Biddies Gone Biking: September 2017

Bordeaux

Eleven of us crossed the Atlantic this September for a spectacular six-day tour of the Bordeaux region of France. There were so many beautiful things to see I could hardly ride my bike down the road because every hilltop, every curve in the road, opened us up to another incredible vista, quaint chateaux, or expansive vineyard. There's so much to say I think I will mostly let the many pictures do the talking.

We flew into Paris on the morning of the 5th and took a train to the city of Bordeaux.

Marcelle, Laurie, and I get dropped off at Dulles

The flight was uneventful except for the very ill teenager who slept in the row in front of me (was she contagious?) and her mother who laid in the two seats next to Marcelle with her head nearly on Marcelle's lap. Laurie slept through on her Xanex.

Approaching Iceland where we had a quick layover

Reykjavik airport looked like a space station

In Charles de Gaulle airport waiting to catch our train to Bordeaux.

Laurie and Lisa S. on the fast train to Bordeaux

Deb and Brenda on the same train

I was so happy to be on this train. Could not wait to sleep!

We arrive in Bordeaux

The jardin public in Bordeaux (walking from metro to hotel)

Still walking to our hotel

It was an extremely long day of travel, but we were pleasantly surprised by our comfortable accommodations at the Hotel Continental. Our bike trip orientation was the next day, so we had two nights to unwind in Bordeaux before the riding started.

Marcelle relaxing in our room

Awesome view from our room

More view from our room

Cool view from Sherry's window (thanks for pic Sherry!)

Seven flights up to our room!

Free wine happy hour at l'hotel continental

The crew out front of the Hotel Continental

There was a phallic theme to the early part of our trip. Were we missing our husbands? Here is just one iteration of the "penis man" who appeared all over the city.

Walking around Bordeaux

Same: Bordeaux

Our first real glass of wine in France

Very cool sculpture - very flat, yet gives the appearance of being 3-D

Landmark that helped me find our hotel

On our second day in Bordeaux, we went to the Cit du Vin (city of wine)--a multisensory, interactive museum of wine. I thought it would be interesting to learn about wine before our tour, but vastly underestimated what I would find at this amazing place. The attention to different modes of conveying information (through many senses including touch and smell) and to aesthetics was a little bit astounding. I'd never been in a museum like this. Well done Cit du Vin!

The "store." Katie and I hardly knew what to make of it. The bottles covered the wall and hailed from every country in the world (I think).

Multiple videos of farmers and wine makers from all over the world discussing their vineyards, the soil, and the history of wine making in their region.

Marcelle sitting at a "dinner table" with two videotaped people discussing wine and dinner traditions.

Another table where the participants discuss wine and religious traditions.

Same.

The smelling station. I think this one is a honey comb.

Presentations about wine storage.

Debbie beckoning us into what Katie called the "erotica room."

The image over our heads in the erotica room. It presented a flow of images illustrating the audio about wine and love, complete with sensual sound effects. A mother and son got up and left in the middle of it.

Deb and Marcelle reclining on red velvet couches in the erotica room.

The museum tour ended with a tasting at the top of a tower where you could look out over the city when not hanging out inside under thousands of suspended wine glasses.

The Cite du Vin from the outside.

The bridge over La Garonne river that we passed walking home from the museum.

Walking along La Garonne

We saw this bike and barge tour which did a lot to persuade me against this kind of travel.

With the reflecting pool (pic courtesy of Sherry)

Crashing someone's bridal portrait

Streets of Bordeaux

Door in Bordeaux

St. Andre Cathedral in Bordeaux

Discover France arrives with our bikes!

Kevin and the orientation from hell!

The view from our hotel window looked like a painting

The bikes

Everyone suited up and ready to go!

Deb Lane seeing us off.

Sainte Macaire

For our first day, we set out for St. Macaire. This was a 39 mile ride (the longest of the week) along a flat trail that carried us out of the city, along La Garonne river, then east to the Abbaye Sauve Majeure (an ancient and beautiful ruin), then south to the tiny and quaint village of St. Macaire.

Crossing La Garonne

The first 20 miles were completely flat and straight (and a little boring) like the W&OD.

Arriving in the village of Creon

A pit stop

Walking into the grounds of the Abbeye Sauve Majeure

This was not a modest place. It is said to be a seat of power in the region during the Middle Ages - or earlier?

Looking down onto the ruins from the bell tower.

