Another year bites the dust.

38 years young today. The magic mrs majik brought me this fantastic breakfast in bed. Happy birthday to me.

Kiran gets tubby

On our hols at the mo, camping in the camargue. Conditions are cramped, as you can see!

A garage by any other name...

...is the barn where I parked the car avec velos on the first leg of our journey down to the sun.

Kunstschatten langs de pelgrimsroute

This is the website of a friend of mine (in the Dutch language) about a trip to the Burgundy region of France. The trip is basically a rambling holiday, based at a converted windmill. The twist of the trip is that the walks are based around important sites on the Pilgrim route (the one that eventually leads to Santiago di Compostella). The photo on the front page was taken by yours truly...

Day 4 – to Orleans!

Hurrah and huzzah! We broke our slow pace with an amazing 89.5km; howzat!! It went really well and we averaged around 15km/h with stops in Méréville with its picturesque wash-house and breathtaking medieval wooden marketplace) and just outside Toury.














There by a giant haystack we had our lunch. We also had to make way for a bunch of race cyclists, but the going was very good.

On the in-road to Orleans we picked up a stray cyclist (French) who was a bit annoying (and drunk) and who volunteered to lead us to the campsite. I was not sure if he was going to ask for money, but we shook him off by doing some groceries. Arriving in Orleans itself, we were at a bit of a loss to find either of the campsites in our guide, so we asked a (non-drunk) French guy on a mountain bike who, having nothing else to do, promptly led us to the door, Never let it be said that the French are not capable of courtesy. This campsite was the cheapest so far, so we decided to stay an extra day to have a look around this historic city. I want to do the following tomorrow:
- check e-mail
- update blog
- buy spanner (for the back wheel) and bike computer

Camp site: Orleans St. Jean
Tariff: €8
Daily distance: 89.5km

Day 3 – shopping in Villiers, French style

We took leave of our American friend but not before he took a photo of us, put us in his address book and promised to send a postcard before reaching his final destination of Madrid. Nice bloke!

We proceeded to spend the rest of the morning looking for a supermarket – over the motorway, lots of km to a very uninspiring shop. Why do the French build these monoliths which more or less force car ownership on the masses?

Further along the road we met two Belgian lads cycling the same route as us, although they claimed to be managing a staggering 130km per day! They were the second set of people we had met following the same guidebook, the first being a Dutch couple and their grandson who we met in the train on day 1 on their way to Compiegne to begin their tour.

Due to the complication with the supermarket, we didn’t manage to cycle that far today. We did, however, camp in a beautiful campsite in Omory. The campsite office was a splendid building with a large pond and lawns in front. We had made a bit of a detour to get to it, although I had seen the pond from the road, but not the campsite. Anyway, we were allowed to camp on the lawn in front of the office, so we picked a spot right next to the pond.

There was another Dutch couple staying on the campsite and you will never guess which route they were doing – the same one! Three in one day looked a bit too coincidental to me, so I expect that this will be quite a busy route. The couple had cycled this morning from the campsite in Paris where we stayed two nights ago and were averaging about 60-70km per day since leaving the Netherlands. I was really put out and felt a bit of a weed because we should at least be able to go at that pace. The American and the Belgian lads were just plain out-of-our-league km-eaters, but this couple were older than us. My ego was very seriously bruised.

Camp site: Omory
Tariff: €9
Daily distance: 45km

Day 2 – leaving Paris

Cold, wet and windy! We lost our way and spent the whole morning trying pick up our route according to the guidebook. Apart from that we didn’t get too far. We met an American guy who claimed to be doing 100+km per day! He looked a bit battered (a student, what else!) but he was very friendly so we led him to the campsite in Villiers where we were the only two tents. He ate non-stop for a about an hour, drank a cup of tea with us and went to bed at around 8:30.

Had to fix my bike which was playing up a bit: one of the back wheel nuts was loose, pulling the chain to one side and making uphill going very difficult. The chap at the campsite rather sportingly loaned me the requisite spanners, so now it’s ok.

