France by Bicycle | PART 14: BORDEAUX

Our route takes us across the Gironde Estuary on a ferry to the left bank of the river Garonne, and deep into the heart of the Bordeaux region. Riding past countless wine chateaus, we fall in love with the gentle landscapes of this fertile land, until we reach the city of Bordeaux, where we spend an afternoon and evening enjoying this lovely French city. In the morning, our route takes us through the city and then out of the Garonne Valley along the Roger Lapèbie cycle path, a 57 km rail trail that journeys through forests and vineyards, sharing the route with Eurovelo 3, the Pilgrim’s Route. Eventually we leave the trail and climb higher, with spectacular views of the Bordeaux countryside in all directions. Eventually we descend back down into the Garonne Valley and the village of Castets et Castillon, where the beginning of the Canal de Garonne begins, and the start of our ride along the Canal des Deux Mers. An absolutely spectacular couple of days!
Music:
Accordion and Glockenspiel Comedy - JK Productions
Pond Five
081716572-accordion-and-glockenspiel-com
a href="www.pond5.com/royalty-free-mu..."Stock Music/a provided by JK_Production, from a href=“www.pond5.com/"Pond5/a
Anten Before Dawn - Dandelion
Epidemic Sound
French Connection - Medite
Epidemic Sound
Coffee Shop Date - Jaydan Talley
Epidemic Sound
Swans in Flight - Asher Fulero
KZbin Audio Library
From My Bedroom Window - Headlund
Epidemic Sound

[@user-mu2pn7zc4n]

BEST. EPISODE.EVER!

[@TheBicycleTourists]

Thank you Neil! I like this one a lot too!

[@user-mu2pn7zc4n]

Great to see a lot of the same route we took. The hills south of Bordeaux are a bit of a challenge. We had those on our first 2 days.

[@TheBicycleTourists]

We do like the flats. But the best scenery tends to be on the climbs.

[@michelesauret7779]

I think so

[@garyseckel295]

Your videos are so uplifting in so many ways. Thank you both for taking me on your ride!

[@TheBicycleTourists]

I appreciate that Gary. Bicycle touring is such an addicting activity. We do try to share the joy!

[@tomm8660]

I can relate to the the deep breathing "exercise" starting at 19:45. Whenever I find myself doing that going up a hill or recovering at the top, I *always* tell myself "Breathe deep, because you can. There are many our age who can't." Great segment, as usual!

[@TheBicycleTourists]

I was a smoker until I was 41. I never take those deep breaths for granted. I remember when I couldn’t get in a deep breath to save my soul.

[@atmrtwbike]

Fully caught up! Now I have to wait for the next episode. 🙂 Each episode just gets better and better!

[@TheBicycleTourists]

Glad to hear it! Appreciate you for following.

[@bobstoffberg2447]

Thank you for sharing your wonderful trip. Very useful as my wife and I will be cycling from Bordeaux to Sete along the Cabal Des Deux Mers in September 2023. Since we have not done this route before I'm finding your videos very informative and helpful. Looking forward to the next episode. Thank You!

[@TheBicycleTourists]

Thanks, Bob, and you’re welcome! The next few videos should be very informative for you. It’s a lovely, easy route with lots to look forward to!

[@maxdugan5319]

As always beautiful video with great facts about the area!

[@TheBicycleTourists]

Thanks Max! We’ll talk soon!

[@lindahowes5949]

Beautiful skies, scenery, church bells, and music. Well done! 💜

[@TheBicycleTourists]

Thank you Linda! This was such a beautiful part of France

[@user-dl7kt7qj2i]

Again a very nice episode! I cycled with my daughter the same trip (Nevers - Saint Nazaire - Hendaye and last year Bordeaux - Montpellier). So great to recognize the joy of biking, the good life in France and beautiful scenery. Great music on your video's! I followed your coast to coast in US, looks fabulous, it inspired me to plan the same in a few years.

[@TheBicycleTourists]

Awesome! The U.S. is a great adventure. You're lucky to be cycling with your daughter, what a great family experience. My two daughters and I are looking to do a small bike tour in Spain later in the year.

[@eff6582]

Bonjour, The beautiful diversity of landscapes that your trip highlights ! The legs felt heavy after those hills ! Au revoir !

[@TheBicycleTourists]

Bonjour! Love that feeling of exhaustion after a day of hard riding! Such great sleep!

[@michelesauret7779]

Delighful as always 😊❤

[@TheBicycleTourists]

Thanks Michele!

