We finally had a tailwind today, and with another short-mileage (and no castle visits), we were able to do some extra recovery from the previous days and dally in our nice AirBNB until 10:30. Still, the town was in quiet-waking mode, vs. yesterday afternoon’s bustling around the castle, so we took the opportunity to be… Read more…

It’s a good thing I made a last-minute decision last night to throw the rainfly on our tent, even though no rain was in the forecast (continuing a weeks-long period of complete dryness). Because the forecast was wrong. Not in terms of precipitation, but temperature. Instead of the predicted 55°F low, it dropped to 45°F,… Read more…

We’re riding to the legendary Loire Valley. There’s a EuroVelo route (#3) that heads southeast from Paris, hits the Loire, and then turns back northwest to follow it downstream. We ain’t got time for all that though, so between yesterday and today, we’re cutting off that corner and taking as straight a line as possible,… Read more…

With a relatively-short distance to ride, and a relatively-late check-in time on our next AirBNB, we decided on a 10:30am departure. Returning the key wouldn’t be quite the fight that obtaining it was, but still, with the host not on-site, and no lockbox for the key, it was a rare (lone?) AirBNB experience for us… Read more…

Days 2-8 We reserved a week to experience the Parisian lifestyle. Our AirBNB, at ~US$180/night, was the most-expensive place we’ve stayed since Charleston, South Carolina (another historic city-center tourist draw), nearly two years ago. And the price is not because the unit itself was at all luxurious; Paris is just an expensive place to stay,… Read more…