Camp site: Villiers
Tariff: €12.50*
Daily distance: 35km

*based on 2 persons, 2 bikes and one tent (not sharing a pitch with others)

Day 1 - Paris

So, despite the fuss about the trains, we arrived in Paris to bright sunshine: yes, that's why we came all this way. We had met a couple with their grandson on the train who were also going to cycle the same route, but they were starting in Compiegne because they wanted to cycle into Paris. For me, cycling from Gare du Nord is just as good, because that is where Paris for me begins; the endless suburbs remaining a testament to the French habit of building beautiful houses and letting them fall into rack and ruin.

We cycled from Gare du Nord against the traffic, past Gare St. Lazare onto the Champs Elysees and then onto l'Arc De Triomphe. It felt a little crazy and heady cycling under this great monument to Napoleon's ego but watching everyone clamour for photos (us included) detracts from the experience somewhat.

Onto the camspite in the Bois de Boulogne, via the long route; it took us almost two hours to cycle the 10 km from Gare du Nord. The campsite was expensive camping, although at €16 per night for two persons, still the cheapest way to legally spend the night in Paris.

We're all going on a summer holiday

At last, a real excuse to skive off work and still get paid: the annual holiday. We decided to go cycling again this year but to avoid the washout of last year, we decided to go a little further afield. In the spirit of my recent expedition along the pilgrim route, France seemed to be the obvious choice and so, armed with a cycle route along the St. James' route (which eventually leads to Santiago) we set off.

Well, actually that isn't quite the case because we didn't leave the Netherlands by bicycle, rather by train; to Paris which, despite strong advice to the contrary from the Dutch Railways telephone helpline, is possible and not too difficult with a bicycle. One operator even hung up on us, even though we were paying through the nose for the bad advice we were getting (€0.35 per minute). Eventually after a not too long time trawling the internet pages of the French and Belgian Railways, we discovered a reasonably quick route to Paris without too many changes and WITH THE TGV! which according to the expensive advice line was absolutely NOT possible. The Dutch Railways will be hearing about this. The annoying thing is that you can't take your bicycle on the fast train to Paris, but you can go from Amsterdam to Paris in six hours with two changes, and that ain't bad.

Fontenay abbey

I was in Burgundy last weekend with a friend of mine, preparing a trip combining rambling and medieval art, specifically the imagery and significance of tympani (the semi-circular portion above the door to a church). During this trip we visited the abbey at Fontenay and I was, to say the least, impressed. The abbey has been on the UNESCO list of World Heritage since 1981, and it is well worth the inclusion on that list. It is beautifully restored and maintained. The abbey was founded by Saint Bernard in a small marshy valley a few kilometres from Montbard (Burgundy) and moved to the current site in 1130.

I suppose for me the most impressive thing about this site was the forge. The 52m long building dates from the 12th Century and inside was a plaque bearing the emblem of the ASM (American Society for Metals) which attested to the fact that this forge was (one of) the earliest metallurgical factories in Europe and that the monks actually carried out significant development work in iron-working metallurgy.

Not all of the abbey buildings date back to the 12th Century though and you can see the difference between the functional austerity in the more contemporary structures (like the abbot's house and the refectory) and the complexity and beauty of the original structures; a particularly fine example of which is the cloister that, quite rightly, is world famous. On a beautiful, warm, sunny day it is both shaded and cool and imparts serenity compatible with deep contemplation. The intricacy of the designs of the columns is quite breathtaking.After the visit to the abbey there is a figure-of-eight walk in the region around the abbey. We only did one half (the part not going to the mines) and whilst it was a pleasant walk and worth the effort, I did feel there was almost too much walking along the road. Thankfully, there was not much traffic on the road; in fact, we noted that there was not much traffic anywhere in the region, which we found odd for such a beautiful area as Burgundy in the middle of summer.

All in all, a visit to the abbey is well worth the trip, especially if you're in the area. Although at €9 entrance fee per adult, it is a tad on the expensive side and that doesn't include being allowed to sit/walk or even breathe on the perfectly manicured lawns. You can have a picnic outside though by a pretty little stream and you're not even obliged to visit the (presumably also expensive) café.