The Trail of the Lonesome Pine...

Now I, as much as anyone,
Like a forest pine,
But days and days and days of them
Will likely dull your mind.

Days 10 - 15        Distance 350 km

Pavilosta - Riga (Latvia)

Our next stop was Ventspils, a great holiday town with lots of life, and a very bovine theme...

But after that...more endless pine...

Eventually, and for sanity's sake, we veered off the pine road and headed inland to Tulsi, a very pretty town where we camped on a lovely farm and were once again given home grown strawberries to feast on.

The closer we got to Riga (Latvia's capital) the busier it became (which wasn't hard because there had been NOTHING for days...) and we arrived on the eve of Latvia's biggest holiday - Jani - the summer solstice celebrations.
Originally a festival for pagan farmers long before the arrival of Christianity, traditions are kept very much alive. Everyone makes garlands of oak leaves and wild flowers, there is enchanting song and dance, and plenty of food and drink as nobody must sleep before dawn (we didn't even make midnight!)

But regardless of this wonderful celebration, Riga is a charming city with its art nouveau buildings and old cobbled streets, and well worth a city break.

I fear we may be heading back into endless pine territory for a few more days...wish us luck!

Days 44-46

Hembroke went a-cherry pickin'
Kilos he did pick...
Don't eat too many cherries
Or you'll end up feeling sick.

Vienna to Komarom (Hungary)

No longer are our hazards wobbly tourists on uncontrollable E-bikes. We have entered a world where road markings are a thing of the future, pot-holes have as much right to be there as anyone else, and tree-roots constantly break through ageing tarmac. The currency is unfamiliar, and the language incomprehensible, but a smile still costs nothing, and unfortunately so does the locally brewed fire-water!

There was no question as to when we crossed from Austria into Slovakia, as the derelict buildings still stood, redundant now, but a reminder of when borders were still used here. Everything became instantly cheaper, and a little shabbier.

Bratislava, the capital, was a pleasant surprise. With only half a million inhabitants its historic parts were easy to walk around and soak up the atmosphere in one of the numerous original cafes that line the cobbled streets.
It is the only capital in the world located on the border of three countries, and we know it, as we breakfasted in Austria, lunched in Slovakia and dined in Hungary!

However, exactly when or where we entered Hungary is still a mystery to us. Steve noticed a lot of money exchange places in one town, and upon investigation we discovered that Hungary uses the Forint not the Euro, and that was that, we were in.

I can't tell you which country this horse drawn plough was in, except it wasn't Austria!

It will be very interesting from here on, as WiFi doesn't seem so readily available, English is hardly spoken, the cycle signs vary from slightly official metal ones to hand drawn paper arrows, and no sign shows any distance in kilometers to anywhere!

We left our first Hungarian campsite at 8.30am, and arrived at the next one at 6.30pm, having crossed every type of terrain possible - pot-holed roads, dirt-tracks, woods, fields and even tracks that were still being made as we pedalled over them. The worst thing was, we'd only travelled about 40kms as the crow flies!

Our bones are shaken, our knees are swollen and our bodies exhausted. Hopefully our rest day has prepared us for whatever lies ahead.

It feels like our warm-up period is over. Now the real adventure begins...

Days 20-27

Finally the sun came out
And blimey, did it shine.
Two hot and sweaty cyclists
Had to cool down in the Rhine!

Dole to Schaffhausen - ? a lot of kms. Total so far +/- 1200kms!!

First, a little comparison on the rivers...
Our first river, La Loire, as I've mentioned, is wild and untamed - slightly furious perhaps. La (feminine) Loire could definitely be thought of as a little premenstrual and unpredictable at times.
La Saone could be her younger sister, but we only crisscrossed her for a few days -not really long enough to get to know her very well.
Le (masculine) Doubs on the other hand, is like a kind, comfortable old grandad. Sure and steady he bumbles along, big, heavy and slow. So gentle, lily pads grow along his waters edge. He generously nurtures the canal that runs parallel to him, sharing his water as they join together often,ensuring the canal is always full enough for its many locks to function. However, we have left him too, and now greeted the Rhine.

