We managed to coordinate with some friends to visit us for breakfast in Chablis, and some good laughs and cuteness with some cycle touring pros sent us off at a good, if belated, clip for a nearly 100KM ride along the Canal du Bourgone.
The canal is the reason for our slight deviation off Anne and Reece’s route from Fontainbleau to Dijon (tho we’re only 8 kilometers away from their second stop) – not much we wouldn’t do to get away from cars and onto dedicated cycling paths, and the infrastructure exceeded expectations. Meeting the canal required an early ascent out of Chablis but the vineyards and sunshine were a happy distraction.
Sun-drenched descent from Chablis
We had some fun doing some speedy sections along flat and possibly (but only possibly) tailwind-driven segments, and hardly (but only hardly) noticed the gradual incline along the water.
Getting lucky with tailwind under the mistletoe
Quick pit stop at a supermarket as there are no restaurants near our guesthouse tonight meant we got in just in time for some “summer water” (e.g. rosé), impressive local beer, and a delicious spread of cheese, baguette, tomatoes, olives, cherries, and jamon on the lawn at the canal.
“Why did you buy so many blueberries?” – Philipp
Streaming some more World Cup (What a nail-biter, Deutschland!) and hoping to turn in early despite the late light – may every solstice be as nice as this.
The day started with a nice breakfast with fresh orange juice and some more petting for Baya, the owners’ cat. We also adapted the route a bit based on the advice of the owner who cycled a lot in the area.
Then we cycled back into town to check if the local bike store has some nice water bottles that we could use with the empty second bottle cages that we mounted in the Netherlands to add to our water carrying capacity for the hotter days ahead. No luck.
Food-wise, we were more lucky, as we ran into the local market where we bought cheese (Comté and Mimolette), lots of delicious cherries, and some peaches for lunch later.
It took the lady about two minutes to cut the fresh ball of Mimolette in half. I was thinking (and that’s as far as I went) about offering her my help.
The route out of town took us up a nice climb to a plateau with forest and more wheat fields. I was also happy to have my legs and body back at their usual power – the day of abstinence and lots of sleep helped.
In one of the forests up on the plateau, near Dixmont, we passed a memorial stone for André Dussault, a guerrilla fighter (Maquis) during WW2. He was a sentinel for a small encampment in the woods and was killed, only 21 years of age, when German soldiers launched a surprise attack on the encampment based on information that they “extracted” from another Maquis from the same encampment that got caught. The situations that the war put such very young men in are sobering to imagine.
André Dussault
After descending toward Looze, we cycled through wide-open farmland. We passed some large fields of hemp that smelled nice in the early afternoon sun. Soon after in in Migennes, we crossed a shipping channel and started looking for a place for lunch.
Between Looze and Migennes
We found a great spot in Seignelay, overlooking the main square of the city. While filling our tummies with cherries, Liz fantasized about converting a nice building near the square into a hip coffee shop.
Lunch with a nice view, potential coffee spot stage left
Not much after lunch, we started climbing into the land where the grapes for the famous Chablis white wine is produced. We deviated a bit from Anne and Reece’s original stop for the night, Vermenton, for the oenological advantages. I know, I know, I just recovered from the wine pairing, and here we are cycling into wine country. But 1-2 glasses of Chablis cannot hurt.
On the highest point before descending into Beine and then Chablis. What an amazing day.
In Beine, we found the winery Goublot-Longhi offering tastings, which, after we explained that it would be difficult to carry wine on the bikes and we likely won’t buy any, would still let us try their Chablis and oak-barrel aged Chablis. The nice lady also explained that all Chablis is made purely from Chardonnay grapes and the differences between Petit Chablis, Chablis, Premier Cru, and Grand Cru (basically the type of soil and how much sun they get). We tried the Chablis first, and it tasted quite sweet to me. When I remarked this to the lady, she said that no, all Chablis is very “vif” (dry, lively) and that all the sun and cycling must have influenced my taste buds (probably true, the Chablis later in town was indeed dry).
