We caught the bus into town and wondered through the markets spending heaps of cash. Oops!
We then saw the first of many churches for the day. Amazingly, all the churches are unique. We then wondered into the Il Campo (town square)stumbling across the first day of the celbrations for the Palio - a famous bareback horse race dating back to the 17th century. The whole square was filled with people singing their districts song. The noise was amazing until all of a sudden you cold hear a pin drop. It was draw time - the officals draw a horse number out of a barrel and it is allocated to a barrier position and rider.
After the festivities had ended in the square we continued the festival of the churches visiting another 5 or more while earnestly searching for the road to the Follonica fountain (which we still have not be able to get to).
At 6pm we headed back to It Campo for the second time today - to watch the Palio time trial - this is a dress rehersal and also a chance for the jockeys to ride the horse allocated to them earlier in the day.
Again the atmosphere was awesome, even if we had no idea what was actually happening. Once underway it was all over in 2 minutes or less. At the end many locals jumped the barriers and charged their districts horse and rider. It was total chaos. It was all over and the square was practically empty again.
Thursday
We started the day with a trip to the hospital - don't worry Mum and Dad, everything is fine.
So, remember how I told you about Cam and the Italian Bug showdown?? Well Cam has a nice welt on his leg about 20cm x 10cm so we thought that as it was growing in size that we should probably go and see a doctor.
€18.59 and some antibiotics later we emerge from the hospital. Cam has to becareful over the next 3 days not to over heat (a side effect of the drugs). This is easy and all if it wasn't 36 degrees outside.....
We then caught the dùbus into town, grabbed a coffee at the Il Campo - now pretty much deserted, before continuing on our quest to find the fountain.
While burning another memory card full (220 images) of pics onto CD we asked the shopkeeper how to get to the fountain, to be told that it is not open at the moment. DOH!!
We grabbed some lunch and then updated our blog before heading to one of the ornate gates on the wall around town.
We are then going to head back to the campground and get ready to move on tomorrow. We are not sure whether we are going to ride to Florence or catch a train to Lucca - it all depends on the weather forecast as Cam has to be really careful about his body temp while taking the drugs.
Until later.... ciao
Click here to see photos of Siena.
Thursday, June 30, 2005
Montipulciano - Siena
We got up and left Montipulciano early to try and miss some of the heat. Our first stop of the day was a small town called Pienza, perched as usual on the top of a hill.
Pienza is still surrounded by it's original wall.
We had coffee and pastries overlooking a church. After coffee we headed to the tourist information centre to book our accommodation in Montalcino. Once everything was arranged we got back on the bikes and headed for the town of Bagno Vignoni and the Roman Baths about 15kms away.
The trip out of Pienza was a long fast desent followed by tradional tuscan countryside - rolling hills. We arrived at the Roman Baths, built in the 5th century on top of a natural thermal spring.
We found a nice shady spot to have lunch and chilled out. After about 2 hours we hit the road again.
The next 5kms were pretty hard going, it was still really hot and we were climbing to the small town of Castigliano d'Orcia. Once at the top we enjoyed a very fast 10km desent. From the botton we again started climibing - this time to our final destination of Montalcino. The climb took us about on hour but due to the heat it felt more like 2.
Once in town we found our hotel and checked in.
After freshening up we went for a walk around town. We visited the 14th century fortress - surprisingly the building is still all standing (apart from the centre area).
We purchased a small bottle of Brunello (famed wine of the region) while looking for a place for dinner. This turned out to be a lenghtly process as Jay was reading the map upside down - to cut a long story short we went to the bottom of town when we should have gone to the top of town - actually only abut 10 metres from where we actually started (who gives a map to a chic anyways!?)
Montalcino to Siena
I am not sure what to say here as we both have very different opinions on this ride.
The day started nicely with a long desent out of town. From there our enjoyment levels started to vary.
Cam loved the terrain and the views from the many HIGH ridges we climbed. One of the main highlights was the visit to Abbazia di Monte Oliveto Maggiore - a 14th century Monastry still in use today.
After a short break to phone home we were back in the saddle.
The rest of the day was pretty much uneventful - hard hot climbs, short desents, repeated all afternoon.
I really suffered today - the heat and the continuos climibing took their toll. I did not enjoy the day at all (apart from the Abbey).
After finally finding our campground in Siena, no thanks to the Lonely Planet, we set up camp and headed to the pool for a swim.
However, before entering the pool one had to shower, remove shoes, walk through a pond and then pay €1.55 each - only then were you allowed in the pool, which I lasted a total of 7 mins as the water was icy. I mean seriously icy.
Note to self: Don't play chicken with Italian Bugs!! Cam found this out the hard way. Check out Bite day 1 picture.....
Click here to check out the latest installment of photos.
Pienza is still surrounded by it's original wall.
We had coffee and pastries overlooking a church. After coffee we headed to the tourist information centre to book our accommodation in Montalcino. Once everything was arranged we got back on the bikes and headed for the town of Bagno Vignoni and the Roman Baths about 15kms away.
The trip out of Pienza was a long fast desent followed by tradional tuscan countryside - rolling hills. We arrived at the Roman Baths, built in the 5th century on top of a natural thermal spring.
We found a nice shady spot to have lunch and chilled out. After about 2 hours we hit the road again.
The next 5kms were pretty hard going, it was still really hot and we were climbing to the small town of Castigliano d'Orcia. Once at the top we enjoyed a very fast 10km desent. From the botton we again started climibing - this time to our final destination of Montalcino. The climb took us about on hour but due to the heat it felt more like 2.
Once in town we found our hotel and checked in.
After freshening up we went for a walk around town. We visited the 14th century fortress - surprisingly the building is still all standing (apart from the centre area).
We purchased a small bottle of Brunello (famed wine of the region) while looking for a place for dinner. This turned out to be a lenghtly process as Jay was reading the map upside down - to cut a long story short we went to the bottom of town when we should have gone to the top of town - actually only abut 10 metres from where we actually started (who gives a map to a chic anyways!?)
Montalcino to Siena
I am not sure what to say here as we both have very different opinions on this ride.
The day started nicely with a long desent out of town. From there our enjoyment levels started to vary.
Cam loved the terrain and the views from the many HIGH ridges we climbed. One of the main highlights was the visit to Abbazia di Monte Oliveto Maggiore - a 14th century Monastry still in use today.
After a short break to phone home we were back in the saddle.
The rest of the day was pretty much uneventful - hard hot climbs, short desents, repeated all afternoon.
I really suffered today - the heat and the continuos climibing took their toll. I did not enjoy the day at all (apart from the Abbey).
After finally finding our campground in Siena, no thanks to the Lonely Planet, we set up camp and headed to the pool for a swim.
However, before entering the pool one had to shower, remove shoes, walk through a pond and then pay €1.55 each - only then were you allowed in the pool, which I lasted a total of 7 mins as the water was icy. I mean seriously icy.
Note to self: Don't play chicken with Italian Bugs!! Cam found this out the hard way. Check out Bite day 1 picture.....
Click here to check out the latest installment of photos.
Sunday, June 26, 2005
Cortona - Montipulciano
Urrrrgh - more travel
We checked out of the campground and made our way to Stazione Termini. We are heading to Cortona in the Tuscany region.
The train ride was about 2 hours in the air conditioned comfort of 1st class.
We arrived at Terontola-Cortona station and built up the bikes (we now have it down pat).
We headed off towards Cortona which the lonely planet indicated was about 6kms away.... not quite right - try 12 kms with the last 3km climbing steeply upto Cortona - which just happened to be at the top of the hill. It was a hard climb mainly due to the heat but we made it up okay.
Cortona doesnt have a campground so we hunted around for a cheap hotel. Thankgod for mastercard. We dumped our bags in the room and freshed up before hitting the pavement once again. This time on foot to explore this pretty little town.
As fate would have it the best stuff was up - so we went up. I could have sworn we were at the top when we finished riding but I guess not. he he
At the top of the hill we came to the old fortress which is now a museum. The views were amazing - 280 degrees looking out over the Tuscan countryside. We took some photos - well when I say we I mean Cam. On the way back down we passed a huge church. We could not go in as we were not appropriately dressed, so we continued down to town - we stopped in a shady spot and opened a bottle of red wine we had purchased on the way up.
