Paris - Michel Rostang Day

Slept well again last night, finally getting up around 8.30. I showered and shaved(!) for today's big event. We had a light breakfast of baguette and then walked to the restaurant. We left at 10.30 and we just managed to get there at midday. We had a nice long walk and wandered a bit off the main roads. We didn't even really get lost! And Paul was doing the navigating! Of course when we got there they weren't open yet. Too early (some sort of error on their part with the booking). We said we'd come back at 12.30 which seemed more reasonable. We went for a walk around the area, had a short sit on a bench and then went back. Of course we were still the first ones there :)


The restaurant is very nice inside as you would expect, wood panelling, linen, silver ware, all very tasteful! They brought out the menu's (set menu, a la carte) and also a plate with a pair of three little appetisers. To be honest the way they were presented I wasn't sure if we were being offered a choice of one or the opportunity to take one now and eat others later :) The first one we had was a sardine ball with a small dab of sauce. The second was a mini tart with a clam and something else on it and the third a mini slice of something like a pork terrine. Delicious.

While we were thinking about what meals to have we got an aperitif, Kir for me, Kir Royal for Paul. We then said we were ready to order but we had to have another think because they wanted to know what dessert we wanted as well. Normally that is left to last. Of course during all this we had a choice of bread rolls and there was a large tub of nice butter.

Once we'd finished ordering they brought out a palette cleanser, a glass with three different layers. The top layer was an effusion of tomato, it was white like a meringue but tasted of tomato! The second layer was a zucchini puree and the third some sort of duck. Each layer was nice and it all worked together very well as well.


The sommelier brought out the wine menu. It was VERY impressive. Such a huge selection of such really good wines. Hardly anything under 100 Euro a bottle. Naturally we had no idea since we are getting different courses to each other as well. In the end we asked the sommelier to recommend something. He asked if we wanted a bottle or by the glass. The menu didn't actually have any by the glass prices so we thought that would be good. He asked if we would like us to leave it to him and we said yes. What a good choice. The wine matches were excellent, they really matched well with the food, and interestingly they were pretty much exactly the right size to match the course. Paul noted that every wine we had was served in a different wine glass!

For an entree I had ordered the entree du jour, rabbit with foie gras and aspic. Paul had pigeon stuffed with foie gras. The rabbit was really nice and the foie gras was in a layer above the rabbit, and below the aspic. The layering like this meant that the rabbit, which was quite meaty, was very tender when eating thanks to the foie gras and aspic layer. They worked together so well.


For the main Paul had what was like a pork terrine on a bed of green beans and mini mushrooms. I had fish, Saint Pierre (John Dory) with apricot and mini mushrooms in a lovely (no fat spared) sauce. The serve actually looks quite small but with what came before, the wine and the sauce with the dish it just seemed to be very filling. The fish was really tender and the sauce was luscious. The mini mushrooms were also very tasty.

Finally came dessert. Paul had a souffle with caramel sauce and I had cherries with a cake piece, sorbet and a biscuity bit on top. Naturally this was really nice, an excellent finish to the meal!


Actually that wasn't quite everything! We got coffee and tea and a plate of petite fours were served, and there were four each. They were all very tasty, again see the photo. We sat for a while, we both had two drinks and admired the décor. I went to the toilet again so that I could take a video of the wine cellar :)


We finally left around 3pm and waddled up towards the Arc de Triomph and caught the train home, back just in time to see the finish of the Tour! A perfect day out :)

We both napped at one point or another in the afternoon. We did get some food for dinner, just some baguette, ham, tomato and a slice for dessert.

Paris – Louvre Day

Had a good sleep last night, woke around 7.30, powered up the netbook and rang mum and dad. Talked for quite a while then wrote the diary while Paul was getting ready. We then walked out to look for food. Now as it happens Paul just by chance knows that there is a market on in Bastille today so we went and had a walk there. We bought some nice fruit, cherries, peaches, squashed peaches, strawberries. Then we walked back to a famous patisserie that just happens to be across the road from the hotel, Lenotre. Paul got a pain au chocolate and I bought a particularly rich looking eclair.

Fully loaded we struggled back (well not really Paul has a backpack) to the hotel in order to become fully loaded for the day ahead :) Oh yes, I also got a quiche to have the baguette which the lady kindly nuked so it was hot, very nice. We ate some of the fruit, photographed everything and then I had my unbelievably rich chocolatey eclair and Paul his pain au chocolate. We think they use good quality Belgian chocolate, very strong. We won't be dozing off this morning after all that caffeine.


We then walked to the Louvre. We stopped at a number of shops along the way for a look. Food and wine shops of course :) Then into the Louvre, after the customary shots outside first. We first went into the Richelieu section where there are a lot of statues and over the next hour or two meandered our way to the Egyptian section. For some reason we seemed to be doing most of the museum in the reverse direction to the arrows, but oh well. The Louvre is all very impressive as ever, we were pretty exhausted after about two and a half hours and then it was time for... lunch!


Now, just as it happens, Paul knew of a couple of very good reasonably priced restaurants quite close to the Louvre. We had marked them on the map last night so we headed off in the direction of the one Paul had picked, Bistrot Victoires. Their speciality is large salads, which Paul had, where as I had a steak with fries. The steak was very tender but of course could not compete with the monster duck offal salad that Paul got :) We had a half litre of rose with it as well.

Fully bloated, and a little tipsy, we made our way back to the Louvre to resume our cultural work. This time we went up to the grand hall, over 400 metres long, near to the Mona Lisa. It was pretty busy now, especially with the Mona Lisa. Paul got an audio headset this morning, looks like an iTouch in a case actually, and we had been using that off an on. The only thing with it is that the coverage is not that high and concentrates on rooms with lots of famous stuff. Also the commentaries are quite detailed so it is a bit exhausting to listen too :)


After the Mona Lisa we wandered around the picture galleries on the top floor until closing time. Then we had a look at the stores in the shopping centre that is buried under ground next to the Louvre before heading out in to the Jardin des Tuilleries. Paul bought a bottle of cold water from a hawker and then we sat for a little while by a large fountain, at least until it started to rain. Then we made our way over to the large grand buildings that face the avenue that the Louvre is on. We had a good wander here and marvelled at the room prices!

Then we made our way across the Place de la Concorde, which already has oodles of barriers set aside, presumably for the Tour, and then walked ALL of the way back to the hotel along the Seine. The road hat runs along the side of the Seine was actually closed and they had all sorts of eating places, bars, petanque playing area, a beach even, set up. I was so exhausted by the time we got back, practically keeling over. It had been such a long day and so much walking. We sat in the room for about half an hour, but there is no resting when you are on holiday. Nope, it was time for dinner!

Just as it happens, naturally, Paul had noticed this morning that only a couple of blocks from here is the oldest Bistro in Paris, Bofinger. So that's where we went. There was a short queue, about a 15 minute wait before we were seated. It is very nice inside, lovely lighting and old wooden panelling, I don't think my photo's really capture it. We both had oysters for the entree, they were served on large platter of ice. Looks very nice. The oysters themselves are large and creamy but very salty, Paul prefers Sydney ones. There were little pieces of bread on a plate under the oysters, half salted butter and onions in vinegar. We weren't really sure if we were supposed to eat them with the oysters or not :) I tried the vinegar and onion but it didn't work for me, too over powering.


