Because this blog post is about Italy, you will note that much of the following revolves around FOOD. Pugz memory isnt great for most stuff, but it does seem to remember FOOD quite well!
The first part of the journey took us downhill from about 80 km from the alps to the plains. The plains were full of small towns and villages, all of which seem to revolve around the main industry of the area - fruit growing. Not many tourists around here so quite a few stares. We stopped in a small town for our first taste of Italian Biscotti and Aisling got talking to a women who was very interested in our trip but her small child got very bored and literally pulled her away from talking to us!
The fruit growing plains ended abruptly in rolling hills of wine country. We had slowly, almost imperceptibly, climbed up away from the plains and were then plunged down into valleys filled with vines in the area around Asti. We had our first taste of wonderful Italian Icecream, well-earned after cycling in the heat on our way to Asti. The campsite at Asti was a holiday park with its own pizza restaurant, where we happily indulged in pizza and local wine.
We left Asti along an extremely busy road after a glamourous breakfast of bread and ham scoffed in a supermarket carpark (why do they stare?). We escaped from the busy road but got rather lost and ended up going up a lot of "unnecessary" hills. Interesting area, mainly vineyards and lots of small red-brick towns perched on top of little hills. To escape the uncertain navigation, we ended upon a main road to Valenza where we joined the Po river valley. Flatter terrain with a lot of rice growing in paddy fields and therefore also a lot of mosquitos!
The following day, on leaving our out-of-town campsite we headed in to Valenza for some bread and biscotti for breakfast. Busy little working town. Friendly people, including one man on a bike who stopped to talk to Pugz about his time working in London in th 1970s. Fairly uneventful ride after that, but like most of the riding in this area, there weren't many places to stop for picnic lunches. One picnic was had on a farm track in a rice paddy field where we sat watching a snake trying to eat the frogs that live in the irrigation ditches. The weather was really hot too!
We arrived in Pavia very tired after 4 days solid riding which had begun with us still climbing the french alps. The rest in Pavia for a few days was very welcome. Several ice creams were consumed as we wandered the pleasant streets of Pavia looking at churches and the site of a medeaval tower that collapsed in the 1990s. Not surprisingly, many of the other buildings in the town of similar age had had a lot of reinforced concrete added to them since then! We also visited a nearby monastery with amazing marble carvings (and a very nice cafe where we ate a platter of fantastic local meat and cheese).
The best meal in Pavia had to be our own homemade Bolognaise sauce with some posh Italian pasta. The sauce was made lovingly by Aisling one morning and left in the pan with the lid on and tied up in a plastic bag. Unfortunately, when we came back to it that evening we found it absolutely crawling with tiny ants, many of whom had drowned. Not wishing to waste food (we have become even more tight than ever since being on this trip!) we scooped out most of the ants and stirred in the rest. The dinner tasted great, but there was an occasional slight "crunchiness" to it...
The ride from Pavia to Cremona wasn't a memorable one, but our brief stay at Cremona campsite was! We only got a brief look at the town as we passed through on our way to the campsite which was in a riverside park outside the town. The town seemed worth a visit though if we had had more time. There were a surprising number of expensive-looking UK registered cars and caravans at the campsite. At first, we thought that maybe it was people who had been at the (reasonably nearby) Monza Grand Prix which was on at the time. We then noticed various odd things; picture the scene:
Col. Angello (France-Italy border)
Frissanco
Piasco
Canale
Asti
Castagnole Monferrato
Valenza
Lomello
Zinasco
Pavia
Codogno
Cremona
Sospiro
Asola
Medole
Peschiera del Garda
Garda
Malescine
Nago-Torbole
Roverto
Trento
(places in bold were overnight stops, places in bold italics were were rest days)
Because this blog post is about Italy, you will note that much of the following revolves around FOOD. Pugz memory isnt great for most stuff, but it does seem to remember FOOD quite well!
The first part of the journey took us downhill from about 80 km from the alps to the plains. The plains were full of small towns and villages, all of which seem to revolve around the main industry of the area - fruit growing. Not many tourists around here so quite a few stares. We stopped in a small town for our first taste of Italian Biscotti and Aisling got talking to a women who was very interested in our trip but her small child got very bored and literally pulled her away from talking to us!
