Towards the Black Sea

Black Sea, return on the trip

After 6000 km by bike, 1400 km by train, 450 km by boat, a few hours by boat, 40km by truck, 12 km by taxi, 12 km by bus, 160 km by minibus... here I am back in Toulouse since 3 weeks, after almost 4 months of stroll :)
Weather I never imagined I’d see so much rain on my way. Would I have left if I knew the weather would be so bad ? Not, for sure, but once I left, I kept going. In May, rain falls almost every day, and sometimes from morning to evening. In June, until I reached the (...)

Buis-les-Baronnies - Avignon, last one !

12 août 2019

Early departure from the Buis-les-Baronnies campsite this morning under a few raindrops...
Time to protect yourself from head to toe and you already have to remove everything ^^
The road is very pleasant, passing only through small roads in the Rhône plain.
Time to eat on the terrace of a restaurant in Avignon where things are going as well as possible and then I go to the station. A lot of margin before I take my TER to Narbonne.
The cycling stages are over, in a few hours I will (...)

From Briançon by minibus, then Tallard - Buis-les-Barronies

11 août 2019

After a false start because I forgot my helmet Cyrille takes me to Tallard.... Basically it makes me one less stop, a not very interesting stop that would have required to be on a very busy road.
So after tomorrow’s stage I should be in Toulouse by Monday evening !
It smells like the end of this journey of nearly four months !
Passage through the gorges of the Meouze river. Very pretty. Many people who come to look for freshness in the river’s water reservoirs.
From Tallard to (...)

Coni - Larche, then Briançon by minibus

9 août 2019

Highest route since the beginning of my journey !
From Coni I follow a cycle route parallel to the national road. Very pleasant road in the middle of trees just a little more hilly than the main road.
In the village of Vinadio, I stop for coffee and from there I stay on the national road. It’s rising, but regularly. On the climb it is hot, but as you approach the pass there is a little wind and finally it is not the last few hundred meters the most difficult.
Very happy to arrive at (...)

Alba - Cueno

8 août 2019

The Breakfast was from 7:15... but at 7:20 it was always closed. 7:25 it was OK...
"Breakfast"... er, a croissant and a coffee... A little short for a day on the bike :(
Then quiet road. At the beginning, a path that avoids roads with high traffic volumes. But a little further on, when I have just had a cup of coffee and a bun, suddenly the quiet road I was following along the irrigation canals starts to climb up the hillside and turns into a stony path... Oh no : climb + rocks... if I (...)

Bozzole - Alba

7 août 2019

The night giving advice, I change my itinerary this morning just before departure. Indeed, the "straight ahead" route proposed by my software included hiking trails that were probably more easily accessible by mountain bike.... It’s a bit like looking for a route for a car and the software offers 4x4 routes ! Besides, it was going a little higher.
So I smoothed the course a little and only took the correct roads. A little unpleasant in places because the frost damages them and the most (...)

Pavia - Bozzole

6 août 2019

I landed in Bozzole, a very small village, because there was cheap accommodation. Just behind the Po dikes, this village seems quiet and quite rich.
From Pavia very nice covered bridge that I hadn’t seen yet ! With the statue of a laundress a little further away in backlight.
Then the path alternates between the rice fields and the corn that often replaces it.

Cremona - Pavia

5 août 2019

Very early departure from the campsite.... In fact, after I stopped for breakfast on the way not so early !
The road is quite pleasant with sometimes real bike paths. But also some stony roads. I take the first one but when I get to the second one I turn around and prefer to make a hook. The 90 km seems longer on these kinds of roads !
I eat for 10€ all included in a small restaurant. First Piatto, some pretty stuffy pasta, second piatto something more tasty and I thought there was a (...)

Suzzara - Cremona

4 août 2019

After a hearty breakfast I leave a little earlier than yesterday, and the road is shorter, so I should arrive early. The wind is from the south-east, which means that I rarely have it in front of me and it tends to push me. There is a lot of water, I don’t know if it is irrigation techniques that have caused these canals to be dug or if they are developed marshes, linked to the proximity of the Po.
On the way, I meet a couple of cyclists who invite me to drink coffee at their house in (...)

Ferrara - Suzzara

3 août 2019

A little long step but it was essentially flat. If I had managed to leave earlier, it would have been perfect.
I find real wide bike paths, without any cars ! Quite pleasant from Ferrara then the pavement deteriorates and there are roads shared with cars.
In Bondeno there is even a picnic table with everything you need : bicycles, a roof to shelter from the sun, benches and a water point ! Unfortunately, it will be the only one of its kind. And even in the villages, the only fountain I (...)