IIt was not easy to say goodbye to our apartment on Rue Rollin...Peter captured our balcony view of Place Contrescarpe that will live long in our memory.
We were up bright and early Monday morning to take the Metro to Gare Austerlitz and then our 4.5 hour train trip to Brive-en-Gaillarde, the start of the Experience Plus bike tour in the Dordogne region. Of course we got there at 7:30 am for our 8:41 am train departure...it was wonderful to actually have an E-ticket for the trip. The time was well-used by Peter as he sketched the interior structure of Gare Austerlitz from our cafe table:
The train ride was uneventful and quite comfortable - great seating and very few passengers. We arrived in Brive at 1 PM and navigated our way (with 3 different map views!) to our host hotel, La Truffe Noir. As we were early for check-in, we left our bags and toured the city. We were a day early for the start of the bike tour, so we kept the afternoon simple and got a good night's rest in order to tour the streets in earnest on Tuesday morning - market day in Brive.
The view out of our window at La Truffe Noir.
Peter's watercolor sketch of our window view:
Peter poses under the French flag at one of Brive's handsome government buildings.
Typical Brive street scene.
And Peter's street sketch:
Truffles at the morning street market!
Macaroon heaven - Brive had so many luscious displays of gorgeous baked goods!
We returned to the hotel and saw the Experience Plus van - and at 2 pm on Tuedsay the tour officially began!
This is always a great moment for me, as all the logistics and planning are completely out of my hands into the uber-capable hands of the ExPlus bike tour guides.
The van is here, let the biking begin!
We had our first meeting, a safety talk and a bike fitting. Peter and I were thrilled to be reunited with the fantastic titanium frame bikes we first rode in 2013 when touring Croatia - they are lightweight and have fabulous gearing for climbing. After a 12k shakeout ride, we got cleaned up and ready for our first group dinner at the hotel. We have 13 riders and 3 wonderful tour leaders - John Giebler (whom we greatly enjoyed on our 2007 Provence trip), Bruno, and Roberto. Great group and great guides!
Wednesday we hit the road at 9 am for our first day of biking - 72 km/45 miles from Brive to Rocamadour. After a week of indulgent eating and very little exercise, this was a happy moment for me!
Goodbye to La Truffe Noir, and onward to Rocamadour!
I will let many of these photos simply speak for themselves - come ride along!
Filling water bottles at the village fountain - 100% safe and really good water.
For my Fjord friends - this Norwegian Fjord and his donkey buddy were in L'Hospitalet, just 2k outside of our destination - I was so excited!
Peter surveys the magical vista at the overlook - Rocamadour is breathtaking! Google it to delve more deeply into its history - it is a pilgrimage village with amazing architecture.
Rocamadour...
The heights of Rocamadour from the main avenue - vertiginous is an understatement!
As I've fallen behind in my blog, I will sign off here and continue this string when we arrive in Sarlat on Friday. It was a BIG day today and I need some sleep :) More adventures to come, and more of Peter's artwork - I promise!
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