Wednesday - Prague

Got to Prague about lunchtime. Just had a fabulous afternoon wandering around Prague. Absolutely sensational city.
Most people speak English, or appear to. Narelle was a bit bemused that her ‘cider’ turned out to be mineral water. Oh well, could have been worse.

It was 30 degrees in Prague today. Very warm. The place is swarming with tourists. We probably don’t look like locals, but at least we don’t have bright lights flashing and announcing “We are American tourists” like most of the tourists from the USA seem to have going.

Not sure what this was, but it sure had some ‘kick’

Tuesday - chilling in the UK

Today was much cooler than yesterday. Jumped on a bus to Trafalgar Square. Dropped into the National gallery for a while, checked out a few sights, just a nice day of relaxed touring really.

Monday - heading for the UK

<A problem with wifi connections or the journalling software means photos don’t load that successfully at the moment, and John couldn’t be bothered working out why>
It was an early start as we had to finalise our packing, before having breakfast and jumping on the bus to London.

The coach was pretty comfortable and it was nice and relaxing on the bus.
The coach caught the ferry across the channel. At one stage it looked like we would miss one of the ferries and be delayed by an hour.
That was because there were 3 Aussies and a Kiwi on the bus and we had to go through customs. We were given the ‘64 questions’, and it took us a while to get through. Not sure why. Maybe jealousy that we live in such a great country. who knows.

Anyway, the ferry was a floating palace. We even got to see the white cliffs of dover.

The coach dropped us off at an Underground station on the northern side of London. We needed to get to the southern side.
A nice little bit of drama , involving closed stations, London’s hottest day, and trying to negotiate the underground with 2 bikes and 3 large bags.

So we turned up at our friend’s flat in Clapham. They were away on holidays, but their new flatmates had just moved in the day before. That was good, as it meant the hous was open and getting a good breeze. The day was still oppressively hot. Never thought we’d hear ourselves saying that about London. The amusing thing was watching people in the parks. They were doing what we would do on the beach, but never in a park, including sunbaking in bikinis or DTs. When in Rome...

We spent some time finding out about ‘our new flatmates’, and went out for dinner for Thai. We had not had Thai since we had left Australia, so we were looking forward to it.
It was nice, although the green curry was probably the worst green curry we have ever had. And that includes all the ones that John has ever attempted.

We crashed and burned that night after a long day.

Sunday - the final stage

We awoke to a beautiful day. It was so beautiful that Narelle was sad she would not get a chance to play golf at this golf resort.
As we were eating breakfast we got to see the sunrise, which was a nice treat.

Since we were driving to Paris, it was an early start. Breakfast at 6.30, depart the hotel at 7.30.

Our tour dropped us off at the Arc De Triomphe, and armed with our tickets we wandered off to find our grandstand seats.
The crowd was building. It was amazing to walk the Champs Elysses, since it had been closed to traffic.
John reflected on the last time he had ventured down this famous street. That was in a campervan, which seems like a lifetime ago now.

We saw some very interesting outfits that some people were wearing. The bravery award must go to the guy with pastel yellow shirt, and matching pastel yellow trousers. Very fetching. There was quite a considerable Aussie contingent too.



We found our grandstand seats, but discovered that no access would be permitted for another hour. So we sat in the park and had lunch.
Then there was chaos when it came time to getting in, but we got there. We had 2nd row seats just 100m from the finish line.
The views were pretty good.


To get more people in, the seats were close together, as you can see from the photo below.
But John easily befriended his neighbours, so it wasn’t really all that bad. There’s a whole other story there, but I’ll save that for another time.


It was a warm day and we were thankful they kept handing out free bottles of cold water.

The riders came in and it was all bit surreal watching them go by. We could not believe we were here and watching it.
A number of times we saw Stuart O’Grady driving the peloton for CSC.


And then they lined up for the sprint and the Tour was over.


We couldn’t quite see the podium presentations but we could see it on the big screen.

The whole proceedings were running late by an hour. The riders took their time getting in. The final part of the ceremony, the procession of the teams, was due to start at 5.30, but it didn’t start til 6.30. So just as they had the presentation of the teams, we had to leave. We did get to see Lotto go by. Cadel looked pretty relaxed, and seemed to enjoy himself. He would drop over to large Australian contingents, and even popped a wheelie after one visit.


Fortunately the bus had waited for us, as we were 20 minutes late.

Then it was off to our hotel. John had to pack up his bicycles on the street, so as to be allowed to take them in. By the time we checked in, sorted out the keys that didn’t work, and then John went back down to disassemble and pack the bicycles , it was 9pm.
So we had a glass of champagne with Barb and headed for dinner in the hotel. Very nice. Although it was midnight by the time we had finished.
The meal was a fabulous way to sign off on this trip.

But we did have a nice view out our hotel window


Saturday - 2nd last stage

After a great night’s sleep we arose to have breakfast.
We had an option to ride to the start, or catch the bus.
This would be the last opprtunity to ride before we get back to Australia. (our bikes will be packed up on Sunday).
The weather looked overcast, but we rode anyway.

There was a group of 6 us who would ride the 60km or so to the start. It was a beutiful ride, with a few hills.
One of the guys on the ride was a Spanish guy, Marcellino Garcia. He is a former CSC rider, who had done Le Tour 5 times.
A great guy and he took the time to chat to both Narelle and myself. Turns out his wife is from Brisbane, and his parents-in-law live Albany Creek way. (Just up the road from us).
We could discuss the rides through Samford, Mt Glorious, Mt. Mee etc, as he was familiar with them.

Actually, just before we set off on the ride, John checked in with the Tour Leader, Peter, about specific details on getting back to London.
We had arranged for the Tour Operator to drop us in London somewhere. Peter said the bus was actually going back to Belgium.
That was an unexpected spanner in the works. John decided not to let that upset the day ahead, and follow it up at the end of the day. Getting out of Paris on Monday would be no easy task.

