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Cindy's Biking Adventure

Tour de France, Stage 1

7/27/04

Good morning (or afternoon, if you're following along in France ),

    Well, the girls are on their own now, having left their escorts in Dover yesterday.  They had a 37 mile ride into Dover , where they caught the ferry across to Calais , France .  After the 1.5 hour ferry ride, they biked another 15 miles last night into Ardes, where they camped for the night. 

I've attached a map that shows a couple of the major stops they've made, starting north of London and ending after they've crossed the Strait of Dover .

Cindy said it was noticeably warmer as soon as they got off the ferry, with the temperatures in the mid-80s on the French side.  But it still got quite chilly last night at their campsite.  They've been doing lots of climbing today, with the hills not as severe, but still long.  The drivers are much nicer in France than in the UK , with many of them shouting "Bonjour!" to Cindy and CA.  They're also happy to be back biking on the "correct" side of the street J

She called from Lumbres this morning, about a third of the way into their journey for the day.  No more falls to report, so that's a good sign!  They haven't had much trouble communicating, and they even had to ask for a little assistance with directions when they got a little off track biking through the forest!

By the way, I know a couple of you have been text messaging Cindy, and she wanted me to let you know that she hasn't had any cell coverage since she left Dover, so don't be surprised if she isn't responding to you.  They are out in the country and may not have coverage again until they get near Paris .  She had to get a phone card and call me from a pay phone from Lumbres.  She plans on calling back either tonight or tomorrow morning because we still haven't ironed out the plans for my arrival (for instance, they don't have any idea where the hotel is!).

Until the next update,

Bruce

= = = = =

Tour de France, Stage 2

7/29/04

Just a quick update before I head out to the airport to join the cheering crowds along the Cindy and CA bike route.  I'll be in Paris from Friday morning until Next Wednesday, so you won't be getting any updates unless we find an internet café somewhere.

Cindy and CA spent Tuesday in Terouanne , France .  They had trouble exchanging money along the way, and hit a road under repair that made them go out of their way - they went about 48 miles to net 30.  Cindy also broke a spoke and couldn't get it fixed until they had gone through two more towns.  They had another 12 miles to get to Arras , where they were going to spend Wednesday night (I hope I'm getting the days correct, but who knows).  They were also going to try and get a new wheel for Cindy's bike while there.  Then they were going to hang around and try and find someplace to store the bikes while they train it to Paris to meet me Friday morning.

They had one interesting occurrence when Cindy thought she was buying toilet paper but ended up with paper towels, but apparently it all worked out (so to speak).

I included two pictures that Mick's son sent along of the girls in England .  I believe the second one is from when they were where they weren't supposed to be in Buckingham Palace .

 

Have a great week, and I'll check back in when I get back!  I'm going to try and download Cindy's pictures to my laptop while I'm there.

Bruce

- - - - - - -

Tour de France

8/5/04

Greetings from Paris ! I am typing this note into Bruce's laptop. I do not have email access, so he is sending this when he gets home. We have been off our bikes for 5 days! We stopped in Arras on Wednesday night. We were able to find campgrounds within the city limits *and* a place to garage our bikes while we visited Paris with Bruce. Arras is a medium sized city with a wonderful town square surrounded by cafes, fromage (cheese) shops, and of course pastry shops! We were able to catch up on laundry while we were here. We took the TGV (high speed) train in to meet Bruce on Friday. He arrived at Noon . We were able to keep him up until 10:30 PM . What a trooper! During the next 2 days we visited The Louvre, Notre Dame, The Eiffel Tower, Montmartre - Sacre Coeur, and a wonderful night cruise down the Seine . There was also a trip to Versailles , including a long walk out into the beautiful gardens.

A day out to the Loire Valley turned into a long drive.

Tomorrow (8/2), we will head back to Arras and cycle up to the outskirts of Lille . Bruce will be meeting us up there for his last night in France . It will be our last night in France as well, as we will head into Belgium . Up to this point we have biked around 360 miles. 

There is a lot more English spoken in Paris . This is not surprising, given the size of the city. We have found everyone to be friendly and helpful. Yes, even the natives!! We hear American English and ask where people are from. It's fun.

 One of the main things I can say about this trip is that when you are cycling from town to town, your survival instincts kick in. It truly becomes: Where are we going today?, How far is it? Do we know where there is food? Where is the campground? At the end of the day, you are too tired to miss the comforts of home, you are just glad to have found shelter and food. It is not a bad thing at all. It is refreshing to know that you can do this in a foreign country and be fine. I hope I am expressing this well. I miss all of you and my dogs, but your mind really does refocus.

 As I think Bruce mentioned in an update, I have fallen a few times. :)

The bruises are healing nicely, but it did bring a nickname: Crash. :):)

 I hope that this note finds you all doing well and not too hot! It has been quite warm here.

 Cindy

 Now for an update from Thursday from Bruce.  This will be a little disjointed because it's a conglomeration of info from a voice mail from Cindy and Bruce's memory (always an iffy source): 

Cindy and CA biked from Arras into Lille on Tuesday.  They put in about 40 more miles and kept in touch with Bruce, who kept getting confused on the French roads.  Lille is a neat little town.  We ate dinner in a little square there, then retired for the evening.

On Wednesday morning, Bruce said goodbye at around 9:00 for his ride to the airport while the girls set out for their last couple of hours in France .  The day started out foggy and cool, then quickly returned to the warmth and sunshine that they have become accustomed to.  The ride on Wednesday again totaled about 40 miles (making the grand total so far about 440 miles), and ended at a campsite in Diksmuide , Belgium , where Cindy called with her update. The ride today was pretty flat, so it was a pleasant ride in.  They made a side trip to Leper , Belgium , the site of a great WWI museum.  They really enjoyed it, and even got to see a special exhibit that is only there for a short time.  They spent about two hours in the museum.  The cross into Belgium was just a ride over a bridge - no customs, no checkpoint, etc.  The people are very friendly, and they are getting into more English-speaking areas, which will be nice.  They are having trouble reading the Flemish signs, though!

When they were getting directions from Leper to the campsite in Diksmuide, the woman suggested they ride along a canal that they thought was awesome, so they are doing it again today on the way to Brugge.  They also got some suggestions for things to do in Brugge from a woman at the campsite they are at.  They pulled in about 6:00 and ate and did dishes and updated their journals.

 And now a side note - it was good to see the ladies and I told them how proud I was of them and amazed at what they're doing.  Being there and seeing what they're going through puts a different perspective on it.  Just reading what they're doing doesn't really do it justice; it truly is an amazing accomplishment.

 That's all for now.  In our next installment, I'll tell you how we were both at the same intersection, but we were nowhere near each other.  Stay tuned.  And I have an interesting tale about a German/ Frenchman jumping line at the Eiffel Tower .  Also, I have a whole bunch of pictures from Mick/Adam and I'll have a bunch more from Cindy in a couple of days, so I'm trying to figure out where I can set up a web site for everyone to visit.

 Bruce

= = = =

Next Stage: Belgium