Day six. Xertigny to Munster. 6th June

The day dawned mistily. The campers sleeping on the stage in the gymnasium woke from 6am and began morning rituals. Everyone was very pleased not to have to pack up wet tents. Breakfast was much appreciated bacon and eggs. Then when we were all packed up we headed
off.

The ride started with a hill climb for the first four kilometers as a warm up then we dropped down into Remiremont at 19 kms. Yesterday we had ridden the last twentyfive kms before Xertigny in the hilly country, leaving behind the rolling wheat/canola/hemp fields. Now we
were moving into mountain country. We passed through forest, past a car being loaded onto a truck after an accident, and through a few little towns. It was very foggy but a pleasant riding temperature. We stopped in Remiremont for a delicious hot chocolate and an almond croissant.
From Remiremont we turned onto the D417 and carried on climbing steadily past houses and little villages. The mist had cleared and conditions were rather pleasant.

Lunch was at 45 kms and the lady over the road came over to take photos. She rang the local newspaper to come and take photos also and brought over some flowers to put on the ladder flagging the stop. She also gave Theresa a cd of French music for us to dance to! Not much dancing at camp in the evenings after riding all day - it is always early to bed.

After lunch it was onwards and most definitely upwards. We continued up and up and up through Cornimont and La Bresse. There was a ten kilometer climb to the summit at Col de la Schlucht at 1139m. It was through forest but became more and more misty as we climbed higher.

The climb was quite manageable! Unfortunately there was no view at the top as it was so misty. In fact you could only see 10 metres ahead as we approached the top. So we believe that there would have been a fantastic view if there was no fog. It was a great feeling to have ridden to the top of a French alpine pass -there were lots of ski fields in the vicinity and a number of groups of cyclists also.

Then from the summit it was a very steep fast descent for 18 Kms into Munster. It was a great ride downhill in the fog. Traffic was light. We could not see over the sides of the pass - probably a good thing as could not see the steep drop beside the road. Occasionally we had to slow because of the lack of visibility. It was a long road down but a great ride! Towards the bottom the fog cleared and we could see all the houses in the valley. There were lots of houses perched on the sides of the hills. We passed farms selling Munster cheese and lots of cows with bells on. Rode through Munster to the camp site. Munster is a very picturesque town with lovely little shops - we have not seen shopping malls in any towns or cities! It was a bit bumpy riding over the cobblestone streets though. It was great to put up the tent on fine weather.

Showered and clean we rode down to the local McDonalds to tap into their free wifi and send off the emails to update our blog site. Then it was camp happy hour while waiting for dinner at 7pm.
Distance travelled today was 90 km in 5 hours 15 mins. Average 17. Lots of uphill! Thank goodness we trained on the hills in Wellington.

Day five. Chaumont to Xertigny. 5th June.

It was very misty when we emerged from our tent. Everyone was ready early for the big day's ride ahead. We left at 8am in heavy mist. We were riding through forest and it was slightly undulating. A deer ran across the road in front of Liz. We had a hot chocolate at Bourg-St-Maria, along with many other riders. It was about 17 degrees during the day.

Around 11am it started to rain. Lunch was at Bulgneville, in the rain. We passed through many small villages during the day. The villages all had war memorials, some had very large churches. Many houses had flowers in window boxes.

We stopped also at a lookout at the Col du Poirier, alt. 430m, on a busy road. It was certainly high up, with crop fields all around. The day's ride was all on undulating roads, but they were mostly quiet backroads. The French people are all very friendly and say "Bonjour".
The rain was very heavy through the afternoon. We stopped to eat our nibbles and only a few times for photos. Unfortunately because of the rain the views and photo opportunities were not great.

It was about 5 pm when we arrived at camp very wet and cold. The site was very exposed and with the rain falling was not at all pleasant. In fact it would not have been pleasant anyway as it was on a recently mown field with the abulition blocks about 200 metres away. Eventually alternative arrangements were made with accommodation available in a nearby school gymnasium. So we came over and unpacked our wet bags and set up for the night. There were people sleeping on the stage and in the foyer. At least we did not have to put up our tents in the pouring rain and could eat in the dry also. After checking maps for the next days ride over the Alps it was an early lights out.

Mileage for the day was 133 kms, average 19.1. Total climbing for the day was 1460 metres.

Day four. Rest day. 4th June.

