Al has been waffling.  Even though I gave him 5 years' warning about my impending retirement (and he could have retired last year), he's decided to continue working through June of this year so he can see some projects through.  However, the day after I bought my flights, he decided to come along for the first 3 weeks.  He has vacation time, after all.

We will fly to Paris and stay 2 nights at an airport hotel.  This gives us time to recover a bit from the inevitable jet lag of the 9-hour time change and means we will still be nearby if our bikes and other luggage don't arrive with us.  It happens.  A day in Paris will not be a day wasted!

We, accompanied by our still-encased bikes, will then take the TGV to Bordeaux.  Two nights there will allow time to assemble our bikes and see a bit of the city.  Apparently it's quite a nice place to visit.

Leaving our cases and my camping gear in Bordeaux, we will spend the next 2.5 weeks cycling through the Dordogne, Vézère, and Lot valleys, mostly following the route called "Caves, Cuisine, & Châteaux" in the Lonely Planet Cycling France guide.  In a departure from my usual vague plans, I've booked all our accommodation along this route and purchased tickets to Lascaux IV.  [I tried to also purchase tickets to the prehistoric cave sites near Les Eyzies (a limited number of which were available online according to the English version of the web page) only to learn that tickets are now available only on the day, maybe, a fact only publicized on the French version of the web page, along with the other fact that the sites are closed on Saturdays (also not indicated in English).  Being me, I contacted them to learn which was correct--French of course--and suggested that they update the English web page.]

After returning to Bordeaux, Al will take the train back to Paris and his flight home.  He'll also take my bike case to leave at the airport hotel for me to collect for my flight home 6 weeks later.

The trip now returns to ideas rather than plans.  The general idea is to ride out to the Atlantic coast (east or west side of the Gironde?) and north  to Nantes or St-Nazaire.  Then a loop around the coast and through the middle of Brittany (clockwise?  counterclockwise?) with perhaps a side trip to Mont St-Michel.  How long would all this take?  No idea.

To be updated!