We had an awesome dinner in a little restaurant on the side of one of the many piazzas. I love Italian pasta.
We then headed back to the hotel and to bed.
Sunday
We got up and had breakfast (which was included in the price of the room) which was yummy. We made an early start as we wanted to beat the heat. We found out that the temp yesterday was 35 degrees - guess that explains why we were hot. We rolled out of town and town the hill we rode up yesterday - so much nicer on the way down.
The next 15kms or so were pretty flat and full of excitment as we were overtaken by a local cycle race. It was really cool - most of the guys greated us and eaged us on.
Once the pelaton had passed the road started its climb - we went up and over a smallish hill before starting the real climb into Montipulciano - like Cortona it sits on the top of a hill. Again the going was slow and hot but we rested in the shade when needed.
Once we arrived in town we went to the visitors centre to find some vacant accommodation. Like Cortona there is no campground in Montipulciano. We found a cheapish double and followed the directions - what we weren't told was that the hotel sits pretty much at the top of a very steep climb. I still dont know how I managed to ride up but I did and was very greatful to find our room on the first floor.
After freshening up we wondered around the town, grabbing some lunch (again pasta for jay). We headed to a wone cellar that was recommeneded to us. The cellar is underground and was built in 1337 to specific specifications for the area. We entered the cellar and instantly the temp dropped 10 degrees. At the end we tasted some wines on offer and ended up buying a bottle. It is not hard to figure out why Montipulciano is know for its wines. I am going to make a big call and say it is one of the best wines I have had. The wines from here are not exported - instead you can only buy them in town. Another interesting point is that if the grapes are not good in a particular year then they jsut dont make a wine that year. In the last 10 years they have only produced their white wine 4 times.
We checked out of the campground and made our way to Stazione Termini. We are heading to Cortona in the Tuscany region.
The train ride was about 2 hours in the air conditioned comfort of 1st class.
We arrived at Terontola-Cortona station and built up the bikes (we now have it down pat).
We headed off towards Cortona which the lonely planet indicated was about 6kms away.... not quite right - try 12 kms with the last 3km climbing steeply upto Cortona - which just happened to be at the top of the hill. It was a hard climb mainly due to the heat but we made it up okay.
Cortona doesnt have a campground so we hunted around for a cheap hotel. Thankgod for mastercard. We dumped our bags in the room and freshed up before hitting the pavement once again. This time on foot to explore this pretty little town.
As fate would have it the best stuff was up - so we went up. I could have sworn we were at the top when we finished riding but I guess not. he he
At the top of the hill we came to the old fortress which is now a museum. The views were amazing - 280 degrees looking out over the Tuscan countryside. We took some photos - well when I say we I mean Cam. On the way back down we passed a huge church. We could not go in as we were not appropriately dressed, so we continued down to town - we stopped in a shady spot and opened a bottle of red wine we had purchased on the way up.
We had an awesome dinner in a little restaurant on the side of one of the many piazzas. I love Italian pasta.
We then headed back to the hotel and to bed.
Sunday
We got up and had breakfast (which was included in the price of the room) which was yummy. We made an early start as we wanted to beat the heat. We found out that the temp yesterday was 35 degrees - guess that explains why we were hot. We rolled out of town and town the hill we rode up yesterday - so much nicer on the way down.
The next 15kms or so were pretty flat and full of excitment as we were overtaken by a local cycle race. It was really cool - most of the guys greated us and eaged us on.
Once the pelaton had passed the road started its climb - we went up and over a smallish hill before starting the real climb into Montipulciano - like Cortona it sits on the top of a hill. Again the going was slow and hot but we rested in the shade when needed.
Once we arrived in town we went to the visitors centre to find some vacant accommodation. Like Cortona there is no campground in Montipulciano. We found a cheapish double and followed the directions - what we weren't told was that the hotel sits pretty much at the top of a very steep climb. I still dont know how I managed to ride up but I did and was very greatful to find our room on the first floor.
After freshening up we wondered around the town, grabbing some lunch (again pasta for jay). We headed to a wone cellar that was recommeneded to us. The cellar is underground and was built in 1337 to specific specifications for the area. We entered the cellar and instantly the temp dropped 10 degrees. At the end we tasted some wines on offer and ended up buying a bottle. It is not hard to figure out why Montipulciano is know for its wines. I am going to make a big call and say it is one of the best wines I have had. The wines from here are not exported - instead you can only buy them in town. Another interesting point is that if the grapes are not good in a particular year then they jsut dont make a wine that year. In the last 10 years they have only produced their white wine 4 times.
Vatican City
We caught the shuttle bus from the campsite to Ii Caprio Metro station. From there we walked the short distance to the exterior wall of Vatican City. We followed the wall until we came to Saint Peter's Bascilica. On the way we passed the line for the entry into Musee Vaticani and the Sistine Chapel. It was seriously 2 to 3 hundred metres long.
We passed through the gates and under the Colonade that circles the piazza in front of St Peter's, we then has a look around to find where the entrance was - it didnt take us long as there were a couple of thousand people lining up. It was a pretty hot and unpleasant wait in line. We later found out that the temp was 37 degrees - guess that explains the heat. To make matters worse, you had to wear appropriate clothing ie no tank tops or shorts.
Once inside it is pretty awe inspiring. The size of the church is what hits you first. The height of the ceiling and that there are no pews set up which adds to the feel of the enormus space.
The detail is so intense - to me (Jay) it almost borders on being gawdy. There is no simplicity to anything. Everything is ornate - right down to the marble floor. It is really one of those places you have to experience for yourself to really appreciate it - words dont do it any justice.
We walked upto the top of the Dome in which we were rewarded with an amazing view of Rome. Rome like Paris is pretty flat so you can see a long way in all directions.
After seeing as much as we could see from the Dome we headed back down to ground level and decided to attack the Musee Vaticani lines. We walked back out through the Colonade and through the gates - we followed the wall all the way to the entrance - there was no line at all. Where were all the people? We dont really care.
The Musee Vaticani have the best scam gong - to see the Sistine Chapel you have to go through the Museum. To enter the Museum you must pay 12 euros per person.
Again it is really hard to describe the Sistine Chapel - in the simplest of terms it is a smallish rectangle room with frescos on every surface other than the floor. The ceiling has 9 main frescos that run down the centre with different frescos one each side - and that is just the roof. Dont forget the walls.....
I can totally understand why it took Michaelangelo 4 years to paint. Ther is a lot of details, but it is also really quite easy to see what each of the scenes are teling you. For example, the Creation of Adam or the Creation of the Sun and Moon.
I can remember Cam saying that he thought Michaelangelo painted people in a more realistic way than most artists of his time. I agree - the people look in proportion and lifelike.
We passed through the gates and under the Colonade that circles the piazza in front of St Peter's, we then has a look around to find where the entrance was - it didnt take us long as there were a couple of thousand people lining up. It was a pretty hot and unpleasant wait in line. We later found out that the temp was 37 degrees - guess that explains the heat. To make matters worse, you had to wear appropriate clothing ie no tank tops or shorts.
Once inside it is pretty awe inspiring. The size of the church is what hits you first. The height of the ceiling and that there are no pews set up which adds to the feel of the enormus space.
The detail is so intense - to me (Jay) it almost borders on being gawdy. There is no simplicity to anything. Everything is ornate - right down to the marble floor. It is really one of those places you have to experience for yourself to really appreciate it - words dont do it any justice.
We walked upto the top of the Dome in which we were rewarded with an amazing view of Rome. Rome like Paris is pretty flat so you can see a long way in all directions.
After seeing as much as we could see from the Dome we headed back down to ground level and decided to attack the Musee Vaticani lines. We walked back out through the Colonade and through the gates - we followed the wall all the way to the entrance - there was no line at all. Where were all the people? We dont really care.
The Musee Vaticani have the best scam gong - to see the Sistine Chapel you have to go through the Museum. To enter the Museum you must pay 12 euros per person.
Again it is really hard to describe the Sistine Chapel - in the simplest of terms it is a smallish rectangle room with frescos on every surface other than the floor. The ceiling has 9 main frescos that run down the centre with different frescos one each side - and that is just the roof. Dont forget the walls.....
