Author Archives: Robkeene

As said in the last blog, we planned to visit the Penitents of Mées. At first sight they are long row of stone monoliths standing 100 m high behind the town of Les Mées in Provence, Southern France.

These “rocks” form a 1 km long line of natural cliff that resemble a row of stooped, hooded monks, lining up to repent their sins; hence their unusual name!

We were slow to get going, as it was a Sunday and our rest day from cycling! When we finally did get going, it was warm already. The path, marked on my map, was little more than a goat track taking us 250 metres higher up to the tree line behind the Penitents.

The route down was well maintained and took us behind the rocks, although many of their tops were level with the path so we could get a good look.

From close up we could see that these giants were not solid rock but made up of billions of smooth pebbles stuck together by a natural cement.

It was a wonder to us how they have weathered so well over the millennia whilst the surrounding ground has been washed away!

Day 8

We’d been recommended to visit Forcalquier, which was only 40 km away. Therefore we set off on a short but very varied day of cycling.

The first half took us along the Durance valley, and the same canal. It sometimes was below us but often well above us; hugging the contours.

We were on small tracks and roads, so it was very peaceful and enjoyable passing through olive groves, almond and apple orchards.

Our route then took a sharp right across the river and the autoroute and we quickly left the Durance valley and climbed into the Provence hills and the Luberon, where we joined the EuroVelo Route 8. We’ll be following the EV8 for the next week.

A very different quiet route, through rolling hills.

Forcalquier is an interesting small town with very narrow streets and an artsy farty feel. Slightly hippyish, the odd busker and the smell of weed here and there; a bit like Stroud, only warmer!

We arrived early and our hotel was still closed until 5 pm for check in!

I had seen that there were more unusual rocks only 3 kms away, so we boarded our bikes and pedalled up the hill to visit them.

The rocks were like stone mushrooms! Also a fabulous view of Provence from on high.

An exhilarating fast ride back to the town and we parked our bikes in the dungeon of the hotel where there was power to charge them once more👍🏼😁.

The town has a citadel overlooking it so we had a pre supper walk to visit.

Back down into town and we enjoyed a delicious Chinese meal in the square, which ended another full day.

We didn’t wake up until 9am🤭, so by the time we were fed and organised it was 11am before we hit the road.

We said goodbye to Marcus, who was in the middle of doing a flying instructor course.

We then set off southwards, on a much less hilly track: down the valley, generally following the course of the Durance water canal and river alongside. As the canal was gently descending, so were we. Also we enjoyed a slight tail wind which made for even faster progress.

Now a muddy Durance after the large storm we’d witnessed

After Sisteron we climbed on a main road for a few kms, then found a lovely trail on gravel alongside the river, and through pretty villages.

We’d booked an apartment in Les Mées for 2 nights, as I was fascinated to see the big rocks that stand behind the town.

We’d driven past them a few years ago, but didn’t stop. It was in my mind to visit them properly; so now was our chance.

Les Penitents rocks.

Rather a strange name so we’ll try to find out today on our 7km walk around them. We’ll report back with more pics.🤞

The most challenging 63 kms we’ve done since the start on our trip.

We started at 700 m by the lake, and progressively climbed to 1300 m to the top of the Col de Poncis. Fortunately it was cool after the storm the previous night.

Now the fun downhill bit to the same lake on the other side of the peninsular.

It was very pretty , but the second long climb was on a larger road with more traffic. There were so many motor bikes, many in big groups.

We spoke to a couple and found out that there was a big 4 day bike meeting at Barcelonnette. Very annoying when you’re pedalling up a hill and one by one they race by very close, creating noise in such a beautiful Alpine setting! 😡🥴

( I know, I hear you say; I was a biker once!🫢)

We finally found a little village off the main road and enjoyed a well earned pizza between us and a carafe if Rosé. We felt we earned it having climbed 1000m in total! The batteries were now half full after such a morning.

We arrived in Tallard, and were both very tired. . I met a microlight instructor, Marcus, for a beer after supper, then slept like a log until 9 am!

Hence this blog is a day late!!

Will catch up tomorrow!

What a fantastic day!!

Beautiful scenery , sunny weather, but not too hot.

The Alps are stunning in these conditions, especially when most tourists have disappeared… (except old buggers like us! )

Cyclists were well cared for, and we had so much variation of scenery and surfaces.

Sept 2-3

Toulouse – Bardonecchia by train

On the 1st September 2023 Sue and I set off on our new electric bicycles from our home at Borde Neuve, in Southern France.

We cycled 50 km to Agen to catch a train to Nantes to start our planned trans Europe cycle following the beautiful River Loire along the EuroVelo Route 6.

This year we, once again persuaded Rob & Trude to drive down from Kent and kindly look after the dogs whilst we’re cycling the final leg home.

