In Driebergen

After working on the diary I had some sandwiches for breakfast and did some channel surfing then called home and checked email. Talked with Hans and Trees until lunch time. We had the lovely soup from last night again and then we drove into Utrecht for a walk around. I haven't had a proper walk around Utrecht since 1995. It is hard to say if or how much it has changed as it is so long since I was last here. Dad wanted us to have Poffertjes because he remembers a really good place to have them, unfortunately they have closed down. So instead we had pancakes by one of the canals, very pleasant. The weather is not the best, it rained earlier today and there is a strong wind blowing, however when we were having the pancakes it seemed to be in a lull and the sun was out and very warm. As I said, very pleasant!

We went back to Hans and Trees' and I cleaned the bike and did some packing in preparation for the trip to the hotel at the airport. I've actually splurged out and booked the Hilton that is right next to the terminal, so on Monday morning I can just walk across with the gear and check in, so much easier than having to travel on the morning and be there early enough to pack the bike in a box and check in on time.


We watched some TV, some sort of renovation program like Grand Designs but set in France. Then a yummy dinner from Trees. We had a very nice entree of prawns with a salad and then a huge spread of Schnitzel, mini potato's, green beans, cauliflower and another salad. All of this was washed down with 4 different wines, a white Burgundy before dinner, a Sancere with the prawns, a red Bordeaux (2000) with the schnitzel and a lovely glass of Beume de Venise with the dessert, which was ice cream with grand marnier. Delicious!

Final Ride Statistics

The ride is over now :( I head back to Australia on Monday morning. Time now for a bit of a rest.

(Why is there a blank section between here and the table? No idea.)

Total Km	3653.34 Km
Total Alt	~32 kilometres	Altitude gained
Cols	42
Longest Riding Day	140	The Hundred Cols Club Day 1
Longest Touring Day	110	The last day!
Punctures	0
Broken Spokes	1
Fixed Spokes	0
Spoke Broke at Km	2885 Km
Distance travelled with broken spoke	770 Km

Charleville-Mezieres to Dinant and by train to Driebergen

I woke early, packed and I even managed to clean the inside and the outside of the tent, and all by 7.55 am. So getting the camp site was a really good idea (even aside from the money saved) because now I don't have to worry about cleaning up the tent when I get to Holland. I got pain au raison and demi baguette across the river and then headed out towards Nouzonville, there was one hill in town and then another long one out of town. On the descent of the second hill I saw below me a bike path which I swung onto at the bottom of the hill. A nit further along there was a guide and I discovered that the path runs the length of the Meuse. 80 Km's of bike route! Great.

(In fact there was only 1 section of about 3 K's that was on the road and that was because there was a power station in the way!)


Like most mornings it was a bit chilly and I didn't notice it at first but it was kind of misty on the river. The further I rode though the thicker it got. Then it became a bit more solid and it was almost raining, very, very lightly. However as I went along it got heavier and heavier. Finally I had to stop to remove my, now, sodden short finger gloves and change the lenses of my glasses as it was getting quite dark. I stopped under a large stone bridge (which thanks to the arc had a great echo) and then it started to pour. Really bucketing down. So I took the time to put on my Goretex jacket and I ate some of the demi baguette from this morning.

In no time at all it died down to a light misty rain again and I set off. The path was now covered in puddles and I was starting to get damp feet. Fortunately the rain stopped not long after and within an hour or so the path was reasonably dry again. On of the problems I find with long bike paths is that they don't go into any towns, so you have to detour off the route to get into a town. In the end I was getting hungry so I pulled off at the next town to get something to eat. The town, naturally, was on a hillside and in the end I had to ask someone for 'de pain', so that I could get something. A nice lady pointed me in the right direction and I got a cherry tarte and a Fanta. I actually rode a couple of K's until I got to a nice seat in the sun to sit and eat.


Another thing about the bike route is that as it follows the river and rarely detours away from it the path twists and winds its way back and forth. A side effect of this is that sometimes you have a tailwind and sometimes you have a head wind. At times I could be riding along at 20 kph into the wind, you turn the corner and you can almost feel the wind pushing you along and you are suddenly doing 30 kph. Of course the reverse was also true, 30 kph suddenly turns into 18 kph as you hit a wall of wind. Fortunately the wind was mainly with me again today. In fact even though I stopped several times I still managed 75 K's by midday. I reached the town of Givet, which is the end of the bike route, at around 12.30.

