Hello again! For some reason the muse didn’t strike me last year, and I didn’t write about our 2025 bike trip through Ireland and Scandinavia. So here’s #1 of our 2026 trip through France!
Our route will take us throughout the Massif Central (the mountains and plateaus between the Alps and the Pyrenees) and then down through the gorge of the Tarn River. This is a lesser known area of France in the Burgundy and Occitaine regions, but famous for their wines and cheeses and, as it turns out, a really famous mountain bike route through many national parks.
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| The route |
Paris recently added 100km of new bike lanes, dubbed the “Velolympics”, because they were added for the Olympics, so we were excited to ride from the airport to the city, all along canals and the Seine. What they failed to implement was a way out of the airport for bikes - it took us 7 1/2 miles to escape! Up and down ramps, into parking garages, multiple terminals, even the train station. I almost hired a taxi to take us to the road.
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| Our Strava route through the airport 🤣 |
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| We finally found the canals that led us to Paris |
Paris does indeed have many new bike lanes but they’re more hazardous than biking with cars in the streets. They go down one way streets the wrong way, merge into massive intersections and share the lane with all e-bikes and scooters who drive faster than cars. I applaud the idea but not the implementation!
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| You can’t bike by Notre Dame without taking a picture |
We went on a bike tour of behind the scenes Paris and learned some fun facts. For example, when King Philip and Pope Clement (also French) decided in 1307 that the Templar Knights had become too rich and powerful, they jointly declared they were practicing witchcraft and should all be put to death. All 1,800 were rounded up on Friday the 13th and condemned to death, which is how we have come to associate the date with bad things. Interesting note - as their leader was being burned at the stake he cursed the king and pope and said they would meet him on Judgement day within a year, as well as cursing 13 generations of French kings. Sure enough they were both dead within 6 months and the king’s 3 sons all died without heirs, the last son being the 13th generation, thus the end of the dynasty…which makes me think maybe the Templars were a bit witchy after all.
The Royal Palace has a statuary homage to Dom Perignan, the monk who invented champagne and, in a stroke of marketing genius, brought it to the king’s party animal brother. It was a hit, and an iconic French symbol of celebration was born.
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| Un chien Parisien |
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| Along one of Paris’ many canals |
We met with our friends Henri and Annemarie for a day trip to Monet’s gardens in Giverny. While beautiful, we found the hordes of tourists distracting from the natural beauty that Monet created and loved. So Dennis quickly found a Michelin Star restaurant 10 minutes away (this is France after all), and we had a much better time. Turns out we also had reservations at another Michelin star in Paris for dinner. Do two 1-star restaurants in one day equal a 2-star experience? They do not. You just eat too much fancy pretty food.
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| Is your wish more likely to come true if it’s a giant dandelion? |
Next up - our bike journey begins after a train ride to the northern edge of Morvan National Park.
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