La Ferte-sous-Jouarre to Thieux to Charles de Gaul Airport

Well today did not go as I was expecting…

I woke around 7am and did some work on the diary. There’s no rush today as breakfast doesn’t start until 8 and this is my last riding day and should be less than yesterday. So a pleasant lie in; the bed is very comfortable J

I went down for breakfast at 8:30 and I was the only one there; only one other table was made up for breakfast. The breakfast was fairly standard with a mini croissant, mini baguette, mini pain au raison, two other sweet bites. The one different bit was that I had a hot chocolate! All very nice J

I went and finished packing, backed up the photos and diary and then went and paid. I packed the bike and then rolled out at 10 am. All very relaxed. Thanks to last night’s slog up the hill I had a nice downhill into the town and I stopped at a patisserie and bought a Flan Apricot as emergency rations for later.

Not the best of days today L The wind of the last few days turned out to be a problem today. It had turned to the west and was exceedingly strong, sigh. On all of the exposed sections the side wind was making it hard to steer and occasionally it would be a full on head wind, also once or twice a great tail wind. There was also one really long awful section of new chip seal which combined with the wind made for some unpleasant riding. I was starting to get a sore left shoulder from trying to keep the bike on a straight line. (The wind was from my left.)

I had a stop in a park and ate the Flan I bought earlier; I would have liked to have it with a Coke or something cold but I hadn’t seen an open shop all day, it is Sunday after all. The planes were a continuous stream overhead so I knew I was getting close. Then in the town of Thieux there was a loud crack and my saddle fell off!

I stopped and picked it up and discovered that the bolt holding the saddle had sheared through. Bum L I tried riding for a few hundred metres bit without the saddle but it is too difficult with the wind and the panniers. I photographed a taxi sign and waited for someone to walk by but no one was about so in the end I banged on the door of a closed hotel and asked them to call for me. Half an hour later I was in a cab to the airport. Not exactly the way I expected to finish the tour L So close as well, only 9 Ks to go.

Quarter of an hour later I was at the hotel. I checked in, they wheeled the bike off to storage and I went and had a shower and rang home. Then feeling relaxed I had a nap!

After the nap I went for a walk to find out how to get to Terminal 2A and where to buy a bike box. It turns out I need to take an internal shuttle train, free, so I did. Then I walked down to the terminal which was a bloody long way (from 2D to 2C to 2A). Of course contrary to my theory Cathay Pacific does not have a flight at the same tonight, so I couldn’t ask them where to get a box. So I wandered back looking for info which I couldn’t find. Then right back where I got out of the shuttle train was Left Baggage. I walked in there and it turns out they also sell the bike boxes, 30 Euros.

I now have a fair idea that I know what to do tomorrow so I headed back to the hotel and then went and had dinner. I didn’t want to shame the hotel so I didn’t take any photos. It’s a simple buffet with salads, mains (meatballs, fish and shrimps, vegetarian wok) and dessert (fudge and Flan). I had a Coke with it and then headed back up to my room (which is the width of the bed).

Lewis was on so I did some work on the diary for today and then watched a Midsomer Murders, one I don’t recall. Bed close to midnight.

Sezanne to La Ferte-sous-Jouarre

An even later start today, there’s just no point in rushing today so I left around 9:40.

I had a nice lie in, read some more of my book, then around 9 I started to pack and get ready to go. After paying I went to a Patisserie across the road and got a couple of delicacies. I wasn’t particularly hungry so I thought I’d ride for a while first before eating them.

The initial route is a little side road out of the side of the town which I needed Google Maps to help me find. Interestingly last night I’d had to delete an offline map because I’d reached the limit! The route was as usual very quiet and had a pinch point, granny gear time. As it turned out the entire day turned out to be pretty much up or down; although I think this was the only granny gear time before the end.

I saw a fox! And then a deer!

It was a bit cool again this morning so I wore the thermal, all day as it happens as the wind was quite cold again. The route had quite a few exposed hill tops although rarely, thankfully, any full on head winds. I did have a few nice tails winds along the way. I stopped after about an hour and a half on a bench in s small town and ate the goodies for breakfast.

From there it was back to the rolling hills and the quiet back lanes. I had another stop just before 1pm at Rebais, the first major town I’d been through and, probably the last chance to buy anything before I got to my destination. I had a quick snack of a coke and an éclair chocolate and got one of my water bottles filled up.

