Altenberge to Avignon
Our new “Velo de Ville” e-bikes had been waiting at the factory in Altenberge since March. Due to the vicissitudes of 2024, it was 7 months later that one of us (Chris) managed to get there to pick up one of the bikes. From there, the plan was to ride south to Provence before the northern winter set in. (We’ll get the second bike shipped to Avignon later.)
An e-bike shifts what taking-it-easy touring looks like. 70-80 km is the new take-it-easy normal.
We can now use the mounts on our bikes to keep our mobile phones charged, and to use the cycle.travel app for navigation (goodbye Garmin, except in the case of no phone coverage). And it’s time for me to admit that cycle.travel’s maps are so much better than the jerry-built maps I have been embedding in Australian ride pages. So, if you are interested in seeing each day’s route in more detail, click on the image to the left, which will take you to the cycle.travel map collection for this trip.
And boy, cycling in Europe is so much more civilised than in Australia. In my Australian posts, I’ve been summarising the road quality and traffic-terror levels at the start of each day’s riding. But so far, from Germany to France, the riding has almost all been on smoothly paved, off-road trails, or, less often, on smoothly paved, small, quiet back roads (perhaps sometimes less smooth and less quiet in France). And the few cars that I’ve encountered have been slow, and driven by courteous people without even a hint of homicidal tendencies. From now on, let’s just assume that that is the status quo, and I’ll only note any exceptions.
A tour like this is something that I’ve wanted to do for 40 years (a story for another time and place). And now I’m doing it I’m struggling to find the time to set up this record each day. My first significant progress was on my rest day (Day 10, Nancy).
The cycling began in Altenberge, a small town near Münster in Germany, which happens to be home to Velo de Ville’s factory. Getting there from Melbourne took a 20 h flight to Munich, followed by 8 hours of trains, so that I arrived somewhat shell-shocked on a Thursday afternoon. I took refuge in my Airbnb, ready to pick up my bike on Friday morning. Zeli and Finn at Velo de Ville were very helpful, setting the bike up for me, and helping me buy gear that I needed before heading off (helmet, lock etc.). I spent Friday getting to know the bike around town and doing a little tinkering (such as adding a handlebar pannier mount). No time to lose (as winter is coming…), I aimed to set off south next morning!
Day 1 Altenberge - Münster - Haltern am See
26 October 2024. (71 km)
The Velo de Ville shop and factory are very close to the start of the cycleway south to Münster, first a narrow track through fields and forest before hitting the Münster road, with a dedicated bike lane along it.
I had made no plans beyond a visit to a bike shop in Münster (to find some further bits and bobs I couldn’t get at Velo de Ville). I was contemplating staying there for the night, but as pretty as it was, it was just a bit too busy for me on the day, so I decided to push on to Haltern am See.
The ride there was lovely: off road cycleway pretty much all the way - a few short stretches of on-road cycle lane on a couple of busier roads, but otherwise beautiful quiet back roads or cycleways, with a heap of locals taking advantage of them on a Saturday.
Haltern am See was surprisingly charming, and my hotel was surprisingly flash. I had a garage with a power-point to charge my bike (no need for the bank of charging stations over the road that I found the next morning) and a very cute room with a rooftop window looking down over the old town. Dinner was at Avanti Restaurant. Serving size: ridiculously big.
Day 2. Haltern am See - Wesel
27 October 2024. (49 km)
North Germany’s Indian summer continued today, and I spent the day riding in a t-shirt. This was a day following the Lippe River and the much larger-looking Wesel-Dattein Canal, which follows it along the floodplain. But I didn’t really notice either until I got to Dorsten: prior to that the route was surrounded by or along forest and fields most of the way.
I tested turbo mode on the steep hill up to the Stadtkrone sculpture overlooking the canal and the river, and discovered that climbing steep hills is going to be easy.
More delightful forests along very civilised trails all the way into Wesel, where I found the Hansefest in full swing. It’s clearly a sign of the shortcomings of my education, but I had been blissfully unaware of rich history of the Hanseatic League. The locals were right into it, many dressed up in mediaeval garb. So, I decided to take it easy after just 50 km, and found a cheap and cheerful hotel for the night before heading back to the festival for some weird medieval entertainment.
Day 3. Wesel - Erkelez
28 October 2024 (91 km)
I decided to stress test the new bike (and myself) today spending most of the day in tour+ mode, meaning I spent most of the day near or above 23 km/h. I managed a big distance, but it seemed to be harder work than my more leisurely days on Eco mode. By the time I got to Erkelz, the battery was down to 13%. Clearly not the best way to ride.