For the mains Paul had a chicken dish and I had salmon, both very nice. The salmon was very tender, in a thin pastry, as good as when it's done on the BBQ, which is pretty good for something done in the over I think. Mine came with mashed potato's and Paul's with ravioli (spinach and ricotta). Paul was impressed that after the main the waiters (who were wearing Tuxedo's) cleaned all of the crumbs off the table. I of course would expect nothing less :)

For dessert Paul had an Illes Flottante (like I had yesterday) and I had a chocolate slice thingy, very rich and tasty. We had another half litre of wine with dinner, Riesling this time, which they even put in an ice bucket, all very salubrious.

Then we had to rush back to the hotel (it had been raining but not now) to see the last few minutes of the Tour. We started to do the expenses, but in the time it took the diary to load Paul had gone from “Ok lets do the expenses” to snoring :)

Charly-sur-Marne to Charles-de-Gaul Airport

Lolled again this morning. No point rushing as I don't need to meet Paul until around 7 pm, his plane is due at 6.20 pm. It had rained during the night which was a bummer however when I finally got up it was sunny outside! So I took my time so that the tent could dry out. Once everything was dried and packed I went into town and got a demi-baguette and a pain au raison, then I sat on a bench, in the sun, and ate them. The pain au raison was really good, thick and full of raisins, it was so thick I couldn't even finish it :) I finally set off from town at 10.40. As I said no rush today :)

I continued on down the Champagne route, yet more champagne houses, although they are starting to thin out a bit now. The route continued along the Marne until I finally turned off in the direction of Saint Aulde. As expected turning off actually meant turning up, up the hills surrounding the Marne, however the climb was not very steep and was quite cool from the forest.

After heading north for a little bit I then resumed heading west, winding in and out of little villages. I recall one really nice section on the C6 to Chaton, a tiny, tiny little crumbling road, barely a car wide, through a dense forest and all down hill, lovely. Eventually it was around lunch time, I waited till 1pm because of the late start, and at Lizy-sur-Ourcq I found a nice little Italian restaurant where I had a spaghetti Fruits de Mer. Quite nice, followed by an Illes Flotante, a large whipped meringue in a see of custard.

I left there around 2 pm. Then it was back to winding in and out of little country villages, quite pleasant really. You would never know that you were so close to Paris, there is really no hint of it at all. Well, except for the continuous line of planes flying in exactly the same direction as I am riding.

I had another stop later in the afternoon for a coke and to use the loo. It is really hot again today so the coke stop was very pleasant. They had a bunch of old photos on the wall in the bar, but alas no dates. I was almost at the airport now and I was getting to the tricky bit. There is a white road marked on the map as going straight down the middle of the airport. As I don't know where Terminal 1 is (although I guess the far end) this seems the best way into the airport.

It was a short 5 or 6 K's into the terminal and the road while mildly busy was not too bad. The road wanted me to go to the parking but when we passed the taxi stands where passengers were getting cabs I just pulled in there and walked into the terminal. Phew, that was a relief and not too hard as it turned out.

I checked the time on Paul's plane, it was arriving at 5.26, not 6.20, and here it was 5.14, so I beat him by 12 minutes :) Of course it was over an hour before Paul finally came out as he had to unpack the bike and load all of the gear on to it. I sat in the bar area and had a Kir while I waited. I did some SuDuKo's and read some more Ruth Rendell. Then I thought I better stand by the exit area for when he came out. It was a bit of a wait but eventually he did.

The next challenge was to get to Paris. And the first stage of that was to get to the train station which is in Terminal 3. I remember in 1995 that we had to ride because the bus wouldn't take the bike, however that is not an issue now as there is a shuttle train rather than buses. Cool!

Then we had to buy tickets, I picked Gare du Nord because I know how to get to the hotel from there, and then navigate down to the train itself. We had to stand the whole way with the bikes, practically blocking the entrance. Of course it turned out that there was a baggage area quite near to us but we didn't see it. Oh well. It was a good thing we got of at Gare du Nord as well, the train was getting so busy it would have been hard to get off at the next station even if it was closer.

Then the final leg, the ride to the hotel, in, alas, the pouring rain. At first it was only spitting lightly so we didn't bother with jackets but by the time we got to Place de la Republique it pouring. There was a bike path almost the whole way from the station to here which was nice and then to Bastille there was a bus lane which bikes could use, very good. There was a lot of traffic of course but by and large it was no problem. Fortunately there was a map of the local area and we easily found out hotel where, rather sodden, we dragged our bikes through the reception and out to the back where we could lock them in a courtyard (in the rain).

The room is quite good. A flat screen TV, not wide screen though which is common in Europe and rather odd I think. Do they even sell them in Australia? The room is of course small but there is a large cupboard each next to our beds and the bathroom is very nice. And they have WiFi. So at this point in time I'd say that I'd definitely stay here again! After unpacking and showering we went across the street for a quick bite at the Chinese restaurant there. Then we rushed back to watch the repeat of the tour. Very exciting.

Epernay to Charly-sur-Marne

My oh my, Paul is going to be shocked when he reads about today!!! Read on...

I thought I got up early this morning but obviously not. There are two other independent touring cyclists camped beside me, they are both already gone. There is another cyclist a few spots away who was just doing the last straps up as I walked to the loo. Even the motor cyclist behind me is gone, with his motor bike. I didn't hear any of them :) Of course there is no point leaving early as nothing will be open before 10 am anyway.


The camping ground is already today's route so I just followed it out of town and across a bridge to the other side of the Marne river. I took a few photos here as it was quite pretty. There is a Route Touristique de Champagne which follows the Marne for quite a distance so I thought I would follow that. Of course we all know what following a river means!


After a few K's I came to a very nice little town by the river and decided it was time to finish off breakfast, so I got a chocolate eclair (a really nice one) and a coke and sat by the river to eat it. It is lovely and hot today, sunny, not a cloud in the sky. Sigh, so nice. To add to that there is a monster tail wind running down the valley in the same direction as me. It doesn't get much better than that. Of course we all know what often happens to monster tail winds in the afternoon don't we? I hope not, still it is better than rain.

The road made a few excursions up the side of the hills, for no obvious reason, but I did get some nice photos out of it. Eventually we came to a town where I thought I'd have lunch. There is a monster, 33 m, statue of Pope Urbanus II from the 11th century. I went up to have a look at that and the view then went back into the town. No restaurant, only a bar. Bummer.

I continued along the route, checking each town as I went. Eventually I found one in the town of Verneuil, it turned out to be a lovely spot. They had a not so small lake beside the hotel which was being fed with about half the water from the nearby stream. There were quite a few cute ducks around as well.


