Author Archives: teamvandahlen
Jun 22-23: Chenonceau to Blois (+rest day)
We got rolling by 6:30am to both avoid the midday heat and arrive in Blois with enough time to visit Chateu de Chambord. The plan was a great success. We made it to Blois by 10:30, before the day started to heat up at all. The AC at the hotel felt beyond amazing (so American, […]
Jun 21: Saint-Patrice to Chenonceau
We are definitely in castle country! The 89km ride featured two new chateaus; three if including the one we departed from in the morning. Villandry (brief history here) was the first chateau we stumbled upon in the morning. We didn’t go inside, but did take a tour of the massive gardens. We took a step […]
Jun 20: To Saint-Patrice
We got an early start to the day in order to beat the ~98 degree highs for later in the afternoon. In an effort to recouperate from the heat and reward ourselves for staying under budget the last few days, we limited our day to 90km and planned to spend the night at Chateau Rochecotte […]
Jun 19: To Angers
It was our second or third straight day of 95+ degree heat, and it was definitely starting to take a toll. We only decided to go ~85km to a campsite south of Angers since we needed to replace Caitlin’s wheel and get a few new tubes. We left Chateau-Grontier around 11:00am after a new wheel, […]
Jun 18: Mont St Michel to Chateau-Grontier
The ride today was 147km from Mont Saint Michel to a town we picked on a whim (and with the help of Airbnb) – Chateau-Grontier. We were a bit sad to leave Mont St Michel but surprised to find another long, sign-posted bike path encompassing probably 80% of our desired route. The ride out of […]
Jun 17: Raids to Mont Saint Michel
We had about 100km to ride to drop into Mont Saint Michel from Raids, and we were excited to get started. We got an early start from our B&B with wheels rolling by 7:30am. The route quickly followed a beautiful bike path meandering through farms, then followed sign-posted back roads for a bit. The region […]
Jun 15-16: Le Havre to Normandy (+ rest day)
We successfully located a bike shop in Le Havre which had new wheels for Caitlin, and left town around 10am. It wasn’t the most pleasant of city exists, with bike paths beginning and then abruptly ending, but we managed to get out. Coincidentally, Andrew also learned while in Le Havre that his grandfather arrived in […]
Jun 14: To…Le Havre?
The day got off to a perfect start. We rose early from the campground, cycled to the nearby bakery for fantastic pastries, and found a mostly off-road bike path that guided us almost all the way to Fécamp. Caitlin’s spokes on her rear wheel had been giving her trouble so we attempted to find a […]
Jun 13: To Dieppe
Another 140km day to our campground south of Dieppe along the coast. The most notable part of the day was after we set up our camp and biked the 1km to the nearest restaurant for dinner. From there, we were able to see the unbelievable cliffs jutting from the English Channel, and large homes built […]
Day 6: Bruges to Verchin(?), France
Day 5 was a rest day in Bruges – more on that later – so we made up for the relaxation by having a long day of nonstop headwinds for 142km. We’re at a campsite in northeast France, close to the small town of Verchin. We are pretty tired! The highlight of the day was […]
Biking for Baguettes 