As Givet was the end of the bike route, and hence my last town in France I stopped and had a brief look around. It seems a nice town and there was a fairly large market going on, Paul would have loved it. I went to a patisserie and bought a chocolate eclair, my last one in France, and a quiche. Then I rode out of town. The town is actually fairly industrial so it took a little while to get out and when I did I was on a red road, however it was a dead quiet red road so it was not a problem and then, lo and behold, there was another bike path! I stopped almost as soon as I was on the path at a park bench and, sitting in the sun, ate the eclair and quiche. Quiche first of course :)

This bike path lasted about 12 of the 24 K's to Dinant. There is an old railway line that starts about 12 K's along the path so I suspect they are planning to use that one day and extend the path all the way to Dinant. I finally reached Dinant at 1.50 pm, a 107 Km ride. I'd only expected to do 75-80 K's today. Bugger.

Once there I had no problems finding the station and getting a ticket, and there was only a 15 minute wait. More difficult was working out what to do with the bike. I asked someone on the train and they told me that the conductor has a special area, and he did. Right at the front of the engine there is an area behind the engineers with 1 or 2 bike hooks, depending on the train. I then had a rather pleasant 'training' ride to Namur, where I changed for Liege and then I changed again in Liege for Maastricht. Liege has a nice new train station, moving ramps instead of escalators. It's a nice new, bright white, open design. It must be freezing in winter!

I got a ticket at Maastricht for Driebergen-Ziest, bloody long way, three train changes and over two and a half hours. Oh well. I'd have rung Trees to let her know when I was arriving but there didn't seem to be any phones anywhere and then I remembered that her number is stored on-line anyway :)

The first train trip was pleasant enough in an intercity train, mine was the first bike on so just lined it up against the seats reserved for bikes, I even managed to sit next to it. The second trip was on a Veolia train, it was packed. Still there was no problem with the bike, the conductor just told someone to move, and I got a seat facing the bike with no one in front of me, so plenty of leg room and quite comfortable. I even 'read' a couple of the free newspapers that are on the train. The third trip was on an intercity again, hardly any one on it so no problems at all. The final leg was almost an hour so I got the netbook out and made a few notes about the day. The train arrived at 8.21 pm so I didn't get to Hans and Trees' until just after 8.30 pm! The first thing I really wanted when I got there was a shower, I'd been in my cycling clothes for 12 hours. Once that was done Trees made me some soup, of which I had two large servings :) Then we chatted until 11 pm. I was surprisingly not that tired given the 110 Km day I did today, however I had no problem falling asleep.

Fontainebleau to Meaux and train to Charleville-Mezieres

Paul's alarm woke both of us at 7 am, we just lay there for a bit and then I forced my self to get up and start packing. Fortunately that got Paul going and in no time at all we were down and loaded. I went in to pay the bill for the two nights and the lunch yesterday. Where are the tissues? :(

We stopped at a boulongerie and then ate our goodies in a small park on the way out of town. It is a bit cool today and we are wearing our thermals. I can't recall if I've mentioned this before but for the last week or so we have had to have the thermals on every morning. It is normally quite nice in the afternoon but the mornings are quite chilly. The leaves have also started to turn so it is obvious that Autumn, only next week, really is almost here.

We set off at ten past eight and had to follow a busy red road out of town. Fortunately the traffic was mainly heading into town. Of course when we turned off it there was a bit of a climb but then we got on to a really nice route, the D227. This road goes for 36 K's so there's barely any need to look at the map this morning. We actually had a tail wind this morning too so really the conditions could not have been better for our last touring day together, quiet road, tail wind, reasonably flat, cool with sunshine. Ideal! At one point we were thundering along at over 30 K's an hour! The kilometres just rolled away.

