Ottawa
Back home! We had a great trip! We learned so much about the possibilities, expections and logistics of international travel. Although we had expected and planned to be on the trip for 3 months travelling by bicycle, we were not disappointed by the outcome. Travelling by car for the last 4 weeks gav...
Prague (day 04)
Our last full day of the trip in Europe. It rained most of the night and continued off and on in the morning. We had a bite to eat at a nearby restaurant, packed up and headed to the airport where we had booked a hotel room before our flight home tomorrow. With the car returned and an early check in...
Prague (day 03)
With today, being such a special day for us, we decided to enjoy the city at our own pace and not participate with other groups or rush through any museums, etc. We arrived in the city about 11 am and walked to a few areas of interest that were only mentionned during our walking tours yesterday and...
35 Years Ago She Said Yes
Thirty -five years ago we started this adventure. We have been fortunate to have had so manyy good things happen in our life. The past 35 have been wonderful and I can't wait to seewhat our future brings. I never dreamed we would be in Prague on our 35th. I think this trip has given us both the desi...
Prague (day 02)
We went into the the city early to join a walking tour that we had previously booked. This tour was of the old city and the tour guide, Amanda, is from Toronto!! John poked fun at her Maple Leaf's hat which opened the door to some friendly bantering about hockey. Starting in the Republik Square wher...
Prague
This is day 2 of our travels to Prague. After a nice breakfast at the hotel, we took some time to plan our next few days and our flight home. We left the hotel only at 11:30 and took the highways all the way to Prague. With only some slow down areas due to road construction (not as bad as yesterday!...
Bruck an der Leitha
This was a travel day en route to Prague. We knew we would have to likely do this trip in 2 days but we never thought it would take so long. Due to a mix of lots of traffic, road construction and very slow border staff, it took us 11 hours today, on major highways to go from Belgrade to Bruck an der...
Belgrade (day 2)
Last night we booked a small group tour to an area of the country that we had been looking forward to seeing by bike. This is the "Iron Gates Gorges" in a national park. So we were picked up at our hotel by a small van and with 4 other guests, the driver and the hostess, we set off for a full day ad...
Belgrade
We arrived at our hotel in Belgrade in late afternoon. Too late to go on a walking tour so we took advice and a map from the hotel staff, downloaded an online self-guided walking tour and set off on foot to explore what we could in a couple of hours. Only a few feet away from our hotel, we stopped t...
Budapest (Day 03)
We went to the majestic Parliament buildings this morning. We walked around the outside and took lots of pictures of the richly decorated building. This is the 3rd largest parliament in the world and its construction was paid by the Austrian government. It dominates the riverfront and is particularl...
Budapest (Day 02)
We started our sightseeing on the Pest side today with our first stop at Heroes' Square. This is a huge open area with a tall (36 m) column memorial in the middle, surrounded by statuess of Hungarian rulers and generals. It is quite a majestic and impressive display. We walked around the other side...
Budapest (Day 01)
Ahhh Budapest!! What a lovely city!! We decided to explore this beautiful city by the Hop On Hop Off bus. We have a 72 hour ticket so hoping we will have enough time to see it all!! We stayed on the Buda side of the river today, going up to the Castle and the Citadel districts. However, we started t...
Bratislava (day 2)
After another delicious breakfast at the hotel, we packed up, put our stuff in the car and set off to explore some more sites in Bratislava. This included St. Martin's church again because the inside was open today. It is, surprisingly, quite plain inside (compared to other churches) given its signi...
Bratislava
Once we arrived in Bratislava yesterday and settled into our downtown hotel, we headed off the tourist office to plan our 2 days here. We bought a 48 hour Bratislava card which gave of a whole lot of free entry into lots of museums and other things. So, after the hotel's great buffet breakfast this...
Hainburg
En route to Bratislava, we stopped in the smaller city of Hainburg which is surrounded by a 2.5 km stone wall, 3 city gates and 15 defensive towers. It was a well fortified city and protected it for years. With a walking tour map from the tourist office, we set off to find the gates and checked out...