The fruit growing plains ended abruptly in rolling hills of wine country. We had slowly, almost imperceptibly, climbed up away from the plains and were then plunged down into valleys filled with vines in the area around Asti. We had our first taste of wonderful Italian Icecream, well-earned after cycling in the heat on our way to Asti. The campsite at Asti was a holiday park with its own pizza restaurant, where we happily indulged in pizza and local wine.
We left Asti along an extremely busy road after a glamourous breakfast of bread and ham scoffed in a supermarket carpark (why do they stare?). We escaped from the busy road but got rather lost and ended up going up a lot of "unnecessary" hills. Interesting area, mainly vineyards and lots of small red-brick towns perched on top of little hills. To escape the uncertain navigation, we ended upon a main road to Valenza where we joined the Po river valley. Flatter terrain with a lot of rice growing in paddy fields and therefore also a lot of mosquitos!
The following day, on leaving our out-of-town campsite we headed in to Valenza for some bread and biscotti for breakfast. Busy little working town. Friendly people, including one man on a bike who stopped to talk to Pugz about his time working in London in th 1970s. Fairly uneventful ride after that, but like most of the riding in this area, there weren't many places to stop for picnic lunches. One picnic was had on a farm track in a rice paddy field where we sat watching a snake trying to eat the frogs that live in the irrigation ditches. The weather was really hot too!
We arrived in Pavia very tired after 4 days solid riding which had begun with us still climbing the french alps. The rest in Pavia for a few days was very welcome. Several ice creams were consumed as we wandered the pleasant streets of Pavia looking at churches and the site of a medeaval tower that collapsed in the 1990s. Not surprisingly, many of the other buildings in the town of similar age had had a lot of reinforced concrete added to them since then! We also visited a nearby monastery with amazing marble carvings (and a very nice cafe where we ate a platter of fantastic local meat and cheese).
The best meal in Pavia had to be our own homemade Bolognaise sauce with some posh Italian pasta. The sauce was made lovingly by Aisling one morning and left in the pan with the lid on and tied up in a plastic bag. Unfortunately, when we came back to it that evening we found it absolutely crawling with tiny ants, many of whom had drowned. Not wishing to waste food (we have become even more tight than ever since being on this trip!) we scooped out most of the ants and stirred in the rest. The dinner tasted great, but there was an occasional slight "crunchiness" to it...
The ride from Pavia to Cremona wasn't a memorable one, but our brief stay at Cremona campsite was! We only got a brief look at the town as we passed through on our way to the campsite which was in a riverside park outside the town. The town seemed worth a visit though if we had had more time. There were a surprising number of expensive-looking UK registered cars and caravans at the campsite. At first, we thought that maybe it was people who had been at the (reasonably nearby) Monza Grand Prix which was on at the time. We then noticed various odd things; picture the scene:
- all the occupants of the caravans had strong Irish accents, which seemed odd because of the UK registrations
- all of the caravans were arranged in a circle
- they had brought their own washing machine with them
- a power cable serving one of the caravans was crudely wired into the fusebox of the toilet block, not into a proper socket
- a man was wiring up a huge new satelite dish
- the kids were smashing up a big cardboard box and trying to start their toy petrol powered motorbike (which fortunately wasn't working)
From this, we finally guessed that they were gypsies (or to be more politically correct: "people of Irish traveling heritage"). We sat amused when a fat italian man came over to complain to them about something and a whole big shouting match started! When Adrian went to the camp office the staff seemed rather cold and blunt with him (perhaps thinking he was one of the "trouble-makers") and they seemed pleased and genuinely surprised when Adrian made it clear that he was trying to pay! I wonder if the gypsies are still there?
Cremona to Peschiera del Garda was one of the worst rides ever. We left Cremona on a busy road, which took us in the wrong direction. It rained hard. We found a turn-off on a quieter road, which took us in the right direction, but ended in another busy road. We saw the aftermath of a very nasty car crash being cleaned up. We got off the main road again and got hopelessly lost. We reached a village where a man tried to help us with directions and basically told us that we should take the main road. He invited us in for coffee and to dry off, but we declined because we still had a long way to go. He seemed a bit offended that we declined his offer and we felt a bit bad about it, resolving to always accept such offers in future. We stopped for lunch at a bar in Asola which turned out to be very good and fortunately the rain stopped whilst we were eating. The afternoon dragged on, but we eventually arrived at Lake Garda and found an enormous campsite, just as it began to get dark. A very friendly security man handed us the pricelist when we arrived. We were very glad that it was September and was only 17 Euro per night because the peak season price was 46 Euro per night!