I sat on the terrace and ordered the menu du jour, I thought I'd make this my main meal of the day. The entree was a salad of chicken and mushrooms, lettuce, jambon cru and calamari rings. The calamari batter wasn't quite cooked but everything else was very nice. I think with enough bread it would have been enough for lunch on its own. Oh, and I had it with a glass of champagne as well, of course. Champagne Lehreux (or something like that). For the main it was pork medallions in a mustard sauce with potato that were done with onion and cheese. I also had a carafe of water. I was pretty stuffed by now and then I did the thing that would shock Paul, I skipped the cheese course! I just couldn't eat it, and went on to the dessert, which was a plate of fruit. Cool and very tasty. I'd go so far as to say that the fruit may be direct from the farm as it definitely seems better than what the stores sell. And then I did it again, I refused the coffee/tea after the meal. I'd had another carafe of water and was just too bloated.

About the route, there were oodles of champagne houses along the road. As Paul wasn't here I wasn't too inclined to go in on my own. The houses, and some of them literally are houses, are not very inviting. They are quite pretentious and they rarely have anyone in them. The amazing thing is how many of them there are. Hundreds. And that is just on the road I am riding along. Surely some of them have just one little field of grapes that they make their wine from? There just isn't enough planted for so many champagne houses to have much of a yield?

Anyway, back to the ride. After a quick walk around the lake at the restaurant I set off again, already 2.30 pm. It was pretty hot too. According to one of the towns I went through 34C. From here I rode pretty much straight through to Chateau-Thierry, didn't like that and so just rode on out of town and continued on along the Marne. In the end I finished at the camping at Charly-sur-Marne. Of course that tail wind I me mentioned in the morning, the wind turned during the afternoon and there was one horrible straight stretch where I was going directly into it, I was only able to manage 11 or 12 kph it was so strong.

After setting up I walked into town. It is quite a pretty town but it is odd in one way, there are no restaurants. There are 2 pizza places, a bar, a bar with pizza and a bar with proper food but which only serves food at lunch. In the end I went to the bar with pizza so that I could watch the news on TV. The pizza (4 seasons again) was quite nice although a lot of cheese. I had another Fanta with it and he didn't charge me for it for some reason. (I think perhaps it is because the taxes on food have been reduced from 19.6% to 5.5% from the beginning of July.) The bar seems to be used by itinerant workers, there were several there having dinner with the bar man, looked good actually Calamari and rice.

Charmes by train to Epernay

Breakfast was a little disappointing this morning, one piece of baguette and a croissant with two types of jam and tea (Earl Grey). In the end I thought I better eat the croissant even though there was a risk of indigestion. Of course once I'd eaten everything and finished the tea she offered me more :) So I had another piece of baguette and another pot of tea. So not so disappointing afterall :)


I paid and then checked out the local stores for the Michelin maps I need for Epernay to Paris. No luck, it is Monday morning. I went to the station and did SuDuKo's and read until my train. The trip to Nancy was quite quick, only 30 minutes or so. I got a seat just across from the bike which was lucky because on one of the corners it actually fell over. It was so slow and graceful, I almost caught it :) I adjusted the bike and there were no more problems.

At Nancy I had an hour and a half to fill in so I decided to get lunch, just a plat du jour. Unfortunately there was a bit of inattention on my part and I didn't get a fillet of beef I got a foie of beef, as in Liver :( Oh well, it was smothered in a wine sauce and came with copious amounts of mashed potato's so you could hardly taste it.


The train to Epernay, which I forgot to photograph, is an older one. This turned out to be good because it had a hanging area for up to 3 bikes. With a bit of effort I got the bike up into the train and up onto the hook. Both times someone helped me with the lifting :) I took the seat next to the bike to help try and reduce its swinging during the trip. Then I settled into my Ruth Rendell mystery (Inspector Wexford). It was a two hour trip and it went by reasonably quickly. I was beginning to wonder when we were going to finally see vineyards, we were almost into Epernay itself before they became visible. I managed to get the bike down out of the train, down and up the flight of stairs and eventually to find the Tourist Info in order to get to the camping. Unfortunately the camping is 2K's out of town but I decided I may as well, plenty of time to walk in this afternoon.

The camp site isn't bad actually, green grassy sites, plenty of trees, reasonably clean, free email terminal. I don't know what it costs yet, I forgot to ask, 16 Euro I'd guess. I set up and then walked into town, only 30 minutes or so.

The town itself is a bit odd. Sections of it are quite nice and other bits are just typical run down France. There isn't a distinctive centre to it. The Champagne houses are mainly on a long street a few blocks from everything else. I can't tell if the houses are new or have just been maintained extremely well. I won't go into any this time, I'll save that for when Paul is here at the end of the trip. There is a big Church near the train station, I skipped that too. I had a nice walk around got the two maps I need then sat in a big square and had a Kir while I studied the maps. Then I bought some food for dinner, demi-baguette, ham quiche, Flan and a coke. The Flan slice is absolutely enormous, I don't remember them being this large?

I put the Thermarest outside with the maps, food and l'Equip and had a nice read in the shade as it is still quite hot in the sun (which make a nice change). After that I read in the tent until bed time.

Ride Statistics Update

Riding
Distance 1511.58 Km
Altitude 12478 m

Belgium Cols
Col du Maquisard, 367 m
Col du Hautregard, 357 m

France Cols, Map 315
Col du Donon, 718 m

Col du Saales, 554 m
Col du Ste Marie, 772 m

Col des Bagnelles, 905 m
Col du Pre de Raves, 1005 m
Col du Bonhomme, 949 m
Col du Louchpach, 978 m
Col du Calvaire, 1134 m
Col du Wettstein, 880 m
Collet du Linge, 983 m

Col du Platzerwasel, 1183 m
Col Amic, 825 m
Col du Silberloch, 906 m
Col de Herrenfluh, 855 m
Col du Moorfeld, 1197 m
Col du Haag, 1233 m

Col du Ballon, 1178 m

Rupt-sur-Moselle to Charmes

When I got up it was... raining :( Given the break in the weather yesterday evening I thought it might be better today but, sigh, no it is raining quite a bit again. After ringing Oz again it was, alas, time to pack and go. I'd decided not to have breakfast at the hotel as I think 8 Euro is a bit steep when you can get a perfectly adequate breakfast at a patisserie for 3 or 4 Euro. So I packed, went down and paid, got the bike all set up and... it started bucketing down. Sigh.

I sat on a window ledge for a while until it had almost died out then set off for some food, I was quite hungry. By the time I got there, 800 m, it was raining again. I bought a pizza slice, yummy, and a local pastry (An egg of the land). The pastry had a doughy base with a very thin yellow custard layer that was covered in small berries, very tasty. I ate that standing under the eaves of the shop, by the time I'd finished, 10.20 am, it was only raining lightly and with in a K or so it had actually stopped! For the day!!!

