Tour Days 9 and 10 - Biking from Saint-Nexans to Saint Emilion, and the Final Victory Lap Ride

It was an incredible stay at our Saint-Nexans lodgings. However, hiding under the bed did me no good so another "June-hotel" photo is in the books...onward to St. Emilion on our penultimate biking day...

Fabulous lodgings!

This ride profile brought lots and lots of smiles...the few climbs at the end seemed quite easy after the long, gradual downhill AND tailwind!

Saying goodbye to one wine region, entering the next over 77km of the day's ride.

Extraordinary vistas everywhere.

Wishing I could ship this sculpture home. Such clever use of scrap metal and the sculptor had a great feel for anatomy of horses.

We arrived at the hotel with perfect timing, got into our rooms to clean up (I actually had a swim in the pool, brrrr!) and enjoyed some sketching and blogging time. Here is Peter's sketching view:

And his lovely sketch.

Dinner was on our own tonight - we had a really nice meal of salads and crepes, including a crepe flambé for dessert! From left, Sue and Brian (CA), J & P, and Norie (DC).

The St. Emilion landmark chapel was beautifully lit on our walk home - another great day!

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After a well-earned night's rest and a good breakfast, we were off on our final ride, described aptly by tour leader John Giebler as a 35 km "victory lap". Once again, we headed off under partly cloudy skies and cool but comfortable temperatures to survey the magnificent vineyards that surround St. Emilion.

Wine has been the foundation of incredible prosperity in this region - special soil, special wine!

We came upon some restored windmills on a ridge that harked back to an early time - likely for milling grain for village inhabitants no longer on this land.

Great coffee stop! We got the whole gang well-caffeinated and enjoyed the active street life.

I begged Peter to get this shot - lots of Jack Russel terriers in France, and this one was exceptionally adorable!

We were lucky enough to be here just at the very start of harvest time - check out the grape abundance.

Each home and vineyard was so attractive and so varied.

Approaching St. Emilion near the end of the ride (insert wracking sobs here).

Norie was kind enough to get our picture in our ExPlus jerseys - bittersweet.

Tour mates Shirley and Nino climbing one of the last hills with tour leader Roberto behind them.

The finish line at the East Gate of St. Emilion (more sobs).

The last climb of the tour up to our hotel room...

We will have a farewell dinner tonight and then bid adieu to our newest friends. I will post a final installment on our way home...au revoir for now!

Tour Day 8 - Cycling to Saint-Nexans and Monbazillac Chateau

We left Les Eyzies (and yes, we all got a laugh out of the name Hotel des Roches) and set out for Saint-Nexans around 9 am - with one last photo that included tour friends Nino and Shirley.

There was rolling terrain with some "warming climbs" (our morning temperatures are in the high 40's but reach the 70's by midday) - we enjoyed some great cycling along canal paths with minimal traffic. The route was 76km (47 miles).

Great churches and quiet roads - the biking has been super!

We had planned to stop at a cafe on this street in Lalinde, but saw a small food market first that just screamed "have a picnic"! So I went in an stocked up on cheese, meats, nuts, cookies and a baguette - now we just needed to find a good spot!

Our picnic spot was perfect - a little town square in Lanquais, just 6km down the road from the market.

The perfect picnic locale - a bench, shade, refuse receptacle and water from the pump!

Another 5k brought us to my #1 favorite town name - if only I'd known in advance, I could have held up a sign that said "VRAI OU..." . Just one of those missed opportunities :)

More picturesque vistas through Faux.

This day also brought my sweetest encounter with a local - neither one of us needed to speak the language to have a perfect exchange of love and affection...

We had a wonderful visit to Montbazillac Chateau that included a tour and a wine tasting - both were fascinating! We loved their sweet white wines.

Peter in front of the marvelous Montbazillac Chateau - we think Walt Disney must have copied some of the architecture. The first family to settle this land dated back to 1200.

Harvesting of grapes is now done by machine - the vines are trimmed to a regulation height and the grapes all grow in tight clusters at the bottom of each vine. The machine has "beaters" that can strip the grapes from the stems cleanly. It is quite amazing to watch.

The best surprise came when we did the final climb to our hotel - La Chartreuse du Bignac. Look it up - it is magnificent. The room was of a royal scale and to my right are doors that open directly to a grassy terrace overlooking fields and vineyards. It was extraordinarily beautiful. Way to go Experience Plus!

