Again we are up with the sun. Chartre was a last minute change of route and the morning light on the cathedral makes us appreciate the detour. Again nothing is open this early so we head south for the Loire. And again in the first 4 miles we stop to consult maps and GPS 3 times to get us out of town. We finally find the correct road which today is through rolling farmlands of wheat, peas and corn. Low traffic country roads with old narrow streeted villages spaced every 5 or less miles apart. These small towns are visible on all sides by their church spires. This is the biking route we came to ride. We should be finally making the miles fly except that the wind that was at our back when we left Amsterdam has been daily shifting slightly around the compass and now was blowing directly at us from the south. We work hard in the sun. It didn't feel that hot with the wind in our face and I chose not to sunblock - mistake. After a quick tour and beer in Beaugency. We head a few blocks across the Loire to our campground at 6 set up and go back to town for dinner. We had tried to eat earlier but the restaurants didn't open until 7.
Keep Rolling,
Pete
Again we start the day early. We arrive at Versailles and walk the garden area. John gets in line for the 9 am opening and I head for town to catch up with email. We meet up later and around noon head south for Chartre. Soon we are in Guyancourt which is the start of PBP. A few miles out of town my pedal breaks and we head back to find a bike shop. New pedals in place we head south on N10 which ends up being a very busy road with no shoulder and when there is a shoulder there's a truck parked on it.. We do battle with traffic for a couple of hours. Finally the road opens up enough for the big ring. The church spires show up in the distance along with the setting sun. We race the last miles to town only to have a difficult time finding the campsite. At 9 we roll into the campsite. We've been on our way for 9 hours and only made 70 miles. Actual on bike time was 5.5 hours so 3.5 was navigating, eating and other stops. It made for a long late day. But what else are we going to do? Fortunately there was a small pizza shop at the campground so that and a beer made for a a much needed dinner. Later we did open a bottle of wine before bed. John didn't finish the pizza or his wine that night but finished both for breakfast.
Keep Rolling,
Pete
We get an early start from our campsite on the Seine. It's only a couple of miles from Paris and we get lost AGAIN. After much review of GPS and advice from pedestrians we make it back to Paris. We wander the town and end up at the Pompidou center Starbucks expecting to be able to use the wifi. No luck connecting! We then head to the Museum Orsay and there were over a couple of hundred people in line to get in. No museum for us. We decide to go to a campground near Versailles. Again we get lost - we've seen many of the Paris arrondissements we just don' t know which ones. Finally a French cyclists notices our confusion and gives us clear directions and gets us to our campground Huttoppia. Along the way we stop at a McDonalds for a pit stop and the wifi works. Tomorrow after a Versailles tour we head south toward the Loire river.
Keep Rolling,
Pete
Since yesterdays uninteresting road looked like it would be repeated today we decided since we were at the rail road station that a train trip might be in order. It takes less than a couple of hours by high speed train to get us to Paris. Once in Paris it seemed like it took a couple more hours to get our bearings and roll to Notre Dame. I videoed John as we rode the Champs Elysees toward the Arc deTriompe. I lost John in the traffic but he showed up later after going around the many lane roundabout at the arc. That roundabout is all about chaos - I don't think I would have braved it. John is climbing the Eiffel tower as I thumb type this.
Soon we head for our campground and though it only a few miles away we end up consulting our maps and numerous times debating the correct direction. Roads continuosly heading in radom direction and many one way roads make for interesting travel.
Keep Rolling,
Pete
We leave camp early and registration is still closed so we keep rolling. A bakery just outside of Brugge calls to us for a before breakfast snack. We roll through town but it is still asleep so we explore a sleeping cobbled medieval town. The morning light is perfect for photos. Kortrijk is the next large town to the south. Next to a large church we sit in the sun at an outdoor a cafe and I finally I am able to get a cup of coffee and recharge my cell phone.
We finally head south toward Lille and the road is more like riding on Aurora in Seattle - not that interesting. Lots of shops but nothing is open on a Sunday. We begin to wonder if we are going to find dinner so when we get to Lille and McDonalds is open we have our most expensive meal to date. 15 Euro for two chicken sandwich meals. We finally are in Lens at 8 and no campgrounds so we opt for a 45 Euro hotel by the train station. Hmmm, three times the cost of dinner. Guess you can imagine the hotel room. We slept on a double bed in our sleeping bags.
Keep Rolling,
Pete
Strangely even though it rained on and off last night the heavy winds had dried most of our exposed gear. It is queens day - a national holiday celebrating the queens birthday and the first town we roll into was getting ready for a parade and a day of celebrating. We have breakfast at a corner panukaken restaurant in Renesse. I had a large apple,bacon, and cheese pancake - very nice. When leaving town we notice a food stand serving interesting cheese covered chicken on a bun so we had to try it. Later while rolling across a long stretch of dikes along the ocean one of my shirts hanging on the bike from lasts nights laundry in the shower got caught in my rear wheel and now I have a wool tanktop.
We soon arrive in Middleburg where a full on celebration of queens day is underway.
A short ride to Vlissingen and we take a 30 minute bike ferry to Breskens where John notices 3 blondes sunbathing topless on a rooftop and neglects to mention it to me until we pass. Bad John. We ride beautful tree line canals the last few miles Brugge. We eat a couple of pizza slices for dinner and then continue to ride the cobbles around town. At one of the Cathedrals John talks up one of the people in the square who takes a liking to John. While stroking Johns cheek his new friend tells him he's so cute. We head for the campsite. Registration was closed so we set up camp and showered.
Keep Rolling,
Pete
We leave the campsite and go the mile into Delft for breakfast. Nothing is open for food but we do find some coffee. Then a quick ride along canals to succulent kwerkeji. Actually maybe not so quick as at on point we went by a group of bikers in a cafe 4 times before we found our way out of town. We ride along canals before finally arriving at the greenhouse. the collection is amazing, but there not near enough time to really see everything. We ride south after a short hours greenhouse tour. A short ferry ride takes us to Briel where we unpack our sleeping gear to dry from last nights rain. While waiting we snack on strawberries and Heineken. A quick roll through Briel and by 6 we arrive in Ouddorp where we camp for the night.
Keep Rolling,
Pete