After that awesome run I was expecting us to get a bit of a head wind, or at least an annoying side wind. However no, we still had a tail/side wind all the way the Meaux. The next section was again another long section with barely any navigation required. The high speeds continued and then of all things a large peleton caught up to us. There were at least 20 of them and we dropped in behind and managed to draft of them for at least 3 K's. In the end I had to drop out because we were on a long, very gentle, climb, and riding up that at 36 kph was just beginning to be too much. They turned off a few hundred metres later as it turned out anyway.

From there we dropped into a valley where there were a few hills and then after a bit of surprisingly easy navigation came to Meaux. First things first we went immediately to the train station and booked my tickets to Charleville-Mezieres. There were no problems at all, only 27.90 Euro. The trains were every hour so I picked one in two hours time at 2.15 pm. I forgot to mention, we were hammering along so fast today that we got in to Meaux just before midday, pretty good.


Of course the next thing on the list was... lunch! I'd been so focused on getting to Meaux as quickly as possible that we'd even skipped morning tea, much to Paul's shock, so we were both starving. We had a bit of difficulty finding anywhere and I was beginning to think we might have to lower our standards when we found a lovely restaurant (which I'd ridden straight past), Le Briconnet. They had a garden terrace out the back but we just sat at the front of the restaurant so that we could watch the bikes. The lady owner was a bit worried about them just sitting there across the road we'd locked them and Paul was keeping an eagle eye. I ordered a Kir as soon as they brought the menu, no wasting time today. It is their own speciality and is Rose flavoured, very nice. Then they brought out an appetiser, a Mis en Bouche I think in French. This was like a small Gazpacho with cream on top, very tasty, and a dainty little piece of bread with a Rose flavoured cream on it, scrumptious. The entree was shredded goose meat with a really lovely chutney and the main was a leg of guinea fowl with mashed potato's and a very nice sauce. Delicious. For the dessert we had the apple pie of the maison. For some reason Paul got a huge slab and all I got was a tiny little thin slice, and I led all morning!

Thoroughly bloated we went to the Tourist Info so that Paul could look for accommodation, they had heaps of pamphlets and there are even Roman ruins to see here. Then Paul dropped me off at the train station. He couldn't come onto the platform without a ticket. So we shook hands and then he was off in search of a hotel. The big question is will he eat at the same restaurantm they have a 39 Euro Gourmet menu. Of course it is no fun on your own.

I had to lug the bike down and up the stairs to the platform, as always, and then the train was here, spot on time as always. It was like a Sydney metro Tangara, just high speed. There wasn't a bike area so I just lent it against the door and moved it if anyone was using the door, there were 7 stops before mine so it wasn't a problem. The next station, Chateau-Thierry, which I'd been through 6 weeks before (and not liked) had enormous stair cases up and over the trains. With some effort I managed to lug the bike up and down the other side. Fortunately the platform for Epernay was labelled so I didn't need to lug the bike up and over again. The next train was much older and had a bike area. It was a tight squeeze getting the bike through the doors but very pleasant for the next leg. I just stood by the window next to the bike because there was an air conditioning duct, very pleasant. I saw several things I recalled from my last trip up the valley, all very nice.


In Epernay I had to cross over to get the ticket punched, I should have done it in Meaux. Fortunately Epernay is a tourist town and they had someone manning the above ground path between trains, so no hiking down and up with the bike this time. The train this time is a brand new TER, like several I've used before and, unlike the others, there was a large seating area where I just lent the bike against the seats. I'd been sitting there for about five minutes when I realised that there were actually bike hooks overhead, so I still had time so I lifted the bike up. Cool! Now I can sit in a real seat and work on the diary. This leg is the longest at 1h36m. The train was about half full from Epernay to Reims and then almost everyone else got off, there were only two of us left on the carriage. However the train stood there for at least quarter of an hour and by the time we left it was packed, good thing I got the bike in early!


I got a lot of diary work done on the trip and then we were at Charleville-Meziers. I got the bike off the train and rode into town. There was a huge square in the centre of town and tourist info was there. I got a guide to the hotels and then noticed that the camping ground was only a few hundred metres away. I thought what the heck and went there, only 7.73 Euro! I set up, showered etc and then walked into town. Naturally it was late so everything was close to shutting down. I managed a bit of a walk around, checked out the restaurants, not a great selection, and then just picked one in the central square. It was a great location with a good view but it wasn't a good choice. All of the courses were mediocre even though it was probably the busiest restaurant in the square. Oh well, at least I saved 50 Euro on the hotel :)

Rest day in Fontainebleau

Well that was a first, Paul actually woke me with his snoring last night! Most nights it just keeps me awake if I have to go to the loo, but last night he was full volume. Shocking!