The wall surrounding the property

After the Abbey, we got back on the road for Sainte Macaire.

Me with devil eyes?

Our first real view of vineyards

I thought the grapes looked a bit like oversized doo-dads hanging low off the vines. More allusions to male genitalia. What's up with that? Katie ventured over to check 'em out.

Chateau de Cadillac from the front. We couldn't go into it because they were preparing for a concert that night.

Chateau de Cadillac after we get over the hill disappearing behind us

But then another hill.

If I was a better photographer you'd be able to see more of the Chateau in the background

After some confusion with the directions, we arrive in St. Macaire.

Our hotel in St. Macaire was beautiful. We had happy hour in a small courtyard while the sister-proprietors prepared an amazing meal for us.

Food and place setting pics courtesy of Laurie

la salade avocat avec saumon

The wine that was served with dinner.

la glace chocolat et marengue

la tarte aux pomme (It was way better and more sizeable than it looks)

Hangin' out in the hot tub after dinner

Except it was really a tepid tub as the heat was turned off for the day. And yes, it's true, that when Deb L., Marcelle, and I were hanging out in it late night, we saw several unidentifiable nastinesses floating in the water. That was the end of the tepid tub for the night.

Breakfast in St. Macaire: croissants, boiled eggs, fruit, coffee, yum. Pic from Laurie

The old town streets of Saint Macaire

The entrance to the walled city.

Some kind of ivy on a wall?

Inside the town "church." It was deserted and a little haunting. I thought this white wall was unusual.

More village - the street outside our hotel.

A water pump outside the church that made us say: WTF?!

Random selfie with Marcelle. No idea where we are!

St. Gemme

The ride from St. Macaire to St. Gemme was only 22 miles, but we still managed to take most of the day to get there, meandering, putzing, taking pictures, eating, and generally taking it all in.

We are ready: bread and a banana!

After leaving Sainte Macaire we stopped at this cemetery. Kevin, who did our orientation, told us we could always get water at a cemetery, but we never found any.

Bikes outside the cemetery

Some bell towers were two dimensional with cheaper wooden access points.

We saw dried sunflowers all over the countryside. Who knew it was a crop in Bordeaux?

Funny, with all the grapes and sunflowers, we stopped to picnic in a place that looks an awful lot like Virginia!

Lunch consisted of a baguette, sliced pear, and a hunk of soft cheese we purchased in the local grocery before setting out.

These crosses appeared occasionally along the path. Not sure of the meaning.

We met some Swedes by a church. They snapped our pic after a brief talk about how far American politics have gone astray.

They grow corn in France too!

Beautiful stuff along the way

Me peering down from my room in the Manoir de Gaboria.

I took my real camera out for the first time in St. Gemme. I'd hoped to walk around with it every morning, but it was often cloudy or even raining early, so I didn't have any good opportunities for pictures. The manior was so picturesque, I took an afternoon stroll around and snapped some pics with the camera on manual mode. Now that my eyes don't work anymore, some of my pictures are out of focus. Not sure how to remedy that!

The main sitting area.

The corner of the dining room.

The veranda where we would eat dinner.

The door to Laurie and Deb Lane's room.

The window in my bathroom looking out over the uniquely french clay roof tiles.

Lisa Whetzel talking to home.

Laurie and Dia relaxing by the pool.

In the early evening we walked to a nearby winery for a tasting. The proprietors were a husband and wife team. The husband was so enthusiastic, he poured us extra wine, answered our many questions (translated by the very helpful Liz - thanks Liz!) and educated us about the equally profitable prune industry in France.

Marcelle and Dia learning something about prunes maybe?

A back room that I discovered through an open doorway during the tasting.

A strange piece of machinery in the tasting room. Didn't get a chance to ask what it was.

Prunes drying on the rack that we saw on a tour of the "factory."

We also got to walk into the vineyard, taste the grapes off the vine, and learn about the different shapes of wine grape leaves.

Tasting fresh plums and grapes (pic courtesy Lisa)

grapes courtesy of Laurie

Dinner on the veranda

St. Gemme Loop

On our third day of riding, we did a 34 mile loop and returned to the same hotel. In the face of dire weather predictions, several people took the day off. Marcelle, Laurie, me, Lisa, Katie, and Liz braved the day. I'm so glad we did because it was the most magical day of the trip for me.

Lisa in pink biking into another picturesque village.

