Eurovelo 6 - Day 12 - Rest Day in Orleans

We have struck it lucky in Orleans. Our arrival coincides with the Festival of the Loire, an annual event in its 11th year. When we saw thousands of people on the river's foreshores when we rode in, we thought it may have been a welcome party ...

After checking into the Hotel Marguerite, we meet up with our newest rider, Stewart. David and Stewart have been friends for over 35 years, and now he's our new mate! We bonded over a few beers and dinner and convinced him of all the initiation and rights of 'cycling' passage rituals e.g. buying the beers, etc. Stewart saw right through our scheme. He's a smart one.

At 10.00pm we could hear fireworks going off down near the river which went for around 20 minutes. It was massive ... the River Fire (a Brisbane tradition) of Orleans ... without the military flypast! Tonight Orleans was definitely a party town ... and every reveller passed our hotel room on their way home in the early hours of the morning. Delightful!

On our day off we headed down along the river, before the throngs of sightseers joined us, to look at a smorgasbord of maritime delights ... displays of Loire history; artisans at work and wooden boats along a foreshore museum that went for hundreds of metres. The place was full of bars but not one coffee shop, so we headed back to the city centre. We then spent some time visiting the sights of Orleans before I headed off for a quiet afternoon washing, reading and sleeping.

We reconvened for pre-dinner drinks and dinner. We had a meal where we cooked our own meat on hot stones. Apparently, it's a thing ... but no discount given we'd removed the cost of a chef! After dinner we headed down to the beautiful Orleans Cathedral to watch the light show projected on its walls ... mixing new with old.

Tomorrow will be an early start heading to Blois, via Château de Chambord. It's now 9.48 pm and I'm watching the Wallabies play Wales ... a must-win game for Australia. We're losing and not showing signs of a positive outcome. I'll check how much we lost by when I wake up tomorrow. Bedtime!

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Eurovelo 6 - Day 21 - Nantes to Saint-Nazaire (final day)

Mission accomplished. We arrived in Saint-Brevin-les-Pins and dipped our toes in the Atlantic Ocean, after riding across France, east to west, from Mulhouse, near the Swiss border. We still had a short ride to Saint-Nazaire where we will spend the night and travel to Paris by train tomorrow. We've travelled over 1,300 km in 21 days, including 3 rest days in Nevers, Orleans, and Amboise. We experienced some of the best that France offers its visitors; cultural experiences, fine wines and food, and a glimpse of its history and heritage. Today's ride ... A few blogs I've read about the stage between Nantes and Saint-Nazaire described it as being a bit boring, however we found it great. Very diverse landscapes throughout the 65 km journey. We started this morning with stands up at 9.00am, cycling back towards the Eurovelo 6 route on the northern side of the river. The traffic was chaos to us, however by the looks on Nantais' (natives of Nantes) faces it wa...

Eurovelo 6 - getting to the starting line

So I'm travelling on this trip with 4 old and new friends. Two old friends read my blog from last year's trip and wanted to know when the next one was ... and so here we are! Col and Brett are ex-RAAF mates. I've known Brett for around 40 years. I was best man at his wedding with Janine, and I'm Godfather to his daughter, Ashley. We've done many of my hiking and motorcycling trips together over the years. So you could say we're best mates. Imagine my surprise when we breezed through check-in and immigration at Brisbane airport, entered the lounge and found the open bar ... just to him utter friendship-ending words of, "I'm not drinking". We're now sitting in different rows of our flight ... apparently too late to uninvite him! Sitting in different rows ended up being my bad! With haste to welcome my new travelling companion, an older woman heading home to Birmingham, I asked if she'd enjoyed her holiday in Australia. "Can't wait t...

Eurovelo 15 - Day 21 - Orsoy to Arnhem

So what I thought was a kid's sideshow alley was just a precursor for the main event ... a techno music festival ... just 50 metres from my room. I thought about joining the crowd, who seemed to be enjoying the spectacle (probably the musicians' parents), however, techno isn't real music, and their repertoire of 3 songs, played over and over, spoiled the magic. 11.34pm, 11.35pm, 11.36pm ... 12.02am - where is the rain, thunder and lightning now? 12.25am - surely someone has called the Mayor of Orsoy! 12.45am - hold my beer! Finally, all went quiet around 1.02am and I got to use my pillow! My body clock woke me around 6.30am and I'd arranged breakfast for 8.00am. The hotel didn't normally serve breakfast until 9.00am on a Sunday, however, they made an exception just for me! At 8.00am breakfast was served ... it was a feast ... I actually thought another half dozen people were joining me. I felt so guilty not being able to put a dent into all the offerings ... then t...

Pedalling for a Purpose

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