We were supposed to get up around 8 and be ready for the chateau opening at 9 am, however I woke up at 8.30 and Paul was just lolling there awake, not getting up, again. I wanted to shower and shave so I got the morning going. We walked around to a boulongerie and for a change neither of us had baguette. I got a small quiche and a pain au raison and Paul got a yucky croissant covered in almonds, which we ate in the grounds of the chateau.


The chateau entry was quite reasonable, 8 Euro, and it is valid all day, so we think we'll go out for lunch after we have done the main tour. (And yes Patrick, that is our third chateau in four days!) The entry also comes with an audio guide which is nice, there are 30 commentaries to listen too and it is meant to take about 90 minutes. We took two and a half hours! I won't bother trying to describe the chateau itself, it is too big. The main tour takes in several of the king/queen/emperor/empress rooms, the rooms around them, a couple of small museums and the chapel. The building is very plush and lavishly decorated. The rooms are filled with furniture and art work including many tapestries. Most of the furniture dates from Napoleon or later. The art work mainly goes back through the kings of France to as early as Francois the First and the buildings are a hodge podge of construction from all eras going back to the 13th century. The tour includes the throne room, the last one of its kind in France, the room and the table on which Napoleon signed his abdication in 1814, and all of the private chambers of the various rulers of France.


Lunch! After some consideration Paul had decided we would have lunch in our hotel simply because they had the best wine menu we had seen! Since this is the end of tour dinner we got a very nice 2000 Burgundy. The wine was actually a little bit young still but it had started to brown nicely and was very tasty, good length. The waitress actually decanted it for us, in front of us of course. For the meal Paul got a three course and I got a four course because I didn't like the entrees Paul's menu. I had a Salad Gourmande, last duck gizzards for the trip, and Paul got a serving of six snails, each one in a small pot. For the main I had veal with vegies in a lovely sauce and Paul had a revolting Tripe sausage which of course he loved. The extra course was of course cheese and they brought the platter around, I picked two soft Bries and a goat cheese for Paul. They gave me far too much even though I asked for a petite tranche. Oh well. Between us we polished it all off. Paul had a dessert of Fromage blanc and I had a Charlotte, a strawberry mouse dessert. Fully bloated the only thing left was to try a digestive, something we don't normally do. However they had an excellent selection of Armagnac here so I couldn't help myself, so I got a 1965, for some reason Paul abstained and just had coffee.


Now the plan after that was to go straight back to the chateau but I needed a slight rest after all that so we went up to the room and apparently I fell asleep immediately :) So instead of a two hour lunch and then the chateau we had about four hours off including a nap. In the end we had to rush back so that we could get in again, some of the sections close quite early. I wanted to walk back through the sections we had been in, this time without guide or having to take photo's, so we did a quick loop around, in about 20 minutes. Very pleasant and it helps to solidify the memories :)

We had wanted to visit a couple of other areas but they are by booking a tour only and it turns out that they were all over before we were even half way through lunch! So we went to the Chinese Museum, which turns out to mean Asian Museum, and then we went for a long walk/sit/walk/sit in the gardens. The gardens are nice but cannot compare to places like Chenonceau. There are of course lakes and ponds as well but they are not as large as they were in former times and again I don't think that they compare. However we had a very nice walk around and it was nice and cool in the shade. We then went back to the hotel for another rest and in no time at all it was Paul who was passed out and snoring, again.


Paul finally woke up around 8.30 pm and for our latest dinner this trip we went to a brasserie that he picked yesterday. We had considered this for lunch but it didn't have much of a wine menu so we thought it was better for a light dinner. Ha Ha Ha, a light dinner. We both had an aperitif, a Kir for me and a beer for Paul. I thought we were only having a main but then Paul got an entree of Whelks, a type of sea shell, so of course I had to have one too, six oysters. Nice. Then we both had Charcroute for our mains, definitely not a light meal. Then, after all that, we had dessert as well! A nice Coupe each, Rhubarb for Paul and Sorbets for me. After that we wandered back to the room, watched some TV and again had to close the windows because of the smoke below.