Today was a much appreciated rest day. After breakfast we gathered our laundry and, along with many of our fellow riders headed to the laundromat. The camp had only one washing machine, and as it was overcast, cool and threatening rain everyone decided that a washing machine and clothes drier were the necessary appliances to use to get our clothes dry.

On the way we walked to the dungeon tower at the edge of town perched on the top of the cliff. The ramparts were 15-20 meters high with the dungeon tower on top. It was built on the twelth century, with the modern police station next door. Along the road was the local church. This was called St Jean-Baptiste Bouchardon and dates from the thirteenth century.

We met many fellow riders at the laundromat. While the washing was on we went to the supermarket for food for dinner, as food is not provided on rest days. Once the washing was dry we went to McDonalds just to utilize their Wi-Fi connection! Then John, Jos and I went to a little restaurant for lunch. We had a very nice meal. The boys returned to camp to clean the bikes while I waited for the Internet shop to open after the noon to two pm lunch break that all the shops close for. I caught up with emails and returned to camp. French keyboards are very confusing with q being where a is for is, and all other sorts of differences. So typing takes a while!

The rest of the afternoon was spent relaxing and re-sorting and re-packing yet again. It was quite cool - certainly no need of sunscreen today.

Early to bed, accompanied all night by the relentless sound of big trucks passing by. Amazing how well one can sleep when tired!

Day three. Toynes to Chaumont. 3rd June.

It was a fine morning when we packed up our tent and had breakfast. We were looking forward to our ride. Everyone left camp at 8.15 in convoy lead by Duncan, one of our tour guides who is from Christchurch, in order to negotiate leaving town. We travelled through a few sets of traffic lights and roundabouts and after seven kilometers we were on the bike path at the outskirts of town. From there it was very pleasant, easy cycling on the flat. One of the riders came off her bike when she slid on a snail; the snails were rather large! The track
was wide and the views lovely. We skirted the Lac d'Orient and continued through a lovely forest area. Around 10am we stopped at Geraudot (30 kms) for coffee, with many of the riders there at once the cafe was overrun. It was a lovely spot to sit and rest for a while.
Back on the bikes we headed towards Vendeurve-Sur-Barse with Murray, Marilyn and Philip in our little group. The route was firstly through forest on the cycle path, them turned onto the D78 where we were in open farmland. It was a delightfully scenic ride with little villages in the distance. We stopped often to take photos. At Vendeurve s Barse we detoured into the town to look around and found the local church - a large fifteenth century stone building on the Gothic style.

From there we rejoined the N19 and rode through rolling countryside to Bar-sur-aube. There was a canal running through the town, which had stone walls. The houses were very narrow and built right on the canal. On the outskirts of the town we turned off onto the D13 heading to Voigny, champagne country.
Riding past lots of little vineyards in rolling country we climbed steadily up a long hill to a vista with wonderful panaromic views over lovely rural French landscape. This is the route for tourists through Champagne region- alas, it was not tasting season. Then it was on to
the D74 through Reuves-Les-Vignes, to rejoin the N19 again at La Boysserie. There is a huge cross on the top of the hill there as a memorial to Charles de Gaul.

The final 30 kms was a relatively undulating ride into Chaumont with a steep descent about 5 kms out, which was about 3 kms long. We rolled into camp around 4pm. The day's ride was 110 kms and 5 hours 50 mins of riding, averaging 19 kms per hour. The camp is beside a busy entrance road to the A5 and there was a continuous stream of large trucks going along the road all night.

In the evening we walked up the steep climb to the centre of town to look around and have dinner.

Day Two

There was thunder and lightening during the night, as well as rain. But tent was wonderfully rainproof. The roosters were crowing from 4.30am and the dawn chorus at 5.30. The donkey started braying soon after. So much for quiet rural life!
We left the campsite at 8am, heading back along yesterday's route. Due to making a wrong turn we headed west instead of east. After about 5 kms we became suspicious and stopped to check the map. So it was a matter of backtracking to the turnoff- unfortunately it was raining by this time so not so pleasant out.

First stop was Provins, a medieval town with amazing old buildings. We met up with some fellow riders and continued on to the N19. The rain was quite heavy by this time.
Lunch stop was at 50 ks for most, 65 for us. It was a pleasant spot under trees at the top of a hill.
Most of the day we were travelling along the D442, a relatively quiet roads through wheat and other crop fields. The edges of the fields are lined with wild poppies, and there are no fences between them and the roads. Very Monet-like!

