We awoke to another beautiful day. Blue skies. First to breakfast 😳.

The roads were busy and after we cleared the first few km we started climbing on a decent cycle path, on the verge of the main road.

As you can see from the graph below, most of our climbing today was done in the first 28 km.

At the top of the first climb the land really opened up. The area is known as the Bauges Valley.

We descended through a Gorge, Les Gorges du Cheran, and there was an interesting 75 metre length bridge, Pont de l’ Abime. Literally translated, this means Abyss Bridge. It was built in 1887 to link the villages of Cusy and Gruffy.

After another shorter climb the land flattens again.

I had to get a photo here, I loved the name of this village. The French do not pronounce it like we would in English.

Numerous villages are badged Village Fleurie. It is a French contest organised annually aiming to encourage communes to adopt and implement policies that improve the quality of life of their inhabitants and enhance their attractiveness to visitors. Communes are awarded the right to display a badge with one to four flowers depending upon their annual result.

As we get higher there are signs that we are about to see some really nice mountains.

After that final climb to 751 metres we started descending. We do not stop as the traffic is fast and we are more concerned with holding our line and staying safe.

The traffic in central Annecy is chaos. We head straight to the lake thinking it will be really relaxing to ride around.

The lake is certainly beautiful, but seriously I have never seen as many people on bikes ever! There is a literal conga line/queue. All ages and skill levels.

It is very slow (ie 15 kmh and less), lots of braking as people weave around, and then you get some Ritchie Porte wannabes overtaking in both directions.

The views were great and Tony took a few photos on the fly.

A fair way down the lake, we pulled over for refreshments. We spent about an hour here. The next three photos are from our lunch spot.

We made a clean getaway from lunch, a temporary reprieve from the conga line.

Noticing many parachutes in the skies, we headed off track to have a better look as many were landing in a nearby field. The picture below does not show them but around the top of the mountain there are maybe 20 plus people just hanging around.

Heading back towards Annecy in our continuing anti clockwise route, the crowds cycling picked up again, but on a narrower path. The views were just glorious and there were more opportunities to pull over.

There was a nasty little climb thrown in for good measure too. Steep with cycle path hair pin bends, where collections of younger youth stood (the worst spot possible is to take up all the space on a narrow, steep hairpin). Cuss and curse.

We were delighted to get off our bikes at our accomodation. The bikes are very very safe tonight.

After showering and washing our gear, we followed a canal/creek into centre ville but were overwhelmed with the crowds.

We have since found out that yesterday was a French public holiday and that it is common practice to also take the Friday off, making a four day break. Hence the crowds.

We will retire earlier tonight as whilst tomorrow is only 80 km, it is our Queen stage, where we climb to Morzine. About 1700 m climbing in the 80 km.

We bought some items for our dinner and returned to eat in our room, and chill. Tony has cleaned the bikes whilst I have been doing this blog.

Thanks for reading, stay safe, smile on 😊

Today was a day full of superlatives. We deserved today!

Early breakfast and this was the view out our front door. Blue sky, no wind.

We walked our bikes out of Perouges as it is hard enough walking on the raised polished stones with our mtb cleats, let alone trying ride as they are extraordinary uneven.,

We descended into the next village that was quite busy and once we cleared that, we were on open road. In the background the hills are becoming bigger.

There was minimal traffic on this road.

We passed a lovely chateau.

The hills are growing.

We then left the open road and joined Via Rhona, a wonderful cycle path. From this point Geneva was about 170 km away.

At the same point, this was our first view of the Rhone River. The colour was incredible. Turquoise.

The Rhone River starts high in the Swiss mountains in the Valais region at over 2200 m. The river is 813 km long and empties into the Mediterranean Sea.

The ViaRhona path is of excellent quality. Agricultural land to the left, and the river to my right.

The views kept us focused. Chateaus, gorges, the colour of the river….

We did deviate from the path a few times on a more direct road ( as rivers weave around), and the backdrop kept our interest. The French and Italian Alps are over there.

We saw plenty of water based activity including swimming and canoeing. I think there must be school holidays here as there are school aged children everywhere on the path.

A bridge crossing the Rhone.

This couple were cycle tourists, towing their family dog. Fair sized dog too, not sure if it was a Labrador or Golden Retriever, or similar.

This placard was on the side of the cycle path in a village. Quite a loop.

That gorge on the far side is where we are heading, as the river winds its way there, but it will be on our right hand side soon enough. We need to get over that lump too.

The river bulged out at this point and had a beach and lake like appearance here. There were many families here enjoying the water. I cropped out the male sun seeker

The gorge wall is getting closer. I look at the map trying to figure out where we go.