We checked into the hotel, showered, and went for probably the best French dinner so far in the Bistrot des Grands Crus (and had a glass of Grand Cru, of course).
(Public) French TV only bought the TV rights for the French World Cup games, so we had to get creative to see the second half of the Serbia Switzerland game. The university VPN and Swiss TV amazingly worked and we enjoyed seeing Switzerland win in the last minutes of the game. Hopp Schwyz!
Rebecca, Paul, me, Liz, and Leslie in front of the Palace de Fontainebleau
We stayed the night with Leslie and Paul who are wonderful hosts (thank you again!). We feel asleep like rocks after the bad last night in Paris and the hungover ride yesterday.
Paul, Leslie, and Rebecca, their oldest, joined us on our way out of Fontainebleau, where we stopped quick to look at the impressive palace. Paul was doing the first ride on his road bike since he installed a new set of wheels after an accident a few weeks back with a car that broke his wheels and injured his hand. Leslie was on a fully and Rebecca was on Leslie’s nice road bike (sooo light, I miss riding a light road bike).
In the small pack, we rode out through the woods toward Sens. After about 15km, Leslie, Paul, and Rebecca had to turn around to be back in time for French lessons, so we took pictures together at the church outside La Genevraye and said goodbyes.
With still about 70km to go, Liz increased the pace a bit and I noticed that I was still not a 100% and had trouble keeping up with Liz. We stopped for a stroopwafel (still from Fort Bakkerskil) and a cereal bar, which helped a bit. But I definitely learned my lesson about alcohol on a long bike trip now. We not only have to take care of the bikes and its gears, but also the motor driving it for all these kilometers.
Beautiful route today. Thankfully, the looming clouds did not turn into rain and we stayed dry.
Thankfully, the roads and landscapes were amazing today, which helped a lot with the struggle. It seemed like we were riding through France’s granary with wheat fields as far as the eye can see.
Given my struggling, and the many kilometers ahead of us, we did some route optimization near Saint-Sérotin and decided to skip Sens to save a few kilometers. At the same time, we also started going downhill more than uphill and made very good time down to the Yonne which we followed to the bridge taking us to Villeneuve-sur-Yonne, where, just a little outside, we arrived at the B&B for the night.
It felt amazing to arrive after the battling weak legs for the whole day. NO MORE WINE-PAIRINGS FOR ME.
It was very nice to arrive early, around half past three, since we could relax a bit (I napped) before going back to town for dinner. Finding a restaurant where we would not sit next to speakers blaring music was a bit challenging since most restaurants in town were having music night, maybe related to summer solstice. We really wanted to have pasta tonight, but no dice because of music night, so we settled for a rather fancy French restaurant. Another good night’s sleep and I will be back on track tomorrow, I hope!
Anne and Reece spent nearly a month in Paris, taking in at least 13 operas, a ballet, a burlesque show, many museums, and a brief train trip to Germany to visit friends.
As a small nod to Anne and Reece’s arts program we went to see some of the works in the Centre Pompidou. This is the view from the Centre toward Montmartre.
We couldn’t afford, in terms of the money or the time, such a luxury, so made our last dinner count at a fancy restaurant, complete with wine pairing. Verjus didn’t have a table until 10 PM, so we didn’t stumble home until 1AM, and spent a restless night in a hotel with no AC.
Were on the road even later than usual, with 80+ kilometers before us. Grabbed some snacks and started beating our way out of Paris. We hit intermittent cycling paths, but nothing so slick as our canal entry into the city, so the first 20KM went by slowly and anxiously through constant intersections and interactions with traffic.
A bit further out of Paris, passing furniture stores. Still some ok cycling infrastructure.
Pulled over at a grocery store at around 30KM to buy some veg for lunch, and found a brief bit of nature to enjoy a picnic. Some cold watermelon revived us long enough to remember we were hot and it was late, so we compared maps and found some more direct routes to Fontainebleau (our earlier plan had been optimized for dedicated bike paths).