The scenery changes dramatically down this end of France. It's a lot more "Sound of Music" with hills covered in wild flowers, mountains carpeted in forests, more rural and sparsely populated.

Besancon is quite a stunning town in its architecture, with its citadel -a UNESCO world heritage site- perched precariously high above the town, but unfortunately the thunderstorms prevented us doing much more than having a tram ride and a beer.
The weather is still making things hard, but not as hard for us as the Dutch couple we met who are also biking and camping with their 3 year old son riding in a trailer for 3 months. All credit to them!

We finally enjoyed our first T-shirt day and the novelty of packing up a dry tent and taking a leisurely lunch in the shade, and after a long, gradual climb we free-wheeled down 15 or more canal locks before finding a good campsite along the canal.

We headed into Mulhouse the next morning so Steve could visit the world renowned car museum. It is home to the world's biggest collection of Bugattis, and also houses cars from their very conception from the late 19th century, throughout the last century, including road-going vehicles and racing vehicles.

The weather got ridiculously hot as we crossed the Rhine into Switzerland, or was it Germany? The border between these two countries is very confusing, and we continued crisscrossing between these two countries for most of the day.

The Swiss part from Basel was slightly disappointing, traversing through chemical factories, recycling centres, quarries, industries, agriculture and a nuclear power plant!

But the forested parts were lovely, and we found a great spot on the Rhine to camp, and bathe in the icy water to cool off our overheated and sun crisped skin!

We are now in Schaffhausen, Switzerland, home of the Rhinefall, Europe's largest waterfall. Did you know that the eel is the only fish that can overcome the obstacle of the falls when swimming upstream? No, I didn't either!

We are in a very nice (but expensive, as everything is in Switzerland) campsite and have had a much needed rest day. Of course it turned cold and rained all day, but Schaffhausen and its beautiful buildings kept us amused all day.

And an even greater surprise was meeting up with our friend Dave, who managed to arrange his business trip around our route so he could come and visit us, and restock our energy levels with good food, drink and chatter. Cheers Dave!

Days 13-19

When you drink your pasteurized milk
Semi-skimmed or whole,
Remember Louis Pasteur
Cause he was born in Dole.

Sancerre to Dole - 372kms

Well, what a week it's been, and this is the first chance to update you.

They call La Loire Europe's last untamed river, and in the eastern section you can see why. She's wide and strong, depositing sand where she pleases creating islands, then sweeping them away at her will. She is unforgiving in her path, and swimming is strictly forbidden due to strong currents.

We were amazed to see our second canal bridge - almost as spectacular as the first although nothing was made of this one at all.

However, we soon lost count of the number we crossed, and now we barely raise an eyebrow - oh how familiarity breeds contempt!

I won't go into detail of the first 3 long, hard, cold days in the saddle, but just know that a lot of detouring took place looking for shops that were closed and campsites that didn't exist. Very short lunch breaks were taken to avoid fingers freezing onto camembert as the icy wind blew head-on.

We said au revoir to La Loire, and followed the Canal Lateral de La Loire for 3 days. One whole day climbing with the locks, and one day downhill all the way.

It is wide and meandering and full of large, interesting barges; some holidaying, some homes and some businesses.

The eurovelo 6 trail can be sketchy at times, especially with distances; sometimes halving or even doubling what the signs say, so we've taken a mixture of long, straight, endless roads, canal paths and the trail.
The weather continues to be horribly unsettled, so has also had a bearing on whether we take the shortest route or the scenic one.

After a freezing night under a canal bridge the skies cleared and the sun came out.

The wind was behind us for a change and we decided to make the most of it as the next day was forecast rain again. It was our fourth long day, but as we crossed La Soane river, our sweaty, pounding hearts leapt at the thought of a campsite, finally, a hot shower and a cold beer.
Our sweaty, pounding hearts didn't imagine the campsite hadn't opened for the season yet!
We holed up under a huge weeping willow, sad in the knowledge that tomorrow wasn't going to be the pleasant rest day we had planned.

