Archives: August 2007
In Which I Eat my Words
August 29, 2007 by Mike in Diary
Arcachon Route: Bordeaux - Margaux - Arcachon My good friend Liselle has been looking at the map on her wall. "You're heading towards Arcachon. It's got a lovely sand dune," she wrote. "Errr.. there's a lot of sand on the coast, Liselle." That'll teach me. The dune, at Pyla, is...
In Which I.. *hic*.. Visit a Vineyard
August 28, 2007 by Mike in Diary
Bordeaux Monday I spent in town, Tuesday I spent round and about. Monday I went on a walking tour of the city. Yes, one of those 'touristy' things I'm not supposed to even consider doing. But I'm glad I did. This really is a beautiful city and, even though the...
In Which I Stay Remarkably Sober
August 26, 2007 by Mike in Diary
Bordeaux Route: La Rochelle - Marennes - Royan - Mortagne - St Ciers - Blaye - Bordeaux There can't be many better ways to spend a Sunday than riding through the beautiful vineyards of the Bordeaux region. OK, that's not true. Stopping at the scores of chateaux that line the...
In Which I Find A Little White-Walled House By The Sea
August 25, 2007 by Mike in Diary
La Rochelle A couple of days in La Rochelle -- the first spent, at least in part, recovering from my first evening in the city. *hic* My excuse, if I wasn't doing very much? That I was simply trying to blend in. (I also washed my clothes, but I'm trying...
In Which I Meet Butterflies
August 23, 2007 by Mike in Diary
La Rochelle Route: Saint-Michel-Chef_Chef - Noirmoutier - St-Gilles-Croix-de-Vie - Jard-sur-Mer - La Rochelle Today I could have stayed in bed. But it wasn't raining any more. I moved on. The countryside here isn't inspiring. It's flat and repetitive. The towns and villages are uninspired, too. Row after row after row...
In Which The Zavatta Mystery Is Cleared Up
August 22, 2007 by Mike in Diary
Saint Michel Chef Chef A morning of rain, and video editing. (Results to follow, if I can get iMovie to work ever again. A curse on this modern technological world of ours.) An afternoon at the circus. Yes! I found another circus - another Zavatta circus, of course. This one...
In Which The Heavens Open
August 21, 2007 by Mike in Diary
Saint Michel Chef Chef Yesterday, Monday: the view from my motel window: (Can you make out the Bonnie?) I booked another night, and went back to bed. -- Today: a brighter start to the day and a quick blast down the Route Nationale (RN) to Lorient, where I've located a...
In Which I Track Down The Hattifatteners
August 19, 2007 by Mike in Diary
Concarneau Route: Douarnenez - Pointe du Van - Plozevet - Penmarc'h - Pont-l'Abbe - Benodet - Concarneau .. that's about 40 miles, tops, if you take the direct road. I've ridden about 120.. and it took half the day. Lots of wiggly coastal bits to enjoy but this is France:...
In Which I Come Across Like A Teenager
August 18, 2007 by Mike in Diary
Douarnenez Route: Le Conquet - Brest - Camaret - St-Nic - Douarnenez "If it's bad weather on 15 August ('Quinze Aout' - the last holiday of the summer) there'll be bad weather for a few days, but then there's always an Indian summer." Or so I've been told.. several times...
In Which.. Nothing Happens
August 17, 2007 by Mike in Diary
Le Conquet Move right along please, there's nothing to see here: a bit of rain, a bit of sunbathing, a bit of reading, a bit of walking....
In Which I Turn A Corner
August 16, 2007 by Mike in Diary
Le Conquet Route: Plougrescant - Perros-Guirec - Lannion - Henvic - Plouvorn - Plouescat - Brignogan-Plages - Le Conquet Elvis. 30 years. It's been too long. Where are you, buddy? -- If any of you luvverly ladies care to join me on the trip...? -- Breakfast this morning in my...
Holland: stop-by-stop
August 15, 2007 by Mike in Map
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In Which One Small Village Of Indomitable Gauls Still Holds Out Against The Invaders
August 15, 2007 by Mike in Diary
Plougrescant Route: Langueux - (back to) Erquy - Langueux - Paimpol - Lanmodez - Treguier - Plougrescant I've ridden about 17,000 miles so far on this trip. Today was the first time I retraced some of the route because I'd missed something the day before. (I miss lots - the...
Germany: Stop-by-stop
August 14, 2007 by Mike in Map
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In Which I Mount Saint Michael
August 14, 2007 by Mike in Diary
Langueux Route: Ger-Ger-Ger-Granville - Le Mont-St-Michel - St-Malo - St-Cast - Langueux (Langueux, incidentally, where I'm spending the night, is just outside Saint-Brieuc, which would make that list of towns on the route today even more saintly.) Zavatta Watch I passed through the territories of two more Zavatta circuses today....