Vienna (day 3)
We went into Vienna about noon today. Walked around the city centre again and to the Museum Quarter for a few more pictures. The streets are very busy with shoppers and tourists. We enjoyed some street food and then a nice dinner of traditional snitzel. Then we attended the Mozart concert in the Sta...
Vienna (day 2)
We decided to take advantage of the Hop On Hop Off tickets we purchased yesterday and set off for the city. The bus was quite enjoyable as the audio recording told us some of the history of the city and descriptions of what we were passing. We headed for Schonbrunn palace outside of the city core, t...
Vienna
Our first day in Vienna! We took the subway to the old city centre and found the tourism office first thing. With our questions answered and a plan for the next 3 days we set off on foot to see the cathedral and get a feel for the city. As you can see from the pictures, the architecture in this city...
Melk (Abbey)
From our research for this trip, the Melk Abbey came up time and time again as a recommended site to visit. We'd now say that this recommendation is accurate! It is in a nice spot perched above the old town and the building is beautiful. We toured all that this site had to offer including a very int...
Melk
Our first stop today was the little city of Enns, one of Austria's oldest cities. The main square is lovely and colourful with a city tower in the middle built in the 16th century. We walked around, visited a pastry shop and headed on down the road. We, inadvertently, ended up on the highway but the...
Passau
To start our day, we drove into Passau to tour the city. We walked out to the furthest point, passed the many river cruise ships, to view the point where the 3 rivers (Danube, Inns and Ilz) join into one. Then we lost ourselves in the many alleys and cobblestone streets of the old town. St. Stephan'...
Regensburg
Regensburg is the most northerly point reached by the Danube and as such, played an important role in transport and trading between Italy and central Europe, with the first bridge (built 1146) built over this section of the Danube. The old city is a UNESCO heritage site. It is a lovely city full of...
Weltenburg
It rained most of the night so we packed up everything wet, hoping that tonight's stay will be drier. We drove into Inglostadt and looked around the old city. Lots of interesting historic sights to see and learn about. Like most other cities, Inglostadt has many claims to fame but what stands out a...
Ingolstadt
We picked up our new "German bike" this morning, an Opel Insignia. Whether by bike or car it is a challenge to find our way through any larger centre. What should have taken us 10 minutes, at most, to get back to the hotel to pick up our gear, took us 40 minutes to the find our way back! John has no...
Ulm Day 3
Today was really a day to kick back and explore some more of Ulm. First, however, John cleaned up the bikes, disassembled them and put them in the bike bags that we brought to transport them in. The history of Ulm is fascinating and dates back to the 10th century. We happened upon a museum in the Oa...
Ulm update
Just a note to fill you in on the saga of the broken rim. John spent this morning walking around town and visited 6 more bike shops trying to find a replacement rim. Unfortunately, he could not find an off the shelf built rim that would be acceptable. The only other option would be to have a new whe...
Ulm
After a few inquiries, we decided to take the 14:15 train to Ulm. This is a much larger city of 170k people so we think our chances of getting a new wheel rim for John's bike seem greater than the smaller (even though closer) towns. So we packed up our bikes and walked the approximately 1 km to the...
Hausen
After a delicious buffet breakfast at the hotel, we decided to take advantage of the hotel's hospitality and left our gear in an unused dining room while we went ti explore Tuttlingen some more. After buying some supplies, we went back to the hotel to change and hit the road. Tuttlingen is about 75...
Tuttlingen
Well we made it to the Danube. But between the jigs and the reels it ended up being a 54 km ride. The day started off overcast and cool, great for riding. However, about15 kms in the sky became much darker and not long after the skies opened. It rained off and on for the rest of the day. It was a sl...
Konstanz
It stormed most of the night with thunder, lightening and lots of rain. We took advantage of the buffet breakfast at the campsite and headed on the train for Konstanz (Contance in English). We were told that Konstanz was saved from the bombing in WWII because of it's proximity to the Swiss border. A...
Markelfingen
Cloudy and and coolish morning. We knew we wouldn't be riding too far today so slept later than usual. We headed off for Lake Contance area. Our ride was tough in spots with steep hills going through the small towns. Much greener than in France. People take such good care of their houses and propert...