We managed to stay fairly dry for most of the 30kms to Seurre, and the next campsite, but had to shelter for 2 hours in a cafe until the rain eased enough to venture to the campsite.

Again today we arrived in Dole, just as the rain started.

It's not been all bad though, we've been luck enough to see beavers in the canal, and black bass, and have experienced 2 incredible acts of kindness that lifted our spirits:

1) Whilst having lunch one day a man came up to us carrying a box. It was a strawberry tart he'd bought that morning. He patted his tummy, said we looked like we needed the calories more than he did, and selflessly handed over his scrumptious cake. OMG it was DELICIOUS!

2) After walking half an hour from a campsite to the supermarket in heavy drizzle, we finished shopping and looked with dread at the now torrential rain. A woman approached us, babbling in French something about a boat. When we told her we we're camping she ushered us into her husband's car and they promptly drove us all the way back to the campsite. Neither party understood the other, but we parted like old friends!

Days 8-12

Some days when you sit, you're bits seem to fit,
Some days they sit just to the side.
On the days that they fit, you can comfortably sit,
On the others you get a raw hide.

 

Amboise to Sancerre - 236kms

(And remember, I'm giving you the official distance on our map. We've obviously cycled A LOT more what with detouring, searching for food and campsites, and losing the trail!)

The route continues to be stunning, with lilac and wisteria still scenting the air, and scenery so idyllic you could almost be fooled into believing that the world is a perfect place, and the motor-car has yet to be invented. Only the weather is letting it down, and you can imagine the swirling dandelion seeds really are snowflakes!
We've been quite lucky so far in avoiding actually getting soaked, but sheltering in bus stops and under trees is not much fun, especially not with an icy wind.

We arrived in the town of Blois, and stopped for lunch in the square where there were some big trees, (just in case), and bought some homemade cakes of theses lads who were raising money to enter the Muguet 4L Trophy. Its a race from here to Morocco in a Renault 4 (or similar old banger) and taking needed equipment for schools down there.

(The one in the fancy top is Moroccan, the others dressed like Frenchmen, were French.)
As we ate our cakes the trees came in handy because it hailed, yes HAILED on us! The boys made a hasty retreat in their car.

Our eurovelo 6 guide says that the city of Orleans is uninspiring, I beg to differ. The immense cathedral, built to commemorate the victory of Joan of Arc here in 1429 during the 100 Years War between England and France - is absolutely breathtaking. Did people in the middle ages do anything other than dedicate their lives to building numerous incredible cathedrals and châteaux?

Later, Steve decided to take us on a shortcut. It started out like a great idea...

...but the path got narrower, the camber got steeper, and as we went further off-piste my bike went off-path, and I went off-bike, and we both landed in a bed of thick brambles and stinging nettles!

Don't worry, nothing that my faithful salt water and calendula cream hasn't sorted!

Now, here is something pretty incredible (not just because it was our first hot, sunny day) - the canal bridge at Briare. Yes, that's right, a bridge built in 1894 to carry the canal over the river Loire! Quite a feat of engineering, by none other than that famous architect/engineer Alexandre Gustave Eiffel.

Today we are holed up again, waiting for the rain to pass. We did manage to cycle the 5kms uphill to the ancient town of Sancerre, the centre of the Sauvignon blanc wine growing region, and got to sample some very tasty regional wines.

Fingers crossed for some dry weather tomorrow.

The Route

The pilgrim father's left our shores
In search of pastures green,
How the hell did they arrive
Without looking at a screen?

So, yesterday we went for a test ride and ended up on the Mayflower Steps, where the Pilgrim Fathers departed from hundreds of years ago on their quest to discover the New World. (I wonder what they'd think of it now...)
It seemed rather fitting that they sailed off on their big adventure from Plymouth, as will we tomorrow night if we manage to jump on the ferry.