The ride was not as attractive as the last couple of days - less forest and more fields and wind turbines. The wind turbines were turning steadily, indicative of the stiff headwind for most of the day, which was much less of a worry than I’ve been used to in the past
It was a short ride to the bridge across the Rhine (which was much less terrifying a ride than many river crossings I remember from our last European/UK tour), pausing to check out the remarkably large ships plying their way up and down the river.
I had only plotted a route to Grefrath, where I had some lunch. But as it was only 1 pm by the time I’d finished my coffee, I decided to head on to Erkelez, another 35 km. This was a bit more urban taking me through Viersen, but looking at cycle.travel’s suggested route from Alternberge to Avignon, I realise that by going via Wesel, I have avoided a lot of urbanization, as it defaulted to taking me through the Dusseldorf conurbation.
I decided to try my luck today and fronted up to an appealing hotel (Rheinischer) without a reservation. They had a room available for me and it was good.
Day 4. Erkelez - Roetgen
29 October 2024 (72 km)
A flat, fairly urban start to the journey today, but not a cafe to be seen until 30 km in at Alsdorf. I chose to take my lunch in the terrace outside the cafe and was reminded of the not-so-long-ago bad days in Australia where sitting outside was undesirable because that’s where all the smokers sit.
The first serious downslope run of the trip was had on the other side of Wurselen. The climb began at Linnich, but it was pretty gentle, verging on undetectable at times. It was a quiet dedicated cycleway through urban areas until after Walheim, when it entered a nice forested area and joined a seemingly disused railway track.
After the long gentle climb it was a steep roll into Roetgen, where I got to practice my near-non-existent German getting a room at the Hotel Brennenhof. The proprietors were lovely, the room was good, as was breakfast . For the fourth night in a row, the bike got its own garage and charging point.
Spent some time booking ahead tonight - an apartment with a washing machine for an overdue wash tomorrow, and a hotel in Ettelbruck in Luxembourg the night after. The latter was because I was hopeful that I could organize a service for the bike in Ettelbruck. No chance. Fully booked till mid November and Nov 1 is a public holiday. That, and the ridiculous cost of hotels in Luxembourg city made me rethink my rest-day-in-Luxembourg plan.
Day 5. Roetgen - Bleialf
30 October 2024 (80 km)
On the old rail trail all day. Really lovely autumn forests, and lots of mountain stream crossings. While mostly in Belgium, German remained dominant - at Sankt Vith, it was German in Cafe Smile where it was a choice of pancakes, waffles or fruit salad for lunch (I went with the fruit salad, and it was very good). The track became the RAVel, and for a while the railway line followed the track and people in pedal trains zoomed along it.
At Born, before Sankt Vith, the track went under an old disused arch bridge, one arch of which had been converted into a fairly scary climbing wall. At the other end of town, the trail rose to the other end of the bridge where there was an impressive lookout.
The final stretch of the rail trail into Bleialf was closed and the detour took me up to the unfamiliar high country of the road with a clearer view over the forests than I’d seen all day. I hit 55 km/h rolling into the town.
My apartment tonight was a winner. Huge place. Nice to eat in and do some laundry..
Day 6. Bleialf - Ettelbruck
31 October 2024 (75 km)
After a slow start, it was another delightful day through autumn forests, into increasingly hilly country, descending into Neuerburg for lunch. It was quite cold on arrival there, after such a sunny start to the day the clouds and mist rolled in. Neuerburg had the feel of an alpine valley town - I felt like I was on a leg of the tour for bit along its roads. From there, there were a few challenging climbs (or they would have been challenging on a conventional bike) - I even got up to Turbo setting on one long, steep one.
A fun roll down the other side to Wallendorf to cross the River Our into Luxembourg. After a momentary panic as the phone dropped out while switching to the Luxembourg network, I rode the last 15 km into Ettelbruck and found Hotel Herkmanns in la vieille ville. It was nice to shift from being a completely useless tourist with next-to-no German to a moderately useless tourist with passable mercantile French that can surely only improve.
Day 7. Ettelbruck - Enhem
1 November 2024 (75 km)
Enhem was not a destination of choice, but the All Saints Day public holiday seemed to have booked out Thionville. It was a pleasant enough, albeit cold ride back down the River Süre to its confluence with the Moselle, and then up the Moselle. My plotted route took me across the Moselle on the ferry which was fun, but entirely unnecessary, as I had to cross back again at the next bridge a few km further south.
It was all very pretty, and the Moselle grapevines became a more dominant part of the valley sides as I approached Enhem, for a night at the White Swan Hotel. Its vague similarity to Fawlty Towers only dawned on me the morning after.