Stein am Rhein
Alot of rolling hills today so it was more challenging to ride. We biked in and out of Germany and Switzerland all day. There is a customs but there are no guards and no check in points, only a sign that says customs and a little hut or guard house. Unlike in France, the distances between towns is q...
Waldshut
A nice sunny day. We were able to enjoy the views of Basel early that morning. Bike path took us right beside the Rhine. Very pretty expecially the views on the Swiss side. On the German side we were on the outskirts of town and for some distances along the railway tracks. The Rhine is a very differ...
Basel
We decided that we wanted to explore Basel and didn't want our loaded bikes to deal with while touring around the city. So we booked another night at the campground. We started into the city on our bikes (no gear) and ended up on a bike path that had a gate across it so we couldn't go any further. J...
Huningue
We decided to have a shorter day's ride today given that we pushed it yesterday. So, a later start at about 10:30. We seem to have the most directional trouble either entering or leaving the larger centres. Signage is not always clear. Mulhouse was no different. A very kind man "escorted" us out of...
Mulhouse
We've had internet access issues so a few days passed without updates. Back online now (Aug 5). We knew we may have a big day (July 31) of riding ahead of us so we got up early and were away by 8 am. The route took us mostly along the canal so flat paved roads and the day started off rather coolish...
Pays de Clerval
We had the best "petit dejeuner" yet at the hotel. The hotel staff let us leave our bags in their back office and our bikes were tucked away in a shed across the street, leaving us to go exploring Besacon some more. We went to the city's Citadel (town fortifications), the Black Gate ( Roman gate to...
Besancon
Ride today was mostly again along the canals which made for easy going. We did notice a significant change in the local topography. Mostly forested hills and rocky outcrops. The farmland appeared to be just along tbe river valleys and in close proximity to the canals. Somewhere along the route we de...
Dole day 2
Rest day!! Triathalon just around the corner from our campground started bright and early so we could hear the starting groups take off. Laundry and trying to dry things out took a bit of time. Left the campground in late morning to visit the city. They have a self-guided tour with accompanying broc...
Dole
Rain, thunder and lightening during the night again. However, clear with some cloud in the morning when we got up. We decided to move on to Dole for a rest day, a much bigger city. Again, mostly flat paved bike paths and some country roads but very quiet. Stayed overcast and we got a few dabs of rai...
Verdun-sur-le-Doubs
Thunderstorm during the night. First rain we've had since we left! Up early, packed and away by 8 am. Nice morning for a bike ride - cool and shaded along the canals again.Along tbe canal we saw a Canadian flag on one of the barge boats, yelled over and talked to the owners. They are from Vancouver,...
Satenay
Another early morning to avoid the heat. Rode along the highway again to avoid some unnecessary trips to the country side. Very little traffic again. We passed more fishermen than cars passed us. Joined the bike path about halfway to the campsite and again rode along the canal. Arrived at campsite a...
Palinges
Started out early to avoid the forecast 40+ temps that day. Easy riding through some some nice countryside. Had to take an unexpected detour to to bridge construction. This led us along a "heavy traffic" D class highway. For the next 20 kms maybe 10 cars passed us. Great ride along the canel. Arrive...
Digoin
Today was our last complete day on the Loire River. We left early towards the city of Bournbon-Lancy. This section (first 15 km) was described in our travel guide as gentle rolling hills. I'm not convinced the 8- 10 percent grades are gentle; but we did give the "granny" gear a good workout. Very ni...
Cronat
We decided to do something a little different this morning. After learning of the hot temperatures this week, we got up at 5:30 am and got on the road by 6:45 am after a quick croissant and banana. It was a lovely ride out of Nevers with cool morning air, flat paved path along the canal and lots of...
Nevers day 2
Rest day!! Time to spend doing laundry, washing and tuning up bikes and charging up our electronics. There is a very pleasant lounge for us to hang out in with all the free coffee and tea we want. Walked into Nevers again to check out more of the old city and had a nice meal. Went to visit Ste Berna...
