Another link to the epic ride! - France 2012

Please follow link for a few more pics.

https://picasaweb.google.com/108790443294133612295/FranceRide2012?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCM2M-o_w7dG4CQ&feat=directlink

Reclaiming the Streets

....... Paris, Sunday afternoon. ........ Waiting patiently for the police to escort them round the Montparnasse road junctions; about 2,000 skaters.

Motorway Art

One of the few advantages of Formule 1 Hotels, trapped between motorways, rivers and main roads is that, very occasionally, gems like this appear. On the A9 motorway roundabout complex, junction 30, outside Montpellier. Passed it several times in a vain attempt to find a safe way across the motorway.

Link to my photos of epic ride!

Dear all I have posted my pictures on Picassa under the following link- sorry if 150 are too many to go through but I think there are some fantastic memories recorded- the weather made every shot a picture- so I couldn't cut out many. Let me know what you think and download or swap any you like and share your memories of a fantastic weeks ride. I spent monday on the beach and visiting the Nature reserve at Portiragne Plage. What a lovely place even though the warm mistral wind ensured I got sandblasted as I topped up the tan. I even earned myself a free beer for proof reading an english menu in a bar in Portiragne village. English cream is now 'custard' and megot is translated as 'cigarette butt' and one bar owner made happy. I look forward to seeing your pictures at some point and hope we can all catch up soon and plan 'Dragon ride V - England?Scotland. a bientot!


https://picasaweb.google.com/101875583746637889849/DragonRide2012EntreDeuxMers?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCOTlsLGi5KfHiQE&feat=directlink

Some details for Day 1

I suggest that we meet at this hotel-restaurant. I'll be there, sipping a G&T! In fact, the car park might be more appropriate, after looking at the website! (see below) Start assembling from 10:00 but let me know if that's going to be difficult for anyone (Shawn?) I think we ought to climb the 107 metres of the Dune - hard work from memory, in the fine sand, but the views are awesome! Then we dip our wheels in the Atlantic, then set off eastwards any time after 11 (more likely 12) with a huge tail-wind! I suppose it would be an idea to bring sandwiches? Look forward to a pizza in the evening! (there's a pizzeria opposite the campsite, apparently)
Hôtel Restaurant La Corniche

46 Avenue Louis Gaume Pyla

33115 Pyla sur Mer

Itinéraire

lacoorniche-pyla.com

The plan is to access the Aquitaine Coastal Greenway D804 which runs parallel to the main road D259 to La-Teste-de-Buch, then continue on this GW to "Kid Parc", where my IGN map shows it fizzling out. Then a minor road northwards (Ave de Césarée) to Gujan-Mestras, where I'm hoping we can quickly find the GW which passes through the Le Teich Ornithological Park  http://www.af3v.org/-Fiche-VVV-.html?voie=70 (6 km long according to AF3V). After this, the map shows another short stretch of D804 going towards Facture. Unfortunately, it seems impossible to avoid a short bit of the D650 but, from there, there is a 4.5 km link, including a new footbridge over the M-way, to Mios and the ex-railway GW which we use all the way to St-Symphorien. Any questions?!
plus d'infosAdresse :

Incorrect ? Afficher toutes les modifications Incorrect ?

Le positionnement sur la carte est approximatif. ‎

Ride to the Garonne Canal – just to whet your appetites!

Less than three weeks to go, folks!

I had my longest ride so far this year – 132 km. Passing through Seyches (belltower/arched entrance to the village, next to the church), I arrived at the canal (La Gaulette Lock) and sought out the two B&Bs near Lagruère where we shall be staying. One was quite tricky to find, so I’m glad I made the effort. Note the diseased trees; there was hardly one that was not affected. A shame! Note also the British narrow boats – brought by low loader, I guess, unless one of them featured in the book ‘Narrow Dog to Carcassonne.’ Suspension bridge over the River Garonne, to La Réole (oldest town hall in France, built by Richard the LH) and La Réole itself on the river, reminiscent of Chateau Gontier 2 years ago. I don’t know if we’ll have time to go there – maybe the faster of us might manage a diversion! (but that lets me out!) I may have remarked somewhere else that from Arcachon to Bazas we will be riding bits of greenway which will one day be all joined up under a departmental road number, D804 (at least in the Gironde). Now I see that the Garonne Canal towpath also has a number, D809! In all, I covered 36 km of the canal – all tarmacked, of course.

And now an apology. A spreadsheet I sent out after I found those two B&Bs contains two errors. The distance from Lagruère to Agen is not 73 km as stated, but only 43 km, making Day 2 our shortest. That’s the good news! More good news is that there is no error overall, as far as I am aware. It follows, however, that there is a mistake elsewhere: in fact, Agen to Toulouse will be in the region of 109 km, not 81 km. Sorry about that, but not a huge distance to do, given the terrain and the wind (we hope!) On that subject, the wind today was blowing from the SE – we can do without that, thanks!!! (but it wasn’t strong) It was also quite hot today: 26 C was predicted and I’d guess it reached that!

Some details on the route

Greetings from the Lot-et-Garonne (47, Martin). I attach here the map from Julien Savary’s first booklet which covers the latter part of our journey and shows the bits of the Canal du Midi towpath which are ‘voie verte cyclable revêtue’ (surfaced greenway – red on the map!) and those which are ‘itinéraire cyclable non revêtu’ (non-surfaced cyclable route - orange). Just to recap, the various greenways from the Dune du Pyla to the Garonne Canal are all tarmacked, as is the towpath to Toulouse – so no problems there. After Toulouse, the towpath is surfaced as far as Port Lauragais. Then there are small red stretches as follows: through Castelnaudary; through Carcassonne; from Béziers towards Agde for a few km. The rest is orange. There are also a few exclamation marks, which the booklet describes as ‘difficultés’. The majority of these seem to be in the region of Sallèles-d’Aude, Argeliers, Capestang, Poilhès, but there are some around Carcassonne as well, which I will try to research. I will also ascertain which IGN maps are relevant and attempt to transfer the information concerning the towpath surface onto them and hence find alternative roads. More on all this later ... 
May I lead for the first day? I'm looking forward to finding our way through the initial twists and turns to Mios and onto the ex-railway line to Bazas. I hope the weather will be kind to us. Here it has been rubbish recently, with showers and temperatures of only 12 C max, altho at last things are beginning to change: temperature today is 15 C.