Cadaques Salvador Dali lived the bulk of his adult life in a house on the sea just outside Cadaques. The house was originally a number of fishing huts which Dali and his wife Gala transformed into surreal splendor. While there were few of his paintings on exhibit the collections of decorations, installations and taxidermist animals in odd arrangements was fascinating. Oh if the walls could ... Read More
Portbou to Cadaques 30km with at least 3 Malahats!Ok today was a brutal but stunningly beautiful. We are now in Dali's back yard and we hope to visit his house tomorrow. Cadaques is a lovely fishing village that has exploded into an art colony turned resort. So now we are ready to sell the bikes. So if there is anyone out there who wants a ... Read More
Collioure to Port Bou. 25kmRooms, Port BouToday we rode over the end of the Pyrenees and down into Port Bou, the first town on the Spanish side. The twisty road along the coast was tough but beautiful. Now we are in serious linguistic trouble, however, trying to switch into Spanish. Renting a room was a challenge. I seem to be going from French to English ... Read More
Narbonne to Collioure by trainHotel FrigateThis is an extraordinary town! I wouldn't want to come within a mile of here in the summer because even now it is just crawling with tourists, but for good reason. Mom you would love it and want to stay for months! It is far more Catalan than French here and we are getting very close to the border. Right ... Read More
Beziers to Narbone 30kmWe left too early today. It was a cold but beautiful ride along the Canal de Midi. My hands, even in gloves, took most of the ride to warm up. It was poor timing because by afternoon it was sunny and 18 degrees.Just out of Beziers we passed a section of nine locks on the Canal raising the water level up a ... Read More
Avignon to Agde by trainAgde to Beziers by bike 25kmIt feels like we have come back into summer or spring weather again. It was starting to get pretty cool in Provence. The midi canal was beautiful in the late day light. Location:Allée Paul Riquet,Béziers,France
Our plans change daily, but we are not even going to try to use our Ryanair flights from Marseille to Madrid. We were stupid and bought tickets for November 6 which is scheduled as a general strike day in France. Poorly chosen also because the Marseille airport is one of the most active unionized groups in France. I am not going to rant about the ... Read More
Les Baux to Avignon 40kmHotel MignonToday we began with a beautiful ride through the Alpilles with a long descent into St. Remy. Everyone has likely seen an image of St. Remy without realizing it. The town is immortalized in perhaps Van Gogh's best known painting "Starry Night". Van Gogh committed himself to a convent hospital for a year in St. Remy where he painted at ... Read More
Arles-les Baux de Provence 20kmHostellerie de la Reine Jeanne, les Baum de ProvenceWe are staying in les Baux de Provence a village just clinging to the limestone cliff side. It's is well worthy of being on the list as one of the prettiest towns in France. Our hotel boasts that Winston Churchill stayed here when he came to town. It is also a town well ... Read More
Saints-Maries-de-la-Mer to Arles 36km in a galeHotel AcaciaIs it wrong to love your husband more when he's sick? I do, and I am ready to admit it. No really, it's ok if we just stay put for a while sipping hot drinks, cuddling and watching the BBC. Gord has a man cold and I am just delighted- well maybe that's a bit strong, but I ... Read More