I can totally understand why it took Michaelangelo 4 years to paint. Ther is a lot of details, but it is also really quite easy to see what each of the scenes are teling you. For example, the Creation of Adam or the Creation of the Sun and Moon.
I can remember Cam saying that he thought Michaelangelo painted people in a more realistic way than most artists of his time. I agree - the people look in proportion and lifelike.
Thursday, June 23, 2005
Roma
Sorrento to Roma
Travel Day - grrrrrh
Need I say more
We arrived in Rome and headed to Camping Village Roma - it is basically a resort only cheaper.
Tuesday and Wednesday
Tuesday and Wednesday were spent looking at the sights Roma had to offer.
After 19 hours in 2 days our feet hurt and our heads were full of history. We could see no more ruins today.
Some of the places we visited were;
The Spanish Steps,
The Colossuem,
The Trevi Fountain,
The Patheon,
Piazza Navona,
Piazza Venezia,
The Roman Forum,
Circus Maximus,
The Temple of Hercules,
The Mouth of Truth,
The Tiber River including a 1st century bridge,
Capitaline Hill (with a live orchestra performance),
Piazza Popolo,
Via del Corso with its elite shops including Prada, Guicci, Armani, MaxMara, Valentino, Versace to name a few.....
We finally had Italian pizza - yum!! Minimal toppings, maximum flavour.
After sightseeing for 2 days non stop we are planning on spending a day by the pool enjoying the good weather and warm, no, hot temperatures.
Thursday
Today we got up and basically didn't do much at all. We washed our clothes and hung out by the pool before coming and updating our blog site. Tomorrow we are hitting the Vatican before leaving Roma on Saturday and heading to Cortona.
PHOTOS - Click here to see some photos from Roma
Travel Day - grrrrrh
Need I say more
We arrived in Rome and headed to Camping Village Roma - it is basically a resort only cheaper.
Tuesday and Wednesday
Tuesday and Wednesday were spent looking at the sights Roma had to offer.
After 19 hours in 2 days our feet hurt and our heads were full of history. We could see no more ruins today.
Some of the places we visited were;
The Spanish Steps,
The Colossuem,
The Trevi Fountain,
The Patheon,
Piazza Navona,
Piazza Venezia,
The Roman Forum,
Circus Maximus,
The Temple of Hercules,
The Mouth of Truth,
The Tiber River including a 1st century bridge,
Capitaline Hill (with a live orchestra performance),
Piazza Popolo,
Via del Corso with its elite shops including Prada, Guicci, Armani, MaxMara, Valentino, Versace to name a few.....
We finally had Italian pizza - yum!! Minimal toppings, maximum flavour.
After sightseeing for 2 days non stop we are planning on spending a day by the pool enjoying the good weather and warm, no, hot temperatures.
Thursday
Today we got up and basically didn't do much at all. We washed our clothes and hung out by the pool before coming and updating our blog site. Tomorrow we are hitting the Vatican before leaving Roma on Saturday and heading to Cortona.
PHOTOS - Click here to see some photos from Roma
Amalfi Coast
Before we start on the Amalfi Coast we would like to give Gen a big THANKS for the heads up. This is one of the most amazing places we have been and may not have visited had it not been for her recommendation. Thanks Gen.
We caught a taxi from the hote to the Port - oh my GOD!!
They wouldn't let you drive like this on Playstation 2. I don't know how there are not 100's of fatalities everyday on the roads. There are scooters going everywhere between cars, buses, trucks - it is plain kaos.
After surviving our taxi ride across Napoli we purchased our tickets for the ferry to Sorrento. We hed an hour to kill before the next ferry so Cam bought some coffees and paninis and we ate breakfast in the 30 degree heat watching the tourists come and go.
The ferry ride was about 45 mins - you could not see the other side of the harbour through the smog/haze:
Once we arrived in Sorrento our initial plan to ride to the campground changed immediately. The town of Sorrento sits on top of a 50m cliff - accessed by a single cobblestone road. The taxi, a brand new mercedis, delivered us effortlessly to the campsite. We checked in and set up camp. We had a quick swim in the pool before going for a walk into town.
On our way back we came across a tiny fruit and veg store - just think Maria and Guisepie - "we would like 1/2 a kg of cherries please" "Oh, 1/2 a kg of cherries and 1 kg of apricots?!" "No apricots" "Yes, apricots, eat eat" "Okay, we will have 1/2 a kg of cherries and 1 kg of apricots....." they were lovely.
Saturday
While wondering around town yesterday we came across a brochure for Scooter hire....
So, today we hired a vespa and rode to Ravello along the Amalfi coast road. We put on our skidlids (hemlets) and said a quick payer and we were on our way.
What a great way to see a beautiful coastline. The pictures tell the story.
After riding for the day we parked the vespa at the campsite and headed into town on foot - via Maria and Guisepie's to stock up on the necessities (wine). We had gelati for dessert - man do the italians know how to do a killer gelati. Cam had rockmelon, bounty, pineapple, Indian Fig and I had Ferrero Rocher, After 8 (mint), choc orange, choc chip and strawberry swirl.
We headed back to the campsite and after polishing off the bottle of wine we played with the camera for a bit. We then headed to bed.
Sunday
We got up at 6am and headed out along the coast road again for coffee. We were due to return the scooter at 9.30am and Jay wanted to have one more chance to play.
After returning the scooter we headed back to the campsite and spent the rest of the day by the pool. Very relaxing.
PHOTOS - follow this link to see some pics from Amalfi
We caught a taxi from the hote to the Port - oh my GOD!!
They wouldn't let you drive like this on Playstation 2. I don't know how there are not 100's of fatalities everyday on the roads. There are scooters going everywhere between cars, buses, trucks - it is plain kaos.
After surviving our taxi ride across Napoli we purchased our tickets for the ferry to Sorrento. We hed an hour to kill before the next ferry so Cam bought some coffees and paninis and we ate breakfast in the 30 degree heat watching the tourists come and go.
The ferry ride was about 45 mins - you could not see the other side of the harbour through the smog/haze:
Once we arrived in Sorrento our initial plan to ride to the campground changed immediately. The town of Sorrento sits on top of a 50m cliff - accessed by a single cobblestone road. The taxi, a brand new mercedis, delivered us effortlessly to the campsite. We checked in and set up camp. We had a quick swim in the pool before going for a walk into town.
On our way back we came across a tiny fruit and veg store - just think Maria and Guisepie - "we would like 1/2 a kg of cherries please" "Oh, 1/2 a kg of cherries and 1 kg of apricots?!" "No apricots" "Yes, apricots, eat eat" "Okay, we will have 1/2 a kg of cherries and 1 kg of apricots....." they were lovely.
Saturday
While wondering around town yesterday we came across a brochure for Scooter hire....
So, today we hired a vespa and rode to Ravello along the Amalfi coast road. We put on our skidlids (hemlets) and said a quick payer and we were on our way.
What a great way to see a beautiful coastline. The pictures tell the story.
After riding for the day we parked the vespa at the campsite and headed into town on foot - via Maria and Guisepie's to stock up on the necessities (wine). We had gelati for dessert - man do the italians know how to do a killer gelati. Cam had rockmelon, bounty, pineapple, Indian Fig and I had Ferrero Rocher, After 8 (mint), choc orange, choc chip and strawberry swirl.
We headed back to the campsite and after polishing off the bottle of wine we played with the camera for a bit. We then headed to bed.
Sunday
We got up at 6am and headed out along the coast road again for coffee. We were due to return the scooter at 9.30am and Jay wanted to have one more chance to play.
After returning the scooter we headed back to the campsite and spent the rest of the day by the pool. Very relaxing.
PHOTOS - follow this link to see some pics from Amalfi
Grenoble to Napoli
14 hours on a train..... what more do we need to say??
We arrived at our hotel and went straight to bed
We arrived at our hotel and went straight to bed
Wednesday, June 15, 2005
PHOTOS
Fnally we have been able to upload some pics for you. Follow the links below to see pics from the various areas travelled so far......
Wedding photos from Canada
Kaslo Canada
London
Paris
Burgundy Region in France
French Alpes
We hope you enjoy these. We have a lot more which will share with you on our return.