Lake Garda is very beautiful, but the mass tourism, busy traffic and heavy rain dampened our experience a little. We had only one morning of nice weather, which unfortunately was spent on the Peschiera del Garda campsite doing our washing! The afternoon was spent in drizzle, riding around the edge of the lake to Malecsine, stopping briefly for some emergency repairs (Ais's wheel bearings started making a horrible crunching sound!). Then it rained, again...
The last day to be described in this long long long blog was from Malecsine to Trento. It rained and rained and rained, even more than Manchester, perhaps worse even than the English Lake District. Riding around the lake was quite flat, but riding away from it certainly wasn't! A steep hill on a narrow busy road. We played a game called "guess the nationality of the driver" and got very good at it (its easy really, the ones who nearly knock you off are usually Italian, the rest are German, Dutch or British). Ais was very grumpy when a car beeped loudly at her (it always seems so aggressive, but often isn't).
We stopped for lunch in a bar in Roverto. We were cold, sopping wet, and very hungry - so hungry that we both ate two bar meals each (pasta al forno and gnocchi) and had hot chocolate (the very nice thick custardy italian type, mmmm) ! Two people with australian accents started talking to us in the bar: "We saw you coming up the hill, we beeped at you in encouragement but why didn't you use the cycle path that ran along the old road?" We didn't know this path existed, and were quite annoyed we missed it. The australians were both chiropractors (working from an office above the bar!) who had moved to Italy from Adelaide. We chatted to them and their canadian colleague for a while whilst we dried off a little before heading back out into the rain, which was falling just as heavily as before. We took a cycle path along the river which the australians had told us about, which was flat all the way to Trento. We hadn't planned to go to Trento at all on this trip, but we couldn't face another wet night camping, especially when the campsite is 30km uphill!
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
The alps: France to Italy
From the town of Die in France, we basically climbed, and climbed, and climbed...
The first day out of Die we were very tired and we only went about 20 km before we found a lovely medieval village called Chatellion-en-Diois. We were glad of the stop, not only because it was a very unusual and picturesque village, but also because the next day was hard work, up another massive mountain (col. Grimone - see recent photo blogpost). Fantastic gorge on the way up, but a noisy busy road at the end for about 20km.
We spent the night at a somewhat lonely campsite just after the town of Veynes. Calling the campsite "lonely"is a bit unfair, the was one other person there. When we met the owner the next morning she was very friendly, chatting, offering us coffee and remenissing about her holidays to London and to Perth in Scotland. She only charged us 5 Euros, which was a bonus.
The next day was mostly a slog along the main road, through the big town of Gap (scary traffic after small towns for so long). We got a bit lost getting out of Gap and ended up on a back road which went the right direction, but which took us "unnecessarly" up a hill. Adrian enjoyed this, but Ais was not very impressed. We were both tired when we finally reached our lakeside campsite near Embrun. Huge campsite, but only about 5 sets of people there because September is near the end of season.
A much needed rest day was had at Embrun. This consisted of the usual lounging around, clothes washing, eating a lot (Adrian bought a 16 Euro tuna steak, kind of by accident), and avoiding riding the bikes. We had a nice walk around the lake and into the town to run a few errands and look around:
The ride out of Embrun followed the contours as much as possible in the mountains (so still a fair few hills) and we avoided the main road which was great. When we got to Guillestre we were quite tired aleadly because it was hot. Glamorous lunch outside sat in a supermarket carpark whilst we waited for it to open. Then onwards, up from 800m altitude to 1400m altitude which was a fantastic ride in the relative cool of the late afternoon.
It all went a bit wrong after about 6pm. A crazy looking frenchman rode past us on what appeared to be a homemade bike. We had just ridden past a campsite but decided we would continue 10km to the next one. What we didn't think about was that the next campsite was at 1900m altitude. As it began to get dark we the crazy frenchman passed us again, pushing his bike and talking to himself in a very spooky way... We began to start pushing our bikes at about 8.30pm and walked into the village of Pierre Grosse. We couldn't find the campsite and the villagers stared at us through their windows. Eventually, we worked out that the campsite was just beyond the town (up the hill further of course!). Arrived safe but wrecked.