From there I had a long straight road heading pretty much due north and a great tail wind to go with it. At the end of that road I turned left and I was already into the group of little towns and villages near my destination. I had to check the map a few times to not get lost but made my way to the destination town just after 2. I had a bit of a look around the town and then decided I’d head up to the hotel.

The hotel is actually a Chateau and on my way in I’d seen a few chateau looking buildings on the big hill behind the village and I was thinking knowing my luck it will be one of the ones at the top. I was of course wrong. It was at the top of a long climb, just not any one of the one’s I could see on the way in! After a bit of a slog I reached the grounds which were closed, but then while I was reading the signs a car came out so I went in.

The Chateau appears to have been built around the time of Napoleon and was owned by a local Baron up until 1870 when it was bought by a 'famous' French author. It was later owned by a shipping magnate and was the local HQ for the French and then German armies during WWII. Apparently Churchill and de Gaul have both stayed here at some point. It became a hotel in 1991 and had the restaurant added in 2001.

The grounds are quite nice, after showering and shaving I went for a walk around the property. It has 7 hectares of landscaped gardens and it’s a funny thing, there is a camping ground here, so if I’d known in advance I could have camped! Bum J After the walk I went and had a read for a while and then a nap J

Dinner was at 7:30 so I wandered down just after that and… I was the only one there! I’d heard other guests so that was a bit of a surprise… anyway on to the menu. What I hadn’t realised was that being the weekend the appealing looking 30 Euro menu was not on offer so I was going to have to go a la carte. Oh no. Hmmm, nothing for it I guess. I then had a really delicious meal of, you guessed it, Foie Gras, Margret de Canard a l'Orange and a Strawberry Melba. More (equally?) importantly I had a really nice bottle of St Emillion Grand Cru. The wine menu didn’t have the years on the bottles so I was a bit concerned but at 27 Euro what can you expect? So I was very surprised that the bottle was 2006! The wine was delicious of course, very smooth, full bodied with good length. It didn’t really need any food to give with it.

Feeling a tad sloshed, because I’d had a Kir first, I went for another wander around the grounds. Which reminds me, pretty much all day riding today and also here at the Chateau, you can see and hear planes coming in for CDG Airport, not overly loud but a background noise. So I’m definitely almost there now.

I read for a while and was thinking about bed when two cars came in, around 10 pm. There was an ancient Mercedes 500 convertible and a Porsche. There seemed to be two couples in their 70’s although for some reason the wife of the Mercedes owner was squished into the back of the Porsche; it took her ages to get out. They then proceeded to wash both cars which took them about an hour! While they were doing that a young couple arrived and looked like they may have been at a wedding I saw in town this afternoon. They took some photos with the Chateau bathed in yellow lights and went inside. And then around 4 in the morning a van came in with a group of people and I noticed that there were 2 more cars parked outside. So maybe that is why the restaurant was empty, everyone was at the wedding?

Troyes to Sezanne

A late start today, just after 9, no rush today. I read for a while, uploaded another blog and then packed. I had a small breakfast at the nearby boulangerie/patiserrie, checked email with their WiFi and then headed out.

Getting out of town was very easy with bike lanes and a good route in Google Maps. There were no road signs for the D20 for the first 10 Ks, so good thing for Google Maps. What would we have done in the pre-Google Maps days?

The road was initially a bit busy, mainly traffic coming in, and then I was back to a nice quiet road. It was cold today, so good thing I wore a thermal. I stopped for a snack at the end of the D20. Another delicious Flan!

From there I had some more amazing quiet back roads and then an awesome C road with a tail wind, on hill I barely had to peddle going uphill and I was just coasting along on the flats. There was short red road, 2.5 Ks, but only a half dozen cars, then onto another amazing quiet road. The route turned NW here so there was a bit of a side wind which was surprisingly strong.

I got into town around 1:15 and had a look at the church, the earliest parts of the church are from the 12^th century, most of it is from the 16^th century and then renovated in the late 20^th century. I had lunch in a bar opposite the church, very pleasant although the wind was cold so a good thing I still had the thermal on. I had a salad and the nice thing about a French salad is what goes into it, lardons and duck gizzards, so wholesome J

I went to tourist info and got the map for the ‘Route Touristque de Champagne’ for another day and then I went to the hotel. The hotel is lovely but it turns out I have an apartment again which is 50m down the road.

