Bike frog?

You are probably wondering why there is an image of a frog on a cycling blog. And I agree the connection is rather a tenuous one. I found it in our Liquid Amber tree this morning when I was pruning. I think it's a Motorbike Frog and we have heard them plenty of times in recent years. Their croak is like the sound a motorbike makes when changing through the gears. It's still there now, after several hours, and I hope it stays.

On a related subject, there is a view here in Australia that people should only plant native trees in order to make best use of the water and attract native birds etc., but we have had honeyeaters nesting in this tree for many years and now have resident frogs. This would not have happened with a young native tree as they offer little cover. Our peppermint tree, which is as old as the house (1935), does not get birds nesting in it unless the Boston Ivy gets a hold and they nest in the thick growth.

Anyway, I shall try and keep on topic when we get to France!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:The Boulevarde,Mt Hawthorn,Australia

Our route: Dordogne to Brittany

This map shows our tentative route through France as far as Brittany, where we will decide how to get to England, either by cycling along the Normandy coast and to the ferry port at the Hook of Holland, or by looping back down the west coast of France to Spain (Santander). We originally planned to purchase two Trek cycles in Australia, fly into Nice and head North but, after purchasing our bikes from a company in the Dordogne, our plans changed, particularly as we were able to get a cheap connecting flight from London to Bergerac for under 30 Euros.

Planning the trip

Hello everyone,
Julie and I are heading off to France on 22nd May and will be cycling around the country for around 4 months before heading for the UK. We will be using this blog to upload photos during the trip and comments on our travels. The bikes we will be using are Cannondale hybrids that we have purchased from a company in the Dordogne that we used last year when we cycled around the South West of France for a month. This time we will be heading East towards the Massif Central and then North to meet the Loire, which we will follow to Brittany. We would also like to watch the Tour de France pass by and so are planning to be somewhere along the route from Le Mans to Châteauroux (Stage 7 on 8 July), probably around Tours. They have not published the route, which will be available in June, so we will adjust our plans on the way. We are planning to travel light, with just one small backpack each, so we will have no checked baggage on our flights and will not be encumbered when we are touring round. My pack is a Lowe Alpine 30 litre and Julie's is 25. We used them last time and they weigh around 7kg when packed. We will be taking an iPad to upload photos from a digital camera, sections of the route which Julie has planned on Bikely and also a Garmin GPS, loaded with a detailed map of France, which proved useful last time when we were on some of the minor roads where it was easy to get lost.

The trip is now only four weeks away and we are both well into our training. This morning we attended an rpm class at the local sports centre and Julie has been going there for over a year. I have been walking to work and running home regularly and so am a bit behind her with my cycling abilities although reasonably fit, but should be fine for when we leave. We will be taking it easy at first and have some light days planned. Our flights from Australia end in Bergerac, where we stay for a couple of nights before catching a train to Le Buisson de Cadouin, where we meet Robert with the bikes. Then it's off we go!

Rennes

Rennes is the capital of Brittany and we travelled there not only because of that, but there was nowhere else to go! It happens to be a long weekend and most places are booked out. We had an easy, but uneventful cycle down from Dinan, firstly by using the canal towpaths and then the open road, before hitting the canal again to enter Rennes city centre. We find the cycle paths can get a bit boring after a while but they are great ways of entering cities and missing all the traffic. The blackberries are beginning to ripen so we collected a few handfuls and had them with yoghurt later on. We stayed in a 'residence' this town and so have cooked our own meals for the last two nights. And benefited from the cheap wine at the supermarket! There was a Saturday market which we walked around and we also bought some new potatoes and olives for the evening meal. The art gallery was also pretty good and they have a few Picasso's and other amazing works.

On the way to Rennes - just outside of Dinan





Art or graffiti?






Rennes Piscine (why don't councils incorporate art into civic buildings today?) This city got the best mosaic artist around to do this.



Saturday market


Mummified cat and other small animals!


Standing in front of this painting was not that different from being next to a real person.


Picasso sketch - Mouth painted with three brushstrokes!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Rue de la Cochardière,Rennes,France

Beautiful Day

Sometimes everything goes well and this was one of those days. After some incredibly hot weather the day was very cool with overcast skies when we cycled out from Clemacy, not along the canal, as originally planned, but up into the hills heading for the 'Carriere d'Aubigny' where we had heard there was one of the best tourist sites in the region, an old stone quarry. It lived up to expectations and was an amazing place, almost like a cathedral atmosphere but underground. It had been mined completely by hand and the stone was used in many of Paris' buildings, including the Opera. The miners picked into the rockface and used dry wooden wedges to fracture the huge blocks from the wall, as the natural moisture made them swell. They used candlelight to work by and you can see the soot marks still on the ceilings of the man made caves. Since opening the site for tourism they have employed stone masons to teach their skills to school groups and have also commissioned works of art.

The rest of the day was spent cycling along quiet country lanes in an arable farming district before hitting the vineyards around Coulonges-la-Vineuse, where we had booked a Chambre d'Hote for the night. Along the way we feasted on ripe black cherries in an overgrown orchard.

Inside the subterranean quarry.


Countryside along the way







Lunch stop


Cherries!



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Coulanges-la-Vineuse