I enjoyed two weeks riding with good friends. They all contributed in some way to a delightful ride. I hope I did my share too.
When lost and GPS is no help the old school method of finding the way is the last resort.
If I had not met Jeanette in 1988 my life would have taken a different course. I am certain that any other course would not find me in a better place in time and space than I am today. I honor her memory and spirit and all that she has given me with gratitude today. Since her passing I continue to have the deepest gratitude to all who continue to shape the joy of my life. They are all gifts to me as she was.
It is truly others that have shaped the course of my life, not me alone. I have only been exceptionally fortunate in finding such people. We all influence the course of each other.
Near the end of each of my my many travel adventures I choose a certain time and place to represent the end of the journey that I will always remember. Boarding the plane is not it!
There is one more day of biking left. We are returning tomorrow on the same route out of Bordeaux. Today while riding on a country road with views that could be a montage of the entire trip I saw a single cluster of poppies among the green at the side of the road. Happy thoughts of Jeanette and other special people in my life were on my mind. I rode back to take a picture. I spent some time admiring the view. No cars passed. Bird songs filled the air. That is how this journey ended before the travel was actually over.
Maybe I will add more blog entries….maybe not…
A day to wander in wonderous Sarlat.
My next bike parked in front of the hotel….
Next to the hotel were two war memorials. One to each war. The WW1 memorial presented a soldier with his boot on the German eagle. The eagle had naturally blakend with age because of rain falling on it. Or did the sculptor plan that? This is a day to look at the detail of everything in this visually overloading tour.
Across from it was the memorial to WWll. On the right side were the names of all men, women and children deported to the concentration camps. The left side were all French Soldiers that died.
Nearby was a bus loading German tourists all apparently my age….born about the same time all this was happening.
A small free lending library on the Main Street…
Restaurant staff was setting up tables for lunch business. This is a basket of mushrooms…
I found this lovely back street hotel. Two Americans were leaving it and described how lovely it was. The kind of hotel I would have chosen. Ours is ok on the Main Street. Hardly the romance of this one.
The entrance..
http://www.villaconsuls.fr/en/accueil/
The room rates posted on the entry gate:
Just up the narrow street was Hotel Des Recollets…2 Stars!
http://www.hotel-recollets-sarlat.com/acceuilgb.php
Specialty aroma soap shops are popular in the tourist areas. This one offered the opportunity to try a free sample!
This building housed a multi-level artist studio. On the first level I met a lovely artist couple. Married 60 years. Davina was a local retired teacher and spoke English. Hers were the paintings. Paul’s were fine wood work. Up an old stone spiral staircase to the top was Adrian Kenyon’s studio that he (a Brit) has occupied for 15 years. Perhaps the most fascinating man I have ever met…..because he seems to think like me! That is extremely rare!!
His studio is under the top roof in the above picture.
His website if you want to know how he thinks like me. We talked about a wide range of things for two hours. Yes, I am that strange!
http://adriankenyon.com/My%20theory%20(new%20webplus%20X4%20version).pdf
http://adriankenyon.com
It was a very special day that was intended for me.
Hotel Les Remparts is where we are staying in Sarlat.
France is the best for biking. I thought that prior bike tours in France could not be topped. The rest of France is equally as good. It doesn’t get any better. Only about 26 miles today to Sarlat. Much of it on bike trails and rail to trails bike paths.
A fruit stop at a country store for some peaches.
The new block top surface of the bike path took us through a tunnel.
Sights in abundance along the way….
There are 8 of us in the tour. We have formed 3 different groups based on riding speed and route preference. I have been riding with Lizanne and Joe for the last few days and leading the directions.
It is enjoyable to ride with others and share the tour with everyone. However this such a special trip I find myself longing to share it with some who is also special!!
It rained lightly today just before finishing the ride. It rained heavily while having lunch under an awning at a cafe next to our hotel.
http://www.hotel-lesremparts-sarlat.com/anglais/hotel.html
We are half a block from the old walled city center that I will explore tomorrow. We will be here two nights.
http://www.northofthedordogne.com/sarlat.php
Sharing a leaf in the rain:
Togetherness.