2 years to that same day in September, we set off catching a total of 6 trains to get us back to Bardonecchia, where we’d left the bikes in June of this year.

Our friend Valerio had been keeping our bikes safe in his huge underground 5 car garage for the hot summer months.

He met us at Oulx station, where the Paris- Milan TGV dropped us.

After a delicious Pizza supper we were both exhausted and didn’t need any rocking to sleep!

Day 2

Bardonecchia-Briançon 35 km

It took a while to organise our bikes and pack everything onto them once more. Mine had a puncture to fix, but generally they were good to go.

A beautiful blue sky overhead greeted us as we set off southwards towards the French border, with Valerio joining us for the first day

We started climbing slowly to the base of the Col d’Échelle.

Our first day started well. Beautiful weather when last week here’s was mostly wet😁. It was good to get back in the saddle after 9 weeks of rest; although my bum doesn’t think so!

We had realised a couple of days before that we were running out of our allotted time and would need to cycle long days to get to Bardonecchia by Saturday night.

As we were keeping relatively cool by the lakes, we decided to relax and spend a day by Lake Maggiore, without frantically pedalling across the hot, shadeless flatlands to Turin. We agreed that we would complete our journey by train.

This really took the pressure off. However, after our last train ride in France, at the start of this adventure, we vowed never to try it again!!

On our rest day we cycled a short distance to the lake and found a sandy beach through a wood and chilled for a few hours.

Our day of relaxing was soon over, and we were loaded the bikes for the last time, the following morning.

We set off before 9am, the earliest yet!

We had 50 kms to get to Novara, where we could catch a direct train to Turin.

It was a really beautiful ride following the River Ticino. It is another crystal clear river flowing from Lake Maggiore and it is the border between the Lombardy county and Piedmont. It also supplies water for irrigation so we always were following a water channel, the whole way to Novara.

The cycle path was superb and, being a Saturday, was busy with groups of Lycra clad bikers, speeding along this 30 km trail.

It was a great ride on which to finish, with only 2 km of road, as we approached the train station in Novara.

We arrived in perfect time as it was 20 minutes before the next train. Only €9 each for the 70 min journey, and €3.50 each for the bikes which lasts for 24 hrs on any train!! A bargain we thought.

Getting to the platform was awkward, and involved 2 lifts, only just big enough for one bike. Boarding the full train was not easy either and Sue had to evict a push chair from the bike stand, so we could get both bikes secured in their purpose built stand, which even included charging sockets for e bikes!

The second train from Turin to Bardonecchia was much easier to board, as it was a terminus station, so all platforms were on the same level; accessible from the end.

Our final destination, Bardonecchia, was chosen, because Valerio, our long term friend, lives there and has a large underground garage. He was therefore able to offer storage for the bikes until we return in September, for our final trip across France.

Valerio met us at the station on his e-bike and cycled to a very good pub. This newly open bar was run by 2 attractive Romanian girls, who put a plateful of salami, cheese and crisps in front of us. Such a great tradition in Italy: every time you order a drink they feed you some nibbles for free😁😁

However, this feast exceeded others by far.

Day 17

As we had opted for the train option, we had gained a day, so had a day to catch up with Valerio.

Over the years we’ve had several ski holidays in Bardonecchia since we met Valerio whilst on an 18-30 holiday in 1980 (45 years ago🤭)

Sue learnt to ski there, along with several other friends.

For me, I really wanted to cycle up to the top of the mountain to see it in its summer green rather than is winter white.

Sue had had enough biking for one trip, so opted to go shopping. Valerio made the excuse of a bad knee🥴; so I went alone. It was a real pleasure, although, even with a battery to help, it was hard work in places.

This is called Plan de Sol and is the mid stage meeting point for ski lessons in the winter. Now the ski area is covered with sunbeds bicycles and noisy cows playing constant music with their bells.

Looking down to Bardonecchia from half way up

It was great to meet Aldo, who still runs a restaurant on the mountain.

45 years ago when we were 20🤭, we used to regularly frequent his bar. One night, after skiing we had a meal at his restaurant, then we had to ski down, well oiled! Aldo helped our beginners back down the mountain by skiing backwards and holding their ski tips in the dark! So many memories. I think they were mostly true!🥴

After a welcome beer, I headed down a 9 km rocky road, passed more musical cows, waterfalls and pretty views.

I had started the ride with only 50% battery, so the last 5 km, I used mostly leg power to ensure I had enough help to climb the 100 metres to the top of the town. The total ride was 27 kms; pretty challenging at times but well worth the effort.

Our bikes were now lowered on a car lift into Valerio’s garage where they can rest in the cool for 9 weeks until we return to cycle them back to Borde Neuve.

