Category Archives: Cycling

Cycling, French customs, Slovenia

Another Country, Another Language: from Taipei to Ljubljana

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We were in Taipei on a 24-hour stopover on our way to Australia and Black Cat must have been about twelve.  The language barrier was not easy as very few people spoke English once you set foot outside the hotel. Black Cat was quite scandalised at my lack of preparation. She was used to being able to communicate with people in two languages. “Mum, we don’t even know how to say hello, goodbye, please and thankyou!”. It was a lesson to me. I’ve made sure ever since that I can say those four words in the language of whatever country I visit.  And I’ve added “excuse me” and “do you speak English” for good measure. They certainly open many doors.

Being able to download dictionaries and automatic translation apps on your iPhone and computer definitely makes things easier. There are a lot of apps to teach you basic words and phrases along with pronunciation. Definitely a bonus when we went to Croatia last summer.  I practised away beforehand saying “dober dan” and “dobro jutro”, “hvala” and “molim” until I felt comfortable with them. I was delighted to learn that I could use them in Slovenia too.

The French have a terrible reputation with languages. I had a funny experience twice last summer in Ljubljana in Slovenia. We were in the tourist office waiting for a cycling map and I was speaking to Relationnel in French. When it was my turn, I spoke to the young man behind the desk in English. After a few exchanges he asked me where I was from. “France”. “Are you a teacher then ?” “Why ?” “Your English is too good to be French”. I had to laugh! So I explained I was really Australian. He looked reassured.

Dragon Bridge with Ljubljana's mascot

On another occasion, we were pushing our bikes up a steep hill that definitely shouldn’t have been part of the bike route, particularly at the end of the day, when a young woman asked if she could help me. I thanked her but thought I should really push the bike myself. However, she kept me company and chatted as we went along. She asked if I was Canadian. She had heard me speaking French with Relationnel but after hearing my English couldn’t believe I was French. What a reputation …

A word about the Slovenia biking experience while we’re on the subject. Ljubljana is really set up for bikes. They have rent-a-bikes in the street like they do in Paris and there are lots of bike paths in the city. But, for some reason, they don’t have a proper bike map. However, the young man in the tourist office found me a map that had a little dotted line around the city that was supposed to be a bike route. It was a bit worrying to see that it went off the map at times but we decided to give it a try. It was supposed to be 34 K so we left at 3.30 pm, following signs marked POT (and sometimes 88). Very occasionally, the letters PS were indicated on the ground showing a change of direction. We liked those.

Well, we started out on flat ground, riding past weeping willows and beautiful gardens and really enjoying ourselves. Twice we had to take shelter from showers of rain but otherwise the weather was fine and warm.  We wound our way through residential areas, industrial estates and low income housing all surrounded with lots of trees and shrubs. Sometimes we had to backtrack because we’d loose the POT and 88 and PS signs.  As a result, it took much longer than it was supposed to.

The real challenge came when we suddenly found ourselves out in the countryside, riding past fields of wheat and saw to our dismay that the road led into a forest and up a steep hill. The path had horizontal logs about every meter practically all the way along to stop the ground sliding when it rains I imagine. I don’t know how you are supposed to ride a bike up there. Even coming down on the other side was a bit dicey. I had to keep getting off so that I wouldn’t go head first over the logs. Of course, when we got out of the forest, we discovered we could have taken a road around and not up the hill. It ended up being 42 K and we didn’t get home until 9 pm by which time I was exhausted!  We found a lovely place for dinner though. And I forgot to mention – Ljubljana is one of my favourite places.

Cycling, Loire Valley, Loire Valley châteaux

A Barge on a Cycle Path in the Loire Valley

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Writing about cycling along the canals in Brittany and the Loire reminded me of another trip in the Loire Valley. We have this book called (in French) Freewheeling from the Atlantic to the Black Sea and one of the bike paths really took my eye. In the photo, you could see this couple, with their bikes, crossing the Authion River on a little chain-operated barge. I wasn’t going to miss that!

So we found ourselves a lovely B&B called Le Beauregard at Cunault. Mme Tonnelier was away so her husband looked after us and proved an excellent host. The only other guests, a family of 6, were charming. Our room, down the other end of the house, had an oriel window with a spectacular view of the Loire. The next day we visited the castle in Angers which has a wonderful tapestry of the Apocalypse. We left the car there and set out on our bikes. We started off in a rather desolate-looking old slate mining area with enormous pieces of slate all over the ground and quite a bit of dust.

Then came the exciting bit when we got to the banks of the Authion. We could see a young couple in the barge about halfway across, pulling frantically on the chain but the barge seemed to be going further and further down the river instead of across, pulled by the current and the strong wind. Relationnel took charge and shouted instructions on how to get the barge over to our side. It eventually worked and the couple invited us onboard to my surprise; I was expecting them to get off. But in fact they were trying unsuccessfully to get across to the other side when we arrived. There wasn’t much rain in spring this year and the low water level had caused too much slack on the chain.