We made it to Melun on a mix of bike lanes and (safe!) lane sharing, but by then I was in the mood for some shade and wanted to redeem some of the highway riding, so persuaded Philipp to finish the ride on our original plan along the Seine.
For me this achieved it’s aim – some pretty riding every day – so we aren’t out here grinding out some route for the sake of saying we did. Philipp fared worse but I know deep down he appreciated the cycling infrastructure and the additional kilometers we snuck in today [Philipp: I did appreciate it, but was quite ready to be done at the time].
The beautiful stretch along the Seine to finish hangover-day.
We are staying the night with my former professor, who is living for the year in Fontainebleau. She bought her first bike while I was in grad school, and smoked me on my first century only a few years later. She and her husband may join us for some of the way tomorrow – wish us luck.
The very nice hotel wanted 14 Eur a person for breakfast, so we went to the boulangerie across the street for our usual 2 croissants, a pain au chocolat (me), and a chausson aux pommes (Liz) breakfast. Hands down the best pastry I had in France so far. I think the croissants were 80% butter, though.
Today’s route was planned entirely by geovelo.fr that offers point-to-point cycle routes and tries to minimize busy and maximize quiet streets and cycle paths. And the route was great!
Great routing by geovelo took us to this nice cycle path through the woods out of Chantilly
We cycled south-west out of Chantilly past more of the many private horse stables/training facilities and then through a very rich looking neighborhood in a woody area. Soon after, we cycled past the Abbaye de Royaumont where we joined the London to Paris bike path. We decided to follow it ignoring the original route until we got suspicious and realized that it would lead us to Paris in a very roundabout way. Not wanting to do a super long day on the bike, we u-turned back to the planned route.
We spent some time cycling among rapeseed and wheat fields, while spotting and hearing airplanes taking off from busy Charles-de-Gaulle.
Nice scenery like this helps with the climbs we did to avoid busier roads.Descending toward Paris. If you squint, you can make out the Eiffel tower on the horizon.
And then, around 20km to go to our hotel, the city started, greeting us with its notorious banlieue. With the city, traffic, tram tracks, and tricky changing lanes started. But Liz navigated us very well and safely through the maze, even though my bicycle messenger instincts from back in the days would often trigger, wanting to cycle more aggressively than Liz’s careful approach. But better safe than sorry!
Reaching the banlieue.
We were prepared to trudge the remaining 15-ish kilometers through the city traffic, but then, boom, the geovelo route brought us to the amazing bike path along the Canal de Saint-Denis, which made cycling to the heart of Paris a breeze.
The Stade de France is along the Canal de Saint-Denis, which some decoration from soccer tournaments past.
Riding along the canal, we got passed by an older gentleman on a bike, which, a little later, would come back around and telling us in passing that the bike path is closed a little up further and we’d have to detour. So we stalked him for a few kilometers and Liz even ran some amber lights to follow him (when in Rome!) after checking multiple times for oncoming traffic, of course. Thank you, kind Sir, for the impromptu guiding!
Liz in pursuit.
We ended up making such good time that we arrived shortly before three in the 19th and decided to pass the time until we could check into the hotel with a lunch sitting at the canal.
Liz with some delicious Comté in her mouth.
We are planning two full rest days in Paris and then head to Fontainebleau on Wednesday. Due to some curious (I assume last-minute) hotel-room pricing algorithm, we only booked until Tuesday in the current hotel, though. Tuesday night would have cost us 140% of the price (254 EUR) we paid for Sunday and Monday combined. So we hope that tomorrow, we can exploit last-minute pricing again to find a reasonably priced place for Tuesday night, too.
In any case, we are already enjoying the atmosphere, walking around among hipsters, and the great food here in Paris. Also, well done Switzerland (but it DID look like a foul)!
First, there would be the most perfect cycle touring day. Before we could leave Compiègne, but after fueling up on pastries (at a boulangerie called Mme. Poulet, Mrs. Chicken, which I still find suspect), we immediately hit the Saturday market, where we bought cheese, carrots, radishes, and peaches.