I’m writing this in a sweltering carriage of a train with almost no air conditioning🥵Hopefully in September it will be a few degrees cooler for the return journey🤞🤞

Summary

Our Italian ride was again, very different to before. We were not specifically following watercourses so were spending lots of kms trying to avoid major roads, therefore I underestimated the distance we would need to do.

I thought it would be about 800 kms, but we did 862kms and still needed to catch a train for the last 200 kms!

Some cycle routes were great, but, like the UK, they are not joined up, so it takes time finding small roads to continue the journey enjoyably.

The Italians are very friendly and generally prices are very reasonable in the countryside, certainly less than in France generally. Prosecco was found everywhere, which delighted Sue.

The temperature was hotter than we’d hoped for, but we only had one 2 hour thunderstorm of heavy rain.

All in all, another good trip.

No more blogs until our finale in September😁👍🏼

After 2 long days of cycling, a shorter day was called for, as we were both pretty tired.

After a leisurely breakfast, we didn’t start riding until 11am.

Within 10 minutes we were into a woodland path, running alongside of Lake Alserio. Nice and cool in the already warm day. First obstacle, within 10 minutes was a fallen tree across the path.

Before long, we were descending along a gravel track, which launched us into the touristy town of Como. It was heaving everywhere and the cycle track was covered in well dressed people who seemed to know that Como was the place to be seen. Actually, I have to say, that some of the females were worth seeing🤭

We fortunately found a table at a busy restaurant and decided to have a descent lunch «people watching» on the lakefront. A great pastime over a beer at a busy tourist place! We both enjoyed a really good meal, that didn’t involve Pizza😁👍🏼

This trail then became smaller and steeper until we were climbing on cobble stones which then became loose stones, and we both fell off!

To be fair, we discussed the options of busy roads dodging Italian drivers, or a woodland trail, and we unanimously chose the latter.

After fixing Sue’s mirror we were only 7 km from our destination. Our very chatty Italian host gave us a tour and recommended a really good Pizzeria😁!!

Thankfully we’d eaten a good meal at lunch.

We had a snacky supper with our bikes, next to a lemon tree, washed down with a chilled bottle of Puglian Rosé.

Day 15

Our family hosts here were really chatty and so friendly. They saw me trying to clean the dusty bikes with a small cloth, so immediately the man of the house dragged out a hose and sponge and we once again had shiny bikes with minutes.

Needless to say, we didn’t start early, so it was hot when we left the village on small but certainly not quiet roads.

I realised that we were now only 75 kms north of Milan so were within commuting distance and were therefore in an area of much greater population density. People like to live near the mountains and lakes of the Alps.

We love cycling this kind of trail; who wouldn’t, but it only lasted a few kms and we were once again dumped onto roads with little, if any consideration for bikes

Thankfully there was only 1 km like this, then we passed a motorway junction and the big trucks disappeared. We entered the city of Varese although, there was still no cycle path😡

After an unpleasant 10 minutes which seemed like an hour, I saw a « coffee mug tree» through a metal gate and, without hesitation,we left the bus lane, and pushed our bikes into the garden.

We sat down, still trembling and stressed. However after a very cold Poretti beer for me, and a Prosecco for Sue, we began to calm down!

Having had lunch in this lovely shady garden, the rest of the day was delightful following very good trails around Lake Varese and then Lake Comabbio .

Finally we arrived at our very spacious apartment in Sesto Calende and went looking for a non pizza restaurant

I enjoyed a seafood feast; which commenced with an eighth of an octopus. Sue had her usual steak which she also enjoyed.

That was the end of a great day, except of course for the terrifying bit in the middle.

As we’ve had 2 long days

Finally a cooler day forecast; such a relief to have some clouds! However they became dark quickly and we soon heard rumbling ahead.

We had only cycled about 12 kms, when we felt spots of rain. I could see we were only a few kms from the next village so we upped the power and only just made it to a Co-op supermarket with a useful outside awning, when the heavens opened.

We waited over an hour for the storm to pass, but at least Sue managed to get some supplies she needed.

It was strange to feel cool again, and we dug out our raincoats for the first time, as we set off in the light drizzle.

We followed a mapped bike trail to Lake Iseo, only to find that it was now a protected nature area and bikes were banned😡 The person we saw was fisherman who told us there was a guard ahead who would likely fine us if he saw us on bikes. We reluctantly we returned 2 kms and took the busy road route.

The annoying thing for us was it was a wide trail and very pretty, with no one else using it, but every 50 metres was another fitness contraption of various sorts. Surely a person exerting himself will disturb wild life far more than a bike going by.

Rant over!

The rest of the day was rather dull with lots of navigating through villages and towns which took a long time. Just as we arrived near the town my phone packed up so it took a while to charge it again so we could see our way to the appartment, then, as usual in Italy, to get in it takes a 3 minute what’s app video to understand out how to get into the place. Finally it was about 19:30 when were in and settled with a brew.

