28 Aug ST EMILION - ST EMILION

Today; a much cooler morning but still clear skies.  Set off across the vineyards to begin our loop ride of about 55kms. 

The ride took us out to the Dordogne River, passed an old wooden mill (moulin) and then up to a beautiful picnic spot in the shadows of the ruins of a castle. 

Being Sunday, the castle itself closed at midday, but we made it with 15 mins to spare and managed to climb to the top tower which gave us excellent views across the vineyards and Jane B was adament that the moulin could be seen from there.  We think we have photographic evidence, but the zoom on the camera goes only so far! 

After returning from our ride, we did a tour of the underground church, St. Emilion' hermit cave, the chapel and the catacombes.  It was good to see the church is still used for celebrations and as a place of worship, not just a tourist site. 

Following the tour we did some gelato tasting, some wine tasting followed by dinner outside in the old town square immediately out from the monolithic church.  A beautiful, still night and a lovely atmosphere as the sun set and the old buildings were lit up showing off the limestone buildings, all constructed from the extracted stone when the church was dug out.

Check out the coffee post!!!!

27 Aug BORDEAUX TO ST EMILION

Left Bordeaux around 10am and caught a train out to Libourne about 20 mins eastish of Bordeaux where we were to meet the rest of our tour group in the afternoon. Had some time to kill so enjoyed a tour of this small town and a coffee in the square. 

Our tour "group" for this week had ended up consisting of us plus one other Aussie from Melbourne! plus the tour coordinator, a youngish American lad from Iowa!  So pretty much a custom built tour for us we're thinking!!! I think the other Aussie is appreciating our map reading skills and photographic prowess so has hung with us for most of the time, but I don't think we go quite fast enough!!! Our photograph to km ratio is pretty high!!!

Still unable to upload photos, this library computer is not recognising the usb :(

After meeting the guys at Libourne station we put our own bike seats on the bikes, made the necessary adjustments and then set off for our St. Emilion which was our stop for 2 nights. 

This is a beautiful medieval village perched on a hillside surrounded by vineyards.  This village is actually named after a monk who settled here in the 8th century and gathered a following.  The village is built over a network of limestone caves which were man-made.  The centre piece of the village is the tall church spire which stands over a monolithic church(an underground church carved out of a single stone - simply amazing!). The view from the top is awesome! See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Emilion for further information if you so desire!

After a brief explore of the town we met back up with the guys for a pre dinner drink in the garden of some old monastry ruins.  Dinner that night lived up to the high standard we are now used to, and in keeping with the theme of the town we ate in one of the underground restaurants.  Plenty of duck and foie-gras on the menu.

PS. HAPPY BIRTHDAY RODGER!!!

26 Aug - ST REMY - AVIGNON - BORDEAUX

Just a half day cycling today, back to Avignon.

Found a lovely fruit & veg shop with a bakery across the road so bought supplies for picnic lunch including the essential baguette and fromage (cheese).

 
Decided to have our lunch back in Avigon after dropping off our bikes before hopping on the train to Bordeaux.  Avignon was lovely, though didn't quite have time to get to the Pont d'Avignon and sing the song.... :(

Train ride to Bordeaux required a train transfer at Arles. Eventually arrived in Bordeaux around 9pm.  Loving the fast trains - so good to be going faster than cars... certainly beats the slow Aussie trains!!!!

Overnight  in youth hostel (yes, we still qualify!!!!).

25 Aug ARLES - ST. REMY de Provence

After taking about half an hour to get out of the town we were quickly into the countryside - passing horses, chateaus, Roman aqueducts, etc, etc, ......









Highlight of the day would have to be the village of Les Baux perched high on a plateau.  A gentle climb took us to 360° views of hills, vineyards, orchards, and even a golf course!

Weather has been great!  So far only clear days and low 30°s every day.



Managed a bit of wine and olive oil tasting in a winery at the foot of the Chaine des Alpilles.  Very pretty spot. 