During the ride, we decided to let the other 4 riders go and just enjoy the countryside. Once we had made a certain village we knew we just had to follow one road into St. Amaud.
Once we got into the village we then had the task of finding our bus. We were cruising through the centre of town and we spotted our friend Barb. She was surprised we had got in so early. She told us how to find the bus. It was parked near where a number of team buses were.
This was where the real value of the tour kicked in. Peter gave us a few tips on where to stand and how things would operate. Even the coach driver offered a few tips on how to gain the best access. (John later found out he does some occasional driving for the Lotto team).

We mainly hung about a few hundred metres after the finish. We got to see the riders come through. It was fascinating watch the little kids chase their heroes. (and the big kids).
It was here we had much more access to riders and their teams than we ever imagined.

We even bumped in Murray’s wife. We are so glad she made the effort to come up to us. She thought we looked familiar. So we shared a few stories. During this time, another Hamilton club mate John Flynn dropped over to say hello. He was working for SBS doing inteviews. John kindly took a photo of John with Robbie McEwen. John was very impressed witht the time the riders gave to giving autographs, having photos taken, chatting with people etc.
Robbie looked pretty tired, but joked that I should have grabbed John Flynn’s microphone for the photo.

We then had lunch in the park and a nap in the shade, before gaining a position for Cadel’s arrival.
We found a spot where we could see time splits. It was exciting!
Before we got Sastre’s late splits, we knew that Cadel had improved his position to at least 2nd.
When Sastre had one km to go, we realised that Carlos would hang onto the yellow jersey.
We were so proud of Cadel’s efforts, but felt saddened because of how Cadel would feel.

John then wandered back to team buses. There was a real buzz around the CSC bus. John even saw Stuart O’Grady with a huge smile on his face.
One of the tour group members introduced John to CSC’s bike mechanic. That mechanic had a huge grin on his face.
Over at Lotto there was a very different feel.

During this time John had the chance to have a chat with Matt White, now a team director for Garmin Chippottle (Slipstream)
Matt was understandably thrilled with how his team had gone. He was also very tired. After this Tour, his attentions would turn to his wife’s Olympic campaign.

It was on to the team bus. John chose not to ride home. He was being soft, but it had been a big day out, he had no water, and noone else was riding.
But he would have been back before the bus as it took nearly an hour to get out of the carpark and the village.

Back at the hotel, we were told dinner would be moved to 9pm since had got back so late.
And that we would be leaving early the next morning to head to Paris.

Just as John went to grab his gear, Peter said that he had organised a spot on another tou bus to get us back to London. John has been impressed with the organiser’s abiltiies to solve any issues that arise.

Dinner was again another sensation. We had an interesting mix of people at our table. 4 Kiwis, and a father and son from the US.

It had been another amazing day. We felt dissapointed for Cadel, but were just so amazed with everything else that had transpired.

        

Friday - Stage 19

(somewhere along the way I have mucked up the Stage numbers. But we are on track again now)

We had hoped to hear from the tour group. At least our names were registered for us to check into the hotel, and there were signs saying what time breakfast was for the tour group, and when the bus was leaving. There was no word at breakfast about the tour group. The bus was leaving at 8.30 so we gathered in the foyer just after 8.
By 8.15 there was still no sign of the tour group. John set off in search of some detail. He found someone with a cycling shirt, introduced himself, and discovered that the buses were leaving from a bus parking area 4 levels below the official reception area. And there was an obscure lift to get to this place.

They also discovered another Aussie on the tour having a similar experience. Not such a great start to the tour from a communications perspective.
But the breakfast was good, and we slept soundly.
John appreciated the fact that he didn’t have to drive, and could relax about whether the bus was going to fit between some small streets.

So we drove off towards Montlucon.

The bus dropped us off 400m from the finish, which was pretty cool.
We then found a spot with 250m to go where we could see the video screen. It was a very excellent afternoon.
We had the usual fun of watching people do bizzare things just to grab some trinkets.
Part of the fun of doing these tours is the variety of people types and persoalities.
Forunately we quickly made a good friend in Barb, another Australian. Narelle, Barb and I all got on pretty well and so we hung out together for the afternoon.

We then were driven to our hotel.

The hotel was actually a golf resort set in the countryside. Narelle loved it!

Dinner that night was a real treat. 5 course menu of french delights. The quality was an unexpected bonus.
We got to meet a few of the others on the tour group over dinner.

We look forward to a night’s sleep in a proper bed.

Thursday - Stage 17

We rode around this beautiful mediaval village in Provins. Just gorgeous.

Some of the streets we rode


It was then time to clean the camper, and head for Paris. Today we would be joining up with a tour group to follow the Tour for the last 3 days, finishing with grandstand seats on the Champs-Elysses on Sunday.

The plan was to find our motel, dump our stuff, then return the campervan, and ride back to our motel.
There was much prayer in anticipation for this battle with the streets of Paris. It would not be a place for the faint hearted.
Generally all was going OK. Until Gina said “You are now at our hotel”, and we could not spot a hotel.
We drove around the block and fortunately did find it. Turns out some road construction activities had hidden the entrance.

To give Narelle a break from the grind of navigating, John offered to drop the campervan off by himself. Brave move.
Turns out it was quite easy to find the location that was required. The handover was without incident and we got all our deposit back. And thus our journey with the campervan was ended.
We thank God that we survived with out any crashes or major incidents, and escaped only with great memories and stories.
The fact that John and Narelle survived 3 weeks together in such an enclosed space within the campervan bodes well for their continued life ahead together.

John then had to ride back to the motel, via outer and inner city Paris. John loves riding in Paris. The cut and thrust and excitement is awesome. Whizzing through roundabouts at 50kmh with lots of cars around , with understanding drivers, is just such a thrill. So much so that John forgot about heading to the hotel and kept having a great time riding. Eventually he realised Narelle would be anxious until he arrived back at the hotel, so he set off for ‘home’. Narelle was greatly relieved at his appearance.