We then realised, it was a Monday. Like France, nowhere local was open, except, you guessed, a Pizza place🍕. It still was more than 1 km away, so reluctantly we were back on the bikes and enjoy a very good pizza, with some beer and a jug of wine.

Somehow Sue had trouble mounting the bike and next thing I knew she was lying in the gutter under her bike🤔!

Fortunately nothing more than a grazed elbow and some other minor wounds to her ankle . We were back in our room in no time to patch her up and ensure she didn’t bloody the sheets🤭

Day 13.

This was a day of extreme contrasts.

The first section was horrible. Travelling on and off cycle paths, zebra crossings, and town traffic. We’re were soon entering Bergamo. It took 2 hours to pass through😡 Often the marked route took us along small one way streets, but the wrong way😲.

Cycles are allowed the wrong way along one way streets in Italy. !! Great idea until you’re on a bike with Italian drivers hurtling towards you, taking evasive action, just in time🫣😵

Leaving Bergamo was much better; although cycle tracks were being upgraded. They can’t have been designed by a cyclist.

This colourful new route was great, except every road junction they’d added barriers to prevent motorcycles using it. Unfortunately they were so close together that you had to dismount to pass through. Result: all the cyclists used the road, even Sue!!

We were soon out of town but constantly changing course through towns and villages, which were almost joined together. No open countryside; our favourite bit.

Finally we spent 5 mins waiting at lights to cross a one way bridge over a gorge, and upon crossing we saw a beautiful river way below us. A quick glance at the map and I saw a cycle route along it. It took us along a longer route but was definitely worth it.

One of the most delightful routes we’ve cycled along, but, like all good things; it came to an end and we were back in rush hour traffic, roadworks and mayhem🥵

The route on my app tried to take us onto a motorway! The alternative bike route was closed, as was the road diversion😡😡

Finally we found an off road bit which didn’t end well, as you can see!!

We made it to our room totally exhausted!

Finally we found that all the local restaurants were closed until Wednesday😡😡😡 So yet again it was a delivered 🍕🍕🍕🍕🤭🥴

this time it was cool and leathery but the cold bottle of Rosé was delicious!

Many of the hosts who’d accommodated us in Italy had provided a good hearty breakfast, and Hotel St Anthony was no exception. Always great to set off with charged bikes and a full tummy!

We had a short ride, dodging dozens of Sunday lakeside strollers accompanied by dogs and children, to the port of Garda.

Our plan was to cross the lake and then explore the other coast, heading south.

After about an hour, having stopped at 2 other ports we disembarked at Salo and again were walking the first 200 metres through hordes of tourists.

Leaving Salo then onto the cycle route.

The hilly route was mostly tarmac or gravel and almost exclusively for bikes. Occasionally we had a glimpse of the lake from on high. It was 22 km long and there were so many changes of directions, we went wrong a few times!

It was now very hot again,(35 deg) so after a refreshing swim we lay on the beach in the shade and slept!🥱💤

It was marginally cooler when we set off at 5 pm heading on a straight fast route westwards to Brescia, 34 kms away

We had late supper, at the closest restaurant we could find: a Mexican! We were soon in bed enjoying the A/C that was really working well😁😁

As we had been given the master key to this beautifully decorated 4 bedroom room house, we had found a room with A/C that worked and woke, feeling refreshed and able to cope with a day that was no longer Friday 13th.

It started well, as there was a busy bakery opposite😁. We enjoyed breakfast in the walled garden, feasting on heavenly croissants, stuffed full of various cholesterol enhancing goodies.

Our bikes had had their most grand nights stay of their lives and charged up without the need to remove their batteries; they too were refreshed.

We planned a shorter day through Verona, then straight to the Lake Garda, where we could cool down in from the intense heat, once again forecast. The first leg to the city involved roads, and lots of zig zagging to avoid major routes.

Entering Verona alongside this massive defensive wall.

Verona was heaving with tourists and stiflingly hot. It would have been great to visit on a cool day. We had a coffee sitting on the grass in the welcome shade of a large tree. All the benches in the shade were full!!

The ride from Verona was much more pleasant on cycle trails following water canals, running fast and full with grey blue Alpine water.

Feeling refreshed we set off through the lovely undulating Italian countryside, covered with peach orchards, olives and vineyards .

Fortunately about half way to the lake, some grassland was being irrigated, so it gave us the chance to have a fully clothed cold shower!

We really enjoyed our slow 15 km trip to our destination between Bardolino and Garda. Cyclists were mostly well catered for, although sometimes, we needed to push. A hot Saturday by the lake, was always going to be busy.