Day 8. Ehnem - Metz
2 Nov 2024. (84 km)
The last 15 km or so along the confined valley of La Moselle in Luxembourg were lovely. I stopped in at the Biodiversum before leaving Luxembourg, which was a very cool (actually quite warm!) building in a biodiversity reserve. And my last act in Luxembourg was to get confused at the famous, but surprisingly small town of Schengen, and stuck in a traffic jam getting across the bridge (most traffic I’d seen for a long time).
The river valley become a lot wider from here on. The paths in France were less well tended and less clearly signposted than I had become used to, but after a while, the trail along the river became better quality.
Lunch in Thionville at a patisserie and some fruit at a grocers before the last 30 km to Metz, which is a big old city, with lots of lovely buildings. I feel a bit guilty for not giving it some time to explore.
Day 9. Metz - Nancy
3 Nov 2024. (72 km)
The ride out of Metz was nice - through the narrow streets of the old town, which definitely warrant a revisit if the chance arises. Across the bridge to watch Sunday morning kayakers lining up to try the rapids course that pours down the stream from the canal.
The rest of the day was a fairly flat ride along the canalised Moselle. I bought some lunch from a boulangerie in Pont à Mousson, and found a sunny spot on the far side of the river to sit and eat and to look for a hotel to stay at tonight. I tried to do the right thing by transporting some rubbish across the grass to a rubbish bin. The price I paid for this good deed was horrendous dog poo squelched under my shoe, which took forever to get off. Note to self. Do not walk across lawns in French parks.
The ride into Nancy seemed to take a long time, and the closer I got the more family groups there were wandering the bike tracks to avoid. The sunny afternoon was delightful and the sun was almost setting by the time I arrived at the Hôtel Litterataire Stendhal, which was so delightful that I immediately asked to extend my stay for two nights. Definitely time for a jour de repose.
Day 10. A rest day in Nancy
A cold day in Nancy. A good day for a rest and a catch up on neglected business.
Day 11. Nancy - Épinal
5 Nov 2024. (80 km)
It was foggy and cold leaving Nancy: first time on the trip that a hat under the helmet and gloves were called for. The foggy ride out of town took me along a series of canals. There were lots of works going on the locks, and many sections of the canals were drained, and a few resulting diversions from the bike trail (the first of which was terribly signposted, the next two ok).
It was essentially canal paths all the way to Epinal, the canals crossing the Moselle a couple of times. A little backtrack into Les Charmes where I found a Boulangerie for lunch. n The fog had disappeared by this stage, and I rode the rest of the afternoon in my long-sleeved t-shirt. Remarkably pleasant.
The ride into Epinal was along a lovely unsealed path between the canal and the river, and the hotel de la Basilique was fine (named so because it is around the corner from the impressive medieval basilica in the centre of town). Fantastic dinner at Bistrôt de l’Âtre.
Day 12. Épinal - Jussey
6 Nov 2024. (90 km)
The ride out of Épinal was along suburban roads up the hill to the canal de Vosges cycle path. The significance of the climb escaped me at the time, but I was crossing the watershed, leaving the north-flowing Moselle and entering the south-flowing Saône. It was a pleasant ride along the canal, and for much of the way, the track followed a levee between the canal and the large stream that flowed beside it. At one point I notice a small tree that for all the world looked like it had been felled by a beaver (and sure enough, it’s quite likely in the upper Rhone catchment)
For lunch, I did something that I would only have reluctantly considered on a normal bike, and headed off up quite a substantial hill to La Vôge les bains for lunch at the only boulangerie that I could find open. The ride back to the canal path was a steep drop past a ‘Route Barée’ sign. I thought to myself, surely that’s just for cars. It wasn’t, The 50 m between the creek and canal path, which I could see, were firmly barricaded off. So I retreated up the steep hill (blessing my motor again), and then along the D road in to Fontenoy de Château (quite a nice change from the canal) After navigating the cobbled streets of the town, I rejoined the canal path all the way to Corre, where canal bike path ended (although the canal continued).
More road riding up a moderately busy road out of town (cycle-travel wisely advises cutting up a small road to avoid some of that busyish road that is part of the designated veloroute). Quite a few hills involved. It seems that a new bit of the canal path has been opened recently and not yet made it onto open street maps, but by following the veloroute sign rather than my map, I avoided the hilly detour into Cendrecourt. It was a short few km into Jussey from there.
My digs at Jussey were an old hotel that are now on airbnb. It was a night of self-catering and laundry in this quiet little town.
Day 13. Jussey - Gray
7 Nov 2024. (67 km)
cycle.travel took me on a more direct route of small roads than the veloroute, which meant a lot more up and down - a nice change from the flatness of the canal paths, undoubtedly more enjoyable with an e-bike. The roads were mostly small and quiet and good quality, but there were a couple of stretches of larger roads - still quiet, but a couple of trucks going too fast. But mostly great.