The next day we rested at campsite and had short walk to a bakery with a cybercafe (most unexpected in a small alpine vallage, largely unspoilt by mass-ski-tourism). The day after we cycled (and push-walked) up to Col Agnel, the border with Italy at 2700m altitude. The altitude was so great it left us short of breath, but with enough puff for a chat with friendly Italian cyclists! The ride down was long and steep (see photos in recent blogpost). The day ended with an expensive and tatty campsite, 30km into Italy. As we later found out, most campsites in Italy are like this, we were just spoilt in France.
The downhill run the following day seemed endless which was good because the area seemed quite uninteresting. A slightly disappointing start to Italy, but it got steadily better as we went east.
The first day out of Die we were very tired and we only went about 20 km before we found a lovely medieval village called Chatellion-en-Diois. We were glad of the stop, not only because it was a very unusual and picturesque village, but also because the next day was hard work, up another massive mountain (col. Grimone - see recent photo blogpost). Fantastic gorge on the way up, but a noisy busy road at the end for about 20km.
We spent the night at a somewhat lonely campsite just after the town of Veynes. Calling the campsite "lonely"is a bit unfair, the was one other person there. When we met the owner the next morning she was very friendly, chatting, offering us coffee and remenissing about her holidays to London and to Perth in Scotland. She only charged us 5 Euros, which was a bonus.
The next day was mostly a slog along the main road, through the big town of Gap (scary traffic after small towns for so long). We got a bit lost getting out of Gap and ended up on a back road which went the right direction, but which took us "unnecessarly" up a hill. Adrian enjoyed this, but Ais was not very impressed. We were both tired when we finally reached our lakeside campsite near Embrun. Huge campsite, but only about 5 sets of people there because September is near the end of season.
A much needed rest day was had at Embrun. This consisted of the usual lounging around, clothes washing, eating a lot (Adrian bought a 16 Euro tuna steak, kind of by accident), and avoiding riding the bikes. We had a nice walk around the lake and into the town to run a few errands and look around:
- Bakery for cakes to eat in the town square
- Internet cafe for coffee and blog
- Garage to buy petrol for the multifuel stove
- Sports shop for some new trainers for Ais and some bike parts
- Art shop for some postcards (still haven't sent them yet...) and a sketch book (still haven't drawn anything yet...)
- Supermarket for some new water bottles and... more food...
The ride out of Embrun followed the contours as much as possible in the mountains (so still a fair few hills) and we avoided the main road which was great. When we got to Guillestre we were quite tired aleadly because it was hot. Glamorous lunch outside sat in a supermarket carpark whilst we waited for it to open. Then onwards, up from 800m altitude to 1400m altitude which was a fantastic ride in the relative cool of the late afternoon.
It all went a bit wrong after about 6pm. A crazy looking frenchman rode past us on what appeared to be a homemade bike. We had just ridden past a campsite but decided we would continue 10km to the next one. What we didn't think about was that the next campsite was at 1900m altitude. As it began to get dark we the crazy frenchman passed us again, pushing his bike and talking to himself in a very spooky way... We began to start pushing our bikes at about 8.30pm and walked into the village of Pierre Grosse. We couldn't find the campsite and the villagers stared at us through their windows. Eventually, we worked out that the campsite was just beyond the town (up the hill further of course!). Arrived safe but wrecked.
The next day we rested at campsite and had short walk to a bakery with a cybercafe (most unexpected in a small alpine vallage, largely unspoilt by mass-ski-tourism). The day after we cycled (and push-walked) up to Col Agnel, the border with Italy at 2700m altitude. The altitude was so great it left us short of breath, but with enough puff for a chat with friendly Italian cyclists! The ride down was long and steep (see photos in recent blogpost). The day ended with an expensive and tatty campsite, 30km into Italy. As we later found out, most campsites in Italy are like this, we were just spoilt in France.