At the top of hills you could look out over miles of crop fields, and occasionally spot a nuclear reactor chimney (at Nogent St. Seine) or windmills on the horizon.
Five kilometers further on we stopped at a semi-derelict Abbey from the 17th century, at St. Aubin, to take some photos, with Marilyn and Murray, whom we cycled with for most of the day.
We stopped at Marigny-le-Chatel for coffee. Further along the road there were road workers - we were very impressed when they said "Bonjour Madam/Monsieur" to us. All the French people we have met have been very polite, even coming up to ask if we need directions. Maybe
we do look really lost!

The rain fell quite often during the day. Dinner was had sitting under canopies, then it cleared for a short while before falling again. By 9pm the riders were all pretty well tucked up in their tents.
Today we covered 105 kilometers.

Day one

We were up early for breakfast at 6.30. Amy left at 7 for the train back to London. At 7.30 the riders were all assembled outside the hotel for photos, then headed into the centre of Paris to begin our tour. It was a large group of nervously excited cyclists who headed out under overcast skies. Paris traffic was very light, even so the logistics of chaperoning 40 cyclists of unknown ability through the city was a challenge, especially when we seemed to strike every red light that we could on the way. We went in a large convoy to Notre Dame Cathedral for a photo shoot there with the 'Paris to Istanbul' banner.

There was a young chap there dressed in a rabbit suit, with a sign around his neck "I love her" - he is getting married this weekend and so wanted our group to witness his declaration of love!

Next stop was the Eiffel Tower for another photo shoot then on to the highlight of the day. We all did a lap of the Arc de Truimph, negotiating the traffic at what is a huge roundabout before riding down the Champs Elysee. There was a real respect formed for the Tour of France riders who race over the cobblestones at great speed! It was a very slow 20ks round the city.

Then we headed out of Paris in convoy on the N19. There were so many red light stops that the group was soon fragmented, but every so often those in front stopped for catchup.
Lunch stop was at 52 ks. By then the riders were beginning to spread out. The route was through fields of wheat and other crops, once we had cleared the city; there were no livestock to be seen. It was a busy road, but motorists were very obliging and waited patiently at lights behind cyclists, or gave us wide berth on the narrow road. We passed through a number of small towns, with many more villages to be seen in the distance. John and Jos were excellent "leaders" allowing me to draft behind them into the headwind.

At a coffee stop at a little shop at Maison Rouge tour staff caught up with us and said we were heading to a different campsite - fortunately we were right at the turnoff so unlike others did not need to double back. The intended campsite which had confirmed the Tour booking was closed until 1 July, according to the sign on the gate, so the staff had to very quickly find another site for 45 people! Therefore we continued on to the new camp at Chenoise. The last ten ks were on a smaller back road, through very scenic wheat fields. First night we are staying at a farm camp.
There are a lot of animals around, and the fascinating sound of a cuckoo in the distance! Sounds just like a cuckoo clock!

All riders are checked in and tents erected. Showered and clean we all feel human again. Dinner is a bit late due to change of venue. It is a little windy, we are just hoping the rain stays away. No doubt everyone will sleep well tonight after 100 kilometers on the bike. Our time was 5 hours 23 mins, a slow time due to the very slow trip round Paris. There is certainly a great sense of achievement that everyone has completed day one.

Last tango in Paris!

A photo in front of the Louvre on Friday evening.

After waking at a somewhat more reasonable time on Saturday (7.30am) we packed up
everything and went to the tour briefing at the next hotel where we
met the tour organisers and fellow riders. We had a rider briefing
where we got the rules for the tour and were told about our luggage
situation (which meant we had to repack yet again!). This basically
means that for the next 3 days we only have one set of clothes to wear
at the end of each day of riding.

Let's hope we can cope!
After waiting for hours to get checked into the hotel, we gave up and
went for lunch and then came back to do a final check that our luggage
was all ok! We will soon find out if we've mispacked anything!
Suddenly it was time to go and eat dinner (Amy says it seems like all
she's done in Paris is eat!) so after yet another lovely meal we went
back to the hotel (which we had finally managed to check into) and had
to take our bags to get weighed...which of course were perfectly fine.
More discussion followed tonight, debating on the best ways to do
certain things and what not to do-but this will all be much easier
when we get underway!
Tommorow is an early start; so definitely no tangoing in Paris by us
tonight. We leave at 7.30am on the road which means brekky at 6.30.
The first two hours are cycling round Paris and sightseeing then
heading out for Provins. It will be good to finally get on the road.