Nevers
We got a pretty early start at 8:30. Followed the canal system for most of the day. The bike path went right beside the canal and was flat the whole way. Stopped at the Guetin Aquaduct passing high over the l'Allier river for a snack and took some pictures of the beautiful flowers on the gates of th...
La Charite-sur-Loire
Overcast day to start and not too hot. We started off on the opposite side of the river from the official route. It was a really pretty ride right beside the water and lots of shady trees. Beautiful homes and gardens. Our first stop was near the 3rd nuclear power plant where there was a nice area to...
Briare
First stop this morning was just across the river at Sully-sur-Loire. The Chateau is touted as one of the prettiest on the Loire. Indeed it is very pretty with a moat and a few turrets!! Again, mostly flat paved road this morning on what appears to be dykes. The bike route took us off this to go aro...
Germigny-des-Pres
We decided not to go into Orleans as the bike route does not go into the city and we didn't want to have to deal with the traffic with fully loaded bikes and no map. Will leave Orleans for another time!! Nice bike path again , flat and paved. Minimal wind. The paths are often small municipal roads a...
Beaugency
An early start on a cool morning. Very little wind made the riding easy. Took an alternate route to the village of Saint-Dye-sur-Loire. There we met up with the main route. Had a quick break , time for a photo of the local chateau. Followed the main route and went by the first of the nuclear power p...
Blois
We got an earlier start today. Quite a few hills leaving Amboise for about 12 km. Pushed the bike up a few! Then, we were into gentle downhill slopes for the rest of the day. Went through lots of farmland and also, right along the river bank. Lovely old villages with the french charm of cobblestone,...
Amboise
A well deserved rest day! Slept in and then Judy did laundry while John cleaned the bikes. Walked into town. This is France's national holiday so we were expecting some extra activities or something special. The tourist office in Amboise told us that there was just a waterfront sampling of food at 7...
Tours
A nice ride into the large city of Tours. The route goes through the main street of town on a designated bike lane. We found the tourist office and then went on a short ride/walk to the old quarter. Most of the area has been turned into tourist attractions. High end shopping, bars and restaurants. I...
Savonnieres
We took advantage of the campsite's "petit dejeuner" this morning before we departed; fresh OJ, coffee, croissant and baquette from the village bakery- very good. We've noticed that it is a common occurance at campgrounds that the baker shows up every morning to sell their baked goods (mostly baquet...
Savigny-en-Veron
We have good intentions of getting on the road early but will have to get better at that...we were on the road only at 9:30 today. Went through lots of farmland and quite a few hills. Needless to say, we had to walk our bikes up many of them. Some of the hills were as much as 15% grade and one was 2...
Along the way to Gennes-Val-de-Loire
Left Rochefort fairly early, and started out towards Angers. Nice trip to the city, shaded most of the way along the river. Went into the downtown core of Angers. Great bike lanes to follow. Stopped at the castle in the middle of the city. Tried to take a selfie, we need lots of work on this skill,...
Rochefort sur Loire
Long day for us. Started out early and followed the signs on the right side of the road, only after about 5km did we realize we had no idea where we were. So we backtracked and found out that sometimes you have to follow the signs on the left side of the road. Found a beautiful spot to have our firs...
Oudon
Planned a short day of cycling. Left around 1030 am. Bike path smooth asphalt to start. Then turned to single track dirt. However, followed the Loire with beautiful views through farmland. Arrived at campground about 2 pm at 25 km mark. Set up camp and then took a stroll through the streets of Oudon...
City of Nantes
Nantes is the home to Les Machines which takes their inspiration from nature, creating "living machines". Walked around the city some more and saw some of the artwork displays happening throughout the city. John built our bikes so we are ready to get started!!
Arrived in Nantes.
Bikes and gear intact. Checked into hotel and headed to the downtown area to change John's phone to a France number and data. Lovely old city with lots of interesting architecture, restaurants, bistros and shops. We chose Fleming's Irish pub to rest our feet, have a pint and a bite to eat.
Gear List
Bikes Judy: Trek 920 Sram 2 x 10, 11-36 cassette Tires: Schwalbe Marathon Mondial 700 x 35 Brake set: SRAM S700, hydraulic Front Hub: Schmidt SON 28 Dynamo...