The downhill run the following day seemed endless which was good because the area seemed quite uninteresting. A slightly disappointing start to Italy, but it got steadily better as we went east.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Up Date of France
So After Pugz got the shit as he so politely says, we made our way to Amplepuis, then Tarare. The hills and small mountains around Lyon prepared us a little of what was to come. For example, after a 94km ride in hilly terrain, Ais could only manage another 37km of hilly terrain the next day and we camped in a lay-by on the top of a hill. Then a big thunder storm came and Ais was a little scared of creepy people coming to get them... you never know what will happen in the middle of a storm, in the middle of the night, in the middle of nowhere!
We headed into beautiful countryside, going through small towns and even camping at a four star camp site! (It felt a bit like Butlin's and we were surprised that it was quite reasonably priced too). Our route took us through Condrieu, near the river Rhone where we met some other cycle tourers, Julia and Paul, who had cycled from Germany. We spent a very nice evening drinking some wine and talking. It was really good to talk to someone else apart from ourselves...
We had started to do some fairly big climbs now and Ais is still quite rubbish at them. So we have agreed to stick to rides of 60km when we have alot of climbs. Ais has also improved her map reading skills and can spot climbs on the map in a 10 second glance! Pugz is pleased that Ais can finally read a map a little better, but does not like alot of flat, as it is 'boring'. Ais can get up to 25km/h and sustain it for a while and thinks this is why Pugz does not like the flat!
We stopped for a day's break in St Jean-en-Royan, a pretty little town with what seemed to be a pleasant community campsite. But we discovered a big poo in the showers. We discussed what to do and as there was no staff around and we wanted showers we decided to clean it up. We went and bought bleach and returned to find that a fellow camper had started to clean it up too. Between the 3 of us the shower block was cleaner than it had been in ages! We can only guess that someone had no bog roll and just pooed in the shower to wash their bum after. Nice isn't it! We tried to tell the staff member when he returned and of course a number of people had told him already!
So on to Die, very close to St Jean, just over a mountain to the other side. We set off early and although tough going (1415 metres high) we made it to Die, without dying! BUT when we got to Die Pugz basically collapsed into a sleepy heap and the shits returned, luckily for one night only... Maybe it was sun stroke!
We headed into beautiful countryside, going through small towns and even camping at a four star camp site! (It felt a bit like Butlin's and we were surprised that it was quite reasonably priced too). Our route took us through Condrieu, near the river Rhone where we met some other cycle tourers, Julia and Paul, who had cycled from Germany. We spent a very nice evening drinking some wine and talking. It was really good to talk to someone else apart from ourselves...
We had started to do some fairly big climbs now and Ais is still quite rubbish at them. So we have agreed to stick to rides of 60km when we have alot of climbs. Ais has also improved her map reading skills and can spot climbs on the map in a 10 second glance! Pugz is pleased that Ais can finally read a map a little better, but does not like alot of flat, as it is 'boring'. Ais can get up to 25km/h and sustain it for a while and thinks this is why Pugz does not like the flat!
We stopped for a day's break in St Jean-en-Royan, a pretty little town with what seemed to be a pleasant community campsite. But we discovered a big poo in the showers. We discussed what to do and as there was no staff around and we wanted showers we decided to clean it up. We went and bought bleach and returned to find that a fellow camper had started to clean it up too. Between the 3 of us the shower block was cleaner than it had been in ages! We can only guess that someone had no bog roll and just pooed in the shower to wash their bum after. Nice isn't it! We tried to tell the staff member when he returned and of course a number of people had told him already!
So on to Die, very close to St Jean, just over a mountain to the other side. We set off early and although tough going (1415 metres high) we made it to Die, without dying! BUT when we got to Die Pugz basically collapsed into a sleepy heap and the shits returned, luckily for one night only... Maybe it was sun stroke!
Some photos (in a slightly random order)
We were very pleased when we got to the top of this climb in the French Alps...
This photo is a few days later, on the way up to Col Agnel, which is 2700m high. This was our route to get from France to Italy without going on a busy road (it still had a few scary tunnels though). We both had to push our bikes for a few km near the top because it was very hard :-(
Adrian's beard of early Sept. 2009
This photo is a few days later, on the way up to Col Agnel, which is 2700m high. This was our route to get from France to Italy without going on a busy road (it still had a few scary tunnels though). We both had to push our bikes for a few km near the top because it was very hard :-(
Adrian's beard of early Sept. 2009
Adrian's Bike, on the way the foothills of the French Alps.
Not sure how much that lot weighs!
Time for a brew...