Our first shower in a ‘real’ shower for 3 weeks was fabulous. None of the 60 second shower stuff for us tonight.
We were a little concerned about not being able to contact the tour group leaders. But after some nice cheese and bread, and sharing a nice bottle of beaujelouis (2007), we easily fell asleep. Actually there were no coffee/tea making facilities , so wine was the only drink we actually had available. Shame about that.

Wednesday - Stage 16

The shops were a little of a disappointment to Narelle. Overpriced, nothing of real value.

So we rode our bikes into the city. All of 3km. We love riding in France. Cyclists are catered for so well.
Large wide paths, priority access at a number of locations, courtesy from drivers. (The one exception being young males - seems to be a worldwide phenomena that most young male drivers believe they are trialling for a spot in a motor racing team)


The city centre was truly amazing. The tourist stuff hyped it up, and the reality matched the hype. The buildings have to be seen to be believed.

We had lunch. John was adventurous and went for a local sausage specialty. It was fabulous, despite John having no idea what he was eating.


Then it was off to wander the streets. We found a hairdresser because we both needed a trim. They said “No”. We are not sure if it was because they were booked out, or just did not want scruffy looking tourists. At one point John found a mobile shop to sort out his prepaid mobile issues. Narelle dropped in to say she had found a hairdresser and that he should just drop in when he was ready.

John looks forward to haircuts much like a visit to the dentist. Something that needs to be done, but is something that is endured rather then enjoyed. John walked into the hairdresser. Narelle was obviously enjoying herself. John was half expecting to have his haircut by a flamboyant guy by the name of Jean-Paul. To his pleasant surprise, all the hairdressers were stunningly attractive young french women. John decided that he could easily endure this haircut. John was attended to by a young lady who looked more like she was ready for an elegant night out, rather than cutting someone’s hair. She was a little taken aback when John explained that he could not speak French. She could not speak English. John indicated that he wanted a no.2 shave using standard international hand signals. It turns out that a no.2 is much shorter in France than in Australia. Whoops. Meanwhile Narelle was enjoying her haircut immensely, despite the hairdresser being very nervous about not understanding Narelle. Somehow John struck up a conversation with his hairdresser and discovered that her brother was racing in the Tour for one of the teams, Francais De Jeux. She also knew Bradley McGee and Baden Cooke, some Australians who previously rode for that team. John continues to surprise himself with how much he can communicate, despite his lack of French.
It should be noted that no matter how stunningly attractive these women are, they do not compare to Narelle’s beauty in John’s eyes.

The end results


After our visit to the city, we returned to our campervan. Narelle hit the shops again and was pleasantly surprised with a different set of shops. So much great clothing, so little time, and so little baggage space. It should be noted that Narelle hit the shops to allow John time to hit the internet and find out what had been happening in the Tour. Turns out she has been a fantastic ‘antenna girl’, ensuring the antenna was in the right place to get the best possible TV reception for watching the tour.
So we watched Cadel as he struggled against the might of CSC in the climb to Alpe D’Huez. It is much more enjoyable watching this at 5pm, rather than trying to stay awake at 1am.

We then headed towards Paris, getting as far as Provins, about 100km from Paris.

Tuesday - Stage 15

John was up early in anticipation of his ride.
Met Roger, and headed off. Roger has a very nice full Carbon Eddy Mercx bike that was personally provided by Eddy.
John became a little concerned initially when they were doing 39kmh into a headwind.
All that cheese, bread, and wine was taking its toll. But it turns out the entire ride was not that hard.
Even all the hills around the area weren’t that tough. The scenery was truly amazing. Words can’t describe how impressive it was.
John couldn’t wipe the smile off his face when he returned. He couldn’t remember the last time he rode with a former Paris-Roubaix winner.

Meanwhile Rel, went for a walk and even had people coming up to her asking for directions. She obviously has that ‘french chic’ thing happening.

Once home, we got ready for our session at Paulo’s. Roger and his wife collected us. Roger kindly gave John an Eddy Mercx cap and socks.
Pailo has a room filled with cycling memorabilia. Signed jerseys from different eras. Maillot Jaunes, King of the mountains, Sprinter’s jerseys, Pink Giro jerseys, World Championships, National Champions, in addition to framed and signed photos of riders from different eras. John did not want to leave.
And again we were plied with more Beaujolais red. Paulo gave Narelle a ‘cycling edition’ bottle of Beaujolais red that he made.

Note the large grin on John’s face.

The last 24 hours has just been amazing meeting these people. They are truly hospitable and went out of their way to engage us, despite their limited English.
We know at times they were talking about the Tour, but we couldn’t quite understand anything.
Our stay in Beaujolias has just been amazing and another unexpected highlight in our travels.

And now we are off to Troyes. Apparently not the place of wooden horses.

We chose not to go the motorway. The N road will be slower and more scenic. We were rewarded with amazing scenery of farmlands, forests, running streams, and just stunning vistas.

Once in Troyes, we chose to stay in the carpark of a series of outlet shopping stores. Now we couldn’t wipe the smile off Narelle’s face. She only has 10 metres to walk to the shops in the morning.

After dinner, we walked to the local Maccas for dessert (all of 400m).
As it was late, everything John was asking for unavailable. Once he confessed to not knowing French, the young lady serving him suddenly spoke English. Life was much easier then. At one point the young lady stared at John and with a smile on her face asked ‘You have one brown eye and one green eye?’. For those who know John well, they will know that his eyes do look very different in certain light. For those that didn’t already know this, you will just have to look more closely next time. John just told the young lady that it was something to do with being Australian.

Narelle is looking forward to the shopping the next day.

This will be our second last night in our campervan.