It's such a relief when it stops raining. I followed the bike path to its conclusion in Remiremont. The path had been very nice winding its way down the valley, often right next to the Moselle. I gave brief thought to just stopping here but my shoes and gloves are finally starting to dry out properly so I thought I should ride on. Riding is the quickest way to dry shoes (aside from a hair drier). Also at 18 K's it did seem a bit short even for me :)

So I set off again, around 11.30 am. I have a minor map problem. The map I am on now stops about 20 K's before the next one starts. There is a major freeway on the other side of the Moselle, so it stands to reason that as long as I stay on the opposite side of it I should be right?


So I set off on a white route, D42 which follows the Moselle. The first town was Eloyes and it was a very pleasant ride to there. It is actually shown as a green route on my map and I agree. It was a quiet country road rolling along the side of the Moselle. The rolling of course is mainly up and down as is the way of river roads. When I got to the town it was just on midday so I rushed into a Patisserie, which had very little left, and bought a quick snack. The sun came out and so I sat on a chair by the town hall and ate my eclair and drank my coke. Very pleasant.

The good news was that the route I am on now, D42, continues on to Epinal, the only major town between here and Chatel-sur-Mosel where I am planning to go. This was another lovely road and it stayed dry albeit rather windy. I pushed a bit harder here as it seemed that the clouds I'd outrun this morning were starting to catch up with me again :)

About a K out of Epinal a bike path started, again along the river, so I got onto that. When I got to the main part of the town I seriously considered stopping for the night, very seriously, but thought that 48K's wasn't quite enough, also my shoes weren't quite dry and besides I don't really like really large towns. Also a hotel is bound to be very expensive here!

So I followed the bike path on out of the town. According to the second map I have the route I need to get onto is D157 and as it happened the bike path connected to route D157! So I was set. I followed the road, also very pleasant for a few K's when it joined up with a canal that flows along the side of the Moselle, for boat traffic, and on the canal there was a really nice bike path, which I used for the rest of the day. I think in the end I spent abut 50 K's on bike paths today.

I took a photo after a while and then stopped to watch a barge in the docks being raised to a new level. I never did get to see that happen in the Netherlands. The water level actually goes up very quickly. Then it was back to the path which alternated between cross winds, head winds and tails winds. All quite strong.

Eventually I got to Chatel-sur-Moselle and I thought I better go to the train station first. Oops, what train station? It doesn't have one. Hmmm. Rather than risk just getting on and paying tomorrow, and possibly not being able to connect in Nancy I decided it was better to ride on, sigh, to a town with a station, another 10 K's. Oh well.

The ride was actually pretty pleasant and I used the bike path for half of the distance. When I arrived, a 76 Km day, there was no problem with the ticket, and it was only 33 Euro, so I have saved 32 Euro by riding over the Vosges! (Of course not if you include food and hotel costs.)

I crossed back over the Moselle to look for a hotel. There was a Logis de France so I went and had a look, 45 Euro, which was Ok. However, even though the sign said it was open there was no one there. There was a sign on the door, Sonnette Hotel, pointing to the left, but I really don't know if that is the name of a hotel or the state of the current one? I gave up and went to another one on the other side of the main square. It was open and they had rooms, cheaper too. There was only one problem at the moment... the had no electricity. Oh no the Tour! The owner rang the only other place in town but it didn't have a room so I just took one here anyway.

After unpacking and a quick shower I set off in search of a bar with the Tour. Sigh none. One had horse racing on and all the others had some music show on. I went back to the hotel and... the power was back on :) Phew. I raced upstairs and checked that the TV was all ok. I watched a couple of minutes, there was still 12 K's to go. I was starving so I rushed out to a patisserie and bought some food then rushed back. 10 K's to go. Phew. It was actually a pretty good finish to the stage. Contador is in yellow now. There seems a good chance Lance will be on the podium and Cadel may not even make top 10 :(

I went for a nice walk down to the Moselle. There is a boat mooring area which is also next to a camper van parking area. Boats are 7 Euro per day and camper vans are 6 Euro per day, pretty good really. There were a couple of big old barges there, one even has rooms to rent. There were also over 50 camper vans. I keep accidentally typing camper cans rather than vans and I think that about sums it up for me. Albeit that some are huge and sumptuous.

I then strolled back to the hotel for... dinner!


I had already checked out the two main restaurants in town and decided that the hotel was the best value. I picked the local speciality menu which was a mere three courses. The entree was a plate of green salad, potato with Munster cheese and raw ham. Quite tasty. The main was a Tajine of Duck with vegetables. A tajine is a base plate with a tall conical dish on top, that's the blue bit in the photo at the back. The duck was very tender, naturally, and it was nice to have so many vegies, it came with couscous as well. Dessert was a raspberry sorbet.

After dinner I watched my final Midsomer Murders on my netbook.

Uffholtz to Rupt-sur-Moselle

Woke to more rain. Sigh. I checked the hotel I had until 11 am to leave and the weather report last night was improving weather in the afternoon, so no point rushing. I had a nice breakfast, caught up on email, updated more of the blog and rang home. All very pleasant. Eventually I had to leave, they rang to ask when I was going :)

I eventually left and had a bit of trouble getting to a bike path I planned to use to go up a valley. Eventually I got there which was Ok. What was not Ok was that it was raining quite a bit. Bugger.

The bike path is on an old train line and for part of it there was still track work for a tourist steam train, which I eventually caught up to at its turn around point. I plodded on up the valley. There was not much climbing involved, never more than 1 %, normally less. Eventually I got to the start of the climb proper, around 1.40 pm I think. This section was actually really lovely. There was almost no traffic, the road snaked along the side of a lake, climbed a little and then ran along another lake. Then finally it started a switch back climb for a kilometre or two. I stopped during this bit and had some baguette (from yesterday) and a drink.


Then back to the climb. It had begun in earnest now and did not let up until about 3 K's from the top. There was very little traffic and quite a few bikes around. The best bit was that the rain was off and on and was never more than a light drizzle. The average gradient was about 7 %, max ~9 %. 3 K's from the top there is an intersection and it flattens out here. I was almost completely dry by here.

There was a detour set up because they were remaking the road. I was worried for a bit that the top might not be reachable, but no need to worry as it turned out. After a K or so the road swung around to the right and came out of the lee of the hill I had been riding up. And it started POURING. Within a K I was soaked again. Damn. Then, funnily enough, the road turned again and the rain just stopped. Too late for my shoes of course :(


The last little push to the top was on a completely open stretch of the road, just above the tree line. The wind was blowing a gale and actually blew me off the road at one point. I eventually made it to the top. Just before I got there two cyclists passed going down the hill, they were freezing :) I was actually quite snug in the Goretex and long finger gloves.

Now that reminds me of one other thing. The route I did today, which got me across the Vosges mountains and into the Moselle, is closed tomorrow! There is a car rally on and the road is closed. I would have been completely stuffed if I hadn't been able to get across. I would have had to catch a train. The train goes up to Strasburg, that is the first place where a train can cross, or alternately gone south somewhere. So it is a good thing I left yesterday rather than going over the Grand Ballon today!

The descent was very nice. Out of the mists and drizzle of the top I dropped into clear, rainless and even sunny roads. The descent was pretty good, quite a few switch backs and long windy sections. I was dry again (except the shoes) by the time I got to the bottom!

