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 Danube (...)
Buis-les-Baronnies - Avignon, last one!
12 August 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 August 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 August 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 August 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 August 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 August 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 August 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 August 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 August 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 (...)