Monday - rest day

We have no idea how Cadel went. TV reception we couldn’t get late in the afternoon, nor wifi. We will find out in good time. In fact , there are so many other good things happening, we don’t go out of our way to find out.

Overnight was interesting. When John got up to get a drink in the early hours of the morning, he noticed the fridge was not working. Turns out the gas had run out. Had to fix that in the cold and dark. Then the WC warning light came on. 5 more uses the book says. We discovered the hard way that you get 3.

We had a gorgeous view, but had to find a ‘service place’, or as John calls them, a dump’n’go. Found one only a few kms away. We have a better idea on how to track them down now.

Then had breakfast overlooking the hills of Beaujolias.

Thought we had found a brilliant location to stay for the night. We drove the few km to this village, only to discover the circus already had it.

So we parked in a village and went for a ride. Riding around this area is sensational. The lush greens, the variety of colours and vegetation. The sunflowers.



T
The streams flowing with lots of water. All so different to what we normally encounter at home. The impact on our visual senses almost bordered on overload. We had trouble keeping our eyes on the road. At least riding on the right hand side of the road has now become second nature for us. We also found a great bike path.

There were lots of families walking, riding, rollerblading. The ride just provided wonderful sights and views at every twist and turn.

After about 30km we then dropped in to a cave for a quick wine tasting. Amazing. You had to walk downstairs into this underground room.
The area is renowned for its reds, but we tried one of their whites. It is amazing how one little piece of information can impress someone else. The lady serving the drinks was quite impressed when John took a sip of the white and asked ‘chardonnay?’. Little did she know that John had done some research before the visit, and about the only thing he knew was that white wines in the area were were made from Chardonnay grapes.

On our way out, some men were looking at us and our bikes. Narelle’s Jersey was from one of the local rides in Brisbane and had the word Australia on it. ‘Diabetes Australia’ to be precise. The gentlemen enquired as to whether we were Australian. Produly we said ‘Oui’. Once they realised we were aussies and into cycling they invited us , actually insisted, back to the cave for some drinks.

Turns out one of them is a Belgian former professional cyclist who won Paris-Roubaix (cycling afficianodos will understand).
The other gentlemen is an avid collector of cycling memorabilia, in addition to being well known in the French cycling scene. And he makes wine, and I am not sure if there is anything he can’t do.

Turns out they knew where we had parked our campervan, as they were staying just around the corner. Anyway, John got invited to ride with Roger on Tuesday. And Narelle and John got invited back to Paulo’s place for pre-lunch drinks the next day.

Then we rode home 20km or so. Interesting, especially after we lost track of how many glasses of beaujolias our new friends plied us with.

Once home, there was a local play/production/whatever across the road from where we parked. Fascinating.


We slept well, although John was wondering how this ride was going to go.....
There was a lot of red wine flowing at the time, and our new friends could not speak much English, and we can’t really speak French. John was not really sure what he had got himself in for.

We weren’t worried about sleeping in. We had parked next to a church with a very large bell that rang on the hour.

Life in beaujolais

Doing it tough at the mo. This was the view out our front window on sunday night, about 7pm.

Sunday - Stage 14

Relaxed sleep in today, and then a quick brekky before heading off

The plan was to drive to the Beaujolais area for the evening.

Didn’t plan to take the A route (the motorway/tollway), but to take the scenic drive. Ended up on the A route with a wrong turn, but wasn’t so expensive a mistake.
We eventually found our way back onto quiet roads.

Found a winery - it wasn’t open. Sadly though we saw a cyclist being attended to by the ambulance. Wet and slippery roads had taken their toll.
We found another winery that looked open, but we had no response when knocking on the cellar door. We were about to leave when the lady of the place came up to us and asked if we wanted to try some wine. What a wine tasting it turned out to be. She knew a couple of words of English, and between her English and our handful of words of French we shared a lot of laughs. Most of the French words we know refer to grape varieties. That makes a conversation at a winery flow. Great wines as well.

Just past Vience, we stopped for lunch. Later John was tired and started to feel sleepy, so just past Vienne we stopped for a nap.

It had been an interesting drive. Passed a couple of nuclear reactors. John couldn’t help but wonder what impact that had on the local environment.
We decided to just pass through Lyon. It is too large a city to do justice in just one day. We were amazed at how large a city it is.


We finally dropped into the Beaujolias info centre 10 minutes before closing.

Found a great place to stay for the evening. This is the view from our front window.



Went for a wander through the village and watched a heated exchange between a chef and an unsatisifed patron. We had no idea what was going on, but there was some intensity.

Thought we’d treat ourselves to a little bit of TV tonight. Fired up the TV tuner on the notebook, only to start watching a fave show ‘Mid Somer Murders’ in French. It was quite amazing. John then found he’d previously recorded an episode whilst still in Australia. So we watched that.

An interesting side note. John’s French is improving. He doesn’t really know any more words or phrases, but he has become very proficient with the 3 phrases he does know. He has become very adept at saying ‘Pardon moi, je ne parle Francais’. He must say it well, becuase often he gets a quizzical look and is asked ‘are you sure you can’t speak French?’ At least that is what he thinks they are saying.

Saturday - Stage 13

We woke early, and drove out of the town. This was to avoid being parked in by street closures in anticipation of the Tour’s arrival.
Then we we went for a ride over some of the course for the day. Clean up operations were in full swing. As we were on road bikes, we even got cheered and clapped by workers and those having breakfast as we rode down the main street. If only they really knew. But the ride through the city, and then out through the countryside was invigorating. We even stopped by the local bullfighting ring. Sadly, we did not stop and take any photos of the ‘Bouladrome’. Yep, they even have stadiums for playing boules.

After the ride, it was breakfast by a local river, then off to see the amazing Roman aquaduct at Pont du Gard.