I showered and did the washing etc. and then tried to read, in the end I set an alarm and had a nap J After that I stretched and then went to dinner about 7:45. Typical of this area dinner doesn’t even still start until 7:30. I realised tonight that all of my best meals have been in Logis (or former) in country locations like this one. I need to do a walking trip with Ken so that we have the appetite to enjoy food like this!

It was of course a great meal. There was an Amuse en bouche, Gazpacho (which seems popular), Snails in pesto and cheese, Rib Eye steak which was very tender, a nice cheese selection and then their own dessert, Relais de Champenois, sort of a giant profiterole. And of course I had nice bottle of wine, a Medoc, very substantial J I initially had a carafe d’eau but it wasn’t chilled so I got a bottle of sparkling water.

After that I went back to room to make some notes, then ring home and read.

Aisey-sur-Seine to Troyes

A fast day today and a long day at 95Ks!

As there is nothing in the town I had the hotel breakfast which was a simple one with bread, croissant, jams, honey and Nutella (when did I last eat that?). I ate quite a bit as you never know how far it will be and took a small slab of bread just in case, although I didn’t need it.

I had a choice about which way to go, follow the red road directly to Troyes as it has a good shoulder, or wander through the back roads up and down hill and dale as usual. Of course I chose the latter and naturally the ride started with a stiff climb out of town. It was windy again but not as cold as yesterday. After the initial climb the road rolled along the top of the hills completely surrounded by wheat fields, which is the norm around here.

As I was coming to the first town where I would need to make a right I noticed how busy that road was, oh no. However when I got to the town I checked the map and realised that there were two roads heading north and I needed the further away one, phew ok.

Another day of those lovely quiet roads again! After the earlier climb I got a nice downhill. In fact most of the rest of the day turned out to be downhill! When I came to the next town I needed to check the map in detail so I took off the yellow lenses I’d been wearing. Oh my, it was so dark. I hadn’t realised as the yellow tinted lenses make everything seem warm and cheerful. The weather was actually looking pretty grim and misty.

Still it wasn’t raining which was good so I continued on; I was making excellent time today, of course there was all that downhill that I’d earned earlier. I saw a couple of Logis de Frances along the way so I knew I must be in an interesting area and then I came to the sign for a new region and I was now in the Champagne region! I actually didn’t realise it extended this far south. I don’t see any vines here, but then I am in the bottom of a valley.

The weather got a bit thicker and it was almost but not quite raining. You could feel the mist on your arms but looking down at the panniers they were definitely still looking dry. Maybe it was the weather but the roads were still lovely and quiet. There was one point just after Bar-sur-Seine where I needed to do 2Ks downhill on a busier road, I went flat out and only a couple of cars passed me and then I wound my way through a small town and on to the D49 which would take me all the way to Troyes.

I was getting a bit peckish so I detoured at around 12:30 (already done 75Ks) back to the main road to get food. It was a good thing I did as I didn’t see anywhere else to eat until I got to Troyes! The town I was in had a couple of Boulangeries and one pub with a menu, I decided on a Boulangerie as I didn’t want to eat too much and so I had a ham baguette (I ate three quarters), an éclair chocolate and a coke. Nice.

I noticed a lot of the towns have Tour signs and colours up, perhaps they came through here this year?

Then it was back to the quiet white road and in no time at all in the out skirts of Troyes. The city has excellent signage and then for the last 2 or 3 Ks there was a bike path all the way in to town. Once in town I happened to check Google maps at just the right moment, turned left and in to time found where I am staying. Of course I got there too early so I went into a nearby Boulangerie to use their WiFi, and to have a prune tart.

I realised then that you have to ring the phone number supplied as I am actually staying in an apartment not a hotel. So I rang them and the owner’s wife came around and opened up and explained everything to me. It’s a big apartment with a large lounge/kitchen and a separate bedroom. I showered and then walked into the town centre which is only a few blocks away.

Troyes is a lovely old town, oodles of restored buildings (which they were planning to demolish in the 60’s in order to modernise the city), and tourism seems to be the cities major industry now. There are several nice churches to visit and it started pouring while I was in one so I had a sit for a while. The furthest away church, Cathedral I guess, has what must be the biggest columns I think I’ve ever seen; you could fit a London hotel room inside one of them!