[@PumpkinVillage]

Once again a beautiful country all over and trails so nice. That last room was so nice. Funny how we run into people all over the world from home. 20 years in the Navy and I always would run into someone from Vermont. Small world. Thanks for another outstanding video and take care, Al

[@TheBicycleTourists]

Thanks Al! Yeah, I just love these little serendipitous moments. Life is full of magic!

[@TerrapinCyclist]

So glad that you were able to enjoy this perfect day. This is definitely a bucket list ride. John & Berta

[@TheBicycleTourists]

Thanks John & Berta! We had many days in France that were 10/10, but this deserves a special place!

[@alethearobinson8132]

Stunning scenery. What a grand journey. I like the idea of having gear sagged. The downside is having to follow your luggage and not being able to adjust the schedule. Enjoying your adventures

[@TheBicycleTourists]

I’m going the sagged route with my daughters, in Spain later this year. I’ll see how I like it!

[@cyclistefroisse9267]

Bonjour Roland et Julianna, Love your videos, all of them, IMHO, this is one is special, it conveys a sense of calmness, serenity and simplicity. Everything works, no mechanicals, alles klar, pure enjoyment. It’s as if the country had adopted you and you two, reciprocally, had adopted it. @ Episode 14, you start feeling very much at home, don’t you ? 😊

[@TheBicycleTourists]

Bonjour! We do feel very much at home, but it’s also the place itself, this region just had such a sweet rustic vibe. I do agree that this one felt special!

[@cyclistefroisse9267]

... and you are very much into rustic vibes😉 away from tourists traps. For an authentic true French rustic vibe, next time you could ride les Cévennes. Vorsicht ! it’s hilly. You might consider renting e-bikes, electric MTB with racks. Not much has changed since Robert Lewis Stevenson wrote Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes.

[@TheBicycleTourists]

That sounds amazing!

[@markclemens3409]

Wonderful scenery and a great segment. Here's the picture on the geography. The Garonne and the Dordogne come together near Bordeaux, and downstream from the confluence, the estuary is known as the Gironde. . The name of the estuary was applied to one of the Republican factions during the French Revolution; they were known as Girondins because so many of their members came from around Bordeaux. It was a Paris versus the provinces struggle. The provinces lost, and alas, most of the Girondins went to the guillotine.

[@TheBicycleTourists]

Sorry to hear about the Girondins. But the names and geography make sense and helps explain it.

[@dondonner1095]

You have me looking forward to Friday's. Awesome. You might want to check those washing machines, I understand in Europe the washers are also dryers many times.

[@e-BikeLife]

Yes, indeed, they often are.

[@TheBicycleTourists]

Yes, we found that on a couple of occasions.

[@colinwellman9480]

Lovely episode! The world is full of coincidences but meeting a couple also cycling in France and both from the same neck of the woods an ocean away must rank high. The wonderful thing about travelling by bike is you don't have to watch the calories and can indulge yourselves. The coypu are called ragondin here in France and are seen as a pest. In parts of France the French turn them into a pate, sort of revenge for damage they do I guess.😃 As your tour was filmed in 2022 I'm wondering if you are planning a tour in 2023. Thanks so much for sharing this, you are now in an area I don't know well so doubly enjoyable. Keep those cranks turning.👍

[@TheBicycleTourists]

Thank you Colin! It’s a small world, full of coincidences. I love that! Also love indulging on these trips, although it’s hard to readjust once you get home. Pate is one of the few French dishes I don’t love; rat pate is next level!

[@TheBicycleTourists]

Our plans for 2023 are pretty loose. Julianna will be a grandmother within an hour (writing this in the waiting room), so it’s all wait and see.

[@sergemilaire3474]

Great video, thank you. Heading to France this Sunday, you've inspired us to think about renting some bikes and exploring whenever we can. Cheers.

[@TheBicycleTourists]

Wow! How cool is that! I bet it’s beautiful this time of year!

[@cyclistefroisse9267]

Not really, very rainy spring in some part of France (Good, replenishes aquifers). Yesterday 930 ha of forest gone in smoke near Cerbère, local people finding a refuge on the beach, 300 evacuated. Nobody hurt, thankfully. Dunno if such forest fires ever happened in April before?

[@TheBicycleTourists]

So it looks like another summer of drought then? That's tragic.

[@sergemilaire3474]

@@TheBicycleTourists I think this fire was close to the south eastern border with Spain, luckily we're not going anywhere close to that region. Heading to Provence this Friday and we'll hope for good cycling weather there.

[@TheBicycleTourists]

Good luck! When we in Colorado have forest fires in April, it means the whole summer is gonna be smoky.

