Tours to Blois
Lunch with a master
I am no Imelda Marcos. Shoes, while important to me so I can walk around without destroying my tender feet, are not a focus of my life. But today I need new shoes.
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Saumur to Tours
Troglodytes and sloglodytes
The Chateau at Saumur is fairytale-like and compelling. Before leaving town we take a walk up to the castle only to find it doesn’t open for visitors until 10am. Our host seems a little anxious that we be back and out of the place by 11am so we have to forgo a castle visit to keep her happy.
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Angers to Saumur
Language matters in this land of fairy-tale castles
“I made a mistake.”
Neil sits down at the table and my mind works. What mistake? Coming to Europe on this trip? Coming to Europe on this trip with me? Taking two months off for a holiday?
What?
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Montjean to Angers
Hugs and dragons
Today starts with a hug. Now you might not think that unusual, given I am travelling with my partner Neil who hugs heartily and often, but this one is a little different.
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Nantes to Montjean
Yesterday was a bit like le départ fictif, because although we started our tour, it was a bit fake in that we didn’t have our bikes loaded with all our gear. Today then is le départ réal. It’s the real deal, panniers and all.
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St-Brevins-les-Pins to Nantes
Le Grant Départ, Bonjour La Loire!
It begins! Our grand, 2500km adventure starts today. The only issue is that we cannot immediately locate the start. I want a huge sign, bunting, a marching band. Instead, I am roaming around a space just near a river estuary wondering which way I am supposed to go. East, I know, but where is this famous Eurovelo 6 route?
…Prologue
The week before le grand départ
Every grand cycle tour has a Prologue, and so it is for our tour. The Prologue is usually a short individual time trial through the streets of some lucky town. This prologue uses planes, trains, an automobile, bicycles (of course) and human leg power to make an approximately 17,000km journey to the Grand Départ point at Saint-Blevins-les-Pins. This Prologue takes in a couple of the world’s great cities and even includes a special guest visitor who brightens up proceedings. This Prologue takes nearly a week.
…Eurovelo 6 2023 – in one post
We’re back on the bikes after a many-year break (thanks Covid) and this time we are crossing Europe on the Eurovelo 6 route, from the Atlantic coast in France to Budapest. You can see our planned route here.
Below the map you’ll find links to the latest posts.
The map below shows our progress. So far on this trip we have:
…On the Road Again
Two lovely months of cycling, beer, wine, food
We are so excited to be heading off on another cycling trip. After a long five year gap, we’re hitting the road again from the end of May 2023, this time to ride the EuroVelo 6 route from Saint-Brevins-les-Pins (France) to Budapest (Hungary). In 2015 we rode a long section of this same route from Budapest to Vidin in Bulgaria. After this trip we’ll have ridden most of the EuroVelo 6 route.
You can see our plan in the annotated map above. We’ll fly from Melbourne to Munich, have a beer or two then travel to Paris by train, stopping overnight in Strasbourg. We’ll spend a couple of nights in Paris, doing Paris things, then catch another train to Nantes. From Nantes we’ll make our way to Saint-Brevins-les-Pins and the start of EuroVelo 6 and then we’ll be cycling all the way until we reach Budapest. After a rest and a soak in a spa in Budapest we’ll be back on a train to Munich where we’ll have another beer or two before flying back to Melbourne.
Bike icons created by Google – FlaticonTrain icons created by cah nggunung – Flaticon
Plane icons created by Vectorslab – Flaticon