October 1, 2023
Barbotan Les Thermes to Mont de Marsan
Pretty hot day for October 1st!
Today we enjoyed a simple but tasty breakfast at our hotel and were on the road by 09:30, which is early for us. Unfortunately before leaving we needed to book a room tonight for our stay in Mont de Marsan. We had a place all booked via booking.com a few days ago but we were unable to provide the required 300 euro damage deposit to our host via their own proprietary electronic method. Using our credit cards the bank required verification due to a suspicious nature of the purchase. When we accessed their site we would get a request to authorize the payment via our phone numbers in Canada. Of course we cannot access those numbers when we are in Europe and could not find a work around despite our best efforts. We even offered cash but our ¨to be¨ host would absolutely not provide the door codes to get inside without the damage deposit. This whole thing took up too much time and was very frustrating and disappointing as now we not only loose a night`s rent because it was non-refundable but we need to book another hotel and the only places available are on the outskirts of town.
Let`s talk about the weather. The weather here has been outstanding. It makes touring so much easier with nice, warm, dry weather. In fact South West France is experiencing unusually high temperatures for September. The morning temperatures have started off in the mid teens and then quickly rise to day time highs above 30 degrees. We have been lucky to find many welcomed shady sections of road on route so the riding has been quite enjoyable.
The route planner snuck in a mixed bag of riding today - not too long and not too high - it was just right. There had been one small glitch though. The map that Scott used to create our route plan for the day is the Eurovelo (EV) 3 cycle route. He uploads this route to his Garmin to keep us on track. Unfortunately many parts of the EV3 in this area are unpaved surfaces which are okay for short distances but not preferred for longer stints. Therefore, we have been substituting nearby highway and smaller roads to get us to our destination. It took a few stabs to get oriented off the start this morning but after that we primarily relied on road signage and the mapping app Pat uses on her phone to get us to our destination.
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The roads were not busy on this Sunday morning as we passed through Cazubon, remembering that Jean Claude, our new friend from Poudenas, thought that it might be a better place to stay. It certainly had more character than Barbotan but it is small and accommodation opportunities would be limited. Next we had our sites set on Jean Claude`s suggestion to see Notre Dame Des Cyclistes. From wikipedia, ¨On 22 August 1958, Father Joseph Massie, pastor of Créon-d'Armagnac, Mauvezin-d'Armagnac and Lagrange, was inspired by the chapel of Madonna del Ghisallo in Italy to make a similar chapel for cyclists. On 18 May 1959, Pope John XXIII agreed to make the old chapel a National Sanctuary of Cycling and Cyclists under the protection of the Virgin: Our Lady of cyclists ¨
The Tour de France has passed the chapel six times, in 1984, 1989, 1995, 2000, 2017, and most recently 2023 .The chapel marked the start of a Tour de France stage in July 1989. Many Tour heroes attended and laid down jerseys and trophies, as did the race leader Greg Lemond who went on to win the Tour by 6 seconds and spoke of his win as a miracle. We just had to see it!
We turned off the road and onto the driveway to the church only to discover that it would not be opening until 3 pm. After taking a few pictures of the outside we headed back to the road and our next stop of Armagnac. So disappointed.
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Our next stop was looking for coffee in d'Armagnac. We were again disappointed today, this time by not finding a café open. It is a very small village and it was Sunday morning. However, the village was still so amazing. It is full of rustic charm and known as one of the most beautiful bastides in the South-West France
From the internet, ¨The village of Labastide was founded in 1291 by Count Bernard VI of Armagnac and the King of England. The square is still surrounded by the same arcades with covered passages. The half-timbered houses overlooking the Place Royale make it all the originality and charm. It is dominated by the impressive fortress church.¨
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Leaving the village of d'Armagnac, we left the main road and took a lesser travelled route to Villeneuve de Marsan where we finally had our stop for coffee. We again returned to the highway for a bit and then left it to explore the EV3 route which was just a short distance away. It was now a paved section and may also have been for a number of kilometres previous. We loved the last ten kilometres of the ride to Mont de Marsan on a delightful ride through a park like setting. Late in the day, riding on a shady bike path was wonderful.
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Arriving in Mont de Marsan we made our way through the quiet streets on this Sunday afternoon. Everything was closed but a couple of bars on a town square in the center of town. We sat in the shade enjoying our beer knowing that the original place we had booked was only 200 metres away. After finishing our drinks, we got back on our bikes and found our new hotel about two kilometers away. It was a fine economical stay and was great for the night, just not what we had planned for our stay in Mont de Marsden.
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Today's ride: 53 km (33 miles)
Total: 279 km (173 miles)
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