Once at the bottom I followed the bike path again. In the end I was at another Logis de France. 40 Euro this time. Definitely not as good as last night but still comfortable and with free internet. You know what comes next...

Dinner! Four courses again. An entree of Calves Head. The meat is like Ox Tongue except that there are also these white pieces, they aren't exactly fat but they look like it. By and large quite nice. Then trout, tasty as always. Followed by a selection (i.e. 4) cheeses. One was nice, the other three were all too strong for me. Dessert was a trio of brulee's. Not bad, one of them was a bit odd. Oh and a ¼ litre of Rose.

Le Tour

Woke at about 4 am, it was pouring, thunder, lightening, wind. Oh dear. Eventually went back to sleep and got up around 8. It had stopped raining but was looking pretty miserable. I eventually got up packed a bit, ate, waited a bit. It started to clear and the tent started to dry out! I waited more, finished packing, waited some more. The sun came out! Finally around 10.30 I left, bought some food and I finally set off up the Col at 10.40.

The road was already closed so there was just cyclists, pedestrians and tour/police traffic. Really pleasant. As this is not a mountain stage and the Col is still a fair way from the finish it is no where near as busy as somewhere like Alp d'Huez. Having said that there are still a lot of people about.

The start of the climb is just rolling along the valley floor. I actually really missed Paul here. There was a PMU sprint point set up for the Tour. There were already quite a few people there and someone had a big cow bell and was ringing it when riders came through. If we'd had a sprint there it would have been great :)

It was quite a while before the road really started to climb but boy did it. The first main stretch was 10 % (based on the KM signs on the side of the road) and a later bit was 13 %! And then a K or two later we came to the official start of the Tour climb! I'd been in granny for 20 minutes by then :)

From there on it was pretty much a slog the whole way. As I had panniers on I got lots of Allez, Allez's and Bon Courage! All very cheering. Then, quite strangely I thought, the Gendarmes stopped cyclists from midday. Walking only from then on. Bugger. Of course everyone got back on their bikes as soon as the Gendarmes were out of sight. Fortunately I was only 3 K's from the top and I only had to walk about 500 m of that. Not that riding was much faster of course :) I finally got to a spot about 100-150 m before the Col.

What I didn't realise is that the Col is not the top of the climb so I really don't know where I am in terms of TV viewing. Oh well, I'll study it when I get back to Oz. I got there at about 12.40, so two hours to do the climb. Pretty good. My only stop was to talk to an Aussie who I have seen on TV, he tries to see all of the stages.


I had a nice spot on the left hand side of the road and an American couple. A bit later a French group came and stood next (almost on top of) us. I had a touring bike which got them talking and the American Scott had reasonable French so we all got talking. Wine was shared, Cote de Rhone, baguette, chocolate, chips, cheese. All very cheery.

Then it started to rain. Did I mention how cold it was? I had my Goretex on and then had to put my PolarTek on underneath that and then had to add long fingered gloves and thermal longs. I was quite cosy until it all started to soak through. Eventually the Caravan came through. I got a Polka Dot cap which I kept, a lunch bag like the riders get, and a bunch of things I gave away (clothes washing detergent, 2 caps, newspaper). I also got a pack of nuts, which I ate, and a bottle of water (handy) which I took in a very pro tour rider like way. The girl handing it out had it in her hand and I just reached up and grabbed it, just like the riders :)


The caravan seemed much longer than I remember, it was very good. It was funny with the caravan cars. They are mostly convertibles, the girls inside are in jackets and soaked from the pouring rain. It doesn't look anywhere near as much fun as it did the two times I saw it on the Alp, in 30+ temperatures.


Eventually the riders came through, the were actually early. Sylvain Chavenal and Heinrich Haussler were in the lead with Txurrruka having been dropped a little earlier. A few minutes later Lance came through at the head of the main pack. I tried to get a photo but it didn't work out. They were all very intense, it seemed like a big battle was under way. (Watching TV later that night it didn't seem to be the case.) Then hoards of others came through, Voekler (suffering), Cancellarra, O'Grady (suffering), Rogers (focused), Thor Hushovd (suffering). Then came the autobus with Mark Cavendish (relaxed and he lost the Green Jersey today), Beppu the Japanese rider and all the other sprinters. We all thought it was over then and people started to pack and leave. Then about ten minutes later one lone rider came up on his own. He was really suffering, people were pushing him (he made it I think).


Then it really was time to go. Continuing on up the pass didn't seem like such as good idea now. But oh well, that was the choice I made. Of course there were thousands of people, bikes, cars trying to go up or down the mountain. At times it was walking speed. I eventually made it to the very top then there was a bit of a coast, riding mainly on the left hand side, before a major intersection where I went in the direction of the Grand Ballon. Hardly anyone went this way so it was very quite. Still raining of course.


The ride was initially along the top of a ridge before the climb itself. It was blowing a bit of a gale, and did I raining. But the climb wasn't really that long or steep. At the top it was a bit sheltered so a couple of photo's. Then the start of the descent which was a bit scary because of the conditions. I took it nice and slow. Eventually the descent stopped, around 800m and I started what was the last climb of the day before crossing the Col Amic. I took a short video here!


Then the long fairly gentle descent to the bottom of the valley. I got ahead of a long line of RVs here and managed to stay ahead of them because of all the switch backs. By and large a very pleasant descent.


We went through a town a couple of K's before Cernay, there was a Logis de France with a restaurant so I went straight in. Lovely. Dry. They even helped carry my bags up. After a quick shower I went down for another lovely three course dinner. An appetiser, Kir, a local Terrine, a glass of Riesling, a Turkey drumstick in mushroom sauce and Tiramisu for dessert. Ahh, bloated.

In Munster

Woke to the lovely sight of sunshine today! How nice for a change. I lolled for while, no rush today, then I went to the tourist info and got the Tour timetable for tomorrow. I should be able to go up at 11 am and then wait near the top. The Tour goes through between 15:46 and 16:10. The caravan comes through first at about 14:18. It's nice having the timetable.

Given the lack of internet at the camp site and that time is beginning to press a little to get to Paris I am thinking of riding on after the tour and going over the Grand Ballon to Cernay, near Mulhouse. Then on Saturday I can go over the Ballon d'Alsace. It means I can be at a train station on Sunday or Monday if I choose. My plan is to catch a train to near Paris then ride to the airport on the day Paul arrives.

I went to a computer shop (really mobile phone) which has a single Internet terminal. 1 Euro for 15 minutes. I used it to answer a few emails quickly and let people know where I am. Bloody French keyboards!


I hadn't eaten yet, so mastering an urge to buy lunch at a restaurant I went and bought some lovely sliced ham, very nice, a baguette and a rhubarb tart which Patrick would love. I bloated up on all of that back at the tent. I almost ate the entire baguette, and there I was thinking half for breakfast tomorrow :)

I then went and sat in the play room, it has power, and did the diary etc. while listening to music. I also pencilled in where I have been on all of my maps. All very pleasant. Afterwards I read for a while then went into town to post the post card for CiSRA. Vince thought I'd forget about them :)

When I came I watched the tour for about 90 minutes. I didn't start to fall asleep like yesterday :) The breakaway made it today, the end was quite exciting. There were over 20 people in the room.

