Il y a un peu plus!

After staying a few days in Nancy including a day trip to Luxembourg and shopping for presents, I went with Denis and Farida to stay at his cousin's place in the village of St Saturin located only 10 km outside Avignon.

The trip south was largely via the freeway route followed by most of the Northern European horde in pursuit of summer Mediterranean sun. The A31 drawing from Germany, Holland and the rest of Northern Europe meets the A5 and A6 from Paris to create a flood of holidaying mankind which reaches its peak in the first few days of August. We were fortunate to be there a few weeks before this time. Even then the road was not far off choked.

Avignon and surrounding Provence has much to see. A bonus was the the Avignon Arts Fringe Festival, which was in full swing with street performances going on all the time. I managed to see a performance. I understood very few words but enjoyed it nevertheless.

The whole area is one of outstanding beauty and history. It is easy to understand what draws the tourists and there are so many! An ordinary street market in the tiny "vieux village" of Gordes is difficult to get to and park. The street is a veritable Tower of Babel of languages.

View from Gordes - Beautiful Provence

Gordes again

Avignon

Avignon - a show anyone?

Whilst the sun, wine, food, limestone mountain landscapes and the vieux villages of Provence are all great, my highlight was seeing Pont du Garde, the famous Roman aquaduct. This is an example of engineering infrastructure becoming a work of art and focus of many paintings. It only took 2000 years to turn it from engineering infrastructure into art!

Pont Du Garde

Pont du Garde - the painter's view

I then took the TGV to Paris for the final three days. In Paris, I managed to see Musee D'Orsay, my sister Edith's childhood friend Frances (34 years a Parisian), the Louvre (admittedly some sections only), Musee Du Quai Branley (the new Indigene museum) and, wait for it, the end of the Tour de France!

All my bags are packed and I'm ready to go - Avignon TGV Station

Beautiful Paris - Jardin du Luxembourg

Musee D'Orsay - Starry Starry Night

Musee D'Orsay - A favourite, Pissarro I think but could be wrong, again!

Musee du Louvre - done Mona Lisa now for the rest!

Le Tour est fin!

At the end of my last day, as the sun was setting I was in Place des Vosges my favourite "local" park in Paris.

Place des Vosges - Parisians relaxing on a Summer Sunday

It has been a great holiday but there is a limit. I am ready for home and work!

Summary

• distance travelled by bike - more than 2,200 km
• countries visited - France, Belgium, Holland, Germany, Denmark, Luxembourg
• long train journey - Copenhagen/Berlin, Berlin/Strasbourg and Avignon/Paris
• long car journey - Nancy/Avignon
  
• repairs - one flat tyre, one chain and back gear wheel replaced, front brake pads replaced, brake cable adjustment and one spoke replaced.

View The 2008 Trip in a larger map

Diary and riding log with cumulative distance travelled

22 May 2008 - departed Melbourne
23 May - arrived Paris, met by Denis, road to Nancy (Denis and Farida)
26 May - bike trip begins - Nancy to Lac de Madine Lorraine (camp) - 80 km
27 May - Lac de Madine to Verdun (hotel) - 140 km
29 May - Verdun to Grandpre, Argonne (camp) - 218 km
30 May - Grandpre to Reims (hotel) - 300 km
1 June - Reims to St Choix (chambre d'hote) - 352 km
2 June - St Choix to St Quentin (hotel) - 443 km
3 June - St Quentin to Amiens (camp) - 546 km
5 June - Amiens to Albert (camp) - 620 km plus unrecorded of approx 30 km
7 June - Albert to Cambrai (hotel) - 674 km
11 June - Cambrai to Mauberge (camp) - 732 km
12 June - Mauberge to Fosses BELGIUM (hotel) - 800 km
13 June - Fosses to Andenne (chambre d'hote) - 830 km
14 June - Andenne to St Geertruid HOLLAND (camp) - 891 km
16 June - St Geertruid to Grathern (camp) - 977 km
17 June - Grathern to St Antonius (camp) - 1052 km
18 June - St Antonius to Renkum (Anke and Roy) - 1115 km plus approx 30 unrecorded.
22 June - Renkum to Rolde (camp) - 1235 km
23 June - Nordloh GERMANY (camp) - 1348 km
24 June - Nordloh to Osterndorf (Gasthaus) - 1448 km
25 June - Osterndorf to Gotzberg (camp) - 1575 km (127 km)
26 June - Gotzberg to Lubeck (hotel) - 1611 km
28 June - Lubeck to Gossenbade (camp) - 1699 km
29 June - Gossenbade to Copenhagen DENMARK (Buller and Jette) - 1846 km (147 km - max in one day)
30 to 7 July - Copenhagen (Buller and Jette and Anders and Susan) - 70 km unrecorded
8 July - Copenhagen to Berlin via Hamburg by Train
8 to 11 July - Berlin - 20 km unrecorded
11 July - Berlin to Strasbourg via Halle, Darmstadt and Karlsruhe by Train.
11 July - Strasbourg FRANCE - 1846 km plus unrecorded
12 July - Strasbourg to Grendelbruch (hotel) - approximately 50 km
13 July - Grendelbruch to Baccarat (camp) - approximately 60 km
14 July - Baccarat to Nancy (Denis and Farida) - 2056 km plus unrecorded of more than 150 km
14 to 19 July - Nancy
19 July - Nancy to Avignon by car
19 to 25 July - Avignon - bike packed away
25 July - Avignon to Paris by TGV
25 to 28 July - Paris.
28 July - DEPART FOR MELBOURNE
29 July - ARRIVE HOME