Bali - Ubud

The last week is spent with Heather, in her beautiful house in the rice fields, in Bentuyung. 

We have a couple of sound experiences at the Pyramids of Chi - we've watched it being built over the last few years - with gongs and old Maori instruments. 

We walk the increasingly paved and built up path to Ubud. It's full of artists, yoga people and small warung. 

We eat some seriously good food, continue with yoga and spa sessions, and relax. 

Bali - Lipah

Think it's the 8th time we've visited this fishing village on the east coast. There's great snorkelling off the beach, right in front of our small hotel. 

Nothing much to do except the obvious snorkelling, although Cheryl and Ksy find some yoga classes, and we all have a couple of $12 massages. 

We eat lunch and dinner with our Balinese friends Jonny and Made, who now have a small warung next to their house. 

14 year old Kadek is very grateful for his new bike

 and 20 year old Putu rides her motorbike 3 hours each way from her Denpasar Uni to visit us - she's passed 1st year midwifery with good marks. She visits again with a friend when we move closer to the airport for Cheryl and Joe's last days. 

Bali - Keramas

Torquay friends Cheryl and Joe join us for the next 2 weeks. 

Keramas is on the south coast, so known for its surf. Its too strong to swim in, but we splash on the edge and walk along the beach. Joe tackles the surf and we watch the pros and wannabes in action. 

Nirmala guest house is in the middle of rice paddies, and there's a resort next door for yoga and spa treatments …

The rice is ripening, so there are lots of noisemakers - human and mechanical - to scare the birds away. The plane is a restaurant!

We go on a day tour to a coffee plantation, have breakfast overlooking Mt.Batur and its crater and lake, cycle 25km downhill through small villages with kids, chooks and dogs to dodge, then eat lunch in a family compound. 

The nearby night market has plenty of delicious spicy food to choose from - we try 7 dishes. 

 

The local industry is sorting stones on the beach into size and colour, to be sold and used for mosaic paths. The oldest people get the easiest jobs. 

This windy season means there are huge kites in the sky, especially on Sunday afternoon 

We find a turtle hatchery, where the retrieved eggs continue to hatch in sand, then are released 3 weeks later. How amazing to just come across this at the right time

Bali 2017

​

The last week

Sete is deservingly known as little Venice. There's fresh seafood to eat and a huge market. 

 We watch kids learning the art of boat jousting

Our tired muscles are pummelled at this amazing spa

Paris is full of beautiful buildings and monuments

Canal du Midi 5-13June, 300km

This half of our trip is a lot more scenic, but also a lot rougher...

We go from wide smooth tracks to skinny, rutted ones with waist high grass, and a couple of days head for quiet roads past villages and vineyards instead

 

But it's a whole lot more scenic

and with more cafés and gardens at the many locks. 

We think we'd like to hitch a ride on a canal boat one day, but they go so slowly we prefer to ride. 

Unfortunately a lot of plane trees have been removed after a moth infestation, but after 2 years of a planned revegetation program, things look much better 

It's hot, and we are all very happy to reach the Mediterranean for a swim on the last 2 days. The canal is polluted from all the boats' waste... 

The last 20km are on a beautiful path by the ocean

Yay, we made it 😀

Canal de Garonne 31 May - 5 June

Week one with Torquay friends Cheryl and Joe, from Bordeaux to Toulouse, about 300km

Generally the path is straight and shaded, with lots of grass for siesta

Yes the canal crosses the road, unfortunately we didn't get to see a boat on it like this…

We start with rain, but the weather fines up except for one day when we see black clouds coming, and head for shelter. It's a huge, restored sewerage pumping station, and is now a very quirky bike cafe and workshop

As always, the best part of travelling is the people we meet, including one lovely man who took Cheryl and I for a spin on his Gold Wing

There's blood on the last day, but nothing that a few band aids can't fix

France -Loire Valley 23-30 May 300km

After a night in Paris we catch a train to Blois, and collect our rental bikes. Then it's back on the train the next day to Angers where we begin - we will ride back to Blois to return bikes and collect our suitcases. 

First treat is a ride around Angers with a volunteer guide, and even better she escorts us 10 km to the start of the Loire à velo bike route. It's well marked with little blue signs on every corner. 

Bike infrastructure is great, and we only have a couple of navigational malfunctions, where one misses the sign and the other is hot, tired and grumpy 😉

Hmm, it's flat riding along a river, isn't it? Mais non, the route is the scenic one, so up and down, through amazingly beautiful old villages, past vineyards, woods, farms and flowers, with occasional river stretches 😉

We visit chateaux at Montsoreau 

Villandry

Chenonceau 

and pass several others

Caves that the tufa (white building stone) has been extracted from are now used for growing mushrooms, storing wine and  living in

It's hot, so there are plenty of picnic and swimming opportunities 

Our accomodation is Airbnb, a hotel and warm showers (cyclist volunteer website), all wonderful

It's very quiet to start, but then there's a long weekend so there are bikes everywhere - large and small groups, kids in trailers. We receive lots of bonjour/bon voyage as we ride along. 

And for our last treat - a visit to an international garden festival at Chateau Chaumont-sur-Loire. Ooh la la, c'est très bon