Sam and Dave’s blog

Si tu n’es jamais allé à Rocamadour, tu dois y aller bientôt. C’est vraiment magnifique…une église ancienne bâtie dans les roches et en haut un château avec une vue merveilleuse. En effet, c’est une ville en trois étages. La montée pour arriver à l’Hospitalet était exigeante et nous a donnés beaucoup de peine. Mais le panorama à travers la vallée de la dordogne était vraiment halucinante. Je vous recommande de la faire parce qu’elle vaut la peine!

A Rocamadour la chapelle de la Vierge Noire est petite mais pleine d’ambiance. J’ai été émue par la tranquillité et le sens de paix. C’est vraiment un endroit chargé d’un sentiment de spiritualité. Tu peux sentir le poids de l’histoire et du temps et de tous les pélérins qui y sont venus pendant les siécles. Si tu es croyant ou si tu es non-croyant, il faut y aller.

Dans le soir, on est passé de choses sacrées aux choses ridicules parce qu’on a mangé dans un resto italien géré par une famille indienne qui ressemblaient un peu de Fawlty Towers (pardon la référence culturelle anglaise)…on a mangé un pizza qui n’était pas mal mais le service était marrant!

Just to let you know that the sea and the sand on the Atlantic coast is wonderful. But you definitely need a bodyboard or surfboard. Shame that you can’t fit either of those on the back of a bike very easily. But we had fun jumping the waves and going Whooooooooooo! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! oh-my-gaaaawd! Here is a lovely picture of us looking stylish on the beach…I think we could get a part in Baywatch as the strange foreigners, don’t ya think?!

The sea by Lacanau Océan is really quite dangerous though…apparently one guy had been killed on Sunday because of the strong currents. Hence lots of Baywatch style lifeguards hanging around.

It was lovely falling asleep on the sand and having time to read a bit….and it did me good to think a little bit about what to do in ol’ Blighty when we come back (tbc)….Answers on the back of a postcard please to: Any ideas, PO BIKE 30.

Heading out of the campsite at Fontvieille at 8am. We picked up a pain au chocolat from the handy stall at the entrance of the campsite on the way. Took us a little while to find the right road out of Fontvieille as usual .. our navigational abilities being slightly dulled first thing in the morning. A lovely clear day and a nice flat or slightly downhill ride to Arles about 10 km away, passing the impressive Chateau d’Avignon on the way. (more…)

So it’s day 3 and it hasn’t stopped raining since we left Lyon. Quel horreur!

Day one We left Besançon on Monday lunchtime…very glad as no problems taking the bike on the train. We started cycling about 5pm on Monday once the hail storm (!) had stopped.

Monday’s ride was really beautiful. We followed the new cycle route along the river Doubes. In spite of the rain, the river, the birds and the lush green fields were peaceful and relaxing. The final 20kms were hard work and I’m sure Dave was secretly hoping my legs were like Arnold Schwarznegger’s. (more…)