Wedding photos from Canada
Kaslo Canada
London
Paris
Burgundy Region in France
French Alpes
We hope you enjoy these. We have a lot more which will share with you on our return.
The ALPES
Today we were up early and on the road by 7.30am - we rode a total of 2kms from the campsite to the train station. We are heading to Grenoble and then onto Bourg d'Oisans.
We dismantled the bikes at the station and packed them into our bike bags for the train trip. The train (still not a TGV) was really nice - we are pretty happy that we purchased the 1st class tickets as it is quiet and usually empty.
We travelled from Beaune to Lyon before changing to Grenoble.
Once we arrived in Grenoble we caught a local bus to the small town of Bourg d'Oisans about 47kms southeast of Grenoble. We put the bikes back together and rode to the campsite.
Bourg d'Oisans is at the base of Alpe D'Huez and Cam has somehow managed to talk me into riding it with him tomorrow. What was I thinking??
We set up camp and grabbed some supplies from the Casino (local supermarket). While cooking dinner we got chatting to a couple of English guys who had been here a week riding all the high cols (passes). Cam was given a map of some rides he could do besides Alpe D'Huez. We had a carb rich dinner and then went to bed early.
Sunday
We woke up pretty early and to my dismay the day was perfect. I think I was hoping for thunder, lightning, snow, hail - anything to put of climbing that big hill.
Anyays, that wasn't to be so we packed our windstoppers and a snack and hit the road.
OH MY GOD!!
The ride starts off flat and then turns a corner and goes straight up, 21 switchbacks, 13.5kms - your legs don't really get a chance to warm up. To cut a long story short the climb took us 1 hr 33 mins. The views were amazing, once at the top we took some pics and then had a coffee. We had our photos taken by a professional photographer 1 or 2 switchbacks from the top. If you want to have a look at the pics the website is www.photobreton.com and our reference number is FA5B1405.
I think the pics of us at the end - Cam is in yellow and Jay is in blue.
What took us 1.5 hours to come up only took us 20 mins to come down with about 10 mins of photo stops.
JAY climbed ALPE D'HUEZ - I still cant believe I did it!!!
We rode back to the campsite and opened a celebratory bottle of wine bought especially from Beaune for the occassion.
Monday
Cam had caught "Col fever" and decided that he was going to ride to Col du Lautaret and then onto Col du Galibier. I wished him well and went back to bed. There was no way I was going to be able to climb big ass mountains again today.
I spent the day being a good tentwife, I cleaned up the tent and did our washing before wondering into town and updated our blog site. Cam's day on the otherhand was for more relaxing and went something like this;
I headed back up the road to Alpe D'Huez to a small town called La Garde (1450m) where I turned off onto the D211A, this is a cliff huging road that we had seen from the campground. I am trying to think of how to describe this road and only 2 words come to mind HOLT SHIT!!
The road sits about 700m above the valley floor, the only thing stopping me from taking the quick way down is a 2 foot concrete block every few metres.
However, the views were more than spectacular.
I then decended into Barrage du Chembon(massive dam holding back the waters of the Lac du Chembon) where I joined the N91 freeway for a 16km uphill grind. I went through several tunnels and gained 700m in altitude to La Grave, where I had lunch.
After lunch the grind continued upto the Col du Lautaret (2058m) again lots of tunnels and spectacular views. Now the real climbing begins, 8kms and 600m in altitude gain later I arrived at Col du Galibier (2645m). What a view. I had my victory Mars bar as a treat for around 5 hours of uphill pedaling.
So now the fun begins - 50km 1900 metre decent back to Bourg d'Oisans. Gravity Rocks!
I averaged about 40kms an hour and arrived back at the campsite in just under an hour and a half. I arrived back to a somewhat concerned Jay wondering what took me so long......
I had a shower and something to eat before we wondered into town to get some info on our travel back to Grenoble. We arrived back at the campsite just as it started to rain.
Tuesday
We woke to the sounds of rain on the tent, we were plqnning on visiting the Chemin de fer de La Mure - which is a scenic narrow gauge train that runs through part of the Alpes.
Guess the weather had other plans for us. We packed up camp and loaded up our bikes for the long ride into Grenoble as we had missed the 11am bus. We headed out of town - already drenched as we passed the bus stop with the 11am bus still there... Meurrttd (shit in french)
I put my foot down and decided that I (jay) was staying in a dry hotel and if Cam wanted to camp in the soggy tent in the pouring rain then he shouldn't let me stop him. Surprisingly enough he joined me at the Royal Hotel. A no star establishment - a little classy for us....
The hotel is currently being renovated and is actually a lot better value than we paid for (€35 per night). So after carrying all our stuff up two flights of stairs I joined Cam in washing our bikes. We then pqcked them into their bike bags and carried them into our room. Damn those stairs. If only we had found the elevator sooner!
We then had a warm shower and headed over to the train station to book our TGV to Napleson thursday. We then grabbed some chinese for dinner and came bck to the Hotel - we watched a very old episode of ER (George Clooney was still part of the cast) dubbed over in french and went to sleep.
Wednesday
We woke up to a glorious day, the sun was out and the temp is forecast to be around 26 degrees. We are planning on using today to do our washing and update our blog site (as you can see), burn our photos to CD and anything else we need to do before heading to Italy tomorrow.
We dismantled the bikes at the station and packed them into our bike bags for the train trip. The train (still not a TGV) was really nice - we are pretty happy that we purchased the 1st class tickets as it is quiet and usually empty.
We travelled from Beaune to Lyon before changing to Grenoble.
Once we arrived in Grenoble we caught a local bus to the small town of Bourg d'Oisans about 47kms southeast of Grenoble. We put the bikes back together and rode to the campsite.
Bourg d'Oisans is at the base of Alpe D'Huez and Cam has somehow managed to talk me into riding it with him tomorrow. What was I thinking??
We set up camp and grabbed some supplies from the Casino (local supermarket). While cooking dinner we got chatting to a couple of English guys who had been here a week riding all the high cols (passes). Cam was given a map of some rides he could do besides Alpe D'Huez. We had a carb rich dinner and then went to bed early.
Sunday
We woke up pretty early and to my dismay the day was perfect. I think I was hoping for thunder, lightning, snow, hail - anything to put of climbing that big hill.
Anyays, that wasn't to be so we packed our windstoppers and a snack and hit the road.
OH MY GOD!!
The ride starts off flat and then turns a corner and goes straight up, 21 switchbacks, 13.5kms - your legs don't really get a chance to warm up. To cut a long story short the climb took us 1 hr 33 mins. The views were amazing, once at the top we took some pics and then had a coffee. We had our photos taken by a professional photographer 1 or 2 switchbacks from the top. If you want to have a look at the pics the website is www.photobreton.com and our reference number is FA5B1405.
I think the pics of us at the end - Cam is in yellow and Jay is in blue.
What took us 1.5 hours to come up only took us 20 mins to come down with about 10 mins of photo stops.
JAY climbed ALPE D'HUEZ - I still cant believe I did it!!!
We rode back to the campsite and opened a celebratory bottle of wine bought especially from Beaune for the occassion.
Monday
Cam had caught "Col fever" and decided that he was going to ride to Col du Lautaret and then onto Col du Galibier. I wished him well and went back to bed. There was no way I was going to be able to climb big ass mountains again today.
I spent the day being a good tentwife, I cleaned up the tent and did our washing before wondering into town and updated our blog site. Cam's day on the otherhand was for more relaxing and went something like this;
I headed back up the road to Alpe D'Huez to a small town called La Garde (1450m) where I turned off onto the D211A, this is a cliff huging road that we had seen from the campground. I am trying to think of how to describe this road and only 2 words come to mind HOLT SHIT!!
The road sits about 700m above the valley floor, the only thing stopping me from taking the quick way down is a 2 foot concrete block every few metres.
However, the views were more than spectacular.
I then decended into Barrage du Chembon(massive dam holding back the waters of the Lac du Chembon) where I joined the N91 freeway for a 16km uphill grind. I went through several tunnels and gained 700m in altitude to La Grave, where I had lunch.
