2019 - Loire Valley by Bicycle with Bob: 2019

Friday, October 4, 2019

Day 34: Fri 4 Oct – Brisbane to Hervey Bay

Arrived home about 48 hours after checking out of the hotel Lyon, a little bit trashed from the lack of sleep and sore from sitting in cramped planes, despite getting up at regular intervals to walk the isles. It seems that coming from Europe to home is much worse for jetlag than going the other way. We do it because we have this burning desire to see more of what is over the horizon.

It was a great tour in a fantastic, beautiful, and interesting country. I'm glad we concentrated on one region, resisting the urge to try and cover too much territory. It suited this tour to occasionally catch a train when we needed to travel more km than we could ride in the time available.

The Loire Valley and Burgundy Region are ideal for cycle touring with really good infrastructure for bikes in most areas. But occasionally it dries up or isn't up to standard. The alternative, D roads, are safe and in the main well built.

I would certainly return to both regions for another tour as you can't possibility see it all in one trip.

Thursday, October 3, 2019

Day 33: Thu 3 Oct – Dubai to Brisbane

I then left Bob in sub-terminal C and made my way to A. He was flying to Sydney while I was headed for Brisbane. We both agreed that it was a fantastic tour, and it probably won’t sink in till we review the hundreds of photos and thousands of words we both wrote along the way.

Boarded on time at 1015h but, as normal in Dubai these days, we didn’t leave on time. The plane was absolutely choc a block full. Just the size of the A380 and the number of passengers involved, something is bound to go wrong somewhere in the chain. This time it was a “container that got stuck while loading” which held up the departure. When that was sorted out, they announced that air traffic control instructed them to wait another 20 minutes. One hour later we were still sitting on the ground! We finally got underway but taxied forever well over an hour late. Dubai has got so busy that it appears to be consistently running late every time I fly through it.

For most of the flight it was the smoothest I had experienced for a long time, not even the hint of a bump. If I was to catch my connecting flight to Hervey Bay, they needed to make up some time. ETA Brisbane was 0625h, but we arrived ten minutes early. So, I made my domestic flight with a few minutes to spare.

A photo of the live video from the tail camera, coming in to land at Brisbane

Wednesday, October 2, 2019

Day 32: Wed 2 Oct – Lyon to Dubai

Just a little drizzle of rain today here and there with plenty of patches of sunshine. 12 - 22 deg.

Walk: 25km

We couldn’t have wished for better weather this tour; it’s been perfect really. I got up early, before daylight, and after a nice coffee in bed, started sorting my gear out for packing in various locations.

Yesterday arvo I cleaned the bike and took the pedals, seat, and other items off ready for it to go in the box. The stuff I can’t carry on, tools, helmet, and sharps etc, go in a pannier I put in the box with the bike. I carry on one pannier with my clothes in it and my handlebar bag with stuff for the plane. I then went and put my bike and parts in the box, which the owner had left in his garage for us. He trusted us with a key. It was a few doors up the street. As it had rained overnight it would have been awkward packing it up in a wet courtyard with no cover. I left the box unsealed as we have time for another wander around Lyon before we need to go to the airport.

So, after our porridge and more coffee we headed out to walk the 7 km to Lyon city. With a few stops on the way it took about an hour. Had a look at Lyon Cathedral which is yet another magnificent place of worship in France. They have so many. There is a Treasury in one of the chapels and the contents are quite impressive. Surprisingly it’s all owned by the people of France. The streets around the Cathedral are very old, dating back to medieval times when silk production was in full swing in Lyon. We had to have one last French croissant (almond) and a coffee before heading back. As we had to be out of the apartment by 1400h we had to hot-foot it back, shower and do the final pack up. I put the last of my stuff in the bike box and sealed it up. Sadly, Bob didn’t have to worry about packing his bike. We finished all this and was out of the apartment at 1358h, good timing.

A chicken salad and a nice prune bread stick from our famous bakery around the corner filled the gap for lunch. We still had a couple of hours to kill before our taxi would arrive at 1700h, so we went for a walk around the local neighbourhood. You haven’t got to go far to find some old stuff in France. Just up the road we found the remains of a Roman tomb dating from the 1st century; now that’s old! It just looked like an old block of stone and if it hadn’t been for a sign we wouldn’t have known the difference. The drizzle put a dampener on our walk so we retreated to the garage where we dug out some camping chairs and chilled out till the taxi arrived at 1700h. He was spot on time and made it to the airport in record time, despite the peak hour traffic. More waiting and wandering in the airport then finally boarded at 2100h. A long flight ahead, time to switch off, relax and enjoy the downtime.

Lyon to Dubai - B777 aircraft, luckily, I ended up with three seats to myself. Although I didn’t want to sleep, I had no choice and fell asleep soon after they took my dinner tray away. I woke up as they were handing out snacks for brekky. We touched down a good 30 minutes early. Had a huge coffee with Bob at Costa (which we used to visit regularly when we both worked in London) and a good chat about the tour and our plans for next year.

A grey heron on the Saone

Local market food with a middle eastern flavour, in Lyon

Morning tea time

Some seriously old buildings around the Cathedral

A quiet back street leading to the Cathedral

The imposing Lyon Cathedral

The Treasury in the Cathedral

A very old tapestry

Inside the Cathedral

Armed local police, National police, Gendarmes or Army riflemen are ever present and ready for action

The back of the Cathedral showing the remains of a 1st Century church in the foreground. That is seriously in the early days of Christianity.