I meandered around enjoying the town and the old buildings for quite a while and got a 2 boule ice cream before wandering back to the room to do the diary and upload some blogs. Just after 7 I went back into town for dinner. I’d decided to have a lighter meal today (even though I did 95Ks) so no bottle of wine. I got a simple 3 courses with a Kir Royal (my first Royal) and a quarter bottle of apple cider. Nice. I had an entrée of Presse de Pomme de Terre with Duckling Terrine and then a main of duckling leg which was delicious and very tender; dessert was the Strawberry dessert of the house.

I then went back to room to upload some more blog and I booked the rest of hotels to Paris. There are not as many hotels in the areas I’m riding through and of course it is the weekend so the hotels are getting a bit expensive, Saturday night is 105 euros!

After that I watched some TV and then a recording of MIdsomer before bed. Interestingly the Scandinavian series ‘The Killing’ is on here and unlike in Oz they dub it!

Dijon to Aisey-sur-Seine

Another lovely day of riding today; barely a car about!

The day started slow with no need to rush as I want to buy a new bike lock and the first bike shop to open is at 9. So I lolled and watched the BBC/DW/Music Videos until quarter to nine. Then I got stuff together and headed down, packed the bike and then used Google Maps to get to the store. No problem there of course, other than having to get a lock with a key rather than a combination L While I was there I asked them to loosen my peddles as I was flying soon, done!

Next was breakfast. I had considered getting the hotel breakfast as it was only 6.50 but preferred to get something at a Boulangerie. I ended up with a leek quiche, a petite pain and a Flan; really delicious. I sat in the sun to eat the quiche and bread and as so stuffed I had to save the Flan for later.

I finally rolled out just after 9:30! Dijon is really well set up for bicycles with lots of bike lanes and contraflow lanes. It was easy to get out of town and onto a quiet white D road. The first town out of Dijon even had a separate bike path for the last few Ks.

The ride revealed itself to be up for a few Ks, down for a few Ks, village, repeat. Sigh. On the plus side I’ve now done over 20,000m of climbing! Today’s climbs were all fairly easy middle chain ring climbs and the sun was out most of the day. I’ve noticed that often the mornings are muggy but not that hot and then the afternoons can be quite baking. The wind today was quite cool as well; I was tempted to put a thermal on but it wasn’t quite cool enough.

The first climb of the day was long and was followed by a ripper of a descent into Moloy. The descent just kept on going down and down, aside from a couple of switchbacks it was mainly no brakes required sweeping corners and long straights!

Coming out of the town of Moloy was a rather steep section which took me to over 500m. From there the rest of the day, while lumpy, was mainly downhill; especially from after the first hill out of Echalot.

I was running low on water by 2pm and all of the towns for the last few hours had been so small that they had no shops. I was pinning my hopes on the town of Aignay-la-Duc which was the largest one I’d been to since Dijon. Fortunately it had a bar/pizza so I stopped there. I asked about lunch and they said not open for lunch. So I ordered a coke and then they talked among themselves and offered to make me a ham sandwich, yes! Of course a ham sandwich in France is a half baguette filled with ham and gherkin; delicious. I ate the whole thing and while I was doing that they tried to work out what to charge me. They even tried ringing the owner but no answer so in the end settled on 4.80; fine with me. As I was finishing they settled down to their own lunch; just salad and wine but I suspect that was a first course. As I left they locked up!

From there it was very easy riding and in no time I was coming into the destination town of Aisey-sur-Seine, and yes it is that Seine. It’s funny the last 3 Ks into town (about 10 min) just dragged and dragged, which is funny because on a long alpine climb the 3 Ks seems to fly by (about 30 min)!

The hotel is closed until 5pm and it was only 3, so I rode around town but there really isn’t anything here. It’s quite a nice town with what looks like a large 19^th century church, there’s an old water wheel by a mill next to the river, the river itself. But everything is closed. So after a ride around I sat down in some grass for a rest. I think I may have dozed off because the church bells woke me at 4pm. It was kind of hot so I moved to the nearby bus shelter and had a read. (Good thing I bought some new books last night.)

Then it was 5pm so I checked in. No problems with the bike, large room out back, and then did all of the usual things before working on the diary while ‘watching’ TV until dinner time at 7pm.

There was a bit of a storm brewing when I went down for dinner, but that just cooled things down a bit. I resisted the urge to get a Kir as I thought I'd probably get a bottle of wine, which I did. The win was a Premier Cru 2014 Burgundy half bottle which went well with the entrée and main. 

The entrée was a delicious Foie Gras with some sort of chutney/jam and had been slightly salted which was a nice touch. For the main I had the amazing lamb shank and potato, possibly the best main of the trip! Then there was a cheese course where they just leave the selection there for you and finally a dessert. 