Dinner! I'd decided on an Italian and as I suspected it was pretty full but I got a table ok. What I forgot to do was bring something to read ! Sigh. As expected it all took a long time but they were so busy and there were so many people about it was easy to pass the time. To help pass the time I had another Kir! And then with the main I had a glass of Rose! For the entree I had an Alsacienne Terrine. I had been thinking of getting a green salad but that came with the terrine. I think that the meat from the salad yesterday may have been the same, very similar taste although the terrine was meatier. For the main I had spag bog, pretty average, but then again that is not why I had it, so that was ok. Bread with both courses of course. For dessert I got the tart maison, it was a blackberry tart, almost burnt, and it was hot. Tasted ok, but cold would have been better.

Saint Marie aux Mines to Munster

Woke to the sound of driving rain. Oh no! I lolled for a while then decided to do a bit of packing. Then lolled some more, packed some more, watched some TV. Eventually conceded defeat and ate my left over baguettes, quite bloated. Finished packing, had everything on the bike. Watched some TV, stared out the window. Really did concede defeat at 9 am.

It was spitting lightly, not too bad, so I went to get some supplies, including my first pain au chocolate. It had STOPPED raining! Phew, I hope this holds. Then set off up the Col. It was very misty and quite warm so within a couple of K's I had to stop to take the jacket off. Still no rain.

The first climb, Col des Bagnelles, is the longest one of the day (I hope) as it starts at the lowest altitude. The climb was quite consistent, after an easy start it seemed to be pretty much around 7% for the entire climb. As I got higher the road actually started to be not exactly dry, but less wet. By the time I got to the top there were even a few sunny patches visible. Cool!

The next Col, Col du Pre de Raves, was pretty easy. Just a straight forward climb, a little easier, maybe 6 %. This was the highest Col for some time so I was hoping it would be just undulating from here for a while. That was pretty much the case to the Col du Bonhomme. It was funny at the Col du Bonhomme, a group of motor cyclists turned up, all very excited and went in for a beer at the bar there. It didn't seem much of an achievement to me :)


Anyway no rest for me, got to get more Cols up before Paul arrives. Next up was the Col du Louchpach, again pretty straight forward, a bit of a climb and then a descent down to the Col. Then a fairly significant climb to the Col du Calvaire, which is the highest pass I have been over so far this trip. There is a Ski resort here! I really must be fairly high up.

Don't worry I'm not going to upload pictures of every Col!

After this there was a long descent and then a very easy, not even the granny gear, climb up to the Col du Wettstein and then another small descent and another easy climb up to the Collet du Linge. There was no sign here :(

Done! 7 Cols in one day.

Finally, the reward of the day, the huge descent down to Munster, it was in the SUN! It was a really lovely descent. I got a good view of the valley for a long way down. It had nice sweeping bends and a good, dry, road surface. Very pleasant.

I eventually got to the camp site at 1.50 pm. Of course it was closed :) But they told me to set up and come back later. It's 16.40 Euro a night here, pretty steep considering there isn't even toilet paper (or a toilet seat). Still way cheaper than a hotel. (But maybe not a Gite.) I plan to stay 3 nights.


I went for a walk in town, picked out a place for dinner each night I am here. I got a post card to send to work. Wouldn't want them to think I have forgotten them :) Oh yes, there is this odd clicking sound in town, it is actually the sound of storks clapping their beaks. They have nests on the top of various buildings around town, quite interesting.


Dinner! I'd picked a place with a four course menu today, I'd earned it. I decided to have a Kir with dinner, it's cheaper than a Coke! Very nice. The entree was a local salad, lettuce, tomato, oodles of cheese, and a local sausage (almost like Devon). The main course was duck with sauerkraut and potato, pretty much like choucroute. Then a local cheese with bread and for dessert two slices of chocolate cake and a scoop of sorbet. I was so bloated. Did I mention the seven large pieces of baguette? Hey, that is one for each Col :)

Rothou to Saint Marie aux Mines

What a day. It rained off and on all night and so the tent was soaked in the morning. There was even a bit of water inside the tent. I think it was because there was a fold in the base of the tent. After packing I went into town to look for food. Now as it happens it's Bastille Day. So you know what that means in France! Yep, nothing is open. Hmmm, this is a problem.

There was nothing for it so I set off up the highway. The highway is the one I came in on yesterday and I had spent some time studying maps on how to avoid using it. I'd come up with a nice convoluted route that had 2 Cols and no red roads. That was completely out the door now as there was no chance of getting any food on those routes. Fortunately it is Bastille Day so there is no traffic, especially at 8 am. So the riding is actually quite pleasant. I often start touring rides in Europe without breakfast, planning to get it in a few K's, so I was used to this sort of start but a bit worried about where I would get food today.

The next couple of towns did not have any food and then the route started to climb, there is a Col along the early part of the route. As it happens none of the towns before the Col had anything open. Fortunately there is a largish town at the top, Saales, naturally since it is Col de Saales. The ride to here was very pleasant, hardly any traffic and just a light spattering of rain. Once in town there was a shop doing a roaring trade. I stocked up on bread, 1 and ½ baguettes, an eclair, some ham, a tomato, coke and what I thought was a saucisse but was actually a pate, very tasty. After a good bloat up (the Eclair was the best I've had so far) it was time to continue on. Did I mention the rain? Yes it is raining lightly. By the top of the Col the front panniers had a bit of water on them but my shoes were still dry. So really it is not that bad.

There was a pleasant but slow descent into a valley and then a left turn onto the road for the second Col of the day. This climb seemed harder than yesterday's, it was definitely steeper, at least 10 %. It also started raining a lot more, although the feet were still dry. I plodded away, I needed to stop a couple of times, once because of sweat washing down into my eyes. I did mention the rain didn't I? It's a bit cold too, definitely under 20 (16 when I got to the next town).


Eventually I reached the top and, finally, a Col with a sign. Then a trying descent down the other side. Trying? Yes, it was quite steep, many 10 % sections, so it was hard work breaking as I didn't want to go to fast because of the rain. Also my shoes and panniers got soaked on the way down, all thanks to the spray from the wheels.

Once in town I was so soaked I was NOT going to camp. I found a hotel near the centre of town, 55 Euro. I thought that was a bit dear and while I was thinking about it she offered me a different price. I really don't know what. Any way, I'll find out tomorrow :)

Absolutely soaked I dragged everything upstairs, laid it all out to dry. The room and bathroom are covered with stuff. After bathing, yes a bath not a shower but with a shower hose, I went for a walk around the town. On the way into town on the bike I had noticed several Salon de The and I was quite in the mood for a cup of tea. Now when I came in it was 11.50 am, now it was 12.40 pm. You know what that means don't you? Yep, everything was closed. Sigh. I did in the end find a patisserie where I got a Mille Feuille (many layer custard slice) which I had after lunch, very nice.