We then headed to Avagnon. What an amazing place. Within the city, there is a walled city. This place caught us unprepared with the buildings, the people, the activity. It was engrossing. It is possible to drive in, but with the myriad of people, and narrow one way streets, it is not a place for the faint hearted. In the centre of this place, John spotted a couple in a car with maps, lots of pointing, and that absolute look of fear and dread in their eyes. They seemed not to know how to get out. John empathised with them. We had ridden our bicycles in, and we were unsure as to how to get out of this place.
We had lunch at a restaurant. John went for a German meat dish, but Rel is concerned with the impact of all that cabbage.
We then wandered around the place for a while. We just loved the visual, aurual and emotional impact of this place.


The ‘place of the popes’ is still within the ‘walled city’. This where the papacy resided at one point in time.


Then it was time to leave. It was actually a brutally hot day. After about 6 attempts to exit, we finally found a way out. Then we had to determine where our campervan was, as we had no idea which exit we had taken. Fortunately, John had saved the location of the campervan in Gina, so she was able to guide us the few km back.

After this amazing place, we visit a lavender museum. John actually found it quite interesting. The place did smell pretty nice.

Then we settled into Carpentras for the evening. Just happened to find a spot to park with amazing views. We could actually overlook Mt. Ventoux.
After dinner we went for a walk expecting to find something happening. But no. Just a few quiet restaurants, and lots of twisty winding streets with no people.
Then it was time to watch the sunset from our location for the evening.


But I’ll close with some unrelated things. Cadel is still in yellow, and tonight is brought to you by a nice glass of Rose.

Overnight views

We rocked into beaucaire about 930 pm, with no idea where to stay. Sometimes we just land on our feet. This is the view out of our campervan window when we awoke.

Ride heaven

It was time for a stunning ride. We found a ride that hugged a canal. In the photo the water is on the right, vineyards on the left. And i used to think the nudgee beach ride was scenic

Friday - Stage 12

John woke early and went for a ride. He rode the Tour De France course for the day. Well, not the whole course, but part thereof. He even did the Cat 5 climb for the day.
As he rode through one little village he imagined himself being part of Le Tour. Then he realised that if he was riding the Tour, he would be so far off the back, the crowds would already have left. So in effect, it was like he was riding the Tour. Campervans were already strategically parked along the side of the road, and this was 25km out from the finish line.


Once home, Narelle was ready to join in on the ride. John was explaining the fantastic ride that we went on, and there was this little village that was awesome, but some distance away. Narelle got out the map. Turns out the course goes in a big circle, and this little village was one street away from we were parked. John was a little crestfallen. His revenge was to make Narelle do the Cat 5 climb, and she did it well.

Rel powers up the climb, just as they are getting ready to put all the barriers and signage up. Campervans are already in place.


Here is the ‘intersection of interest’. Turning left, and you have the Cat5 climb. Go straight head, take the first turn right and our campervan is 200m away. Little did John realise that at the time he surveyed the course. Note the yellow signs with the arrows. They are put up to show the course. And lots of people seem to like to souvenir them. Bad, Bad people! (i.e. John hasn’t had a chance to get any yet).


As we rode around we continue to be amazed at the size and impact of Le Tour. This was a small town that the Tour just passes through. Street sweepers were out cleaning the streets, hedges were being trimmed, roadside edges being mowed, the clocktower was being cleaned, barriers and tents were being put up. Amazing. Even though we knew the Tour was big, it is not until you see it that you fully comprehend it.

<todays blog still in progress, but I had to add this story>

Today we watched the tour ride through a small village ... Rel had her aussie hat and finger, John the flag. As he rode past, Cadel gave us a few head nods as acknowledgment for our support.

Thursday - Stage 11

We awoke to the a sunrise over the Mediterranean Sea. Not bad for a free camp site.
Had some brekky, and then it was time for a gorgeous ride.

Rode for an hour and a half on a quiet path by a canal. The canal was tree lined, and the path was a nice bitumen, similar to the one that heads to Nudgee Beach.
The weather was gorgeous, and at times we had vineyards next to us as well. Could have ridden for hours. We were one of the few cyclists on road bikes. They seemed to be reserved for the ‘serious cyclists’. That may explain the looks we get from others.

Typical sights along the ride



Narelle hits the turbo through the tunnel


After the ride, we stopped by the river for lunch. It wasn’t a formal rest area, but we made it our own. Very relaxing.

We like the smaller townships and villages. So after our wonderful visit to the Meditteranean, we decided we would not bother heading off to the other meditteranean hotspots such as St. Tropez, Nice, nor Monaco. A lot of travel just to think that it was not as nice as our own beaches. We could be wrong.
So we decided to hang around this area and spend more time in the Provence region. Good food is calling.

So we decided to head to Sommelier, which is where the Tour passes through, and about 25km before the finish This will give us the chance to see the Tour along the course, and see Cadel wearing yellow.
We had a bright idea to head to Montpelier, which is a sizeable city, before heading to Sommelier.

John should have learnt a couple of things by now. One is that whenever we wing it, we end up in adorable places, that far exceed our expectations. Whenever John ‘plans’ something, it all goes pear shaped. He thought it smart to tell Gina (the GPS unit) to find the tourist office in Montpelier. We were 100m short of the Tourist Office when we realised there was no tourism office at this address. That is when our fun began. Gina tried to direct us to the office via another way. Turns out this was via a construction site and roadworks. Lots of cars beeping horns as no-one had any idea what was happening, and cars were trying to squeeze into non existent gaps. Then Gina directed us down this tight one way street, with cars parked either side. Narelle was less then certain, especially when she said “Are you sure this is really a street”. John’s confidence about getting through wasn’t even rocked by the large ‘thwack’ as the mirror was clipped. Rule No. 1 - don’t look in the mirrors anyway. it is all too scary. Just when we saw actual signs to the tourist office, the mirage disappeared yet again. John, in a moment of madness, too the first turn at a roundabout. Gina had gone into meltdown at this point in time. 5 seconds after he took the turn John realised he has in trouble. It was an entrance to a carpark, with a height limit 1.4 m less then the height of the campervan. But this was not a degree of difficulty enough for John. No, he had to pick a place where there was no opportunity to do a u-turn, and the entry and exit lanes were seperated by a median strip, and there were 5 or 6 cars impatiently waiting behind John. To say Narelle was a little tense was an understatement. John was loving the challenge though. Some innovative lane changing across median strips, followed by a reverse up a tight and winding exit lane (in a campervan), and finished with a tight uturn at the roundabout saw them off and away again. Needless to say, we saw more of Montpelier from the car than we had anticipated.