After lunch the grind continued upto the Col du Lautaret (2058m) again lots of tunnels and spectacular views. Now the real climbing begins, 8kms and 600m in altitude gain later I arrived at Col du Galibier (2645m). What a view. I had my victory Mars bar as a treat for around 5 hours of uphill pedaling.
So now the fun begins - 50km 1900 metre decent back to Bourg d'Oisans. Gravity Rocks!
I averaged about 40kms an hour and arrived back at the campsite in just under an hour and a half. I arrived back to a somewhat concerned Jay wondering what took me so long......
I had a shower and something to eat before we wondered into town to get some info on our travel back to Grenoble. We arrived back at the campsite just as it started to rain.
Tuesday
We woke to the sounds of rain on the tent, we were plqnning on visiting the Chemin de fer de La Mure - which is a scenic narrow gauge train that runs through part of the Alpes.
Guess the weather had other plans for us. We packed up camp and loaded up our bikes for the long ride into Grenoble as we had missed the 11am bus. We headed out of town - already drenched as we passed the bus stop with the 11am bus still there... Meurrttd (shit in french)
I put my foot down and decided that I (jay) was staying in a dry hotel and if Cam wanted to camp in the soggy tent in the pouring rain then he shouldn't let me stop him. Surprisingly enough he joined me at the Royal Hotel. A no star establishment - a little classy for us....
The hotel is currently being renovated and is actually a lot better value than we paid for (€35 per night). So after carrying all our stuff up two flights of stairs I joined Cam in washing our bikes. We then pqcked them into their bike bags and carried them into our room. Damn those stairs. If only we had found the elevator sooner!
We then had a warm shower and headed over to the train station to book our TGV to Napleson thursday. We then grabbed some chinese for dinner and came bck to the Hotel - we watched a very old episode of ER (George Clooney was still part of the cast) dubbed over in french and went to sleep.
Wednesday
We woke up to a glorious day, the sun was out and the temp is forecast to be around 26 degrees. We are planning on using today to do our washing and update our blog site (as you can see), burn our photos to CD and anything else we need to do before heading to Italy tomorrow.
Our Rest Day in Beaune
We enjoyed a sleep in this morning before wondering into town. We walked through the old city and had coffee in one of the town squares.
After coffee we headed to the Hotel-Dieu. It is also refered to as the Hospices de Beaune Hotel-Dieu which in english means Palace for the poor.
The Hospices de Beaune was built in 1443 by Nicolas Rolin and his wife. Nicolas Rolin was the Chancellor of the Duke of Burgundy. The Chancellor and his wife dediced to found a hospice for the poor after the 100 year war which left most of Beaune in povety. They supplied the hospice with an annual income, vineyards and a saltworks to enable them to be self-sufficient. They also hired artists to decorate the buildings.
The Hospice is divided into different wards (so to speak) the Great Hall of the Poor is 50 m long, 14m wide and 16m high. At the end of the great hall is the chapel, this was to allow the sick to attend church services from their beds.
The roof of the hospice is covered with glazed tiles which create awesome patterns.
After looking at the hospice we wondered back to the campsite to partake in the French tradition of a 2 hour lunchbreak. Practically everything is closed from 12 - 2pm and all day on Mondays.
After lunch we headed to Marche Aux Vins Caves for some wine tasting. When you pay each person receives a small silver dish, this dish is used to sample the wines. It is an old tradition that the colour and aroma of the wine to be appreciated and checked. There were 18 wines to sample and each wine was placed on top of a barrel. You helped yourself as you walked through the 18th century cellar - from there you head upto the desanctified church for the remainder of the wines as well as the shop to pay for any you picked up on the way through.
Cam's favorite was the Premier Cru where as mine was the Creme de Casse - blackcurrent liquer.
We then stumbled to an internet cafe where i struggled to use the french keyboard while Cam went to the train station to book our tickets to Grenoble. After updating our blog site we wondered back to the campsite and had some dinner and went to bed.
After coffee we headed to the Hotel-Dieu. It is also refered to as the Hospices de Beaune Hotel-Dieu which in english means Palace for the poor.
The Hospices de Beaune was built in 1443 by Nicolas Rolin and his wife. Nicolas Rolin was the Chancellor of the Duke of Burgundy. The Chancellor and his wife dediced to found a hospice for the poor after the 100 year war which left most of Beaune in povety. They supplied the hospice with an annual income, vineyards and a saltworks to enable them to be self-sufficient. They also hired artists to decorate the buildings.
The Hospice is divided into different wards (so to speak) the Great Hall of the Poor is 50 m long, 14m wide and 16m high. At the end of the great hall is the chapel, this was to allow the sick to attend church services from their beds.
The roof of the hospice is covered with glazed tiles which create awesome patterns.
After looking at the hospice we wondered back to the campsite to partake in the French tradition of a 2 hour lunchbreak. Practically everything is closed from 12 - 2pm and all day on Mondays.
After lunch we headed to Marche Aux Vins Caves for some wine tasting. When you pay each person receives a small silver dish, this dish is used to sample the wines. It is an old tradition that the colour and aroma of the wine to be appreciated and checked. There were 18 wines to sample and each wine was placed on top of a barrel. You helped yourself as you walked through the 18th century cellar - from there you head upto the desanctified church for the remainder of the wines as well as the shop to pay for any you picked up on the way through.
Cam's favorite was the Premier Cru where as mine was the Creme de Casse - blackcurrent liquer.
We then stumbled to an internet cafe where i struggled to use the french keyboard while Cam went to the train station to book our tickets to Grenoble. After updating our blog site we wondered back to the campsite and had some dinner and went to bed.
Friday, June 10, 2005
Auxerre - Beaune
Friday
We got up early and packed up camp - we then lugged our stuff to the Gare de Lyon (Lyon train station) We then grabbed lunch while at a cool cafe while waiting for our train to Auxerre to leave.
The train was fast, comfy and quiet.We arrived in Auxerre after 2 hours and put the bikes together to the sound of thunder......
Guess we are destined for a rainy trip. We got the bikes together, everything is fine and they seemed to have survived the trip well. The heavens opened so we took refuge in the train station. After around 10 minutes we headed to the campground - very expensive at €8.30 a night (not). We set up camp and decided to go get food - again very cheap to shop. It seemed everytime we went near our bikes it started to rain.
After dinner the clouds had moved on so we rode into town to have a look around, while riding into town we noticed two very large cathedrals and headed their way. The first one we came to was in bad repair, so we walded our bikes to the second one St Etienne Catherdral. It as huge - not as big as Notre Dame but not much smaller. The catherdral is in the process of being restored.
We kept moving and came to yet another catherdral - this one was St Pierre and although quite run down was still in use. Apposed to the previous 2 catherdrals this one was decorated with nice images rather than gargoyles etc...
It was starting to get late so we headed back to the campground.
Saturday
Our first day of riding - we were slow to get started. We had coffee and breaky and took advantage of the free runing hot water in the showers. It was well after 10 am before we were on the road.
Did I mention coffee? What a production.....
We started out with some issues to overcome, the first being that we had no way of brewing coffee and we weren't going anywhere near that instant stuff, so..... using our very cool origami plates (that we picked up in Calgary) and some trial and error with coffee filters Voila.... as the French woulsd say Deux Coffee au lait - é coffee with milk.
Okay, so back to riding - we rode along the Yonne River where we passed a couple of Dykes and weirs. At Bailly we took an unintentional detour which led us to a mighty big climb - by big I mean probably small for those of you that ride regularly, but BIG in Jay terms. The good news is that our gears were good and the legs didn't feel too punished.
From St bris we rode towards Chitry - from there there was another big climb. The view fro, the top looking back down the valley was well worth the effort. The next reward was an awesome 7km decent. you know you are going fast when you hqve to break to do the speed limit. I think my top speed was 56 kms per hour. Yippee what a rush.
We soon arrived in Chalis, where we found a beautiful spot on the Serein River for lunch. From Chalis we followed the Serein River through Chichee, Chemilly sur Serein, Polley sur Serein, Molay, Moutot nto Noyers sur Serein. For those of you wondering, sur serein means on Serein ie Noyers on Serein River.
Molay was an amazing town - as we rode through it was like we entered a time void - the town looks exactly the same as it would had we been in the 17th century.