Back in the room I ate my lunch, the patisserie and then lolled about watching the Tour. I actually set my alarm to wake me near the end in case I dozed off. Which I did. All in all a very pleasant afternoon.


When I arrived for dinner she explained that there was some sort of speciality of the house. I was actually planning to get a three course menu but in the end decided that since she'd dropped the price I might as well get the speciality, only works out to 3 extra Euro. The speciality was very nice, a stew I guess you'd call it. Meat pieces, some tendon and a load of fat and bones. Paul would have loved it :) I wolfed it all down, except for the bones and fat. Afterwards I had a Tarte aux Maison, sort of an apple strudel pie slice. Very nice too.

Afterwards checked the weather, more rain :(

La Petite Pierre to Rothou

A fast days riding today. After a demi-baguette in the garden by the castle with jam I was off just after 8 am!

The ride was pretty straight forward and after a great descent down from the town I made my way to Phalsbourg. Then to Walscheid where I stopped and got some things to eat. I had already done a lot of climbing at this point, but my average was still pretty good, over 18!

After the lunch stop I had a long climb and another good descent and then I turned on to the route up to the Col du Donon. This was the main objective of the day. I haven't even decided where to go afterwards. There was a sign showing the elevation gains on the road. The first 10 or so K's is pretty flat and then it gets steeper with about 6 K's to go. I have a vague recollection that I did this climb in the car with Ken and didn't think much of it. However on the bike it is really nice. There was a stream burbling away right next to the road for 11 or 12 K's. Very pleasant, and then after that the birds and insects. It was a very quiet road with only the occasional car and bike. As expected the first 13 K's were pretty easy but then it became steady work all the way to the top. Oh yes, the top is not where the Col is, the Col is 4 K's further on down the mountain. Much to my disgust there was no Col sign to photograph which also doesn't match my recollections, then again maybe it is a different Col.

I stopped at the top and checked out the food but there was no pasta. I was tempted by Trout but decided to resist. I then had a ripping good descent down to the town of Schirmeck. I thought I'd get food here and in the end had Chinese, Beef with Black Mushrooms. Quite nice, I wolfed it down, one because I was hungry and two because it was Chinese :)

Then a short ride on a rather busy road to the town of Rothau where there is a municipal camping. There was no one there but the sign said to set up so I did. I then went to have a shower. The sign said Douche Chaud 17.30 to something or other. I couldn't wait so had a shower. Thankfully after almost having an asthma attack from the cold the water heated up even though it was only 14.30 :) Had a lovely shower. Wandered into town then read for a while.

In La Petite Pierre

Woke at 9:15! A very good nights sleep even though the bed is a little lumpy. And, again, a very good choice it was staying here, it is raining outside. Phew. By the time I'd showered, done the diary and the washing it was midday.

As I was leaving the owners asked if I'd join them for a drink, a glass of wine, Pinot Gris, from Alsace of course. (Feeling a bit queasy from last night.) I explained to them about where I had been and where I was going. Or at least I hope I did.


Now of course it is after midday and you know what that means in a bustling tourist town! Yep, everything was closed. In the end I went for a nice walk around the walled town and visited all the bits that are always open, gardens etc. Then I had a nice sit in the sun for a while on top of one of the walled garden areas. Very pleasant.


Time for lunch. Of course my plan of baguette was completely out the door, so it was time for another pizza, at the restaurant 'Au Coq Blanc'. Basically ham and mushroom, but it had an egg on top. To be honest I wasn't sure what to do with the egg. Do you smear it all over the pizza, eat that section on its own or what? In the end I decided to just dip bits of pizza in it. Not bad really.


When I walked out it was raining! So I made straight away for the castle, which, thankfully was now open. Sadly there was not too much about the castle itself, more about the region. The area has been in use since 8000 BC. The Romans had a small fort here. The main castle was built in the 12th century, with many editions and expansions over time. It was finally abandoned in the 1870's during some war because it ended up not being in such a useful location any more. It became a forestry commission building and was used as such until the area was expanded for tourism in the 1970's.

I then went to the bar to watch le Tour. Alas it was not on, the TV was covered and there were a large number of people already in there (it was raining again). I thought about asking but it is not such an important day today, and tomorrow is a rest day, so I decided against it. I am feeling so tired today, so time for a nap.

It was after 7 pm when I woke so I went across the road to the restaurant I'd chosen for dinner, it was closed, bugger. I walked down the street to my second choice and bloody hell it was closed too. They have a second restaurant there which was open but of course it is just too expensive. I didn't want to go to yesterday's again, i.e. expensive.


So, of course, it was back to the lunch place again. This time I decided to have the choucroute garnie, meat with sauerkraut and potato, very nice. See the photo. Very filling. A good thing I hadn't succumbed and gotten an entree. Another meal where no fat was spared in the preparation. I hope it doesn't give me indigestion tonight.

Saint Avold to La Petite Pierre

I put on the new bike computer this morning and due to much laziness didn't leave until 9:20. It is sunny for a change I had to use a yellow road for a little while to get out of town, but it was quite wide and almost all of the traffic was going into town, not out. When I came to the town where I turned off onto minor roads again there was a monstrous climb to get up to the town :( 5 kph to get up it. Fortunately once at the top the road undulated rather than just dropping back down again.

I bought some groceries at the town of Insming but there was nowhere to sit for lunch so I rode on, very French with the baguette on top of the pannier :) I eventually stopped at a nice chair in the sun just outside of the next town. I had to change my plan here, I was too tired, I think I need a rest day. I hadn't realised the ride was quite so far today, or would be quite so hard. So no Col :(


Another set of nice quiet roads and I came to the town of Munster. It has a Gothic church, reminds me of Freiburg, a much smaller church though. Later I came to the town of Fenetrange, it used to be a walled town so I went into the inner walled area and there was a nice little 13th century church and a charcuterie. So I bought some pate (a la compagne maison) and sat outside the church and ate the last of my baguette. Lunch number 2. It was a bit too much pate but I finished it all anyway :) I went into the church for a quick look. I was going to take a photo of the nice stained glass when I realised I had left the camera sitting by the bike. Oops. Still there. I didn't bother going in again.


I had picked a nice green route to get me out of town and then a bit of a windy route. Just out of town there was a monster climb, but my route turned off here. Phew. Around a bend and an even longer climb :( At the top I stopped for a couple of photo's, now I can see why the day was so hard, I seem to be at a high point here. In the distance the mountains that are next to the Rhine. I'll be there next week for the tour!



I had a lovely descent then into the town of Postroff. Alas there was then a huge climb up through the town. Then a huge descent and climb into the next town and I think you can guess what came next :( One of them was a triple chevron, uphill that is. In due course I got to the town, looks very nice from a distance. I tried tourist info for somewhere to stay. There is a Gite, but there is no one there until 6 pm :( Only 12 Euro's too. Not worth the risk. The best she could offer was the camping ground. It is 3 K's away at the bottom of a huge descent. Not much use. I was thinking about a hotel, but 60 Euro again, seemed a bit much. Then I found a chambre/zimmer frei. Only 33 Euro. Not too bad. So I am going to stay there for 2 days, it gives me a good chance to see the town tomorrow.