Then 20 KM into the ride we saw signs for a strawberry sale, which was a strawberry VENDING machine, selling two types of strawberries at 4.50 Euros per 500g, plus berries for canning at 1 Euro per 500g. We bought both.
Then 30 KM into the ride we arrived at the beautiful Parc Naturel Regional Oise, a former royal hunting grounds complete with soaring trees and paved cycling routes. The climbs climbed themselves and we were joyfully spit out in Senlis, where a missed turn resulted in the perfect picnic spot amongst the ramparts.
We rolled away the last 15 KM into Chantilly, where we bought wine and indulged in a picnic dinner near the racetrack and chateau, tomorrow’s Diane “French Oak” race explaining the exorbitant hotel prices in what I assume is otherwise a beautiful town with a penchant for whipped cream and lace.
But then there’s the other day. The day where after the market you make a few right turns and arrive at the Compiègne train station, where, between 1942 and 1944, 39,564 people were put on cars and sent to internment camps (thanks Dad for the heads up about the memorial). Two of the cars still stand in the train station as monuments – lest we ever forget.
Some bars and years make a barrier between us and the cars, but it’s only miles that separate us from migrant kids being separated from families under a new government policy right now in my home country, according to headlines that trigger whenever I’m back on WiFi.
If only they were two different days, or two different worlds. If only I could check a box that I was here and I bore witness and so I haven’t forgotten.
We spent a bit of time back at the hotel reading up on policy solutions to migrant family separation in the U.S. that are in the works (medium-term) and I’ll give calls to my senators (even if they’ve as much as endorsed this), and we donated some money to an organization that fights for legal representation for children in the U.S (short term – list of ideas).
In the end, all this was just one day. A really nice day. Not forgetting it is just going to take a bit more work.
N’oubliez jamaisMagical strawberry vend-o-landRolling into ChantillyChantilly Chateau
Today more than made up for yesterday. A perfect cycling day.
After the long day yesterday and the ridiculous amounts of meat for dinner last night, we slept very well and long in the chateau (we were also the only ones staying the night, it is mostly used for weddings). After a hearty breakfast with croissants, a chausson aux pommes (merci Délphine!), and, of course, a pain au chocolat, we set out to rejoin EuroVelo 3 along the Canal de la Sambre à l’Oise, a shipping canal. The weather was also looking to be great today.
Practicing no hands on the great cycling path along the canal.
After yesterday, we routed a short 61km route to Compiègne where we had booked a guest house in advance. With the nice, flat cycling path along the canal, we made very good progress so that we took a little detour in Noyon to check out a bike store for some additional gear. The store did not have what we wanted, so we went back to the canal, where we got conflicting info from our planned route and the sign for EuroVelo 3 that was pointing away from the canal. We insisted on our route, and landed on another dirt road with high grass. We used the opportunity of being a bit more remote along the canal for a great picnic lunch.
On a bumpy dirt road again.But the dirt road brought us to a great lunch spot! That baguette has traveled more than 100km at this point. It did not make it any further, though.
So we can still improve on checking road conditions while routing. And we should probably trust the EuroVelo 3 signs more than the route we are following that we found online from a third party.
And that is what we did for the remainder of the route: After lunch, we decided to switch to freestyle road routing instead of the bumpy dirt road along the canal. On the first road we took, we randomly ran into EuroVelo 3 signs, which we followed all the way to Compiègne. And the official EuroVelo 3 took us to some great roads, see the first picture above.
Already at 16.00, we arrived in town where we still had to wait until 17.00 to check in. No problem with ice cream on a nice town square, though! After a shower, we went to a nice bistro for a great, non-meat-heavy dinner and then went back to watch the final 30 minutes of Portugal vs. Spain in the world cup. Pretty amazing goal by Ronaldo for the 3-3 tie!
The Axe vert de la Thiérache is another great cycle path along a defunct railway line. We passed many of these standard-issue (at the time, around 1910) train station buildings.