Aisling with a tasty melon and all of our stuff at the campsite in St Symorphien
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Legs of steel tummies of cake
How can we cycle 70-100km a day and both still have little soft jelly bellies?
Oh yes! It is from French cakes, Italian biscuits and ice cream.
Got over the Alps and we are now in Italy....
Oh yes! It is from French cakes, Italian biscuits and ice cream.
Got over the Alps and we are now in Italy....
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Orleans to Digeon
We followed the Loire river from Orleans to Digeon valley - very flat and only a slight wind, so we made quick progress (except for the 1 week stop for Adrian, tummy trouble). See previous blog called "the shits".
There are lots of other cycle tourists on route along the Loire, although few with quite as much luggage as we have. The scenery is generally tree-lined river, peppered with small villages and interupted occasionally by a town.
The Loire is the longest river in France and used to be very important for trade, with many sailing boats. It is a strange river because in the summer it seems to be very shallow and patchy, but apparently it floods heavily in winter. This made it very hard to sail on for much of the year so they eventually built a canal in the 1800's that runs parralel to it (our route followed canalside roads for much of the way).
The larger towns always seem to have a bridge over the river and tend to be picturesque, with the usual church, town hall, post office and police station. Most of the river towns also have a stonebuilt quayside, which at first sight seem like they have been built for 20th century tourist to picnic on, but were once crucial to the existence and prosperity of the town.
The towns always have a boulangerie (bakery), charcuterie (butcher/deli) and usually an epicerie (greengrocers) to keep us stocked up with food. We enjoy these little shops, but quite often fall into the old habit of using the out of town supermarkets where the food isn't as good, you don't really get a chance to talk to people, and spend more money because there is too much choice. I am sure the French love of good fresh bread will always keep the boulangeries open, but I wonder how long the other small town shops will survive before they follow in the footsteps of small shops in English towns?
The largest place on route along the Loire was Nevers. We had a rest day here mainly because the temperature during the ride was 40° C, which wrecked us. The ride was much longer than planned because we cycled into, out of, and around the city before we eventually found the campsite, which ended up being right by the river in the city centre (a really nice spot). Problems finding campsites seems to be a common occurance in big towns because our map is a bit too big-scale to show exactly where they are.
We had a nice walk around Nevers, through a park and to the beautiful Cathedral. We also visited a small photo exhibition about... guess what... a french couple who had spent several years cycling around the world!
Our Loire ride ended in the pretty town of Digeon where we spent a rest day on our wedding anniversary. We drank coffee and orangina in a cafe opposite the church and watched a wedding taking place. The wedding party was a strange mixture of men in military uniform, a mother-in-law who was very excited by men with loud motorbikes, and (we think) the remnants of the stag party who arrived halfway through the church service wearing fancy dress cow outfits. It seemed like one of the stag party had broken an ankle (perhaps that is why they were late?).
Whilst in Digeon, we visited the Loire river museum and took photos of the aqueduct (where the canal crosses the river). A lovely day, which ended with a romantic (but cheapskate) meal at the campsite cafe!
There are lots of other cycle tourists on route along the Loire, although few with quite as much luggage as we have. The scenery is generally tree-lined river, peppered with small villages and interupted occasionally by a town.
The Loire is the longest river in France and used to be very important for trade, with many sailing boats. It is a strange river because in the summer it seems to be very shallow and patchy, but apparently it floods heavily in winter. This made it very hard to sail on for much of the year so they eventually built a canal in the 1800's that runs parralel to it (our route followed canalside roads for much of the way).
The larger towns always seem to have a bridge over the river and tend to be picturesque, with the usual church, town hall, post office and police station. Most of the river towns also have a stonebuilt quayside, which at first sight seem like they have been built for 20th century tourist to picnic on, but were once crucial to the existence and prosperity of the town.
The towns always have a boulangerie (bakery), charcuterie (butcher/deli) and usually an epicerie (greengrocers) to keep us stocked up with food. We enjoy these little shops, but quite often fall into the old habit of using the out of town supermarkets where the food isn't as good, you don't really get a chance to talk to people, and spend more money because there is too much choice. I am sure the French love of good fresh bread will always keep the boulangeries open, but I wonder how long the other small town shops will survive before they follow in the footsteps of small shops in English towns?