100s of masks on the walls on our walk home. Lyon is know as the Street Art Capital of the World

The start of the waiting game - time to go home - 48 hours of travel to get there though

Tuesday, October 1, 2019

Day 31: Tue 1 Oct – Lyon

Clear and sunny in the morning 12 to 23 deg

Ride: 30km; Walk:10 km

Yet another day in France which had rain forecast but didn’t eventuate (luckily for us). Well, it did rain but not until I arrived back at the B&B at 1615h..

We ended up with a list of attractions that we wanted to see today - Les Halles de Lyon (fresh food hall), famous Street Art in three different locations, the Confluence Museum and Lyon Cathedral.

We decided to ride the bikes in and that way we’d cover the territory we needed in the limited time available. As we passed our favourite bakery and coffee shop just down the road, the aroma pulled us in for a coffee and a baguette. After getting that out of the way we visited Les Halles, the best fresh food market yet as far as food halls go; more of a gastronomical centre than a fresh food market. Hard to describe; the attention to detail and the variety of gourmet food and wines available was the very best I’d ever seen. It’s famous for its fine food eateries where the chefs prepare the meals in front of you. As we hadn’t long had brekky, we didn’t need a meal, but I couldn’t help myself I just had to try their beautiful looking vanilla slice. It tasted as good as it looked; even better, melt in the mouth job.

We then made our way on the bikes to the Street Art at Etats Unis. What an enormous project, the whole sides of buildings up to ten stories high painted in magnificent detail. Apparently, there’s 50 of them in this social housing district. All inspired by a famous architect from Lyon, Tony Garnier.

It was then we rode to the Confluence Museum, locked our bikes, and went inside. We had finished and were on our way out down the stairway when Bob called out to me from one floor up that his bike had been stolen!! When I looked out through the glass exterior, I could see that mine was there but his was gone. I was hoping that it may have fallen over or was hidden by mine but alas it was definitely gone. Understandably Bob was not happy, it was purchased especially for the tour. Talked to the museum’s security people but they just gave Bob the address of the Police Station and said it wasn’t on their property so they couldn’t help. The lady also said that it had happened before; why not erect a sign saying so? We saw that Bob’s security cable had been cut clean through, maybe a portable angle grinder. Also noticed that there was a surveillance camera directly above the bike stands, maybe there would be some footage for the Police. So, we walked the few km to the Police Station and Bob made a report. Luckily, he had taken out extra travel insurance for his bike, but it’s still very sad and not a very nice way to finish the tour.

Bob decided to walk away his frustrations back to the B&B, about 7 km away. Not long after he walked to the supermarket during a thunderstorm and got supplies for dinner. A delicious chicken pasta veggie stir-fry followed minutes later. Apart for the theft of Bob’s bike it has been a memorable tour. I must thank Bob for his fantastic company and companionship.

Our favourite bakery & coffee shop

Street art in the bike/walking tunnel, Lyon

Reflecting in lyon

The famous French chef, after whom the market hall is named

Les Halles

My treat

A bike path on the way to see the street art

Etats Unis, home to the Tony Garnier Urban Museum, featuring buildings adorned with giant murals

Etats Unis

Street art on the way to the Confluence Museum

A display of headdress from around the world

Display of beetles at the Confluence Museum

Phoenix from BC

A wonderful display of taxidermy

Rock display

Mammoth skeleton

View from the top of the Confluence Museum

Monday, September 30, 2019

Day 30: Mon 30 Sep – Mâcon to Lyon, 75km; total ride: 779km

“A shower or two” forecast, cooler - 11 to 22 deg.

Saw that it had rained overnight when I looked out the window this morning, but our luck continues as we encountered not a drop all day. That’s the whole 1,000 km without getting rained upon. Can’t complain about the weather on this tour that’s for sure.

Wow the last riding day of the tour is upon us so quickly. Today we rode back to our starting point, Lyon. We had booked the same B&B so we could store our bike boxes there. Brekky at the motel was very nice, the best so far although we haven’t had too many, preferring porridge in our rooms.

Rode away at 0800h, and straight over the river to what we thought was a cycle path on the other side. Just when I was heaping praise on the French cycling infrastructure, they dropped their very high standard. Many parts of the riverside path were rough gravel with plenty of potholes, so we elected to ride most of the day on the D933, a minor road that went all the way to Lyon. It wasn’t till we were 10 km from our B&B that we found the first separate, smooth bike path. While sections of the D933 were busy, especially when near a exit or entry to the A6 motorway, I never felt in danger. We had cars waiting patiently behind us if the road was a bit narrow or it wasn’t entirely safe to overtake. Not one instance of horn blowing or shouting. I really enjoyed the last day of riding although I would have preferred if it hadn’t been on the road most of the day.

Arrived safely at our B&B at 1300h. There wasn’t a lot to see on the way, although I can always find something to pull over for that is deserving of a photo or two. Thoissey was a case in point; it looked very ordinary when we rode through the village centre, but then on the way out of town we came across a beautiful little park and a dressed-up bridge that was well worth a 10-minute stop. Our lunch stop at Jassans-Riottier on the steps of the Church of Notre-Dame was also a little gem, away from the traffic noise and surrounded by colourful flowers. All things considered a good last day of riding.

Now we are back in a place with a kitchen, Bob le chef can cook a lovely home cooked meal. My favourite, grilled salmon with veggies. 10 out of 10.