This is the end of today’s blog.
The view from the bathroom was best.
The view from the bedroom was not bad.
At breakfast we watched hot air balloons rise slowly in the still air.
Rocamadour is an amazing place. Any description I could make would hardly do it justice. I have seen few places like this.
This is the Wikipedia link description: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocamadour
I saw and walked everything in this video and more!!
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=QHO15teV-OE
Enjoy the French version: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mwjY2SFdl_E
This is the end of today’s blog entry.
Long hard day! That makes it the best yet but any day so far is hard to top! We have been riding mostly flats. Today gave the low gears a chance to work.
Street view of a walled city where I stopped along the way. It’s Saturday and the stores are closed.
After many long climbs and fast descents this was the final down hill to Rocamadour in the distance.
I threw caution to the wind and screamed down the road to the bottom of the valley.
At the bottom I Discovered that our hotel was on the top of the other side.
I did not get to the hotel until after 6. It was a long day but we are here for 2 days so the town can be explored tomorrow. I made it to dinner by 7.
That is the end of this day’s blog. Whew!!
It is so frustrating to type and enter pictures into this blog for an hour then have it all disappear for no reason. Now I must do it all over again! Being smarter now: I will publish what I periodically publish and add to what I write today so I will not lose the entire entry. What you read might be only the progress point of all I write about today depending on when you look at it. It is a work in progress until I write at the end of this blog entry (or any blog entry for the rest of the trip: “That is the story for this day!
More of the same eye candy. Eye candy? That is anything and everything pleasing and sweet to the eye. That means just about everything in France! The more I look the more I see. Traveling on the bike give a great amount of time to look.
Small villages, country roads, fields and farms. All unique, charming and different. Farms that show multiple generations of building and additions to original structures hundred of years old.
More of the same eye candy. Eye candy? That is anything and everything pleasing and sweet to the eye. That means just about everything in France! The more I look the more I see. Traveling on the bike give a great amount of time to look.
France is full of spring time flowers. Tender or wild flowers. Few houses do not have floral gardens and adornments in the prize winning class. The wild flowers and their variety are prolific.
Stopped for lunch with Pam and Dick.
It rained later in the ride but only lightly. Our hotel tonight was Les Terrasses de Beaureguard. http://terrasses-beauregard.com/index-uk.htm
A climb up to the hotel so I rewarded myself with a beer and great view when I got there.
The view from the room with daily washing drying.
Our dinner……….
That is the end of this blog entry after so many attempts to do it. It is the same satisfying feeling I get from climbing a long hill. That is what is in store for tomorrow!
A fantastic day! True dream riding in France. One lane country roads, no cars, scenery, sunshine. Riding near the Dorgne river.
France is timeless but shows its history. Riding in the timeless French country I recalled an opening scene from a Star Trek movie. In a far future captain of the star ship Enterprise, Jean Luc Picard was tending his grapes at his home in France. It could have been a scene from the 16th century. His equally old home in the background. Then he gets a call on his communicator and he is off on a new Star Trek mission.
This could have been the background for that scene set centuries in the future.
Further down this same road….an old Roman road…
I saw this juxtaposition of timeless past over present
This was really old. In a small village of 6 or 8 homes.
It’s story:
The Dordogne river that we are following.
Lunch with Pam and Dick
Poppies profuse in the fields.
I think the owners of this manicured garden built the gazebo high enough to enjoy the view of their labors.
About the food……desert..teramisu..home made Ice cream
Morning departure.
I led this small group on the route today. Mostly on bike paths a a rail to trail conversion. I was rewarded with a beer at the end of the day.
They make a lot of wine here!
We had an excellent dinner.
Breakfast! Just like I dreamed it!
We did a short ride to the west of Bordeaux just to test the bikes before leaving Bordeaux tomorrow. In the afternoon we took a bus into town and meandered the streets. Visited the cathedral.
Then Happy Hour
Biking from Bordeaux .. June 2016 