September 27, 2019
Rolling to an end
Finishing the Flow Vélo: La Chapelle-Montmoreau to Périgueux
We wake to our final day . . . and it begins promisingly.
Breakfast at Château de Lannet this morning is appropriately grandiose, and a nice touch is being given the pastries we didn't eat, to have for lunch. This is a really fine chambre d'hôte, beautifully and eclecticly furnished by its owners, escapees from Paris. We walked its extensive grounds yesterday afternoon. Here's a couple of pics:
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Stage one of today's mission is to reach the start of a voie verte. From our Château (haha, love saying that!) it is a straightforward ride on quiet roads up to Saint-Pardoux-La-Rivière. The greenway is, like most we've ridden, an old railway line. This one starts at a high elevation and continues to tower over the countryside along its full 18km length to Thiviers.
If yesterday's smoothly tarsealed voie verte is the Rolls Royce of greenway riding, then today's is more of a Rav 4, offering a comfortable ride on its hard-packed surface. When we pop out at the end of stage two and ride into the busy little town of Thiviers, just in time for coffee, it's easy to overlook the fact that we have just completed the Flow Vélo in its entirety.
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If anyone is interested in this ride, we found the Freewheeling France website (link here) very helpful, especially the route notes found beneath the map. Having said this, we also used good old Google Maps when deciding to freelance, and weren't let down too often.
From Thiviers, we are on our own for the final stage to Perigueux. Vélo signage is fleeting so Tour Leader maps out a route pretty much on the fly. We are following the Isle river right into Perigueux, mostly on quiet C roads, though there are times when we have to choose between hill climbs and heavy traffic.
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With about 40 minutes to go, that omniscient stage director in my head makes a comeback, deciding to throw heavy traffic AND heavy rain at us for the final stretch. Undeterred, with hi-vis jackets on and rear lights, helmet light all flashing bravely, we make a dash along the N21 to the safety of our final off-road track, the lovely Perigueux greenway which delivers us, soaked but safely, to our hotel.
Journey's end.
You'd better get on that indoor bike of yours, Bruce Hunter, and knock off another 10km - because we've just notched up another mileage milestone!
There are still biking adventures ahead for us on this trip - notably Dordogne byways with Jill and Brian, as well as a boat-bike island-hopping cruise in Croatia. But our first major cycle tour is over. Thanks go to the supportive CycleBlaze community, and to anyone else who has read and enjoyed my journal.
Cheers.
Today's ride: 79 km (49 miles)
Total: 2,023 km (1,256 miles)
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