Pithiviers to Fontainebleau

I woke at 7.45 am to find Paul just lying there, not even try to get up. Unbelievable! What was he thinking, this is a short day and we can just go any old time??? I eventually got him going and we packed up and were heading out the door around 9 am. We rode ALL the way across the square outside the hotel to the patisserie on the other side and got a baguette as usual but for a change we bought a piece of Pithiviers tarte, like last nights dessert. Last nights was better I think, the pastry was not so oily (buttery?) and there was more filling.


I was in fine form this morning, even after yesterdays long ride, and we made excellent time. We had a nice run of quiet roads out of Pithiviers and there was little wind, possibly even a tail wind. We rode about 40 K's without a stop when we came to a town with an ancient ruined basilica. It looked interesting so we had to go in and take a look. The basilica was huge when it was built but for some reason, we don't know why, it became partly ruined. The back of the church is still in use but they have just walled up the inside about one third of the way along and the rest of the church is open to the air. There used to be an enormous bell tower but it has mostly caved in. Now it is a home to hundreds of pigeons.

After that we had a nice white road, a green route, but I didn't enjoy it. We'd stopped a bit too long and I was finding it hard to get going again, also it was forested and I found it quite cold. Not too far along we came to a town with a patisserie so we stopped for a another break. We bought a rather nice Flan with Cherries in it, and I had a Coke as well. Feeling rested we set off for the final leg, not too far to go now. Oh no, hills, bugger. Fortunately it wasn't that far and in not time at all we were in Fontainebleau.

Paul had, of course, picked a Logis for our stay but even though there was a sign we couldn't find it. However there was a sign for the train station which I wanted to go to so we rode there first. There was a huge bloody detour on the way, down a long hill and then back up another one :( And, once we got to the station, we discovered the detour was pointless for bikes, we could have just used the foot path for 50 metres instead. Anyway I went in to see how to get from Meaux, the town we are riding to tomorrow to Holland. The lady was quite helpful, she even spoke English, but there really is no easy way from Meaux. The system is really designed around TGV's for long distance travel but you need a bike bag for those and of course you can't buy them at the train station. I'll have to think about what to do. Maybe I can get a bag for the TGV at a bike store? By the way, the TGV is quite cheap, only 85 Euro to Amsterdam.


We rode back into town and looked for the Logis. We had to ride around to find it but it turns out we went straight past it the first time, it is only a 100 metres from the Chateau, an excellent position. We checked in, 80 Euro a night! Oh well. The room is enormous with two double beds and a vast bathroom. They even let us keep the bikes in the room. We then walked around the block to the local bike store. They have a bag for the train but it is enormous, I couldn't tour with it, and it costs 145 Euro! So that is not an option.

We went for lunch and had the special of chicken in tarragon on a bed of rice. Very nice and surprisingly filling. After lunch we went back to the room and I worked on the Internet for ages looking at different routes to get back to Holland. I have a plan now. I will ride with Paul to Meaux and then catch a train to Charleville-Meziers. The next day I will ride into Belgium and catch a train to Maastricht and from there go to Hans and Trees'. Paul fell asleep watching TV while I worked all this out. With all that done, and Paul now awake again, we went for a walk around the town. I got a Michelin Map for the region north of Charleville-Meziers for my ride into Belgium. While we were walking around we found a lovely chocolate shop so we bought a mini assortment of Chocolates, 8 for only 6.90 Euro. We ate two chocolates each as soon as we got back to the Hotel :)


After another rest it was time for dinner. Paul hadn't decided yet where to have dinner so we went for a long walk. He eventually decided we'd go to the Brasserie on the main street when I took us up another road which had quite a few restaurants. Oh no, Paul found a couscous restaurant. He'd been wanting to have couscous for ages whereas I didn't see why we'd do that when we were in France? However the meal turned out to be really nice. I got a Tajine, a stew dish of lamb, and Paul got some grilled meat. It all came with vegies, soup and of course couscous. The servings were actually very large as well, so we were nicely bloated by the time we finished. Oh, we had a Tunisian Rose with the meal too. It was quite strong, almost port like, nice.