Denmark: Stop-by-stop
August 13, 2007 by Mike in Map
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In Which I Visit The Big Top
August 13, 2007 by Mike in Diary
Ger-Ger-Ger-Granville Today I was mainly very lazy. I washed some clothes, wrote some bl-- I mean diary, wandered some streets and met a man in a bar who was knowledgeably impressed that I was once related, in a roundabout way (via my ex-wife's ex-stepfather) to Rico, the ex-trombonist in the...
Poland: Stop-by-stop
August 12, 2007 by Mike in Map
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In Which I Wonder If I'm Any Good At This
August 12, 2007 by Mike in Diary
Ger-Ger-Ger-Granville Route: Cherbourg - Herqueville - Barneville-Carteret - Creances - Ger-Ger-Ger-Granville Firstly, back in light rain to the Wild West where I noticed yesterday the site of a motorcycle event: the 13th running of the "Course de Cote", part of the "Championnat de France de la Montagne", and sure enough...
Kaliningrad: Stop-by-stop
August 11, 2007 by Mike in Map
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In Which I Reach The Wild West
August 11, 2007 by Mike in Diary
Cherbourg Route: Hermanville - Bayeux - Carentan - Ste Marie-du-Mont - St Vaast - Barfleur - Cherbourg There's no such thing as a free lunch and there's no such thing as a quick ride. (Not when it's me on the bike anyway. I get overtaken by tractors.) And so it...
Lithuania: Stop-by-stop
August 10, 2007 by Mike in Map
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In Which I End Up, On The Beach, House Red In Hand
August 10, 2007 by Mike in Diary
Hermanville I finish the day sitting on the beach. A beach, remember, that saw tens of thousands of Allied troops launch the liberation of Europe 63 years ago. Tonight, infused with the gentle pinks of a warm sunset, nothing could be more peaceful. I'm sitting on a wooden bench facing...
Latvia: Stop-by-stop
August 9, 2007 by Mike in Map
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In Which I Learn My Lesson
August 9, 2007 by Mike in Diary
Hermanville-sur-Mer Route: Yport - Etretat - Le Havre - Deauville - Hermanville Three Things I Learned About Camping Last Night 1. Don't pitch yr hammock close to the obese man with a chesty cough who breaths loudly even when walking on flat ground. He's going to snore. Very loudly. 2....
Estonia: Stop-by-stop
August 8, 2007 by Mike in Map
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In Which I Go House-Hunting
August 8, 2007 by Mike in Diary
Yport Route: Camiers - Cucq - Berck - Le Crotoy - Brighton-les-Pins - Dieppe - Fecamp - Yport Yesterday was lazy. I rode into Le Touquet. It's actually called Le Touquet- Paris Plage -- Paris Beach -- because so many of the capital's sea-loving sun-seekers decamp here. In other words,...
In Which I Gaze On The White Cliffs Of Dover
August 6, 2007 by Mike in Diary
Camiers Route: Dunkerque - Calais - Boulogne-sur-Mer - Camiers Lots of towns and villages en route today. (See, I've already started writing en Francais.) Dunkerque Surprisingly little to see in relation to the evacuation of Dunkirk [sic] in 1940. I aimed for the Port Museum instead. And, err, not too...
In Which I Give Belgium Short Shrift
August 5, 2007 by Mike in Diary
Dunkerque, France Route: Domburg - Westerschelde tunnel - Retranchement (all Holland) - Knokke - Oostende - De Panne (all Belgium) - Dunkerque (France) OK, let's get this out of the way because I've already got it in the neck from my quasi-Belgian chum Geoff, who lived in the country (and...
In Which Nothing Much Happens, Which Is Nice
August 4, 2007 by Mike in Diary
Domburg Not a cloud in the sky. ALL DAY. I walk to the beach. I lie on the beach. I eat lunch.. or rather drink lunch. I walk home. I get ridiculously lost. This may be partly because of lunch. I find the hammock many miles later. I shower. I...
In Which I Manage To Miss Europe's Largest Port
August 3, 2007 by Mike in Diary
Domburg Route: Den Haag - Monster (yes!) - Hoek van Holland - Maasslius - Oostvoorne - Goede - Serooskerke - Oostkapelle - Domburg Just look at the route I took today. If you're running short of 'o's for yr important business report or the first draft of yr novel, feel...
In Which I Am Bamboozled By Art
August 2, 2007 by Mike in Diary
Den Haag Route: Castricum - Haarlem - Noordwijk - Den Haag The coast road here is frustrating and reminds me of Sweden in that you don't actually see the sea. Not, on this occasion, because the sea views are being saved from blight but because the whole *country* is being...
In Which I Have Another Puncture. But...
August 1, 2007 by Mike in Diary
[.. but don't worry, it's not as bad as it seems. See WEDNESDAY below.] Castricum Route: Bergen aan Zee - Castricum A teeny-tiny ride today. About 12 miles, from the windswept and rather forlorn BaZ to an altogether jollier campsite in a small coastal town that sounds to me like...