The largest place on route along the Loire was Nevers. We had a rest day here mainly because the temperature during the ride was 40° C, which wrecked us. The ride was much longer than planned because we cycled into, out of, and around the city before we eventually found the campsite, which ended up being right by the river in the city centre (a really nice spot). Problems finding campsites seems to be a common occurance in big towns because our map is a bit too big-scale to show exactly where they are.
We had a nice walk around Nevers, through a park and to the beautiful Cathedral. We also visited a small photo exhibition about... guess what... a french couple who had spent several years cycling around the world!
Our Loire ride ended in the pretty town of Digeon where we spent a rest day on our wedding anniversary. We drank coffee and orangina in a cafe opposite the church and watched a wedding taking place. The wedding party was a strange mixture of men in military uniform, a mother-in-law who was very excited by men with loud motorbikes, and (we think) the remnants of the stag party who arrived halfway through the church service wearing fancy dress cow outfits. It seemed like one of the stag party had broken an ankle (perhaps that is why they were late?).
Whilst in Digeon, we visited the Loire river museum and took photos of the aqueduct (where the canal crosses the river). A lovely day, which ended with a romantic (but cheapskate) meal at the campsite cafe!
The tale of 3 cookers
A little interlude from the stories of where we have been...
Just before we left London we bought a rather expensive multi-fuel camping stove which can run on gas, petrol, diesel or even vodka apparently. We also brought with us our old faithful gas stove.
For the first few weeks we just used old faithful. When we stopped at Adrian's Mum and Dad's for our break, Adrian and his brother Martyn took out the new stove to "have a play". At this point we realised that there are supposed to be 3 different jets depending on which fuel you use. We could only find the one for gas, so it appears that Adrian forgot the others, or maybe threw them away!
After much searching on the inernet, we arranged for some new jets to be sent to Adrian's brother Martyn in Scotland, who then sent them "poste resente" to a poste office on our route at the start of the French Alps, about 2 weeks ahead of us.
Just after we set off again (around the time of the shits) we ran out of gas for old faithful and nowhere in France seems to sell the right type of gas cylinder for it. This is also the same type of cylinder needed for the multi-fuel stove.
Adrian MUST HAVE TEA in the morning so the only solution was to buy a new cooker, so we now have 3 of them!
The new one is French (so we can get gas easily) but weighs over a Kilo! The lighter ones didn't seem to allow you to remove the gas cylinder to pack them up into a bag - very annoying.
As we write this blog now, we are in the alps, near the Italian border. We collected the new jets for the multi-fuel stove from the post office.
Adrian is very pleased with it and has tea frequently. Running it on petrol is very cheap, but a bit smelly if you spill some. Ais is a bit scared of the petrol cooker because it makes big flames sometimes, so she is happy to carry around the 1kg French cooker for a bit longer!
Just before we left London we bought a rather expensive multi-fuel camping stove which can run on gas, petrol, diesel or even vodka apparently. We also brought with us our old faithful gas stove.
For the first few weeks we just used old faithful. When we stopped at Adrian's Mum and Dad's for our break, Adrian and his brother Martyn took out the new stove to "have a play". At this point we realised that there are supposed to be 3 different jets depending on which fuel you use. We could only find the one for gas, so it appears that Adrian forgot the others, or maybe threw them away!
After much searching on the inernet, we arranged for some new jets to be sent to Adrian's brother Martyn in Scotland, who then sent them "poste resente" to a poste office on our route at the start of the French Alps, about 2 weeks ahead of us.
Just after we set off again (around the time of the shits) we ran out of gas for old faithful and nowhere in France seems to sell the right type of gas cylinder for it. This is also the same type of cylinder needed for the multi-fuel stove.
Adrian MUST HAVE TEA in the morning so the only solution was to buy a new cooker, so we now have 3 of them!
The new one is French (so we can get gas easily) but weighs over a Kilo! The lighter ones didn't seem to allow you to remove the gas cylinder to pack them up into a bag - very annoying.
As we write this blog now, we are in the alps, near the Italian border. We collected the new jets for the multi-fuel stove from the post office.
Adrian is very pleased with it and has tea frequently. Running it on petrol is very cheap, but a bit smelly if you spill some. Ais is a bit scared of the petrol cooker because it makes big flames sometimes, so she is happy to carry around the 1kg French cooker for a bit longer!
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