Today was a frustrating day. But we learned three lessons: 1) book a place to stay the night before AND before you start cycling; 2) double-check the road conditions of the route; and 3) don’t eat pizza in France for lunch on a cycle day.
After a nice breakfast in our bungalow at the campsite, we set out for our what we thought would be an easy, mostly downhill 78k. We stopped first in Hirson to buy a baguette, which set us back a cool 15min waiting in line, because in France, everyone and their grandma buys their baguette around eleven in the morning. Liz was waiting outside while I queued and was then disappointed that I only bought a baguette (1 Euro) and not a chausson aux pommes for her. I guess this is Lesson 4 for me.
Then we had the amazing part of the day: From Hirson to Guise, there is the Axe vert de la Thiérache, a wonderful piece of cycling infrastructure that is part of EuroVelo 3. The path has a nice, smooth surface and is mostly downhill, so we just flew to Guise averaging about 20km/h.
I looked very French with my baguette in the bag today.
Then, in Guise, the day turned for the worse. It started raining a bit and got cooler, so we decided to skip our usual picknick lunch and just go to the pizza place that we were standing next to when we were deciding about our lunch plans. The pizza was laden with cheese and they had this promo where you would get another full pizza for just 1 Euro more (total 14 Euros for 2 large pizzas). Of course we went for it.
While we were waiting for the pizzas, Liz checked and still hadn’t received a response from the place we wanted to stay the night. So I called and got told that they are full (just like we would be a few minutes later). Now of course, the other place nearby the original plan was also full. And there was not much else around that would also be close to the EuroVelo 3. But then we found a wedding venue near Rogécourt that is also a B&B and that had a room available. The downside was that it would be another 13km more to get there, getting us to a 90km day. No biggie, though, because the route so far had been easy.
Be careful extrapolating the past into the future: Of course, right after Guise, the nice and smooth cycle path turned into a bumpy dirt road. Great, it would take us ages to get there on this and with all the pizza in our tummies it would be extra hard. So we decided to pivot. Liz sees streets around the planned route on her Garmin, so freestyle-routed us along roads to a point where we could rejoin the original route. When we got there, though, we realized that the path was still not great. Later I would learn from the EuroVelo website that that part of the Route 3 is only in the planning phase. Makes sense.
Just wanting to get to the B&B, we tried using Liz’s Garmin’s routing feature to get us there. No dice: The status display very slowly counted up to 11 (of 100?), at which we aborted and started using Google Maps directions with me getting out the phone every now and then. Of course, by that time, our mood was not that great anymore. When I am in a bad mood, I do not take many pictures, which I realized at some point, so I took this one:
Getting there. The landscape can still be scenic even though you are in a bad mood.
By about 18.00, we finally made it to the old Chateau, where the day started looking up again after a hot shower and a walk to the only restaurant nearby that would serve us humongous pieces of beef for dinner, prepared in front of our eyes on their inside charcoal grill. Ultimately, there was no reason to be in a bad mood; not every day can be perfect, and we are on a 3.5-months cycling trip through Europe, which is incredible!
Today was nature again. Sometimes, even a bit too much.
After a nice Italian dinner near the center of Mons, we searched hotels and planned the route for today, and bam!, it is midnight. So we slept in a bit before starting the day with cappucinos, croissants, and a pain au chocolat.
It was wet again for a change. I think the last time I wore rain gear was when we cycled into Oxford, so I consider us very lucky so far. I put on the full rain gear and Liz, not wanting to feel like wearing a zip-loc bag, skipped the pants but wore the gaiters and jacket.
Between Mons and Maubeuge
The route today would first take us to Maubeuge, almost as the crow flies but along a busy road, where we join EuroVelo 3, the European long-distance route going from Trondheim to Santiago de Compostela passing seven countries and running 5122km (sounds like an amazing trip). EuroVelo 3 connects Maubeuge with Paris, so ideal for us. Unless we decide to follow Reece and Anne’s route more accurately.