The bikes, and our bodies, all seemed to be working nicely, and the few miles we managed to cycle was enough for one day. We didn't want to wear ourselves out before we start!
Below is the basic route that the EuroVelo 6 takes.
Check out their website for all the EuroVelo trails across Europe.
http://www.eurovelo.com/en 

Countries Visited:

France, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria.

Official Distance:

3653km. 
This, however, seems debatable. The EuroVelo maps show the route splitting often, traversing both sides of the rivers it follows, and the eastern section seems to have a couple of different options going through either Bulgaria and/or Romania.

 
We downloaded the free app - La Loire a Velo - which gives you stage maps and kilometres, but doesn't give information on campsites, it is more designed for day trips. Hard copies (which we would prefer) are expensive to buy, not often found in English and bulky to carry, as there are 6-8 separated maps for different parts of the route.
The information I can gleam from the net about others who have done this trip is that up until about Hungary it's pretty easy to follow the signs...
As France is the cycling capital of the world, I'm reckoning that the 1300km or so to get across it will be good training for the trickier sections to come. 
We bought the EuroVelo 6 guidebook, volume 1, which comes as a download and appears to be quite useful so far, but we have little faith in our technical apparatus, ie one android phone, so the back-up plan is to follow rivers flowing eastward...
As you know, phones today need constant charging, so we have fitted an old fashioned type of dynamo to Steve's bike that runs on the tyre and is wired up to a handlebar mounted USB outlet, which will hopefully charge the phone up as we pedal along.
It would be nice to see on a map where campsites, or areas for possible free camping are so we could plan our daily distances, but we are assuming through France it will be pretty well set up. 

Kit - Clothing:

 Julia                                                                                Steve

3x shorts (2 padded)                                                        3x shorts (1 padded)
3x breathable T-shirts                                                      3x breathable T-shirts
1x top 1x vest top                                                            1x normal T-shirt
1x trousers with zippable shorts                                      1x trousers with zippable shorts
1x cycle leggings                                                             1x hoodie
1x fleece                                                                          3x boxer shorts
2x long tops (I feel the cold)                                           3x pairs socks
1x bikini and goggles (I like swimming)                        1x lightweight waterproof jacket 
4x pairs knickers                                                             1x pair trainers, 1x pair flip flops
3x pairs socks                                                                  1x helmet, cap, sunglasses
2x sports bras 
1x waterproof jacket
1x pair trainers, 1x pair flip flops 
1x helmet, cap, sunglasses

Camping gear:

Quickhiker, ultralight 3 man hiking tent 
2x sleeping bags
2x self-inflating roll mats
2x travel pillows
1x single burner camping stove
Camping pots/2x plates/2x cups
Swiss army knife
String for washing line, and pegs

Tool Kit:

Leatherman
Bike multi-tool
Chain splitting tool
2x tyre levers
Spare gear cables
Spare inner tube
Puncture repair outfit
Selection of cable ties
Small selection of nuts and bolts
Roll of duct tape
15mm spanner for pedals
Chain oil

Medical Kit:

Salt (I'm a GREAT believer in salt water!)
Calendula cream
Antiseptic cream
Various plasters/dressings
Ibuprofen

Toiletries:

Toilet paper
Flannel (for washing in the river)
Biodegradable soap
Razor (for Steve's face and my underarms)
Hairbrush (I'm attempting to see if my hair will self-clean. Never got past the 2 week mark without shampoo!) 
Toothbrushes and toothpaste
Deodorant
Face moisturiser
Suntan cream


We are taking some porridge oats, nuts and dates, and a bag of pasta and sauce for an emergency dinner, but are planning to buy food as we need it.
Providing the tent arrives tomorrow (yes, I know, it's a bit last minute but was a lot lighter and more compact than the one we've got) we'll be on the night ferry from Plymouth to Roscoff tomorrow evening. We plan to cycle 30kms to Morlaix then catch a train down to Nantes, where the journey begins...
Didn't really fancy the 200 mile warm-up ride to get to the start, think of all that extra food we'd have to take...