We stop for a quick break and Lisa changes her shirt on the side of the road.

Clouds like this threatened nearly every day. On this day, we thought it best to seek shelter.

We stopped to cover our panniers (Liz's pic I think)

The day was full of synchronity, and when the rain finally came, we were in a town where we found a wide open, empty, and unattended garage where we waited out the showers with our bikes. There was even a small cafe across the street where we bought water and used the bathroom.

This is one of my fave pics from the trip. It looks like a rock band's album cover.

We stumble upon the Castle de Moron after the shower. We were sort of looking for it but also didn't know what we were looking for. We crossed through the walls of the castle and into the village that is part of the castle without quite realizing it. Small signs said: "Visiteurs respectez notre village s'il vous plait" so we got off our bikes and literally tiptoed through the streets, whispering about how enchanting the place was--not wanting to break the spell.

The sun came out as we walked into the village of the Castle de Moron.

The streets were empty as we walked around. We wondered if everyone saw us coming and shuttered themselves in behind their many beautiful doors!

The gate out of the Castle/village

The castle wall

More castle wall

It rained on us while the sun shone in the distance.

We took shelter yet again, this time under the archway of the castle gate. If you look closely, you can see the rain is pelting poor Liz.

It was cold!

And the sun came out again!

This is part of the castle wall. Katie and I snuck down an alley way to photo bomb lisa's picture. See us on the stairwell?

Leaving town.

Typical countryside

Chateau de Duras in the distance.

We finished climbing the hill up to the Chateau.

The chateau gate

In the visitor center we scoffed at the idea of a 90 minute guided tour because we had places to go. Then we spent over two hours poking around this spectacular place.

We picnicked in the front courtyard as the rain approached yet again. I ate a pear and stinky cheese sandwich on a baguette, and it was memorable!

Looking down the well. The tiny point of light is the reflection of the bulb hanging above.

A ghost?

The view from the tower. It poured rain while we were in the Chateau then the sun broke out as we climbed the narrow staircase and emerged on the top.

This walkway circled the chateau. I imagined stir-crazy aristocratic women from the Chateau's 18th Century heydey, promenading madly around the perimeter of their lavish prison.

Inner courtyard

Um...1970s tile?

A pano from the tower. I asked Marcelle to duck not realizing I had even her feet in the photo. Can you see Laurie poking her head out of the stairwell?

A close up in case you missed it.

The gate to the Chateau and the village beyond.

Laurie recovering her bearings after climbing the tower.

Keyhole doorways that threatened to wedge you in by the hips they were so narrow.

A rare look at some really blue sky

More perimeter walkway

The village at the foot of the chateau

Lisa whizzing past the vineyards

Pic from Liz. Thanks Liz!

There was no end to the vineyards and pastoral views on the way home to Manoir de Gaboria.

St. Emilion

After a dinner of chicken curry in the Manior de Gaboria dining room (too cold to eat outside), we planned to split up in the morning for the ride to St. Emilion. The purpose of this 32 mile ride seemed to be more about getting to St. Emilion than in doing any particular sight-seeing (not much listed to see on the itinerary), so Marcelle, Laurie, and I planned to leave early and ride straight through so we could spend the afternoon with Deb Lane in our new village. Meanwhile, hurricane Irma was bearing down on my brother in Florida (thankfully Xavier had been safely evacuated).

I didn't take many pictures on this ride as it was rather dull. We rode through some hills then down along the Dordogne River which we eventually crossed to traverse the valley into St. Emilion.

We stopped for a lunch of bread, cheese, and nuts on a stone henge-like rock in a park on top of a hill, just before we descended to the river.

Left over croissants we pilfered from breakfast, nuts, stinky soft cheese, left over baguette that had gone from crusty to chewy with age, an apple to share and a can of mackerel.

A rare windmill along the way.

View from the foot of the windmill

same

door of the windmill

Puffy clouds - a relief as rain would threaten all day (although we never got wet until the final few minutes!)

Almost there!

St. Emilion perched on the hilltop in the distance like the Emerald City.

Marcelle and my room in St. Emilion

Deb braving the cobblestones in her boot.

The view from our room.

Dinner in St. Emilion. Sherry, where are you?

Our cute purple breakfast room

...with fancy china.

The stairwell in our hotel (yes, another stairwell!)