A bit after half-way to Maubeuge, we left Belgium and entered France. If the 1948 purchasing power differences between Belgium and France have persisted, we estimate our spending going down now. Reece and Anne spent their first night in France in Vervins (just a little West of Hirson where we are staying the night) and paid just $3 (about $30 today with inflation) for “a fancy dinner with soup, meat, salad, wine, coffee” AND their room, after which he noted: “France is the place, and we’ve been wasting our time elsewhere.” We hope we’ll feel similarly (but paid more than $30 for room and dinner already).
Just a little bit outside Maubeuge, EuroVelo 3 brought us to the “Voie Verte de l’Avesnois”, a former railway line that is now a nice foot, horse, and bike path through the “Parc naturel régional de l’Avesnois”, which they call “La p’tite Suisse du Nord”, so it felt a bit like home.
Could be in Switzerland.Nice lunch in the park. Look at our smooth skin thanks to the beautification filter of my Chinese smartphone.
We spent about half of today’s distance on the Voie Verte, which, due to the rain, was rather muddy at times. After almost 40km of gravel and mud, it was then very nice to get back on asphalt in Glageon. So nice in fact, that we decided to skip the extra loop to Momignies that EuroVelo 3 wanted us to do and head straight for the camp site near Hirson where we booked a bungalow for the night.
Most of the shortcut followed a larger road, but then Google Maps routed us onto a very sketchy road in the woods, on which pushing the bike through deep mud was the only way to move for parts of the way. Thankfully, we could abort by going back to the larger road.
Not that much fun. Plus, I am pretty sure this is where I picked up a free rider…
First thing we did after we arrived at the camp site Domaine de Blangy was cleaning our muddied bikes. No pressure washer this time but just a garden hose, a gear brush, and the useful chain sponge.
After the Voie Verte and the mud trekking, our bikes needed some cleaning.Not only the bikes needed cleaning. But the gaiters work well! Dry and clean feet!
Taking off my socks, Liz spotted a tick crawling on my foot. Not too surprising after the jungle trek, and we did a careful search for any other unwanted passengers.
After a quick ride into town with the clean bikes for dinner supplies, we decided that our bungalow would be a good spot to relax and we booked for another night, so tomorrow will be a rest day, yay!
Today was all about the boat escalators and elevators. We unexpectedly saw the escalator version from quite a distance as our entire route followed a wide, mostly straight, water way, and it looked like a freeway running into the sky.
A closer view revealed a system of two large bays set side-by-side on two enormous ramps. The bays are large enough to accommodate the large barges we’d been seeing since we left the city, which we reasoned were cheaper than air or land travel for heavy commodities. A barge enters the bay, and the entire bay is lifted by a system of pulleys 67.73 metres (222.2 ft).
On a bridge FOR SHIPS!
Once at height, the barge crosses a 7 km stretch via what’s basically a water bridge, which the cycle route also did. It then descends again, this time via an elevator, where the same large bays are raised and lowered directly 73.15 metres (240.0 ft).
In between the two channels going to the ship elevator (wide photo in post lead).
Reece and Anne followed a similar route, staying just past Mons after Brussels, but would have been on main roads so they would have missed this. I imagine there would have been a record marveling on the engineering feat had they seen it – Reece worked as a civil engineer for Pittsburg-Des Moines Steel.
Lowlights of today were some lost time trying to buy La Vache Qui Rit (so spreadable!) at Lidl (so many people!) and a sketchy detour through a refinery and industrial roads we took to correct it.
Holcim Cement Plant – we passed a lot of industrial areas today along the canals
Highlights included kicking off the day with two perfect coffees and a pastry from OR Espresso in Brussles, and finding a strawberry and jam stand just before lunch. Roadside lunch of bread, jam, the last of the Gouda, cherries, and a peach – can’t beat it. Rolled in to Mons a bit past four, just beating the rain.
The strawberries and the strawberry jam with La Vache Qui Rit were amazing. Picknick lunches are the way to go.Following the canals made for some amazing cycling today.What a great day
The 1948 Tour 