PONS - 16-SEP

 

Today is our first ride in Pons, west of the Dordogne stop and very close to the Atlantic coast. The terrain is very different with no climbs to speak of, just rolling hills of grape vines and other lesser crops. 

This 32 mile ride is Kim's delight: cool temperatures - check, overcast skies - check, flat roads - check,  predominately smooth pavement - check, few cars - check, coffee and pastry - check.

It is Saturday and still bird hunting season. Fortunately cyclist hunting season ended last month. Their bird dog did not get the message and chased us down the road. Kim got away. Good Kim! Good dog! 

We are used to seeing grape vines and corn fields but never planted side by side. 

One of the towns on Kim's route notes. Guess we must be going the right way. 

Market stall but no market day.

But a good place for a much needed bread break. 

Kim agrees.

A town between here and there. Guess we are still going the right way.

Hi, remember me. Wait up!

A Velo Route from times gone by. We agree it is a nice place for cycling. 

Passing over the A something or other. Great way to go when you want to get there. Cycling is for going slow with no special destination in mind. 

Any town named Chez whatever is worthy of a photo. I am sure it was the house of someone important and probably dead. 

The leaning tower but not sure if it was going up or just came down. 

The church of our ???? of ????. No shortage of churches in France.

The road taken. A beaten path not off the beaten path. It was smoothly paved at some point but only remnants remain. Fortunately our new 32 mm tires with only 65 PSI of pressure survived the challenge. 

Steep gravel covered downhill requires heavy braking and slow speed to stay upright. Not a fun place to take a spill and painful road rash. Got to love those disc brakes.

A sad end to such a beautiful flower. But worth the sacrifice to harvest the sunflower seeds - great in a salad or just by the handful. 

Back to Pons - home again, home again, jiggety jig.

It is not ideal to wait for our coffee stop at the end of the ride but nary a Tabac or Cafe along the route. Notice how well our Napolean survived the rugged ride. Kim has perfected her carrying techniques. 

Formerly "Donjon medieval de Pons" 
Okay, what gives?
It was built to house the passage of pilgrims on their way to Santiago de Compostela. Some modern pilgrims still walk the road but most drive or cycle their way to Spain. Smart, or just bypass it altogether. 

 

Our timing was spot on. Finished coffee in time to get here before the1300 (1 PM for normal folk) closing siesta time. 

Casted our left over bread from yesterday since we now had a fresh loaf. 
Did anyone say "Foie Gras?" - just kidding. 

These birds have survived bird hunting season for 1000 years. 

Back to our Moulin. The property was a centuries old abandoned grain mill converted into the family residence and three Gites spread over the expansive property. The water wheel needs renovation but is on the "to-do" list. 


It is Saturday night, date night, so dinner out. Our hosts recommended one of their favorite places only a short walk from the house, all up hill of course.

We ordered the carpaccio, salad, and pizza. Too much food for us lightweights so most of the pizza followed us home for tomorrow's lunch.

Good thing we did the uphill on the way there. Kim over ordered on the carafe of wine which was totally consumed. We overshot our first turn and had to walk back and consult Goggle Maps to confirm our path before starting down hill to the house. We were in no condition to climb one centimeter more than necessary. Stumbled our way home in time to squeeze in a quick desert before heading to bed. Sweet dreams.

PONS - 15-SEP

 

Today is transfer day as we relocate from Saint Julien in the Dordogne to Pons in the west near the Atlantic. 

"All our bags are packed and we are ready to go" (John Denver - jet plane optional). Everything fit into our SUV with room to spare for the groceries. 

Transfer days are tough because we pack the car, drive to the next location, replenish at the market, find the new house and unpack. Whew! 

Notice the essentials are wine and pastries. A perfect combination. 

Exit the market through these enormous rotating doors. Like other revolving doors you have to move ahead of the chasing door. 

Moulin is "mill". The entire property and buildings were a grain mill operated by a water wheel. Operations were ceased long ago and the dilapidated buildings deteriorated over time. The current owners are British ex-pats who moved here 17 years ago. Michael is in his 50's as we guess is Louise his wife; she has yet to appear. They live here with their daughter and two sons.  

The whole property is surrounded by water with the faint rush of water everywhere. Since the water is slow flowing lily pads flourish. This is our new home for the next 5 nights. 

Expansive weeping willow hangs over the water. 

Monet would feel right at home here. 

Perfect settling for an impressionist water color.

Must be a dam beyond this flat water. Guess you can boat along this section. Also saw someone fishing but not much worth catching.

We can get to this Boulanger through a back gate and over a narrow bridge. We took the road since I could not remember the way through the secret garden.  

