Day 1 of France 2023 (53km)
53km / 3 hours 18 minutes / 144m gain
It feels good to be on my bike :)
Calico and Lindsey had to get up at 3.30 am to catch their flight, so it was very early morning and a bit of a sleep disaster for Lindsey and me. I don’t think either of us got more than an hour of sleep before the wake up. The hotel was hot, and the window opened to a floodlight that was almost as bright as the sun :).
After they got into the taxi, I went back to sleep (I hope she gets some sleep on the plane). managed about 3 hours of sleep before my 6.30 am wake-up.
As a result, I am loopy as hell.
I drove to long-term parking, and it took me twice as long to get ready. I started riding at 7.45 am. And I was extra careful getting out of town in a loopy state, I didn’t want to get hit by a truck (I meant to avoid rush hour).
The bike lanes and paths were amazing; the French do such an amazing job on their bike infrastructure. 80% of the time, I was on a dedicated bike path (20% shared, but with a decent amount of room).
The ride was beautiful but wild.
There were plenty of times I was just going through what felt like a wild field. Because of the area, there is a lot of sand, and everything is covered in it. Lots of mud and very careful routing over bumps and weird rivets from the logging trucks. Fun day and I hope the gravel route keeps up. Gravel riding is slower but really fun.
Breakfast was an apple and cashews; lunch was sardines and rice crackers; dessert was some wild blackberries next to the wine fields. I am looking forward to dinner; the small family hotel is surprising me with something!
I jumped on a ferry to get across the inlet, and on the other side was an amazing fortress, the “Citadel of Blaye” (one of the hundreds). I rode my bike all around it as the city made it into a park. It was massive and a really cool history read.
I am going to come back here and do a tour + underground tunnel tour at some point. Hopefully, we are living in this area at some point :)
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