Yum - that sounds delicious! :)

Sounds like you and Kristen have a great tour planned for 2023. I'm happy to offer some advice that might be helpful, and will continue conversation by email.

Hi Susan,
It was wonderful to follow along vicariously through your extended European trip. We are now gearing up to do it for real starting mid April and we’ll be riding some of the same routes you beautifully described. Having just re-read your last (and excellent) post, it looks like you will be heading out again in just a few weeks time too.
We were wondering if we could pick your brain a bit regarding transport out of Paris. We want to start our trip in the French Jura just north of Geneva but will be flying into Paris (CDG). Do you have any recommendations on the best way to do this (i.e. Regional vs TGV trains, particular Paris stations to use etc etc).

Like you, we will be travelling with full size loaded bikes and we could if necessary just start out from CDG, however we thought we could train it down the vicinity of Geneva and gain a week or so of riding in the south! Our very general plan is to ride south through the Rhone Alps and the head west through some of the many gorges on the Central Massif (Ardeche, Tarn, Lot currently in the plan) and eventually reaching the north coast of Spain where we would then head back east along the Pyrenees, ending up in Barcelona to fly back home at the end of June.

We’d be grateful for any advice you have regarding training it out of the Paris region with loaded bikes! If you want to reach us directly our emails are ltmcleod1 at gmail dot com (Lyle) or mckaar4 at hotmail dot com (Kirsten).
Regards, Lyle & Kirsten

Thanks Patrick for your kind comments and for following along. I feel a little buoyed by the election results, but time will tell.

Thanks for following along, Mike

The pants definitely look and feel better in the proper position! I look forward to our next visit. Best, Susan

Thanks Rachael!

Thanks Suzanne - the times spent with you and other Blazers were the highlights of my year. I too am looking forward to another tour together next spring.

Thank you for following along, and I hope you have a great finish to your tour of France this year

Thanks for writing another great journal. I've enjoyed following along on your travels. Welcome back to the States. And I agree, Cycleblaze meet-ups are great. My brief meet-up with the Andersons last year was definitely the high point of the summer.

So curious. They look like the paint sample cards you find at the paint store.

It was lovely following along via your journal. Safe travels for your return. I’m also so happy for you that you got an outfit for your niece’s wedding *jazz hands*

Alas. One more journal/adventure put to bed. So, great following along. Thanks for your excellent writing and photos. Hoping the best for the Red, White and Blue from the Great White North! An important election, to say the least!

Thanks for a great journal, Susan

Hi,
Bon voyage, et bon retour! Great meeting you in person, I hope you can swing by this way again. The puzzling thing about the internet in general, and Cycleblaze specifically is how little it takes for a community to form, and how durable that community can become. One of the things that drew us tonFrance, and a major reason we stayed is the ever so French concept of fraternité. To be integrated into a small town is to feel that at work. It draws us into activities we might not otherwise participate in. And I suspect that’s also true for the Cycleblazers, too. I have at odd hours of various winters found myself planning where to go and how to share it with all of you in that group. I sometimes wonder if some tours are started just to have something of substance to add. And it’s all great fun, now, isn’t it?
So we shall look for you in March, and in the meantime safe travels, et mon dieu! Mètre les pantalons dans leur propres sens!
À bientôt,
Keith