Back at the room again we both did some email and watched TV until bed. One, I guess funny, thing was that we had to close the windows in the room. The restaurant is down below and there was smoke billowing up from below making the room stink!

Muides sur Loire to Pithiviers

Woke to Paul rummaging around at 7.30. Actually it wasn't the first time he woke me :) Anyway, he was already packing so I started as well and we were packed and on our way by 8.20. We immediately crossed the Loire to the other side and followed the excellent bike path which went most of the way to Beaugency where we had breakfast. The town is quite convoluted and it took a while to find the boulongerie. We knew there was one because we saw people carrying baguettes! We sat in a plaza to ate and just as we were done it started to rain, so we scampered under an awning until it had stopped, not long. Phew.

We had been following the bike path but decided to give up on it here. It looked like it was going to cross the river, a 5K detour. So we continued on using a red road for a brief while. 4 Ks on the red road saved 5Ks, worthwhile. Also it is Monday morning so there's hardly anyone about anyway. Then we had a nice short run of white roads before crossing the bridge then a small yellow road for a couple of Ks and before going onto a white road and back on to the path. Then we had a rather nice ride along what is effectively a dyke. This brought us to the town of St. Hillaire St. Mesmin, from here it was a mixture of bike paths and road riding and then we were in Orleans.


Orleans has an enormous Cathedral so of course we made our way directly there. Paul minded the bike while I went in and then vice versa. The Cathedral is large with a recently cleaned exterior. Unfortunately we're both getting a bit blaise about amazing 13th century churches and while we both had a nice walk around we hardly took any pictures and were in and out in five minutes each. Of more interest was lunch!

There was a bistro directly opposite the church but unfortunately, for them, there was noisy road works going on so we rode around a bit and found a very reasonable Italian. I had steak with chips and then an apple tart and Paul, misinterpreting the menu, managed to order an entree size goats cheese salad as well as the steak and then dessert. He enjoyed the salad, he has been trying to train his palette and thinks it is beginning to work! The steak was medium so a bit over done, the salad and chips were nice, as was the tart. We left around 1.30, me nicely full, Paul bloated!

The plan now was to get out of Orleans by riding east and then north through some forests to the area around the Chateau Chamerolles. Getting out of town went reasonably well and the route north was quite pleasant too. However at the town of Trainou we somehow managed to get on the wrong road and after (a rather nice) short ride ended up on a red road. Hmmm. We decided to go on rather than back tracking. The road was only mildly busy and as it turned out most of the traffic was coming from the north. We had to stop after a couple of Ks because of rain, fortunately right next to a picnic area! Once it cleared we hammered along to the turn off towards the Chateau. I was actually getting rather tired at this point, already 80Ks and no camp site in sight.

The road past the Chateau was nice, we did stop at the Chateau but we didn't want to spend the time there as it was getting late in the afternoon. So instead we continued on and, due to a lack of any accommodation, we ended up heading towards the larger town of Pithiviers. I was getting pretty stuffed by now, on down hills and the flats following them I was fine, as soon as we hit a hill I had nothing left. Paul's solution to this was to go to the front and ride even faster than I had been before. For some reason this didn't work too well on the hills :) At least Paul is feeling better now! In no time at all we did finally get to the town and we made no attempt what so ever to look for the camping ground. Instead straight to the Logis. Paul didn't even ask the price, shocking!


We cleaned up, including all of our washing. It is a bit risky with the washing because there is not that long for it to dry but neither of us have anything clean so we might as well. Then down for dinner around 8 pm. The Logis is a two pot restaurant (rating) and it shows. I had a smoked trout entree which was really delicious, it had asparagus in it and even a poached egg on top. For the main I had Merlan which we assume is Marlin, very tender, and with a delicious sauce. The town is famous for a Tarte Pithiviers so we had to have that. It is pretty much the same as a Dutch almond ring just in tarte form. Oh yes a Kir too!