Sommelier was fabulous. A beautiful town centuries old. We found a neat place to park for the night in a carpark.
We enjoyed quite walks, and having a cold drink in a local establishment. It is really quite warm here.

Narelle enoying the sights of the local river. We are camped about 30 seconds walk from this spot.

Narelle checking out the local shops



After dinner we wandered the city to get some dessert and check the place out. It seemed quiet, but then again, it was only Thursday night.

A glass of Chinon Rose was a good way to ward off the heat of the day, even at 9pm.

Wednesday - Stage 10

After a great night’s sleep we awoke feeling ready for the day. The weather is warmer here , and we are loving it. 20 to 31 is the prediction for the day.

Plan A was to go for a ride, but with a combination of cloudy drab weather in the morning, and Narelle still recovering, we decided to have a relaxed brekky, do some washing and then move on.

So we explored the local beaches next to the Meditteranean.

Nice in their own right, but second class to where we live. The surf is redcliffe-esque, and the sand is more like dirt. But everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves. The place leaves me with an impression of what the Gold Coast would have been like if all building had stopped in the 70s.

the surf was up that day..


A real highlight was a visit to a local gardener. They sold local produce, and wine. You could even bring your own bottle and get it filled for 2Euro a bottle. We were disappointed that we had just thrown out our empty 1.5l water bottles. But we bought some olives that are simply sensational.

After having a very nice lunch by the beach we moved on. Once we hit Narbone, John started to feel sleepy at the wheel. Time for a trip to Maccas for a coffee and some wifi.
Found out what was happening in the stage to Foix. They had about 20km to go at that stage. Nothing too exciting from our perspective, so we left it at that.

We then moved to Cape D’Agde in the hope of finding a spot to stay. It looked a nice place, but it was particularly anti-camping car, so we eventually moved on.

A few kms up the road we found we could pull over beside the beach. Narelle had said she always wanted to spend a night by the Mediterranean. So this was awesome. There are a lot of camper cars that have done the same, so we hope we are OK here.

the view from the campervan


Narelle was looking up items of interest for the area. She has just told me that Agde has a beach resort that is famed for supporting nudist colonies of up to 20,000 people. Not really sure I need to see that much flabby and wrinkly skin though. I was happy to move on with the shirt still on my back.

Our location or the evening can be a little noisy as we are next to the road. But the sound of the sea (surf is not an appropriate word to use for here) makes up for it. A nice little treat was seeing the sunset out one side of the car, and seeing the full moon light up the sea out the other.

Tonight’s edition was brought to us by the leftover bottle from last night.

Tuesday - Rest Day for the Tour

Narelle awoke feeling better than the day before, but still not well. She is now battling her 3rd form of infection since our arrival, and is on a 2nd course of anti-biotics.
The fact the we have have been able to do so much despite her illness shows how tough and resilient she is.
It was a rest day for the Tour and a travel day for us.

The plan was to head towards the Mediterranean Coast, specifially Perpignan, near the Spanish border.

Have you ever had one of those friends who tried to be too helpful, and ended up frustrating you? Our GPS unit was like that today.
It kept trying to plot these time saving routes for us. If we were driving Narelle’s Mazda 3, we would have been rewarded with a sensational drive.
But in a fully loaded campervan, it is another story. Low bridges, twisty, windy, one lane roads all made for a hard day behind the wheel for John.
Narelle was doing it just as tough as the passenger. Not sure how many cliff edges she thought we were going to go over, but her fingernails were a lot shorter by the end of the trip.

But it was not all a lost cause. We saw some amazing scenery, some stunning vistas, and some amazing roads through rock cuttings that made it a sensational day of taking in the countryside. Did I mention the amazing scenery. The Pyrenees mountains were spectacular, the drives were stunning. And the drive through the town of Foix was sensational. The rock walls, the bridge over the river, all awesome. And the Tour finishes here on Wednesday. You could already feel the buzz building.

By the time we rolled up to Perpignan we were stuffed, found a place to bunker down, and that was pretty much it.
A couple of spots we first stopped at did not give us a good feel. Lots of apparently disaffected youth hanging about.
So we moved on to a spot we felt comfortable in.

The white wine for the evening was a nice cold refreshment for parched lips.

We conquered the mountain

Cadel is now in yellow, thanks largely to our encouragement up the climb to tormalet. Here we are waiting for him by the side of the road. What a tough climb!

Monday - Stage 9

John awoke feeling fabulous. Must be the health giving properties of a glass or 2 of red wine every night.
The day had beautiful blue sky.
But on the other side of the bed, Narelle did not wake up so well.
We jumped on our bikes and headed part way up the Col de Toumelout. This would be the first big climb of todays stage.

It was such a beautiful day for a ride.
The ride was tough going, but we got a fair way up before we settled in. It didn’t help that John was carrying an extra 15kg. 5kg in the backback, and an extra 10kg around the waist courtesy of all the food he has been consuming.
Along the way, young children cheered and clapped us as we pedalled up the hill. Sensational.
The morning was so beautiful and relaxing.
Here’s a few happy snaps of our ride up.