So many desserts to choose from:

But of course how could it be anything other than Pear in Wine? The wine was quite sweet, delicious!

After that back to the room for some reading, TV and I rang mum and dad before bed.

Saint-Etienne to Dijon

A transit day today, so sort of a rest day. Which is fortunate because it is pouring outside!

I had a loll then went out to get something for breakfast. You can tell the town is actually waking up today; people about, shops opening up. I got a mini baguette ham and cheese sandwich and a Flan and then wandered back to the room to eat them, nice. While I was out I checked the opening time of the store I got the maps at yesterday and went back at 9 to get the Paris environs maps; I may as well get it now while I know where to get it.

Then I lolled some more and eventually made my way down at 9:45. It took a bit of time, then the bike packing and I began to realise I’d left it a bit too late. I wore shorts rather than cycling pants as it is only 1K to the train at each end. Of course it felt a lot longer by the time I got there in the driving rain L

I was correct; I’d left it too late and was still waiting in line 10 min after the train I’d planned to catch. No problem; there is a train to Lyon every 30 minutes and from there to Dijon every hour. In a way it is a better solution as I now have 40 minutes at Lyon station to find the platform and get there instead of having to rush from train to train in 10 min.

The ride to Lyon was uneventful (although I hadn’t worked out how to certify my ticket) and it had stopped raining by the time I got there. Once in Lyon I bought a tuna demi-baguette and coke and then stood around waiting for the platform to be announced; then with only 8 min until it was due headed up to the platform. The train arrived a few minutes early and I eventually discovered the bike area right at the front of the train. Pretty luxurious for a bike, 6 hooks and a large empty carriage with nice seats. About 20 minutes after we set off the conductor came through and explained that this carriage was closed to passengers; the bike was ok I just needed to move back a carriage.

The new carriage was also quite comfortable, mainly because it was almost empty. I’ve often wondered why trains keep having sitting with 2 x 2 facing each other; everyone is uncomfortable… The trip was over 2 hours and I read and may have dozed off for a bit as well. The conductor was funny, he would read out his script at each stop incredibly quickly. I could never pick out the train station name but I think it may have been at the beginning.

Once into Dijon, the final stop I retrieved the bike and then rolled down to the hotel. The hotel is very modern, key codes not keys, and we just managed to squeeze my bike into the luggage room. I don’t think you’d be getting two bikes in there!

I went and showered and then went for a walk around town. It is a nice town, historic with lots of charming streets in a large mall area and several old churches. The one near the hotel had a crypt so I popped down for a look; 11^th century although there is a burial area from the 2^nd century. As I left there it started to rain so I stopped outside a restaurant which it turned out had a 150 Euro degustation. Sigh, where are Ken or Paul when you need them?

After the rain stopped I continued to wander through the old town and took a look at the Ducal Palace but did not go in as it was already late. It rained again and I stood outside another restaurant which had 70 Euro tasting menus. Sigh. There are lots of nice regional food stores (Dijon mustard of course) but everything is too bulky to take on the bike so I had to pass it all up. I picked Dijon because it was a large town (I could point to it on the map at the train ticket office) and because it was reasonably close to Paris. What I hadn’t really given any thought to was where it was… Burgundy! If I’d gotten off a bit earlier I could have gone to some of the most famous Burgundy wine areas. Bum.

After a long walk I got a lemon tart with strawberries (to tide me over until dinner) and went back to the hotel to eat it and have a read. I finished my last e-book so I bought a few more to read now and later on the plane.

Around 7 I set off again, this time in search of dinner. I’d done some searching and a few sites recommended Dr Wine which was quite close. I checked out a number of other places but how do you chose? So I went to Dr Wine and, as I was early, was able to get in without a booking. The meals are actually quite small but I had a basket of really scrummy bread with the entrée and with the main so I was fine. The entrée was a Salmon Carpaccio with a 2011 Grand Cru Chablis. Delicious! The main was, naturally, Beef Bourgignon with a 2013 Pinot Noir; also delicious. I used the bread to get every last drop of the sauce out of the bowl! I was then pondering whether to have dessert or get another main (I went a la carte)  but in the end decided I wasn’t that hungry so I got a lime cheese cake with a nice 2012 Sauterne.

Feeling a bit sloshed I headed (without my brolly L) back to the hotel and had a read and watched some TV before bed J