The agricultural fields are full of new growth

Interesting, note the gap over there? Our map route seems to line up.

Here we are riding in that gap, which in fact is quite a narrow gorge. The Rhone River splits into two, coming together further on.

We rode through this short tunnel and there was an amazing gorge, with sheer rock walls either side. There was no verge and no stopping as there were lots of cars buzzing through.

Out the other side, the landscape broadened significantly. We are heading towards that pointier rocky outcrop. We discovered something interesting last night and re routed todays proposed route.

We discovered that a cycle tunnel opened here in 2019. It is 1.5 km long, and it is only for bicycles (although I presume walkers use it too).

It is the most extraordinary piece of cycling infrastructure I have ever seen. It must have cost bucket loads.

As you can see below it is well lit. We took our cycling glasses off (as they are tinted) and the vision was very clear.

There is some water here and there, and that is a cyclist way ahead. We caught her and we were pedalling minimally because ….it slopes down.

There is art work on the wall in places (not graffiti, looks to be legit).

Popping out of the tunnel was akin to being teleported to another world. It was ‘wow’. We had been saying ‘wow’ through the tunnel as we were super impressed, but the view was amazing.

The big town on the shores is Aix-les-Bains, and the lake is Lac du Bourget. The lake is the largest natural lake of glacial origin in France and the town is a famous spa town, boasting the largest French freshwater marina.

We descended down from the tunnel (see the elevation graph below, you can see the climb up to the tunnel, then the descent). The 1.5 km in the tunnel does not show due to the fact that our bike computers rely on satellite technology. That is hard to achieve in a tunnel!

So here we are. The end of Day 18, 100 km today and over 2200 km ridden in our holiday cycle odyssey.

It was seriously warm today (32c), and we showered and washed our clothes and headed off to find a glace. It was a trois boule kind of day (three scoops).

Food options in France generally start at 7 pm and we could not be fussed hanging around so we headed into a Monoprix, grabbed some food to make our tea.

Today rates very highly in all the rides I have done. Great route, quality paths, signage, the tunnel and the views.

The ViaRhona path interests us for for future rides as it starts in Geneva and ends up on the Mediterranean coast, and a mere 800 km.

To finish with tonight, this is the view out our bedroom window. The church is named, Notre Dame. I think the great percentage of French churches have that name! It has a different repertoire of bell ringing. It finished up at 7.10 tonight playing for three minutes.

Our route, zoomed out, shows you just how close we are to Italy, Switzerland and Monaco. I rode in the Italian Aosta region in 2018 during the Giro d’Italia with Italy Bike Tours, and it is very spectacular.

Tomorrow is another day, more adventures. Thanks for reading, stay safe, smile on 😊

The day started off idyllically. This is the view from our bedroom window at Chateau Matel. The view is towards the Loire River which borders the Chateau property.

We were staying on the third floor. The Chateau is like a maze, with multiple stair cases (some with barriers saying not to enter). Then near our room was an ascending staircase to the top floor and a curtain half way up. No security cameras were obvious here, so I could not help myself….up I went and peeped behind the curtain. It appears that the chateau is not fully renovated.

Breakfast was a very pleasant affair with the same French guys present as at dinner. They were happy and chatty and curious about our ride today.

Bidding all au revoir, off we headed, knowing today was tough as we had previewed the climbs. There were four that were over 4 km long, with very steep sections (ie above 15% gradient).

Heading into the city of Roanne there was a bit of traffic as you would expect at the time of day. We arrived back at the Loire, having last seen it over a week ago as it discharged into the Bay of Biscay.

Here the river was much nicer and prettier.

The first 50 km today was far, far tougher than we had envisaged. We were mentally prepared for another tough day but we were not prepared for some things that had not showed up mapping.

There were four longer climbs today (4-5 km each) with a couple having an average of around 8%. That is tough going for 4-5 km, particularly with a loaded bike.

We found ourselves faced with climbs in excess of 20% pinches, and on narrow paths. That is a thumbs down from me. I know my limits. I walked the steepest sections today (not easy to do pushing a bike).a few of the sections pulled Tony up too.

Worse still were a few of the descents. One we could not believe. It was over 20%, unsealed, rocky, cow pats and as I walked down it, lined with stinging nettle which swiped against my leg. Not happy.

It is these kind of challenges that define you. You do not go into a 3000 km unsupported odyssey like we have without expecting that there will be shite days. It is your reaction to such physical and mental challenges that builds character and strength and resilience in ways you did not necessarily know you were capable of.