Back on the veloroute, the canal path was a bit more interesting than usual - one section of canal tunnelling under a smallish hill that the path climbed over. I tucked into a baguette by the side of the canal for lunch.
Gray a big town on the Saone, stayed in a funny hotel-restaurant right on the river, which I crossed for a nice dinner at a proper French restaurant.
Day 14. Gray - Gevrey-Chambertin
8 Nov 2024. (76 km)
After climbing up through the old town of Gray and through its limited suburbs, the track turned along the Saône where the mud over the trail was evidence of the recent floods. After turning along a canal for a while, it was undulating roads for most of the rest of the day. A long section of the day was along forestry roads around St-Léger-Triey, which almost felt remote. I went past a sign to La Chêine remarquable (the remarkable oak tree): I started heading down there but it started getting muddy so I retreated. An opportunity lost or postponed?
I had initially planned on a night in Dijon, but instead skirted the suburbs and headed to the southern outskirts to make the ride to Chalon sur Saône more manageable tomorrow. I’m glad I did - Gevrey-Chambertin is a beatiful old town, with much more going for it than most of the less prosperous towns I’ve been riding through for the last couple of days. And I managed to find a much flasher hotel (Ô Rouge) than I could have afforded in Dijon itself.
Dijon is another opportunity left for another day. We shall return. The end of the southern tram line looked pretty enticing…
Day 15. Gevrey-Chambertin - Salon sur Saône
9 Nov 2024. (71 km)
Foggy, cold start to the day along (more or less) veloroute 51 (Tour de Bourgogne à velo). Lots of vineyards, lots of long-weekend cyclists. Lots of up and down.
I left the veloroute at Remigny, where I struck another “Route Barée” sign at the road leading up to the Canal du Centre. Now, having come a cropper with one of those signs a few days ago, I decided to take it at its word and go the long way around up to the canal. Alas, when I finally got around to the top of the Barée road, of course it was absolutely open to cyclists. I then decided it’s always worth giving “Routes Barées” a crack.
The path was good along the canal all the way into Chalon. There I struck another Route Barrée just before my accommodation, and my new rule paid off. The accommodation at Couette et Tartine was cute and good.
Day 16. Salon sur Saône - Macon
10 Nov 2024. (68 km)
Foggy and cold all day today for a not super-interesting ride along the river all the way to Macon (and resultingly no super-interesting photos for the day). If the weather had been more clement, I would have taken the hillier route away from the river.
I stopped at a bar to get a coffee at Tournus (but mainly to get out of the cold), mingling with the church crowd that were piling out of the abbey next door. I got so cold after lunch I ditched the helmet and wore a beanie and scarf for much of the rest of the ride (until I hit roads again).
The cold day was made a little more miserable by my reception at the Hotel de Bourgogne in Macon. The proprietor was overly direct for my Australian sensibilities and underly patient, with no time for foreigners wanting to improve their French. I guess it’s not bad that this was only my second such interaction since M. Fawlty at Enhem a week ago.
There was not an enormous selection of restaurants on the Sunday night of (another) long weekend, but I eventually found a pretty good Italian on the riverfront and had a remarkably good seafood risotto.
Day 17. Macon - Villefranche sur Saône
11 Nov 2024. (46 km)
More fog, and more cold, and with a short day ahead of me, I lingered in the hotel room hoping (without much luck) for it to heat up a little for the ride. Being armistice day, most everything was shut, and it took a few side trips to a few villages before I found a bar that was open that could sell me some lunch.
It was a short day because I had arranged to stay the night with my friends Fred and Morgane in Villefranche sur Saône. This lovely night was a good antidote to the downer of Macon, giving me a chance to practice my French with patient, friendly francophones. Fred and Morgane were generous hosts and took me out for a walk to the old town and gave me a bit of a history lesson. Back home to some great home-cooked food and a comfy canapé to sleep on.
A result of it being such a good night was that I completely forgot to take any photos. But Fred remembered to snap one of me as we headed off together (he to catch the train to work in Lyon, and me to get there, and beyond, by bike).
Day 18. Villefranche sur Saône - Ampuis
12 Nov 2024. (85 km)
It was a much nicer morning: no more fog and actually some sun, on and off. I even had to stop and take a few layers off after half-an-hour of cycling. After Fred and I farewelled each other, an old man passing by engaged me in a French conversation that I managed to sustain (more or less). Suddenly, I was feeling on top of the world as I hit the trail again, and for the first time, my final destination of Avignon seemed within reach.