Noyers - our final destination for the day is a medievil town complete with gates at either end and a big wall surrounding the city. The streets are all cobblestone - which makes riding tough.
Our campground is quaint - it is small but has a toilet and a shower with hot water.
After setting up camp we headed to the local super,arket for our daily supplies. Whilst in the supermarket we were stopped by an Aussie wonab from Sydney. her and her mum had ben living in Noyers for the past 3 months before heading to Florence to work.
We again picked up the necessarities from the supermerket, wine and chocolate.
Sunday
So today we were up and having breakfast at 7am. After breaky we went for a wonder around town. The town surrounded by a stone rampart. We headed back to the campground and pack up our stuff. We could not return the key until 9.30am.
We headed off at 10.00am. The ride started off with a hill and didn't really stop all day. We rode through a town called Tormancy - this town was so beautiful. Massangis & Civry sur Serein to l'Isle sur Serein. We stopped at L'Isle for coffee at a bar opposite the town fountain and church. From there we headed to Avallon where we stopped for lunch.
Lunch was spend sitting on the city ralpqrt overlooking the valley aruond 100 metres below. This was a great decent to stqrt our afternoon seesion.
Once in the valley we rode alongside the Cousin River through forest - hikeable and mountain bikable. We followed the river until Pontaubert, from here our ride changed fro, leisurely to painful. We started the first of 2 yucky climbs. This climb was 10kms long but the elevation gain was only 100 metres. Once you got going it wasn't too bad on your legs. From the top we enjoyed another fast decent - we dropped the 100 metres gained but this time over 5km's. From St Pere we headed to our second climb of the day. Thankfully this climb was only 2 kms with an elevatin gain of 100 metres. A lot steeper!! Halfway up when ,y legs were seriously starting to scream we found a vineyqrd with tastings and sales - we gladly pulled in.
We tasted the Chardonnay, Rose and Pinot Noir. After chatting with the wine maker for a while we bought a bottle of Rose and headed up the last 1km to the town of Vezelay. Vezelay is nestled on the top of a hill and the town is heritage listed.
We found our campground and set up camp. We then rode into the town centre and wondered around. At the very top of the hill sits the Bascilica of St Marie Madeleine. From the outside this church looks pretty run down and plain compared to Notre Dame and the churches in Auxerre, however, once inside this simple church is breathtaking.
From the church we headed back to the campsite stoping twice, the first time to purchase some creme de framboise de Bourgogne (simple terms - Raspberry liquor) and secondly for desert - ice cream.
Just as we were finishing dinner the rain came in - BUMMER!!
Oh well an early night might help me deal with tomorrows ride.
Monday
We woke to the sound of pitta patta on the tent. Looks like we are in for a wet day. We were really unmotivated and after our morning coffee we both went back to sleep for another hour or so. We got up and started the slow process of packing up camp.
On the way out we popped back into the store and purchased another bottle of creme de framboise. Just the thing to warm you after a long wet day in the saddle (isn't it amazing how easy it is to justify anything......)
We were on the road at around 10.30am. At about 10.45am the rain started again - this time it did not really stop all day. The going was slow, of the 55kms we did today only 12 - 15 kms were downhill or flat. I (Jay) was suitably impressed as I am sure ALL of you can well imagine. I found the day really hard emotionally - the driving rain and the continuous climbs. During my major dummy spit of the day I do remember mentioning to Cam that I would have preferred to be cleaning toilets with my hands than be here right now!!
Not long after that we came across the only open store since leaving this morning. We pulled in and had a coffee and a chat with the owner. He assured us that tomorrow would be much better.
I seemed to hqve missed telling you about Mike and Michelle. We were enjoying one of the few downhill rolls of the day when we stopped to take a photo. Not long after that Mike & Michelle appeared out of the bush - they are hiking the pilgrim trail to Spain. We got chatting and after awhile we all decided that we should keep going. We were supposedly going to be eating at the same place.
After arriving in town for lunch we found the cafe had closed down - Cam and I went to the town square where there was a place to sit. Mike and Michelle arrived soon after. Through the course of lunch we descoved that Mike & Michelle worked for the company that developed Breathalisers that qre used by the Aussie cops. BASTARDS!!
Okay back to the cafe. We were 7km of uphill from our destination. Now according to the Lonely Planet this should have been a reasonably hard climb - but to our relief the climb was pretty easy.
We decided to put up the tent as soon as we arrived as it had actually stopped raining temporarily.
We went into town to find the only cafe for dinner - hmmm closed again. We headed back to the campground and Cam started cooking dinner and I went to have a shower to warm up. Not to be - only cold water. We decided to skip the shower and have one tomorrow at Chateau Chinon.
All in all I am happy that this day is nearly over - not one of my most memorable.
Cam on the other hand didn't mind the day - I think he enjoyed the challenges. Freak!
Tuesday
When we woke up it was still miserable outside. We were both very slow to get going - however this turned out to be a good thing as not long after we set off the sun broke through the clouds and the day started to warm up.
Our first stop of the day was a telephone booth - it was my dad's birthday (Tony) and we also needed to call and let our parents know that we were still alive.
After having a nice chat with our parents we were on the road again. According to the Lonely Planet we were in for an easy day and should be in the saddle for only around 3.5 hours.
Our second stop was at the Musee de la Saboterie - which is the Woodcarvers Museam at Gouloux. Gouloux's woodcarvers hold the record for the worlds largest woodcarving - a shoe carved from a single piece of wood 45 m long & weighing 18 tonne. As luck would have it we arrived just as a school tour started so we were able to watch and learn. It was reallt interesting to see how the old machinery was used to make a pair of shoes similar to clogs in around20 mins.
From Gouloux the road climbed quite steeply for the next few kms before we decended and came out at Lac des Settons. The ride around the lake was quiet & peaceful. From the lake the road climbed gently towards Planchez - which was our third stop for the day.
We stopped and had coffee in the now cloud free sky and chatted with the barman.
From Planchez we again decended before heading up our final climb of the day to Chataeu Chinon. For a day that was supposed to be easy it was amazingly hard. The campground was on the opposite side of town on top of the hill. This gave us amazing views down the valleys on all sides.
However, as we quickly learn't also left us very exposed. By mid afternoon the wind had picked up and was blowing a very chilled wind straight through the campground. Cam assummed that Chinon is the french word for cyclone!
After setting up camp we headed in to town to have some lunch and to restock our supplies. We finallt remembered to buy some laundry powder and went about washing pretty much everything we had. The wind alloed us to dry our stuff over night.
Cam cooked up another feast and we read about the next days adventures before heading to bed.
Wednesday
We woke up to the sounds of the wind still buffering the campsite. Again we were slow to get started but once we were going that wind became our friend as it was straight into our backs for the first half of the ride.
From Chateau Chinon we enjoyed a short decent before heading up - the climbs were long but they were easy - especially with a tail wind. We headed to Les Buteaux where we stopped for morning tea.
From there we enjoyed a long fast decent before we started climbing again. This time we were climbing to Mont Beuvray and the ruins of Bibracte. Now when I said climb I meant climb!! the road sarts out at 18% grade and then levels out at the Bibracte Museum before climbing once more - at 20% for just under 2kms to the summit. Bibracte is a Gaulish town that dates back to the 1st century.
Archaelogical work began in 1868 until 1904 where it lay dormant until 1984 zhen the Centre National Recherche Scientifique resumed excavation work. In 1988 Mont Beuvray was declared a protected site and the European Centre for Archaelogy is now leading the excavations.
Most of the city has been unearthed and it is quite amazing to see the size of the stones used to build their houses and churches.
Once we reached the summit we stopped for lunch and a coffee and of course to ad,ire the spectular views. After lunch the going was pretty easy. We basicallt decended for 20kms with the occassional hill. However, the tail wind was now a head wind. Cam went up front and blocked the wind for me as my legs were very fatigued.
We arrived in the campsite in Autun and found a nice spot to set up camp.
We both enjoyed a wonderful LONG HOT shower before grabbing a meal at the restaurant on site. After dinner we both climbed into bed for a much needed rest.
Thursday
We had a morning of sight seeing Autun. We visited the Temple of Janus, Le Porte de Langres, St Lazare Catherdal and Le threatre Romain.