So, with the four of us tightly backed onto the barge, the stronger members of the party pulled us across to the other side with no further mishap.

We continued down past La Daguenière, Saintes Gemmes sur Loire and Bouchemine. We stopped for a welcome drink and a rest in a café and then went back to Angers via the lake rather than going through the slate again. The round trip was about 40 K.

The next day, we set off from Artannes sur Thouet near Saumur where Relationnel was born, in the direction of Montreuil Bellay. It was a pleasant ride with a lovely surprise at the end. The view of the Thouet River from the bridge as we reached the mediaeval town was absolutely stunning.  And then this wonderful new outdoor restaurant called Auberge des Iles was just waiting for us! We weren’t the only ones though so we attached our bikes and reserved a table and went off to explore the little town.  Still no table on our return so we sat down in the shady armchairs provided and enjoyed the view of the river.

Rose-covered ladies’ tower

After lunch we visited the very beautiful castle with its century-old Lebanese cedar and its rose-covered towers then continued on our way to Saint Martin de Sanzay where, miraculously, we found another café open. Quite often in the smaller villages in France, the cafés have all shut down. By the time we had clocked up our usual 40 ks, we were back to our starting point.

The next day, we moved onto Loches, but that’s another story!

 
B&B Le Beauregard
Fanny et François TONNELIER 
22, rue Beauregard
49350 CHENEHUTTE-TREVES-CUNAULT 
hmcbeauregard1@club-internet.fr
http://beauregard49.com/index2.html
Auberge des Isles
312 rue de Boëtie
49200 Montreuil-Bellay
02 41 50 37 37
www.auberge-des-isles.fr
Cycling, France, Loire Valley

Ever Navigated on a French Canal?

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A lock on the Rance canal

When I learnt French at school, we used to watch a programme on TV once a week about a family of four who lived on a barge and used to travel throughout France along the canals. They had bikes and would go off and visit the neighbouring towns and villages whenever they stopped. It looked like heaven to me. I knew all about locks that raise and lower the boats when there’s a difference in the level of the water. Imagine that you are going from a higher to a lower area. The lock is like a big rectangular open tank. They close off both ends, using winding gear, fill the tank with water, then open the sluice gate in front of you. You take your boat in and they close the gate behind you. Then they empty the water until it’s low enough to open the gate on the other side (your boat goes down as the water does) and you sail out. If you’re coming in the other direction, the process is obviously reversed. It seems that Leonardo da Vinci invented this type of lock.

A summer's day on the Rance

Sadly, I’ve never fulfilled my dream to spend a week or two on a house boat, but we’ve cycled along many canals. The most interesting for the spectator is probably the Ille-et-Rance Canal in Brittany. No doubt hell for the boats though because at Hédé, there are eleven locks over a distance of just 2 km. You can imagine the time it must take filling up and emptying all the locks. The canal was actually built during the first half of the 19th century by volunteers during the reign of Napoleon 1st. It seems that a few Spanish war prisoners and quite a large number of convicts and deserters were roped in as well. Sounds like Australia, doesn’t it? The locks on this canal are still hand-operated. The lock houses are beautifully decorated with masses of flowers and some have realistic outdoor scenes from the olden days.

Canal at Briare

Another place where we cycled along a canal is Briare on the eastern end of the Loire Valley. There’s actually a bridge to take the canal over the Loire River, designed and built by Gustave Eiffel no less. There’s a footpath on each side so we cycled across it several times. Stunning at sunset. I was a bit worried about falling into the canal, which is rather stupid because the footpath is actually quite wide. They have a wonderful ice-cream parlour at one end of the bridge where they serve the ice-cream in edible chocolate dishes. Plus a highly appreciated jug of iced water. We were staying in a B&B right on the edge of the canal that even had a barbecue we could use. So, côte de boeuf, ice-creams, cycling along the canal at sunset, having picnics on the water-edge at lunchtime. Not bad.

Ice-cream next to the bridge canal

Since I haven’t had the boat experience myself yet, I’d like to share a blog written by a Canadian couple, Marnie and Graham Scholes, who spent two weeks on a boat on the Baise Canal, which is a branch of the Midi Canal system, in September 2007 and then another eight weeks in 2008 on the Nivernais and Loire canals, including Briare. Lots of wonderful photos including a series on bridges, one on doors, another on ducks, one on wells and so on. My favourite shows fishermen (and women) along the canal and their more or less sophisticated installations.  Not to mention the beautiful watercolours and sketches at the end. The first trip they took was a 50th anniversary cruise! So all hope is not lost …

Anyone else been on a river trip?

Briare bridge canal by Graham and Marnie
Marnie and Graham’s blog: http://www.woodblockart.ca/francecanalboat/NevernaisCanal.html
 
 
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