Headwinds and gravel roads into Catalonia

Day 15: Valras-Plage to Corneilla-la-Rivière, 108 km

This was probably our worst day of cycling yet. The first twenty or so kilometers were ok, along a nice bike path and through beach towns very similar to Valras-Plage. Afterwards, though, we were on bad roads for about 10 km, and then a gravel road for about 15. That gravel road was the worst. Even though it was very beautiful, with bodies on water on both sides, we were unable to enjoy the view, since the whole time we were focused on finding the least bumpy part of the path. The vibrations hurt our hands and it was generally unpleasant. We were glad when it finally ended, and had lunch in Port-la-Nouvelle.

We were happy to be free from the gravel road after lunch, but we were met instead with a strong headwind and a busy road with a not-so-nice view. Heading into Corneilla-la-Rivière the wind was especially strong--fortunately we only had to deal with it for the last 10 minutes or so of our ride.

Corneilla-la-Rivière is a small Catalan town of just over 1000. Our host Rainer took us to his garden a few minutes' drive away from his house, where we had so many tasty things: muscat from the region, barbecued beef and sausages, ratatouille, salad, and of course fresh baguette and cheese. We have been eating well here!

Today we cycle into Spain! Hopefully crossing the Pyrenees will be ok!

Riding through the south of France

Day 11: Voreppe to Montélimar, 145 km
Day 12: Montélimar to Montpellier, 156 km
Day 13: rest in Montpellier
Day 14: Montpellier to Valras-Plage, 89

Sometimes I can't get over how awesome cycle touring is. On Friday we had a fast 145 km ride through the French countryside. We were surrounded by mountains and rolling hills all day, with the occasional castle or ancient ruin here and there. It felt like most of the day we were either going downhill or on flats. At times, we were consistently riding at 40 km/h, and our average speed was 25 km/h. And at the end of the day we didn't even feel tired! It's crazy how quickly our bodies can adapt to so much cycling. As Nicole says, you just do it and your body is forced to deal with it. She's right!

Even on Saturday, when we rode from Montélimar to Montpellier--not the prettiest route with a good deal of traffic--we enjoyed ourselves very much. Again, the 156 km we rode didn't feel very difficult, and we did the first 100 km in a flash, before stopping for a longish break from the heat. It feels so good to get a lot of cycling in!

Our trip is winding down a bit now. We had a day off in Montpellier, where our host Florent showed us around town in the morning and we went swimming in the afternoon at le Pont du Diable and wandered around the small town nearby.

Today we cycled out to Valras-Plage, a small seaside town on the south coast of France. A lot of our way was on a beautiful bike path along the coast, and it was quite the leisurely ride. Florent helped us navigate our way out of Montpellier in the morning, which was awesome, since that city is not easy to get around by bike! We stopped in Sète for some tielle, a pastry filled with squid and tomato, a specialty of this region. We arrived here in Valras-Plage at around 3 pm, went swimming in the sea, ate on a patio and had ice cream. And tonight we are doing something quite luxurious: we are staying in a hotel! It really feels like we're on vacation now!

Only three short cycling days and we're in Barcelona!

Frankfurt to Barcelona by bike

GERMANY
Day 1: Frankfurt Airport to Jörg and Andrea's, 24 km

Heading out from Wiesloch. Thanks, Carol!

Day 2: Frankfurt to Wiesloch, 102 km
Day 3: Wiesloch to Pforzheim, 72 km
Day 4: Pforzheim to Villingen-Schwinningen, 150 km


SWITZERLAND  
Day 5: Villingen-Schwinningen to Freienstein, 95 km 
Day 6: Freienstein to Bern, 153 km 
Day 7: rest in Bern 
Day 8: Bern to Lausanne, 105 km 


FRANCE 
Day 9: Lausanne to Corbonod, 110 km
Day 10: Corbonod to Voreppe, 102 km 


It's been a week into my tour from Frankfurt to Barcelona and I've hardly had a spare moment to write. I wondered whether it's even worth keeping a blog for this trip, but decided to do it, even if my posts are few and far between. This trip has been fantastic so far, and I want to share my experience with you, my reader, as well as my future self! 


Nicole and I decided not to bring a tent with us on this tour and instead stay with people along the way. So far, this has worked out quite well for us, although it requires an amount of planning that we're not used to. Also, with a tent, you can easily stop early if the weather's bad or you want to stay in a place a bit longer, or ride later into the day if the wind is at your back or you have lots of energy. Without, it is important to get to where you need to go every night, which takes away some of the spontaneity of cycle touring. But it certainly has its benefits. In addition to the comfort of daily showers, home-cooked meals and warm beds, this way of cycle touring allows you to meet some great people. Most of our hosts have been from Warm Showers, an online hospitality community for touring cyclists. Nicole and I are constantly impressed by how great a concept this is. Every host we have had has been so warm and inviting, truly making is feel at home in their home. And because Warm Showers is a site specifically for cycle tourists, there is always common ground between us and our hosts: it's fun to swap stories about cycle touring, share routes and get to know like-minded people!Cycling through Germany and Switzerland was pretty great. Unlike Canada, these countries have extensive biking infrastructure, allowing us to ride along bicycle paths a lot of the time. It is possible to cross Germany only using the bike paths, but we used roads a good deal as well, since the bike paths are sometimes unpaved and often poorly signed, making it frustrating to get to our destination.  


Yesterday we crossed the border into France and, so far, it has been beautiful! We cycled today from a small village called Corbonod to a another called  Voreppe. We are in some serious mountains now, and today was probably the most fun day of riding yet. We had a few ridiculously long and, in parts, insanely steep climbs, but also some amazing descents. If a picture is worth a thousand words, a video would be worth at least a million: I wish I had one in order to show you how insane these descents are! The hills are steep, the road is winding, the view is spectacular--and you get to take it all in at 70km/h. An experience at once terrifying and exhilarating!Right now, we are relaxing in the home of our second French hosts, Alain and Thérèse. Being here makes me really wish I knew how to speak French. Nicole was in French immersion, so she has been the one doing most of the communicating since we entered the French part of Switzerland. I'm actually surprised by how much of the conversation I can understand--almost all of it--but it's so frustrating not to be able to join in. In a way, it would almost be better not to understand a thing, so at least I wouldn't know what I was missing. In any case, I am inspired anew to refresh my French language skills. Perhaps a course in Toronto? In the meantime, Nicole has been doing an excellent job as my teacher and translator! :) 


The plan from here is to ride almost directly south to the coast and then follow it to Barcelona, where we hope to arrive by July 12th. I will try to post as often as I am able!