We packed up camp and headed towards Beaune (pronounced Born). We left at around 2.30pm with the intention of only doing half a day - depending on how we felt. We were both pretty tired from the previous day and there was still a very strong head wind blowing.
From Autun we headed to Sully where we detoured to catch a glimpse of the fa,ous Chateau de Sully. From here we headed to Epinac and a chqnce to stop if needed. The going had been pretty tough as we rode into the wind however, we both decided that we would like to push on to Beaune. From Epinac we headed to Molinot where we past a cool building with its own small lake. From Molinot the road climbs upto Irvy en Montagne. From here we took another side trip to visit the Chateau de Coraboeuf. From the Chateau we back tracked a short distance to join the route again. We continued climbing before we levelled out on top of a plateau - where we could see the whole Cote d'or. We then decended - oh my god what a rush! the decent was fast and we very quickly gain speed, after about 7kms the road flattened out a little and opened up to reveal hillsides upon hillsides of vineyards. It was truely amazing - it xas grapevines as far as you could see.
We continued our decent past the towns of St Romain & Pommard before arriving at Beaune. We were both pretty happy to have made it to Beaune and we are looking forward to our rest day tomorrow before heading to Alp D'Huez!
We got up early and packed up camp - we then lugged our stuff to the Gare de Lyon (Lyon train station) We then grabbed lunch while at a cool cafe while waiting for our train to Auxerre to leave.
The train was fast, comfy and quiet.We arrived in Auxerre after 2 hours and put the bikes together to the sound of thunder......
Guess we are destined for a rainy trip. We got the bikes together, everything is fine and they seemed to have survived the trip well. The heavens opened so we took refuge in the train station. After around 10 minutes we headed to the campground - very expensive at €8.30 a night (not). We set up camp and decided to go get food - again very cheap to shop. It seemed everytime we went near our bikes it started to rain.
After dinner the clouds had moved on so we rode into town to have a look around, while riding into town we noticed two very large cathedrals and headed their way. The first one we came to was in bad repair, so we walded our bikes to the second one St Etienne Catherdral. It as huge - not as big as Notre Dame but not much smaller. The catherdral is in the process of being restored.
We kept moving and came to yet another catherdral - this one was St Pierre and although quite run down was still in use. Apposed to the previous 2 catherdrals this one was decorated with nice images rather than gargoyles etc...
It was starting to get late so we headed back to the campground.
Saturday
Our first day of riding - we were slow to get started. We had coffee and breaky and took advantage of the free runing hot water in the showers. It was well after 10 am before we were on the road.
Did I mention coffee? What a production.....
We started out with some issues to overcome, the first being that we had no way of brewing coffee and we weren't going anywhere near that instant stuff, so..... using our very cool origami plates (that we picked up in Calgary) and some trial and error with coffee filters Voila.... as the French woulsd say Deux Coffee au lait - é coffee with milk.
Okay, so back to riding - we rode along the Yonne River where we passed a couple of Dykes and weirs. At Bailly we took an unintentional detour which led us to a mighty big climb - by big I mean probably small for those of you that ride regularly, but BIG in Jay terms. The good news is that our gears were good and the legs didn't feel too punished.
From St bris we rode towards Chitry - from there there was another big climb. The view fro, the top looking back down the valley was well worth the effort. The next reward was an awesome 7km decent. you know you are going fast when you hqve to break to do the speed limit. I think my top speed was 56 kms per hour. Yippee what a rush.
We soon arrived in Chalis, where we found a beautiful spot on the Serein River for lunch. From Chalis we followed the Serein River through Chichee, Chemilly sur Serein, Polley sur Serein, Molay, Moutot nto Noyers sur Serein. For those of you wondering, sur serein means on Serein ie Noyers on Serein River.
Molay was an amazing town - as we rode through it was like we entered a time void - the town looks exactly the same as it would had we been in the 17th century.
Noyers - our final destination for the day is a medievil town complete with gates at either end and a big wall surrounding the city. The streets are all cobblestone - which makes riding tough.
Our campground is quaint - it is small but has a toilet and a shower with hot water.
After setting up camp we headed to the local super,arket for our daily supplies. Whilst in the supermarket we were stopped by an Aussie wonab from Sydney. her and her mum had ben living in Noyers for the past 3 months before heading to Florence to work.
We again picked up the necessarities from the supermerket, wine and chocolate.
Sunday
So today we were up and having breakfast at 7am. After breaky we went for a wonder around town. The town surrounded by a stone rampart. We headed back to the campground and pack up our stuff. We could not return the key until 9.30am.
We headed off at 10.00am. The ride started off with a hill and didn't really stop all day. We rode through a town called Tormancy - this town was so beautiful. Massangis & Civry sur Serein to l'Isle sur Serein. We stopped at L'Isle for coffee at a bar opposite the town fountain and church. From there we headed to Avallon where we stopped for lunch.
Lunch was spend sitting on the city ralpqrt overlooking the valley aruond 100 metres below. This was a great decent to stqrt our afternoon seesion.
Once in the valley we rode alongside the Cousin River through forest - hikeable and mountain bikable. We followed the river until Pontaubert, from here our ride changed fro, leisurely to painful. We started the first of 2 yucky climbs. This climb was 10kms long but the elevation gain was only 100 metres. Once you got going it wasn't too bad on your legs. From the top we enjoyed another fast decent - we dropped the 100 metres gained but this time over 5km's. From St Pere we headed to our second climb of the day. Thankfully this climb was only 2 kms with an elevatin gain of 100 metres. A lot steeper!! Halfway up when ,y legs were seriously starting to scream we found a vineyqrd with tastings and sales - we gladly pulled in.
We tasted the Chardonnay, Rose and Pinot Noir. After chatting with the wine maker for a while we bought a bottle of Rose and headed up the last 1km to the town of Vezelay. Vezelay is nestled on the top of a hill and the town is heritage listed.
We found our campground and set up camp. We then rode into the town centre and wondered around. At the very top of the hill sits the Bascilica of St Marie Madeleine. From the outside this church looks pretty run down and plain compared to Notre Dame and the churches in Auxerre, however, once inside this simple church is breathtaking.
From the church we headed back to the campsite stoping twice, the first time to purchase some creme de framboise de Bourgogne (simple terms - Raspberry liquor) and secondly for desert - ice cream.
Just as we were finishing dinner the rain came in - BUMMER!!
Oh well an early night might help me deal with tomorrows ride.
Monday
We woke to the sound of pitta patta on the tent. Looks like we are in for a wet day. We were really unmotivated and after our morning coffee we both went back to sleep for another hour or so. We got up and started the slow process of packing up camp.
On the way out we popped back into the store and purchased another bottle of creme de framboise. Just the thing to warm you after a long wet day in the saddle (isn't it amazing how easy it is to justify anything......)
We were on the road at around 10.30am. At about 10.45am the rain started again - this time it did not really stop all day. The going was slow, of the 55kms we did today only 12 - 15 kms were downhill or flat. I (Jay) was suitably impressed as I am sure ALL of you can well imagine. I found the day really hard emotionally - the driving rain and the continuous climbs. During my major dummy spit of the day I do remember mentioning to Cam that I would have preferred to be cleaning toilets with my hands than be here right now!!
Not long after that we came across the only open store since leaving this morning. We pulled in and had a coffee and a chat with the owner. He assured us that tomorrow would be much better.
I seemed to hqve missed telling you about Mike and Michelle. We were enjoying one of the few downhill rolls of the day when we stopped to take a photo. Not long after that Mike & Michelle appeared out of the bush - they are hiking the pilgrim trail to Spain. We got chatting and after awhile we all decided that we should keep going. We were supposedly going to be eating at the same place.
After arriving in town for lunch we found the cafe had closed down - Cam and I went to the town square where there was a place to sit. Mike and Michelle arrived soon after. Through the course of lunch we descoved that Mike & Michelle worked for the company that developed Breathalisers that qre used by the Aussie cops. BASTARDS!!
Okay back to the cafe. We were 7km of uphill from our destination. Now according to the Lonely Planet this should have been a reasonably hard climb - but to our relief the climb was pretty easy.