About 30 minutes down the road, I realised that I had put on way to many layers having been scarred by the cold of the last few days. After stopping to stop and strip off, the rest of the route along the river into Lyon and through Lyon was great - only a bit of road rage witnessed and only a few zombie bike riders texting as they veered toward me on the bike lanes.
I had pre-bought lunch and with some regrets, ate it in a cold park at the confluence of the Rhone and the Saône. In retrospect, I should have stopped at one of the many attractive, sunny boulangeries and bars in La Confluence (the district).
South of Lyon (much of which the ViaRhona page classes as provisional, and not for beginners) was a lot more on road, but almost all with a separated bike lane that was respected by motorists. There was a section near Sérézin that more resembled a narrow walking track, but most of it was fine. One detour I took to avoid a section of busy road (as classified by cycle.travel) took me up a really steep path over the railway line: the first time I had to use the biggest cog and the highest motor setting to get up a hill - it would seem that was near the limit.
At the bridge to Vienne, it was still only 2 pm, I stopped in a park to work out how much further I should go. I settled on a hotel in Ampuis, another 9 km down the road. Reasonable enough place, but a long way from town, and the town itself was a bit light-on for restaurants. Ended up at a pizza place which did me.
Day 19. Ampuis - Valence
13 Nov 2024. (81 km)
Down the trail on familiar territory now along the Rhône, where Maree and I rode north to Vienne 5 years ago. This time, I had time to stop and have a look at a hide or two in the nice natural reserve not far from the market gardens of Ampuis. Despite the promise of beavers, I saw none. But I did learn that the French call a woodpecker a pic.
A little further on, the trail turned a little challenging across a sandy ford downstream of Petite Gorge and Grande Gorge, names that perhaps explain the track’s problems after recent floods. The new bike’s fat tyres handled it with aplomb.
cycle.travel wanted to take me straight down the river along an unmade road to bypass Sablons, even though the Via Rhona went into town. I figured it was worth a km detour to check out the town - the 500 m into town along the main road was a little terrifying - very busy with trucks (I think cycle.travel knew what it was doing). I stopped for a rest in a park near the bridge and sought out the town’s less than desirable toilettes.
Back on the road, I was on the look out for boulangeries without luck in any of the towns I went through until the much larger Tournon sur Rhone. After walking up and down the main street for a bit, I finally found a boulangerie that was open and had some late lunch. It is finally dawning on me that the French generally take déjeuner well before 14h.
The ride into Valence from the big hydro plant on the Rhone was so much easier than I remembered (because of the assistance getting up the hill no doubt). The studio I’d booked for the night, in an amazing location opposite the pedentif in the old town, was a cracker.
Day 20. Valence - Viviers
13 Nov 2024. (71 km)
Valence is apparently considered the gateway to the south, and it seemed that way today as the sun shone on my departure, and it just kept getting sunnier. The wind was at my back all day, particularly along the levee trails where there wasn’t a lot of call for a motor - so different from going the other way 5 years ago.
The pretty villages and idyllic countryside were a contrast to the massive nuclear power plant at Cruas. But straight after was the impressive Chateau de Rouchemaure and the suspension bridge across the Rhone.
Viviers is a particularly nice mediaeval town that managed not to get bombed during WW2. On top of the hill, next to the cathedral, was my gite for the night: once the bishop’s residence apparently. As a place to stay, it too, was a cracker.
Day 21. Viviers - Avignon
13 Nov 2024. (84 km)
Another beautiful sunny day in the south. The road out of Viviers was along the base of the cliffs of St Michel, one of two saints who stand guard over the town. The rest of the day was along the Rhone floodplain.
Finding a place for lunch presented the usual difficulty. I was getting fairly peckish by Carderosse - quite a large walled town, with not a single shop or bar open. So, I carried on down the river a bit and found a nice spot by the river to munch on the meagre morsels I was travelling with. It was ok.
For a while, the road signs were suggesting it was a further 10 km to Avignon than cycle.travel was promising. Turns out this was because cycle.travel took me on a straight but extremely river-rocky trail down the river rather than a loop that the veloroute takes through nowhere in particular (not sure how that adds up to 10km, but the two sources agreed after that). The trail would have been challenging, nigh impossible on our old bikes, but the front suspension and fat tyres of the new bike made it not too much of a worry.
The last few km into Avignon, along the Île de Barthalasse, were pleasant enough, and the turn across the final bridge presented Avignon with Mont Ventoux behind it as quite the welcome on a sunny afternoon.
The final stretch was through the maze of small streets in the old town, and out the other side to my somewhat less salubrious (but ok) home for the next few months.
