Madrid - end of bike trip

Sunday 9/16:  Biked about 65 miles from Lerma to Valladolid, which is a significant-sized city that has direct train service to Madrid in case I was ready to give up ... which didn't happen...  Many stores and restaurants are closed on Sunday, so dining options were limited.

Hamburguesería Gigantes - the name says it all.

So... on Monday I rode to the small village of Coca where I had a lovely B&B overlooking the main town square.  Not much to do in Coca.
Tuesday I headed out for Segovia, a major tourist stop.   I stopped for breakfast in Nava de la Asunción... and yet again encountered a parade.  It was a festive but short affair, after which many of the band members dropped into the bar I was having breakfast at .

Apparently this was just one event in some major affair, as the main road was totally cordoned off to through traffic, and I had to push the bicycle and myself through the fence to continue (detours were not well marked).

Typical Municipal fountain

These are common in Spanish villages, and allowed me to survive while only carrying one 750ml bottle

Arrived in Segovia ... tourists are everywhere.  The top 2 attractions are:
Segovia Cathedral

They build their cathedrals BIG in Segovia. 

 and, the Romans, being great builders, built a huge aqueduct that runs through Segovia.

So... on Wed. morning, I headed out for my last riding day... which was to San Rafael, about 40km from Madrid, where I took a regional train to Madrid and settled into my hotel a vender mi bicicleta y la espera de la llegada de Alexandra,   who is returning from a month in the Philippines.
Total bike trip stats:  1200 Miles, 36,000 ft total vertical.

Entering España

Sun 09/09:  Stayed an extra day (Sunday night) in Arachon, since it was raining.  This afforded a nice opportunity to ride up to the waterfront to sample the local seafood.

Excellent Mussels and Frites at Le Routioutiou in Gujan-Mestras

Decide to take train to Bayonne on Monday, which involved a 12 mile bike ride back to Biganos.  While waiting for the train, I got myself a haircut... I´m noticing there´s less and less hair to cut these days.

The French town, Bayonne, bears no resemblance whatsoever to its New Jersey namesake.

On Tuesday (9/11) rode into Spain.  Noticed the difference right away.  The towns were a little more hard-scrabble in Spain, but the larger cities (like San Sebastian) were very much on par with similar-sized French cities.

My hotel (Parma) was directly across from a huge public beach and right next to the main bar-restaurant area.  Like similar towns in France, much of the ¨Old City¨ was pedestrian only.   Lively bar scene.  Lots of young'uns.

Wednesday´s ride was to Segura, a very small 1-hotel town.   
On Thursday, I rode out of Segura, which started with a long climb

 then a little descent close to the town of Olazagutía. Google Maps then directed me into a dirt road (it does that sometimes) While trying to find a way out of that one, I kept hearing what I thought were gunshots. I headed into town, and discovered the sound was firecrackers. I asked the lady at the bakery what was going on. She said ¨festival¨

I asked what the festival was about... she said ¨eating and drinking¨  My Spanish was insufficient for a follow-up question... so I left it at that.

I am now in Vitoria-Gasteiz where I had a nice dinner of Tapas and beer . Most dinners here are at bars that serve little sandwiches and skewers etc. They eat late too... kitchens don´t typically open until 8:30 PM.

Along the west coast of France

Tuesday 9/4
After leaving Vannes, I headed east to Nantes, a sizable city with a good network of bicycle lanes, nice restaurants, etc. 

Canard

Strawberry Tart

 On Wed. I headed south to stay in La Roche-sur-Yon, then Rochefort on Thursday night.  Nice towns, but nothing particularly memorable.  I mostly enjoyed the fine fud,

Profiteroles

 From Rochefort, on Friday morning, I biked to Royan to take the ferry to Soulac sur Mer.  See:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1k95mH1pxwBwWcjgyZKuaKurpby4YTQV8&usp=sharing
From there it's been bike path all the way.  My lodging was an AirBnb in the small lakeside town of Hourtin in one of about 6 motel-like rooms that Nathan, an interesting chap from Wales, built.  It's about 50m from the bike path that runs all the way from Soulac to Arcachon, which is where I am now.

All Bike Path (paved) all day

It's raining this morning,,, and the Best Western here has provided me with a laptop which has enabled me to update the blog.  Allegedly it will clear up a little after noon, so I can make it to my next stop. 

Through Belgium back into France

It's coming on Fall.  My last night in Luxembourg was in the charming town of Clervaux.  It was below 50 on Sunday morning, so I bought me a bright yellow running jacket and proceeded to ride to Liege, Belgium.

The next day was rainy, so I took the train from Liege to Belgium, and had a decidedly unhealthy 

lunch of fries at Fryland

Belgian Fries for lunch at "Fryland" in  Brussels

The central square in Brussels is very impressive...  see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Place#Buildings_around_the_square

For dinner, the rabbit was tough, but the profiterole was sweet.

Profiterol 

Then, on to Amiens.  They too have a Notre Dame cathedral, which also has a light show at 10... but unlike Strasbourg, they project the show directly onto the face of the cathedral, ending with a recreation of the original colors, which have faded over the centuries.

Notre Dame in Amiens

.

Rouen was the next stop.  Again, very impressive Notre Dame cathedral, said to be the inspiration for the cathedral Notre Dame in Paris.  It's huge, and, as in the other towns with huge Notre Dame cathedrals, the light show starts at 10.

Passed by this on my way back from dinner.  Inspired me to look up Mathilde, one of my favorite AFS students from last year, who lives in Brittany.

Rouen Cathedral Notre Dame

it's so big, can't get it all in one shot

From Rouen, rode to Deauville (Fri. 8/31), then onward to the Normandy beaches where D-Day marked the beginning of the end for Nazi occupation of France and other Western European countries.  My main stop was Arromanches-les-Bains.  The Nazis had correctly determined that if the Allies were going to try to drive them out, they would need to bring equipment and supplies from England into France, and would need to control a port, so they occupied and heavily fortified all existing ports along the French coastline, and would blow up these ports rather than have allied forces control them.  They Allies determined that they only way around this was to construct their own port quickly after the initial landings, which they did by pre-fabricating much of the port in England, then towing it across the channel, and installing it in Arromanches-les-Bains.  It's known as the "Mulberry Port"  see:
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_Mulberry
It was a remarkable feat of engineering, including a floating roadway where ships could unload in deeper water, and drive tanks, trucks etc. onto the beach to supply the invading forces.

Section of floating roadway.

Caisson which was used to block the waves.

Excellent profiteroles in Bayeux for lunch.

Bayeux Cathedral

Caught a train from Bayeux to Vannes late Sunday afternoon..  On Monday rode out to visit Mathilde, who lives in the countryside about 15km from Vannes. Her dad, Thierry, has an amazing machine shope in the garage, where he rebuilds custom wheels, among other things.   He also built major portions of their house.  From her place, we biked around the countryside, doing a 35km loop which included a lunch of buckwheat galettes (a local Brittany specialty) for both the main course and dessert.
I rode back to Vannes, and about an hour after getting back Mathilde, Thierry, and Valerie (mom) drove into the city to take me out for Mussels in the Vannes harbor area.

Huge fish at Vannes harbor

Harbor in Vannes

L to R: Thierry, Valierie, yours truly, and Mathilde

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I updated the bike tour map this morning.