A place like this so close to home would be hazardous to our health. Could not bike enough miles to offset the damage. 

Back home again through the iron gates and bridge over the stream,

A well deserved rest and sipping our favorite beverage. Long day but worth the energy. 

A home cooked gourmet dinner. Notice the unique shape of the wine bottle. Rose wine was not bad either.  

JULIEN - 14-SEP

 

Today was our last ride in Saint Julien de Lampon. Unfortunately the low overnight temperatures coupled with high humidity resulted in a cloud covered foggy morning. Forever optimistic we drove to our starting point and waited in the car for the fog to lift and warming temperatures before heading out. We got tired of waiting and decided to drive to our destination - Beynac. The town boasts an impressive hilltop castle (aka chateau) which could not be seen from below. Rather than sitting in the car waiting for the castle to make its appearance we figured this was an opportune time for yet another coffee stop. Good choice since the boulangerie had outstanding baguettes including my favorite - multi seeded. 

Our coffee lingering behind us and still limited visibility so we drove to the top to see what we could see. Impressive even in limited view but only a gray fog panorama. Oh well, another time. 

We drove home but were still craving a ride; even a short one. I hastily created a route up the hill behind our house and down the back side toward the river. The recorded ride showed a maximum grade of 14.5% but my biking computer topped out at 17% as I slogged up to the top. Walked the last 100 meters of the climb staving off cardiac arrest. 

The ride back down was sweet and the remainder of the ride along the river was delightful as the fog lifted and the sun made an appearance. Picture perfect: flat, cool, no cars, with river following us along the way. 

Perfect looking baguette with seeds abounding. 

Perfect looking baguette with perfect looking Kim. 

Old stone church wall serves as perfect bike rack. They thought of everything.

Napolean travels well. Kim's half was bigger.

Table next to us ordered lunch. Burger for him and canard (aka duck) for her. That is one serious burger which he consumed in its entirety. To be young again.

Another unknown crop along our path. A google image search and agriculture consultant could not get a positive ID. Need to get a closeup of the actual grain/seed.  

Approaching the end of the ride. Hope next location is as inspiring. 

ANXIETY - Of all uncertainties planning this trip was the fact that Peugeot no longer makes a mini van so we contracted for their largest SUV and hoped for the best. The challenge was to get our bikes and all our bags loaded inside for transport between locations. So at the end of today's ride we faced the moment of truth. After removing the wheels we finagled the frames behind the front seats, covered them with a tarp, and laid the four wheels over the top. Voila (French word for "there!") it all fit with room to spare leaving space for all our bags, extra food, and assorted biking gear. 

View from side door showing multi layer two bike sandwich. 

JULIEN - 13-SEP

"Rainy days and Mondays get me down" as the Mamas and Papas so aptly put it many decades ago. Well, today was not Monday but it sure was rainy. This meant that Plan "B" was another day of touring. Not so bad since we had already decided that the ride to Rocamadour was beyond our hill climbing ability. So a road trip would be a suitable substitute which the photos will justify. 

Along the way we pass one of the numerous duck farms scattered throughout the Dordogne area. You can stop and visit the farms, but why would you want to. This is the raw material for "Canard Pate de Foie Gras". 

A short note on the humane treatment of breeding animals. The traditional method of creating ducks with vastly enlarged livers was to force feed each animal three times a day with feed that made their livers grow to ten times their normal size. This technique has been outlawed in a number of countries and California. The birds are kept in cages that restrict their movement in the most inhumane way possible. As the photo shows these birds are "free range" and not force fed. The end is the same - they are killed for human consumption - but their lives are vastly different. This is not the place to debate the case for an animal free diet, but as devowed carnivores we intend to continue our love affair with meat of all varieties.  

Our sole destination was the cliffside town of Rocamadour.

To see the town perched on the side and top of the cliff is to wonder how it was built without the aid of modern machinery. Obviously it employed an endless supply of cheap labor (ala the pyramids). It reminded us of Meteora in Greece where celibate monks desired to live in total isolation around the 10th century. This town is like Meteora on steroids built on a massive scale.   

This photo speaks for itself. We were glad that we drove rather than biked. 

This year the Tour de France (men's) stage 20 ended in the town after an insane climb at the end of the 133.5 km leg. Insane!

Getting there and back was an unending snake of windy roads and impressive ups and downs. When our stomachs settled we stopped in a lovely town for - you guessed it - coffee and pastry. As evidenced by the long sleeved jacket the rain cooled the temperatures to a mild 60's and the welcomed cloud cover required a long sleeve jacket. 

Not as exhausting as hours on the bike but it was nice to relax at dinner with a bottle of bubbly, pate (canard pate foie gras) and fresh baked bread.
Viva la France.