All manner of outfits and bikes were in operation



The position out on the road is far more friendly than being surrounded by the crowds at a finish line.
We saw the carnival pass by, and got a bagful of the usual junk.
We had some supporters from Norway next to us, and they certainly were entertaining.


We cheered Cadel as he went by. We cheered Robbie as he led the last big group up the hill. Robbie did not seem to be enjoying himself, but the same could be said for the rest of those in his group. They were certainly going slower than on the flat stages.
The yellow jersey group, with rel’s finger cheering them on...


Then we rode home. What a sensational ride. Flying down the hills, mixing it with all the traffic. John loved it, Narelle had other words to describe the experience.
At one point John and Narelle got seperated. Narelle snuck through a traffic control point and kept going. All other cyclists, including John, were forced to take another route.
Somehow they found each other again in another village. They still don’t know how they managed that.
On John’s route, he had the time of his life, despite not knowing how he would find Narelle again. There was a heady mix of cyclists, pedestrians, cars, scooters, campervans all somehow moving in different directions. John had the time of his life riding at speed at the back of a pack of cyclists as they weaved in and out of all manner of situations.
John may have forgotten to tell Narelle about this.
Unlike Australia, the drivers are very courteous and understanding of cyclists.

Once back in the village it was time to find a place to watch the concluding stages of the Tour. This we did. John ordered the traditional ‘deux vin rouge’. 2 Euro for 2 glasses of wine. That is cheaper than coffee. We watched Cadel as he gutsed his way up to the finish. Sensational. If only we could have understood the commentary it would have made sense.

We decided to go for change of scenery for our last stay in this village. We were too weary to move to another place.
We found a nice spot next to a bubbling stream.
This was the view from our front door.


Being Bastille Day, we headed into town to find out what was happening. There were some fireworks planned, so we went and saw them. Awesome, and it seemed like the entire town was out for this event.

Sunday - Stage 8

We awoke to a beautiful sound of no rain.
After a leisurely breakfast, it was time to ride to explore the town and the Stage course.
This included a ride of the last 6km or so of the course. It met with John’s approval. Given that he didn’t have to do any of the climbs today, that approval didn’t really mean much.
But Rel and John did contest their own stage finish.
Here Narelle chases John down with less than a km to go



It was then time to prepare for the afternoon. A wander around the village for lunch, and then find a spot by the side of the course. Found a good spot about 170m from the finish. Excellent. Only 4 hours til they arrive. :-0
The big screen was just visible but the angle meant it was hard to read any of the words.
We had a front row spot and thought that would be the end of our troubles.

Turns out that if you leave a 3 cm gap, others think that is enough for them to squeeze in.
Generally all was fine, expect when the handouts came. Then the pushing in the back started.
One old guy actually tried every trick in the book to squeeze in beside Narelle. She was too tough and wise for him.
Some tricks he tried included :-
        push the hand onto the fence and just force himself into a non existent gap
        Coughing and spluttering in the hope that Narelle would give way
        Loudly yelling abuse at Narelle for not letting him in. This was a time when it was good to not know French.
Eventually he left when he realised that Narelle was not going to give in.
Then it was John’s turn to outlast the thumps and shoves in the back, the knees into the back of the legs, the arms that came in every direction trying to get handouts.
Makes it all fun and interesting.


This time we weren’t really trying to collect much, but still came home with about 8 bottles of mineral water, numerous hats, fridge magnets, and other equally essential goods.
But we had more fun interacting with the people giving out stuff. Turns out asking people for photos is a fun way to get more stuff.

Narelle made a new friend


John made a new friend




The riders flashed by, but at least they arrived in several groups. The first riders and the first bunch were flying. Those in the autobus (or the last group) were pedalling much softer.
Ricco heads for victory


Then it was time to wander home. It was like walking home from State of Origin. The crowds and the traffic were thick. It took nearly 2 hours after the finish for the traffic to ease in front of our home base. It was an awesome day, but very tiring all the same.

We’ll stay in Bagnerres De B tonight and tomorrow we’ll ride part way up the first col, so we can then watch them ride up a mountain.

We’ve decided this next stage will be our last direct taste of the tour until we join a formal tour for Stage 19 through to the finish in Paris.
It means missing the Alps, but there is so much else to explore of France, and so much more bread, cheese and wine that we haven’t even touched the surface of yet.
We’ll just make sure we are somewhere to watch the last hour of each day’s stage.

The reformulation of our path has begun, but has yet to be worked out in detail.

Tonight’s episode is sponsored by a delightful red by the name of ‘Domain du Grand Bouqueteau’ that we picked up in Chinon.
Very smooth.

Saturday - Stage 7

It was a fine day, so we jumped on our bikes and rode for a while around the Saint Emillion area. Sensational views and riding terrain.
This was just a typical scene we encountered.


Some vistas evoked visions of a different time period.


With more time, John could have ridden for hours. Given all the food he has been eating lately, that was probably needed.

We finished the ride with a large climb up a cobblestone path. Narelle did a fab job going up this climb.


We then set off for Bordeaux. Armed with our new found confidence in our navigational capabilities, we told our GPS unit (aka Gina) to find us some shops so we could stock up for a few days. It delivered us to the front door of the shops, only for us to discover that it was smaller than a local seven-eleven store.
We then stumbled inadvertently on to a large shopping centre just down the road. Narelle was in heaven! After many an hour spent here, we headed off towards Pau.

Along the way, the rain set in, and we decided to head straight to Bagneres-de-Bigorre. This was to be our base for a couple of days.
The Tour finishes here Sunday night, and passes by again on Monday. So it will be a great place to soak up le Tour. A magnificent shopping centre car park will be home for a short while.

John had found the driving (and the shopping) to be particularly draining today, so looked forward to a good nights sleep.

The bottle of bordeaux red certainly helped that cause. We thought this bottle was from the St. Emillion region. Turns out that was incorrect. We’ll just have to buy another bottle of bordeaux red to correct this error.

