A Ride through Paris

Bon Jour

WOW! Cycling though the streets of Paris has to be sort of a cycling landmark. We started the ride with a two hour circuit of Paris. Our ride took us past the Notre Dame Cathedral, down the Seine to the Eiffel Tower, and on to the Arc de Triumph, and then down the Champs de Elsie to the obelisk. The sun was out and it was nice and warm. Being a Sunday there was very little traffic. This was all done as group, so it was really fun riding along and meeting most of the people for the first time. What a blast. The city has so much to see. And it is big real big. It was 27 kms to the edge of town.

Once out of Paris we were on the highway to Provins. It is 95 kms down the highway and being a Sunday had no trucks but was still exceedingly busy. Provins is a world heritage site. It was built in the 1200`s and is within the original walls. This ride was about 95 kms down the road and Don and I hooked up were there in very good time. The place was beautiful. We had been told to go to the center of town and ask for directions. So we did. With a lot of pointing and arm waving (Don speaks even less French than myself) we figured out it was down the road past the church and up the big hill on the left.

The directions worked and when we arrived the campground was closed and there was a note saying the staff had located a campground in Masion Rouge which was back 15 kms. Don was totally bushed and was riding my wheel. When we got there we were redirected to Chenoise which was a further 15 kms off the road. But it was really a pretty ride and we had met up with Curt and Clare. Don figured out the marking tape system and we found the new campground which was in a farmer’s field. There were showers but the water was right off the glacier.

I parked my bike beside this fence and as soon as I did this donkey came running over the hill and started chewing on my bike bag. I grabbed it away and the donkey ran over after Jim’s laundry. Bad donkey!

The day which had started out so nice had clouded over and about 9:00 started to rain. It poured all night and at 2:00 am there was a lot of thunder and lightening.

So all in we rode 130 kms. Not a bad start.

Thanks for visiting my blog and thanks for your comments.

Let ride!
Terry