We decided to put up the tent as soon as we arrived as it had actually stopped raining temporarily.
We went into town to find the only cafe for dinner - hmmm closed again. We headed back to the campground and Cam started cooking dinner and I went to have a shower to warm up. Not to be - only cold water. We decided to skip the shower and have one tomorrow at Chateau Chinon.
All in all I am happy that this day is nearly over - not one of my most memorable.
Cam on the other hand didn't mind the day - I think he enjoyed the challenges. Freak!
Tuesday
When we woke up it was still miserable outside. We were both very slow to get going - however this turned out to be a good thing as not long after we set off the sun broke through the clouds and the day started to warm up.
Our first stop of the day was a telephone booth - it was my dad's birthday (Tony) and we also needed to call and let our parents know that we were still alive.
After having a nice chat with our parents we were on the road again. According to the Lonely Planet we were in for an easy day and should be in the saddle for only around 3.5 hours.
Our second stop was at the Musee de la Saboterie - which is the Woodcarvers Museam at Gouloux. Gouloux's woodcarvers hold the record for the worlds largest woodcarving - a shoe carved from a single piece of wood 45 m long & weighing 18 tonne. As luck would have it we arrived just as a school tour started so we were able to watch and learn. It was reallt interesting to see how the old machinery was used to make a pair of shoes similar to clogs in around20 mins.
From Gouloux the road climbed quite steeply for the next few kms before we decended and came out at Lac des Settons. The ride around the lake was quiet & peaceful. From the lake the road climbed gently towards Planchez - which was our third stop for the day.
We stopped and had coffee in the now cloud free sky and chatted with the barman.
From Planchez we again decended before heading up our final climb of the day to Chataeu Chinon. For a day that was supposed to be easy it was amazingly hard. The campground was on the opposite side of town on top of the hill. This gave us amazing views down the valleys on all sides.
However, as we quickly learn't also left us very exposed. By mid afternoon the wind had picked up and was blowing a very chilled wind straight through the campground. Cam assummed that Chinon is the french word for cyclone!
After setting up camp we headed in to town to have some lunch and to restock our supplies. We finallt remembered to buy some laundry powder and went about washing pretty much everything we had. The wind alloed us to dry our stuff over night.
Cam cooked up another feast and we read about the next days adventures before heading to bed.
Wednesday
We woke up to the sounds of the wind still buffering the campsite. Again we were slow to get started but once we were going that wind became our friend as it was straight into our backs for the first half of the ride.
From Chateau Chinon we enjoyed a short decent before heading up - the climbs were long but they were easy - especially with a tail wind. We headed to Les Buteaux where we stopped for morning tea.
From there we enjoyed a long fast decent before we started climbing again. This time we were climbing to Mont Beuvray and the ruins of Bibracte. Now when I said climb I meant climb!! the road sarts out at 18% grade and then levels out at the Bibracte Museum before climbing once more - at 20% for just under 2kms to the summit. Bibracte is a Gaulish town that dates back to the 1st century.
Archaelogical work began in 1868 until 1904 where it lay dormant until 1984 zhen the Centre National Recherche Scientifique resumed excavation work. In 1988 Mont Beuvray was declared a protected site and the European Centre for Archaelogy is now leading the excavations.
Most of the city has been unearthed and it is quite amazing to see the size of the stones used to build their houses and churches.
Once we reached the summit we stopped for lunch and a coffee and of course to ad,ire the spectular views. After lunch the going was pretty easy. We basicallt decended for 20kms with the occassional hill. However, the tail wind was now a head wind. Cam went up front and blocked the wind for me as my legs were very fatigued.
We arrived in the campsite in Autun and found a nice spot to set up camp.
We both enjoyed a wonderful LONG HOT shower before grabbing a meal at the restaurant on site. After dinner we both climbed into bed for a much needed rest.
Thursday
We had a morning of sight seeing Autun. We visited the Temple of Janus, Le Porte de Langres, St Lazare Catherdal and Le threatre Romain.
We packed up camp and headed towards Beaune (pronounced Born). We left at around 2.30pm with the intention of only doing half a day - depending on how we felt. We were both pretty tired from the previous day and there was still a very strong head wind blowing.
From Autun we headed to Sully where we detoured to catch a glimpse of the fa,ous Chateau de Sully. From here we headed to Epinac and a chqnce to stop if needed. The going had been pretty tough as we rode into the wind however, we both decided that we would like to push on to Beaune. From Epinac we headed to Molinot where we past a cool building with its own small lake. From Molinot the road climbs upto Irvy en Montagne. From here we took another side trip to visit the Chateau de Coraboeuf. From the Chateau we back tracked a short distance to join the route again. We continued climbing before we levelled out on top of a plateau - where we could see the whole Cote d'or. We then decended - oh my god what a rush! the decent was fast and we very quickly gain speed, after about 7kms the road flattened out a little and opened up to reveal hillsides upon hillsides of vineyards. It was truely amazing - it xas grapevines as far as you could see.
We continued our decent past the towns of St Romain & Pommard before arriving at Beaune. We were both pretty happy to have made it to Beaune and we are looking forward to our rest day tomorrow before heading to Alp D'Huez!
More from Paris
Tuesday
Man the keyboards are really weird over here. The keys are in completely different places. I appologise upfront for any really bad typing....
Okay today Cam and I went on é Fat Tire Bike Tours of Paris. They basically took us to the main spots in Paris. The first one was during the morning and the second one was at night.
In between the two tours we climbed the Eiffel Tower - I dont know how many steps that is but it is heaps.
By the end of the day I was definately feeling sick and needed some time.
Wednesday
I woke up on Wednesday with a ripper of a head cold. I could bearly move and felt horrible. We stayed at the campsite until around 3pm. We then headed into the city to the Sacred Heart Catheral. in the square near the catherdal we sat at a small cafe and enjoyed a beer. From there we walked to the Moulin Rouge - very dissapointing...
For dinner that night we had a picinic under the Eiffel Tower. After dinner we headed over to the Montparnasse Tower - on the 59th floor there is a look out. Cam and I watched the sun go down and took some photos.
Once the lights had come on we headed home - by this time Cam was also starting to feel sick.
Thursday
Today we were slow again to get started. Once going we went to Notre Dame, St Chapelle and then had the best ice cream ever across the road from Notre Dame.
From Notre Dame we headed over to the Louvre and Plqce de La Concorde. While at the Lourve we had a look at part of the initial Roman wall that was discovered when the French were excavating to install the glass pyramid.
After the Louvre we headed back to the campsite so we could do our washing and get everything ready for our trip to Auxerre tomorrow for the first of our rides.
Cam and I have decided that we are going to come back to Paris on our way home so we can see the Chateau Versilles.
Man the keyboards are really weird over here. The keys are in completely different places. I appologise upfront for any really bad typing....
Okay today Cam and I went on é Fat Tire Bike Tours of Paris. They basically took us to the main spots in Paris. The first one was during the morning and the second one was at night.
In between the two tours we climbed the Eiffel Tower - I dont know how many steps that is but it is heaps.
By the end of the day I was definately feeling sick and needed some time.
Wednesday
I woke up on Wednesday with a ripper of a head cold. I could bearly move and felt horrible. We stayed at the campsite until around 3pm. We then headed into the city to the Sacred Heart Catheral. in the square near the catherdal we sat at a small cafe and enjoyed a beer. From there we walked to the Moulin Rouge - very dissapointing...
For dinner that night we had a picinic under the Eiffel Tower. After dinner we headed over to the Montparnasse Tower - on the 59th floor there is a look out. Cam and I watched the sun go down and took some photos.
Once the lights had come on we headed home - by this time Cam was also starting to feel sick.
Thursday
Today we were slow again to get started. Once going we went to Notre Dame, St Chapelle and then had the best ice cream ever across the road from Notre Dame.
From Notre Dame we headed over to the Louvre and Plqce de La Concorde. While at the Lourve we had a look at part of the initial Roman wall that was discovered when the French were excavating to install the glass pyramid.
After the Louvre we headed back to the campsite so we could do our washing and get everything ready for our trip to Auxerre tomorrow for the first of our rides.
Cam and I have decided that we are going to come back to Paris on our way home so we can see the Chateau Versilles.
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