St. Emilion Loop

In order to give ourselves more time enjoy the city of St. Emilion, we decided to take a shorter ride on our "St. Emilion loop" day. Instead of 30 miles, we meandered around for 12 miles to see the towns of Pomoron and Montagne.

Leaving our hotel for a quick ride.

The alley leaving our hotel

We met a group of Irish men (and one American ex-pat living in Denmark) who meet up every year to do a one week ride around a new destination. Fun to chat with them before we took off.

All along the roadways, we saw these trees planted in rows. Never figured out if they are a crop or not.

It's funny, toward the end of the trip I felt like I didn't have enough pictures of vineyards - so I started taking more of them!

It rained on us twice during this ride. We sheltered under the awning of a community center for one, and in someone's private garage for the other. We managed to not get wet until the very end of the ride (again!).

A quick bite with Debbie Lane in town.

A ruin on the edge of town that we passed while walking to a chateau for a wine tasting and tour.

Walking down the drive to Chateau Soutard

St. Emilion as seen from the Chateau vineyard

We snuck a few when the tour guide wasn't looking. They tasted like sweetened grape juice.

Inside the winery. Stainless steel and wooden barrels line the walls.

Cool pic courtesy of Laurie

The inside of a wooden barrell. It smelled amazing in there (but you don't want the job of cleaning out the spent grapes after fermentation because the alcohol fumes can kill you).

I got word from my brother that they'd come through hurricane Irma in one piece while we were in this room, so I missed most of what was said about wine storage while texting with him.

Our very cosmo wine tasting

After the tour at Chateau Soutard, we took a chook-chook (how do you spell that!), which is a little mini tour bus, back into town and down to the monolithic church.

Chook chook pics from Laurie.

The monolithic churh was an amazing sight - a literal cathedral underground that is carved out of the rock. Apparently this was a common process. I had no idea! I also have no pictures because they were not allowed (private property). I suppose I could have snuck a few, but it was dark, so I just enjoyed the tour for once without the distraction of the camera.

While underground, I became overwhelmed with tiredness and actually felt my eyes closing while I was standing up. So after the tour, I skipped out on the group with Laurie and went home to take a nap. Marcelle and Sherry met us a half hour later for a bottle of wine on our beautiful patio.

The wine we bought in St. Gemme coming in handy! (and thanks for pic laurie - nice job with portrait mode!)

We drank the wine we had bought at the chateau in St. Gemme. That wine was only 6 Euros for a bottle. We laughed because we paid 15 Euros for an uncorking fee at the hotel! That was ok though because it came with warm bread, terrine, and big beautiful wine glasses (instead of the plastic cups we had planned to use). This was some nice down time for all of us.

The view of our hotel from the patio.

Our pool. Too bad it was so unseasonably cold!

Yup. Our stairwell again. Sorry, couldn't help it. Our hotel was so beautiful!

Laurie and Sherry at our cozy dinner place. Average french onion soup but good dinner and company!

Dawn in St. Emilion

Marcelle discovers a rainbow. A good omen for the day!

One last view of the valley overlooked by St. Emilion

A vineyard on the hill leading up to the city.

Bordeaux - again!

Our last day of biking we bid St. Emilion farewell and headed out for the 32 mile ride to Bordeaux. Laurie, Marcelle, Sherry, and I were ready to get on the road early, so we left a bit ahead of the rest of the group hoping we could get to Bordeaux in time to meet Deb Lane for lunch.

We tried to take a selfie with our last view of a vineyard in the background, but our heads crowd it out.

We try again. We got the vineyard, but why do I look like I have the head of an insect?!

We've hit the part of the trail that is flat and straight and doing little but transporting us back into Bordeaux. We're ready to get there to spend the afternoon in the city--all of us imagining lunch in a cute little bistro with a bottle of wine and a cozy atmosphere.

This tunnel was pretty coolio

We arrive in Bordeaux!

Crossing La Garonne, we are five minutes from our hotel, so guess what? It's time to rain! We took shelter in a bus stop and waited it out.

We found a cute bistro for lunch where Deb L. caught up with us. I had an amazing tartine with goat cheese melted all over it and we enjoyed a really nice bottle of white wine. So relaxing, and our waitress was wonderful. Bummer I have no pics!

It's our final night in the Bordeaux region and we finally got our french onion soup--and finally got to eat in this restaurant! This was our third attempt to eat at the same place. First time the kitchen was closed. Second time we couldn't find it. Third time's a charm!