Enjoying arriving at our accommodation each night not having to think about anything - even where we are to eat is organised! And the food is awesome!

24 Aug GRAVESON TO ARLES

A relatively easy day today, pretty flat for the whole 45 kms:  visiting old towns with beautiful narrow cobbled streets, castles, churches; leafy canals and back to the Rhone river again.

Enjoyed some of the local produce bought from roadside stalls.

Sunflowers coming to the end of their season but still looked impressive in the fields.

Excellent weather again!

About to head out and have a quick explore of Arles before tea.

 

Tea was memorable... with compliments from the chef.....

23 Aug AVIGNON TO GRAVESON

Highlight of today's cycling would have to be The Pont du Gard, a 2000 yr old Roman aqueduct but the bakery wasn`t bad either - quiche & chocolate croissant for lunch plus an ice block.

A couple of small hills provided some beautiful vistas and quaint, old villages tucked in valleys and on hilltops.

 Being quite a hot day we enjoyed cooling off in the river under the `pont`. Swimwear was very 'European'.

67 kms later we arrived in Graveson and our accommodation for the night which had a pool which we quickly made use of.  Dinner in the restaurant was delicious; sat outside and enjoyed the meal on a balmy summer evening (sorry to rub that in for those of you in cooler climes)!

This is breakfast by the pool.

Nous arrivons en Avignon!

After 24 hours on trains, planes and automobiles, and beating our luggage to Paris, we have finally arrived in Avignon with all pieces intact!  Due to a delay leaving NYC we had to run VERY quickly, through the biggest airport we have ever seen (Frankfurt), to make our Paris connection. Unfortunately, our luggage wasn`t quick enough and couldn`t keep up.
So far we have also managed to confuse a couple of people by having the same first name but all OK.
Very impressed with Blue Marble Travel who are organising the tour-

we rang them from the airport and by the time we had waited a couple of hours for our bags and got to their office (with very clear instructions) they had booked us on a later TGV train to Avignon and all worked swimmingly!

Did I mention that we are traveling 1st class by rail?  VERY NICE!
Now, we must go and get a good nights sleep so we can hit the roads tomorrow for a warm-up 60km ride!!!

A bientot et bon soir!

J et J

Our Hot Drink Experiences

The Janes' Top Hot Drinks!

Based on the following rating scale we have rated our coffee experiences for future reference!

Coffee Rating Scale: 0 (dishwater) - 5 (superb)

Location Rating: 0 (don't bother) - 5 (add this to your bucket list!)

Fishing in Long Island Sound, New York/Conneticut, USA

Ratings:  Coffee: 2  Location: 3  Total: 5/10

STARBUCKS at Paris Charles de Gaulles airport
Ratings:  Coffee: 3.5 (paper cups) Location: 3 (only an airport but it was an impressive one and we were grateful to be there!)  Total: 6.5/10

On the TGV to Avignon
Ratings:  Hot Chocolate: 3.5 (Fairtrade!!!) Location: 3.5 (great sneak preview of things to come) Total: 7/10

St. Emilion Town Square
Ratings:  Coffee: 4  Location: 4.9 (this will be difficult to beat!!!) Total: 8.9/10

St-Julien-de-Lampon, Black Perigord, Dordogne
Ratings:  Coffee: 3.5  Location: 4 Total: 7.5/10

 
 Domodossola
Ratings:  Coffee: 5  Location: 4 (this topped St Emilion) Total: 9/10
 
 
















Piazza San Fedele - Como
Ratings:  Coffee: 4  Location: 4.5 Total: 8.5/10

 
Coffee By Country Summary:
USA - if it came in ceramic, it got a point. If the volume was smaller than filling a bathtub it got 2 points! 
The company was definitely the highlight.

France - Coffee was a bit hit & miss. The locations were great.

Italy - order without fear - they were all excellent!