Peter had a lovely spot to sketch and paint - that is the hotel from the back, and our room was to the far right in this photo.

And here is the outcome.

I was enchanted by the resident black swans in the mill pond.

The whole evening was superb. We had a private dining table for our group of 12 (9 riders and 3 guides).

Tour leader John Giebler pouring fabulous white wine for me - I had too much but didn't care!

I didn't get a picture of the dessert but I can honestly say it was the best I'd ever had, anywhere, anytime. There was an almond biscuit, figs infused with vanilla bean syrup and a custard-like dollop of vanilla cream. Words do it no justice.

It was a late night as we lingered at the table until well after 10 pm (almost 3 hours!) - fortunately we have been told that Wednesday's ride is mostly flat and down for 77km - long, but not as strenuous. Tomorrow is another adventure day!

Tour Day 7 - Sarlat to St. Eyzies, Cave Sculptures at Cap Blanc

We say goodbye to the Hotel Des Selves, what a lovely place to stay...

Ahhh...climbing anyone? Best part is that the climbing happens in the cool of the morning, and the cruising when we finish lunch. Got to get that daily 3,000 feet :)

One highlight of today's ride was the marvelous chat with a group of French bicycle tourers - 18 of them, all longtime friends, many fluent in multiple languages and all with tremendous senses of humor. They hire RV's to accompany them and pick a route each year. How fortunate we (sitting) were able to enjoy their company!

Scenes from the route - we are constantly pointing out lovely architectural features in each village.

This glorious view is La Roque St. Christopher - it is a popular tourist stop to see caves that were inhabited by Troglodytes thousands of years ago.

The rock formations on our route are awe-inspiring.

Our guides took us to Abri de Cap Blanc, where we were able to view some amazing high and low-relief carvings discovered in that area in 1909. Let's just say that the excavation and archeological techniques were rather cringe-worthy, but at least these examples have survived for us to admire today. Google it if you are curious.

Once we arrived at Les Eyzies (known as the Capital of Prehistory in France) we had a lovely chance to relax, walk about and for Peter, to sketch.

Looking at the terrain surrounding the town of Les Eyzies.

We are all enjoying time by the pool and getting caught up on rest. Tomorrow will be another bright, sunny adventure day!

Tour Day 6 - Loop Ride from Sarlat, Canoe Trip on the Dordogne, Beynac Castle - and Farewell to Four New Friends

FSunday's adventures were fabulous and bittersweet - we had our last tour day with Nanette, Eric, Debbie and Carol (as well as guide Bruno). They were on the 7 day tour and this was their last full biking day before leaving for Paris via train on Monday morning. So 13 touring cyclists and our intrepid guides set our 10k path to Vitrac, where we traded bikes for canoes and terrific vistas from the water.

The guides make everything seamless - bikes are taken to the end of the canoe trip, and bags are always waiting for us at the end of each ride!

Enjoy the sights of the Dordogne Valley from canoe! The current made our 12k on the river a delight.

The castle in the distance is Beynac - and we will be climbing again for 5k to visit it.

The guides had a superb picnic lunch spread all set for us near the end of the canoe trip. Everyone felt that it might be our favorite meal of the entire trip thus far (and we are eating really, really well)...

Off the canoe and back on the bikes - the castle awaits!

The climbing by bike and by foot was so worth it - note that I am looking at Castlenaud La Chapelle in the far distance (center high) - we visited that yesterday! The English (Castlenaud) vs. the French (Beynac) - a microcosm of the Hundred Year's War.

Regal Beynac - it is privately owned but was restored and open to the public to pay for the maintenance.

The views are breathtaking at every turn.

This armor display dated from 1190 A.D. - used in the Third Crusade. 

Yes, I really did this - and it was so worth it. Amazingly claustrophobic, by the way. But how cool to actually feel what a knight's helmet felt like, if just for 20 seconds!

We returned to Sarlat late in the afternoon on a hilly, beautiful route. The final dinner for the group of 13 was in a most lovely courtyard restaurant in the heart of Sarlat. Farewell and hugs to Debbie, Carol, Nanette, Eric and guide Bruno - we will miss you!

Eric and Nanette at the "first farewell" dinner in Sarlat.

June does a close and reverent examination of dessert - magnificent!

A close-up of dessert - we don't do many food pictures but this one was too beautiful not to record.

Au revoir for now - we leave Sarlat Monday AM for Les Eyzies. Lots of climbing yet to come but we are really adapting to the task!