Category: France
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Old friends of old friends, in Pont L’ABBÉ
Last year, when we were in Brittany, an old friend of Chris named Joëlle told us to visit her old friend Youenn when we passed through Pont L’Abbé. Alas, we decided to head to Slovakia instead of completing a circuit around Brittany, but this year we found ourselves going right through Pont L’Abbé and connected…
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Brest to Douarnenez: 55 miles of hilly with sun!
We stayed in a modern apartment in Brest, small but comfortable. While the building had an elevator to take our bikes up to the floor where were staying, we just left them on the ground floor locked to each other in an alcove. They were still there the next morning. In the morning, the forecast…
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On our way around Brittany – counter-clockwise this time!
The first few days of bike touring are always a bit of confusion….figuring out which pannier to put what and getting comfortable with the loaded bike again. You haven’t hit your rhythm yet. And so we didn’t do anything too dramatic in terms of distance for Day 1, only 22 miles to a campground just…
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A day in Morlaix
We passed through Morlaix on our first day riding last year, but really didn’t get to see the town. We had a lovely sun-drenched lunch at the harbor and thought the town looked worthy of a visit. This year, we decided to stay in Morlaix the first couple nights and explore. As our train pulled…
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On to Morlaix and the start!
It‘s always a bit of a hassle traveling with bikes, but it’s worth it to have your own steed when you are going on a long trip. In France, there is additionally an issue if you want to take advantage of the fast TGV train network, which requires that your bike be dismantled enough to…
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First a wedding and then off to Europe!
The weekend before we took off for Europe (flying through London to Paris, where we then will catch a train to Morlaix in Brittany), we attended the wedding of our friends Jennifer and John in Steamboat Springs. We had a great time, enjoying the cool air of the mountains, or at least cooler than the…
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PARIS! Back to smiling people!
Within minutes of landing in Paris, Chris and I looked at each other and exclaimed “people are smiling!”. The cheerful titter of the French language filled our ears, couples smooched and embraced in front of us, and people all around were smiling. We were back in France! And we could understand what people said, which…
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Jet-setting to Paris, Liverpool & London
After months of living on the road with bikes as our sole mode of transport and wearing the same clothes every day, we are off to Paris to visit our friend Héloïse, followed by short jaunts to Liverpool and London before jetting back to Bratislava. So as to not embarrass ourselves (and our friends) in…
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Towards Basel: Day 1
Our next major stop is Basel, Switzerland where we will stay for a couple nights. Leaving Besançon, we have about 115 miles to ride to Basel. Leaving Besançon, we had a nice view of the eastern ramparts of the citadel. The ride was predictably beautiful! I found a campsite about half-way, which ended up being…
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A day in Besançon
We took the bus into Besançon today to give our legs a break. It’s a short distance but uphill on the way back! Speaking of the bus…the whole ticketing system is cool and touchless. You tell the driver what you want (for us a day pass) and then we tapped our watch to pay using…