Friday - Stage 6

We awoke to the beautiful sound of rain, rain, and more rain.
Although, the beauty of the rain was shortlived once we realised that we still had washing hung outside to dry.


So we decided to head off early. We dropped by the post office to get some stamps. Somehow we communicated what we needed.
We then couldn’t get out of the post office. Inadvertantly John hit a button which he thought ‘opened’ the door. Turns out it was a button that requests assistance. We then found out it helps to ‘pull’ the door, rather than to ‘push’ it.

We then headed to St.Emilion, a village in the heart of the Bordeaux wine growing region.



Found a car park, which turned out be our home for the night. We discovered the next day that it was actually a creche car park.


Wandered up to the information centre. We then joined a wine tour (in French and English) at the last minute.
It was a good move. Great little vineyard that we then visited. The host was very informative and helpful.
Narelle even got special mention for asking great questions, and having such a beautiful sounding name.


After finding about the grape growing, and processing, we then headed off to the caves where they store the wine.
Sensational. They even had a wine tasting section in the underground caves. Tasted some wine, and they didn’t hold back. Turns out what we tasted is at least $75 at the cellar door, so who knows what that would cost in Australia.

The wine caves...


The wine tasting...


There was a choice to catch the bus back, or wander back through the vineyards to the Village Centre. We chose to wander back through the vineyards.
We were taking photos, and looking at stuff, and John turned to say something to Narelle. Turns out it was not Narelle next to him, but one of the other people from the wine tour. A little embarrassing, but John is used to such stupidity and struck up a conversation regardless. John was initially concerned about not knowing where Narelle was, but he quickly realised everything would be alright. John’s new found friend from the wine tour was a young, and very attractive, Swedish backpacker. John knew it would only take a few moments for Narelle to appear on the scene once he was engaged in conversation with this young lady. And Narelle did not disappoint.

It was actually the first time in a few days that we had held a lengthy conversation in English with somebody else.

Upon our return to the village, we then wandered around to check it out. Went back to our accomodation, changed, and went out for dinner

Had a great meal at a little restaurant in the village.


We selected from the set menu. Didn’t really know what we had for entree, but it was sensational.
We went for different mains, and had no idea what they would be until they turned up. Turns out Narelle’s was a ‘steak and onion’, aka entrecote eschalotes. John still doesn’t really know what his meal was, but it was in the menu as ‘magret de canard sauce povine’. It was fantastic.
Narelle had pancackes for dessert, and John elected to have profiteroles.


The wine for the evening was a house red from the local area.

We then wandered home through the village. Still very light at 9.30.

Thursday - Stage 6

At one stage we had thought of getting to a point along the side of the road and watching the tour go by.
But we decided there were more important things to do.

We dropped by Chateux du Chevre, and headed towards Bordeux.
By now we have the nav system working in harmony. (Rel, myself, the maps, the GPS unit) We know how to read the maps properly, and we know what makes our GPS unit happy. So we drove through the french countryside.

The little villages were awesome.



In fact one so caught our attention we decided to stay for the evening.
It will be a shock to the system, as we will have to pay, even if it is only 10 Euro or so.
But we get our washing done, as we are running out of clean clothes. And we can charge up all the camera batteries, which are running low.

We rode to another nearby village, hoping for a drink and a chance to watch le tour.
We got the drink but no-one was showing le tour.

So we moved on to the next village. It was even quieter.

We are so remote we are only just getting a mobile signal, but struggled to get TV reception.
So I had no idea what’s happening in the tour. But a little bit of innovation solved that.

Yep, as per the photo, John got the antenna to come out of his head.

But we have been riding through little villages and feeling very relaxed.
It would have be nice to go out for dinner tonight, but the village is so quiet we are not sure if the restaurants will open. At least we are self contained.
We have bread, cheese, and a few bottles of wine. We should be able to survive.


There haven’t been too many ‘john’ moments today. It has all been a bit tame. Even though the camp ranger couldn’t speak any english, we somehow communicated what we needed. Although John did get concerned about getting out of the shower. The door wouldn’t unlock. John contemplated going ‘over the wall’. But persistence paid off.
When the door did open there were a couple of primary school kids on the other side. The blood drained from their face when they realised it was an adult they had been mucking about with, and not one of their school mates.

The local red tonight was a Gamay. Tasty, without being overpowering.

Wednesday - Stage 5

We may not be connecting with the Tour, but I’ll keep the stage numbers going as a way to remember things.
We have definitely got to the point where we have no idea what day of the week it is.

This morning it is absolutely freezing. As I write this, I am wearing a jumper, and wrapped up in a blanket.

It is really quite cool.

So we headed off to explore more of the Loire Valley.

First stop was Chinon. Absolutely beautiful scenery. Even did some wine tasting.

Then it was off to Chambord to view a chateux. Due to some navigational issues we ended up on a toll road.
Bugger. Even worse we turned up at a toll where there didn’t seem anywhere to pay.
After some inventive reversing, dodging large trucks, and leading across toll lanes, John discovered you collected a ticket here, you didn’t pay. d’oh.


We found our chateux. Decided this was a nice place to stay, and have dinner. So we did both. This was our picnic area for dinner.


This has been a very relaxing day and has almost been a perfect day from John’s perspective.
Had the opportunity to ride through a little village, buy bread from the local patisserie, and order ‘deux vin rouge’ from a local bar. i.e 2 red wines.




I hadn’t realised there was a dress code to visit the chateux, but we got through OK.



Tonight we witnessed a light show at the chateux. It was an ‘interpretative’ presentation , and happened by projection onto the chateux. Amazing. Didn’t finish till nearly 12. we slept well that night.

What’s been happening in ‘le tour’. we don’t know what happened in the time trial, and we think Thor Husholvd won today’s stage. But not really sure.
And at this point. we don’t really care. The bottle of Rose that John drank was very good!