Summing Up - or Not - Grampies Go Valencia to Paris: Spring 2024 - CycleBlaze

May 16, 2024

Summing Up - or Not

We have been back about two weeks now, and it is of course more than 90 days since we first dropped out of the sky into Valencia, and got on the metro to go find our bikes. Without this blog, we have no hope of remembering details of what happened next. But there are a few lasting impressions. These impressions may not differ too much from our other European trips, but they are the things that keep us coming back: old city centres, with narrow streets, outdoor restaurants in pedestrian only zones, unbelievably tall and intricately carved cathedrals, tidy farm fields and extensive orchards. In Spain and Portugal, to us  the exotic trees like orange, olive, and pomegranate made a huge impact, and these are lands of flowers everywhere. And in France, of course, bakeries everywhere.

If this reads like a jumble, it's because that's how it exists in our heads at this stage. I could try to organize it - choosing topics like the roads, the weather, the people, the food, markets, hotel quality, the sights, etc. and essentially re-present the blog but ordered that way, rather than by day.

It could be fun to do that, and maybe even useful. Instead I am presenting here a kaleidoscopic run though roads, food, markets, people, etc. somewhat as they exist now in my mind. There are 66 images - that just skim the wealth of experience that this trip brought us. Let's take a quick run through,and remember a little of what we saw and did:

Tunnels near Benidorm, Spain. Dodie is a good rider!
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Really lots of birds in spots.
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Traditional dress and hair in Spain
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Typical road and bike space in Spain
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Great baking at breakfast
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Dodie becomes a walker - hike a bike in Spain
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Beach side biking in Alicante
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Typical Spanish coastal road - near Cartagena
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Acres of greenhouses on the Spanish coast.
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Tomatoes!
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Crowded road in Spain
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Yummy food in Aquilas
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Sunset on the Mediterranean - Aqua Amarga
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Sugar cube houses of Spain
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Flamingo near Almeria
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Parakeets were so common.
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Tough guy sheep
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The Spansh coast had lots of bays and coves and headlands. This is near Motril.
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Church furnishings - so dramatic!
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Giant walking street in Malaga.
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Colourful markets.
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Some local residents, Malaga.
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Bird of Paradise is seen throughout southern Spain, and Portugal.
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The moorish history of Al Andalus.
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Bright and narrow street in Penaflor.
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The Seville cathedral!
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Northern Shoveler in Portugal
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Wild Spanish Lavender in Portugal.
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Portugal dream house
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All white houses - San Lucar, Portugal
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People at the next table, San Lucar.
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Full rain gear.
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The bridge to Alcoutim, Portugal
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Sheep in pasture.
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A land of flowers
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Olive trees everywhere
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Colourful carpet craft, Araiolos
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Andre, of X Bikes, nicely adjusted Dodie's chain.
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So many Marys, at Fatima
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Karen PoretBecause of her holy water, I am now cancer free in the Netherlands 🇳🇱 on a 🚲 myself!
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4 months ago
Unique buildings, Coimbra.
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University student musical club.
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Singing Swallow
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Strange to us, garden flowers.
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Karen PoretCommon in CA. , but protea is native to South Africa..
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4 months ago
Boats and buildings in Portugal (Aveiro)
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Wonderful Porto.
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The Atlantic!
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Tiny ferry boat adventure.
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We reached Santiago (again!)
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My self image
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Dramatic processions of Semana Santa in Spain
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Churches with beautiful stained glass.
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Special house designs of Soulac
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Our friend Michel, with a flat near Ste Luce
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In the Jardin des Plantes, Nantes
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Josephine, the friendly bike mechanic.
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Eclairs!
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Fulvous Whistling Duck
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Michel accompanied us up the Loire to near Ancenis.
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Grampies cross the Loire
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The round towers of the Angers chateau.
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Boulangerie!
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Noe, the expert mechanic in Orleans.
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Our old friend Didier.
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Dream day in Paris with Susan Carpenter
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Giverny
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Ian Satoor - we discover a great soul in Boubiers, France
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All that and of course more is stored up somewhere in our memory. But our attention is already directed to the future. We have our tickets back to Paris for early August, and this time the Grampies will start out, on the Loire,  with three Grandkids - Amelia, Evee, and Joe - and son Joshua, all from Montreal. We are planning the itinerary now - not being really sure how they will view the old city centres, pedestrian zones, cathedrals, farms, orchards, etc. etc. that fascinate us. Will they take to the seemingly endless kms of pedaling? Just how many kms of that per day should we plan for?  

We (mainly Dodie) will dream up "The Plan", get it approved or adjusted in Montreal, and then watch for our next blog, coming soon!

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Karen PoretThanks for the re-cap! Lively and lovely!
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4 months ago
Carolyn van HoeveHey Steve & Dodie, how are the plans coming along for August? Ian mentioned he's getting bits and pieces for your bikes in readiness. Glad it worked out so well with him! He is gold!
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3 months ago
Steve Miller/GrampiesTo Carolyn van HoeveHi Carolyn, our trip beginning in August will have two parts. First we'll return to Ian's and then quickly make our way to Nantes. There we'll meet up with our son from Montreal and three grandchildren. We'll cycle on the Loire for two weeks before sending them back off to Montreal. After that, for part two, we'll head for Holland, then up the Meuse and finally down the Rhone to the Camargue. Then we'll follow the Med and on in to Spain, ending at Valencia. We have mapped this all out, and booked as far as Caen. We are looking forward to the first step, which is the return to Boubiers. We'll have one fun day there to play at bicycle maintenance with Ian. That is sure to be fun in itself!
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3 months ago