The room has a very nice bathroom, no TV though. So after showering etc I went in search of a bar with a TV. I found one and managed to see the last 20 K's of the tour. Then I had a walk up to the walled town area, had a walk around, then I went for dinner. I had reduced the options to two hotels and in the end decided on the one which offered a menu with a regional speciality, a chicken dish. I think I have chosen one of, if not the, dearest restaurants in town. The menu is 28 Euro and of course with a drink it will be 31 or 32 Euro. Training for when Paul gets here :)


Before I had even ordered they brought around a very small plate with a tiny piece of chicken in a very nice sauce with some lettuce, tasty. Obviously an up market restaurant :) The entree was a terrine with salad and some vegies. There was even a bit of foie gras on top. I like terrines and that was actually what had made me pick this restaurant. It came with bread too, and they topped it up.

When I was ordering I decided to have some Riesling, after all I am almost in the region! I asked for a half carafe, I even pointed, she said a demi and I said Oui. However she meant a demi-litre, not a demi-carafe. I struggled valiantly but I couldn't drink it all.


The main was wonderful. It was chicken in this thick, no fat spared, sauce, with lovely tender mushrooms. There was also some pasta and these odd light little deep fried things. It turns out the deep fried things were apple croquets. They were quite nice but there was so much chicken and with the sauce it was so heavy I just couldn't finish the pasta or the croquets. So I couldn't finish all of the main or all of the bread either.


Then they brought out a small plate of 3 biscuits, I saw them earlier today they are a regional speciality, and 3 little meringues. I couldn't eat all of them now, especially since dessert was coming, so I popped several into my pocket when no one was looking :) Then came the dessert! The picture doesn't quite do it justice, there was a large wafer thing in the top and I'd already taken a bite. Delicious of course. After all that I needed a cup of tea and a bit of a sit before I left.

All in all 40 Euro. (39.40 but I left a tip!) Well worth it.

Sierck-les-Bains to Saint Avold

The camp breakfast was quite good value. The demi baguette, two jams and humongous hot chocolate were easily worth the price. I scoffed all that down and set off at 8.24 am. I think that might be a record for me :)

A fast days ride today. It was a bit cold so I wore my jacket all day today. It was also a bit windy which made it worse. I had decided on a plan yesterday. I was going to go slightly off course to start with in order to get onto a nice quite white road. Good plan. It was up hill of course. The first town of note was Bouzonville. I made very good time to there. I think I got there, bought morning tea (another chocolate eclair) and was on my way by 10 am! From there I had a short yellow road and then onto a very (very) small white road. Route number C1 as it happened. Only one car on the entire section. Actually I had chosen very well again today. Most of the day on the white roads the cars were counted in kilometres per car, not the other way around. Very pleasing. A little less pleasing is the presence of so many wind turbines. Not because I mind the turbines, I think they are good, but because it means it's windy, and it is!

In no time at all I had made it to my target town for the day, 11.50 am to be precise. The reason for the haste today was because it is an important day on the tour, the first mountain stage of note and I don't want to miss it. I got to the tourist office just as they were closing for lunch. The whole town closed down at 12, even some of the food places. Weird. Anyway, the only hotel that was actually in the town was around the block, I had already seen it. I went and checked and almost went into to shock at the price, 65 Euro. If only Paul had been here, it was only 70 for two :( After checking that it included a TV I decided to stay anyway!

The room actually has a toilet and shower as well, very nice in fact. They were showing the end of yesterday's tour which I hadn't seen, so after a shower I watched that for a while. Then had very nice pizza at a pizzeria and then went back to the hotel to see the end of yesterday's tour. Then before today's tour started I did all of my washing, everything except the clothes I was wearing, even the tea towel. By the time they had gotten over the penultimate major climb I had done everything, even popped out to buy a temporary bike computer.


I then lolled for the rest of the afternoon and watched the tour. Actually it was a bit of a dud. There was, eventually, an attack, but it wasn't until only 3 K's from the top. A bit disappointing. Surprising to see that at the end of the day neither Contador nor Lance were in the yellow jersey. Given the terrain over the next few days he may keep the jersey for a while, unless he's stuffed from today of course.

After all that I went out for a long walk around town and dinner. I ate at a bar. The waitress was incomprehensible, we both had to revert to pointing to get the order through. I got spag bog again as it may be a big day tomorrow. The spag was very, very soft, I had to use the spoon to help roll it onto the fork, the sauce was very meaty. By the time I left I was feeling like some chocolate, fortunately everything was closed. The route I have chosen for tomorrow is a little longer than needed so that I can take in a Col!

At least that is the plan.

France, at last

I spent the morning phoning everyone including St. George Bank to get my internet account reactivated. Sigh. Anyway I had a nice chat with everyone and updated the blog. Breakfast wasn't too bad. It was a self serve buffet of bread, jams, cheese, and three types of sliced meat. Also cereal and tea and coffee. I bloated up, 4 pieces of bread, 2 bowls of corn flakes and 2 cups of tea.

I then had to go into town to send the faulty bike computer to Germany and to buy a Michelin map for France. I had just got the map and was studying it when I realised it doesn't show camp sites. I went back into change it, but then discovered that none of the new maps have camp sites marked any more. Oh dear. Oh well, I guess we can normally guess which towns will have camp sites, and if not we can always ride on :) I was about to leave when I checked the rack bag to discover I had left my wallet in the shop! Still there, phew. Good thing I always check.


I finally left at 12.50. Getting out of town was not too bad. There were a few bike paths that went to places that weren't on any of my four maps, so in the end I used dead reckoning and actually got where I wanted to! Then it was all clear sailing out and to the south east. The weather was not the best, overcast, almost raining. I almost made it to the border town I was aiming for when it started to rain. Fortunately there was a trusty bus shelter. I waited there for a bit and then rolled the last K into town. I went to get lunch at a small bar/cafe. They had a menu du jour so I ordered that. The waitress came back, finished. I ordered a Croque Misseur, it is cold outside today afterall. She came back, the toaster is something. In the end I got a demi-baguette with tuna and a Fanta, quite nice. In due course I set off south and finally into France. At last. I took a photo. The route number was, quite appropriately, D1.


I had decided at lunch to make for a larger small town which looked like it was the regional centre and so should have a camp site. It did! I actually went to the tourist info as it was a bit damp and cold but the best she could do was a convent 3 K's away where there were no shops. (Only 16 Euro's.) In the end I decided on the camping as I could walk into town. I went there and they had an offer of breakfast for 4 Euro so I got that as well, it seemed reasonable. The owner asked what time and suggested 6 am? Ha Ha Ha. I suggested 8 am, she laughed, no problem.



After showering and having my little reward (see photo) I walked into town, there is an old fort here, but I didn't bother going in. The town only has 2 restaurants, one is closed, and they are both very expensive. Oh well, another cold dinner tonight.