If we wanted less challenges, we would do a supported tour, or use ebikes. The strength we gain as individuals knowing what we achieved in challenging conditions is what we talk about down the track.

So we climbed a lot, and the camera did come out.

The bonus was this sign. We laughed as we are pretty sure we did not get there by the conventional route.

After stopping at a supermache for some food supplies, we decided to ditch the route planned and take the road route to Villefranche sur Loire. Yes there were some climbs, but less severe gradients.

This turned out to to be a great decision as we knocked off the last few climbs and our confidence returned.

There was also an awesome 400 metre descent. I was riding my disc brakes very hard all the way. The elevation shows the descent from around 57 km to 70 km.

We were able to ride easier after that, despite a now present headwind. Our confidence was back and we pushed on to get to our destination Perouges, a medieval city.

Perouges is regarded as a perfect example of a city of the Middle Ages, existing from the 1200’s. Movies have been filmed here including the Three Musketeers.

Arriving at our accomodation ( walking again as the rocks were very difficult to ride on) I was despondent when told there were no food options in the village, and we would need to cycle or walk to the next one.

The look on my face….I questioned the pizza and galette places we had seen entering. Galettes were sweet only and about to close. Pizza though…oh yes, they are open.

So this was dinner. We were joined by one old dog looking for offerings, and four seemingly stray cats. Then the owner asked…did we want glacé? He had little tubs for 4 euro each.

After eating we wandered around the small village. Having walked through quite a number of old villages, this one is particularly interesting.

Our bikes are stored in this building behind the large door.

Guess who has their washing hanging up on the curtain rod in their bathroom? No shame, just a desire to wear cleanish and dried cycling gear each day.

We have climbed over 5000 metres and ridden over 400 km in three days, and each of those days have had reasonable challenges.

Tomorrow is another day and what adventures and challenges?

Until then, off to bed I go. Thankyou for reading, stay safe, smile on 😊

The sky started off blue but quickly changed. The weather forecast showed zero possibility of rain!

Breakfast was lovely with our own little cloche. Yes that is chocolate, one piece each. I did offer to trade my prunes for Tony’s chocolate but I failed.

Today was to be another hilly day. Look at the graph below and note how the day started off. We rode 600 metres on the flat leaving our accomodation and then straight into a climb with cold legs. Eek.

At the top of the climb (5 km climb, plus the 600 metres we started off with), we had climbed 169 metres. So for 5 km that is an average gradient of over 3%.

I have taken four photos from my Hammerhead (bike computer ) showing just some of the data I have at my fingertips as I ride.

Now whilst we put time into planning routes, they are not all successes. Todays route falls into the fail category. On the positive side, we went through some lovely villages when we deviated from the main route. The weather was kind.

The downside, we spent about 80% of the day on what we now know is a National Road 7. This caters for trucks over 25 tonnes.

At times (mainly climbing) there were two lanes and a verge. Flat and descending there was no verge. We held our line best we could on the white line and cussed and cursed.

We deviated where we could but there were a general lack of roads to support that in the direction we were heading.

Truck drivers on the whole are good. They hold their line well. The issue is the suction pull/vacuum they create as they whizz past. at times, they are less than a metre from you.

We did deviate where we could and here are some photos. As you could imagine we did not stop on the busy road, and these photos are from deviations.

Our total ride today was 143 km with over 1500 metres climbing. We have had two big days.

The photos below are predominantly agriculture and villages. France certainly has lovely open spaces.

On one of our deviations, we were low in water. I recalled reading a blog that said cemeteries in France were a great place to get potable water.

Seems strange to me that all their fountains in villages have non potable signs (around the living) yet in a cemetery (around the deceased) you can get potable water.

Yes I do realise that the water is there to water flowers but non potable water could do that too, and surely it would be better to give the living potable water?

We arrived in Roanne after an adrenaline charged day, thankful to have made it safely. Something may have happened in Roanne back in history but we did not arrive via centre ville. Who knows!

This is our accomodation. Chateau Mattel, a 15th chateau. You can see our room. It is on the third floor, windows wide open drying our clothes!

Tony took a couple of other photos around the grounds. The land goes down to the Loire river. Yes we will see it tomorrow albeit briefly again.

We had dinner here tonight with the owner Olivier. There were three other chateau guests joining us for a large dinner table gathering. all French but very curious about our cycle odyssey. The guys stay here often for work.

Our route map shows we are getting close to Switzerland and Italy. Aosta is a beautiful area that I rode in 2018 during the Giro d’Italia.

Bedtime! 10.30 pm and I’m getting latter and latter to bed.

Thanks for reading, smile on 😊