[@donelliott9201]

Great video. I’m so glad your journey around France has so many stages and videos to eagerly anticipate. Is there any way you could sprinkle in a comment about the month and year of your travels? I’m trying to orient the changes in weather and scenery with the months. Thanks for your labor of love!

[@TheBicycleTourists]

Thank you Don! Yes, we left Nevers in very late August, rode the Loire early September. At this point in the video we are in late September I’d guess, This was 2022, an extraordinarily hot and dry summer.

[@user-sd9kp5wd2z]

Your videos have helped me get over the line in choosing a short unguided trip. It was either Bordeaux or the Canal du Midi. The Midi looks, like most people are saying, choppy and rocky in parts I'll do the wine country. Thank you. You are both inspiring and enjoying life.

[@TheBicycleTourists]

So glad we could be of service, Linda! Yes, the Canal du Midi is definitely less developed, although we found many delightful workarounds. But you can't go wrong with Bordeaux! When are you going?

[@dooley-ch]

Watch your videos makes my think about the possibilities of France, up to now I usually favor the Germanic countries as I speak German reasonably well.

[@TheBicycleTourists]

Oui! Consider it! We found the French to be very friendly and hospitable, in spite of the fact that we couldn't speak a lick of French. Add incredible food, wine, great cycling infrastructure, and magical European scenery. And always good to discover new horizons, non?

[@mikealman]

Enjoying the videos. Do you stick to EuroVelo? If not, how do you plan your route? Is accommodation pre planned or booked on the go.

[@TheBicycleTourists]

Thanks Mike. We look for routes that are as off-road as possible, sometimes that’s EV, but as we head up the Canal routes, it’s great trails but not EV, so we aren’t limited by the Euro Velo routes. We book rooms early afternoon usually. But we also usually travel during the off-season, so that helps with the spontaneity.

[@maxdavies9327]

Hello again Roland and Julianna, i hope you got back to Denver safely and your practicing your French cooking !!!. As I mentioned before my wife and I are doing a bike tour on the Moselle in Germany next year but would also love to do a tour on either the Canal du Midi ( from Toulouse to Sete ) by the way SETE is pronounced SET-A. !! or the Garonne canal ( from Bordeaux to Toulouse ). Excluding the Rail Trail, possibly a step to high for us...... We would use E-Bikes and the tour company would transport our luggage from town to town so all we would have with us while cyclung would be a backpack each. But which canal would you suggest we travel on ???. The Canal du Midi or the Canal du Garonne ??. Your thoughts would be appreciated. Max. Australia.

[@TheBicycleTourists]

The Garonne is a no-brainer, an easy trail the whole way and easy to follow, lots of pretty canal type scenery, great villages. If leisurely, serene countryside riding is your thing, this is a great choice. The Canal Du Midi is older and is more Mediterranean in feel. It's also rougher, much of the eastern half puts you onto roads that roughly follow the canal but the towpath can be mountain bike level, and there are some climbs (at least on the route that Komoot led us on). I understand that there is progress, but probably not very quick progress. If you're okay to ride on roads (very quiet, well-travelled by bicycle, very scenic) and you would like to see places like Carcassonne, Bezier, Narbonne, Sete, then this one is for you. Personally I think changing it up is good, between canals and roads, provides some variation. Enjoy, whatever you shoose!

[@prmatthiae]

I have thought of doing the Bordeaux to Sete route? Thoughts?

[@TheBicycleTourists]

Well, we loved it! It is flat and along canals of course if you choose that route, some find that boring but not us, not at all. Out of Bordeaux we followed a rail trail and farm roads north of the Garonne which was amazing. On the canal du midi the conditions deteriorated as you go east, but lots of alternative routes, and lovely Languedoc scenery. The villages along the way were great.

[@SuperOlds88]

If I would have known you were going to that area I would have had you swing through Sauternes and send me a case of Chateau d'Yquem and I would pay you later.

[@TheBicycleTourists]

We would’ve been happy to. Maybe next time?

[@e-BikeLife]

Pretty amazing! We had lunch along the river in that exact spot! (Well.... maybe not exactly) We spent almost a week in Bordeaux walking our legs off. Such a great city. "We're in France! Can you believe it!" Oh yes indeed I can. Such great scenery! I know you can't make every place, but, oh, you didn't make St. Emilion! Such a great little town. I had to share my video of the town in case you are interested kzbin.info/www/bejne/oYfKq42ferqpqJI Thanks so much for sharing another great great day.

[@TheBicycleTourists]

Thanks for the vid, it does look like an amazing place! Looks like it wouldn’t have been far out of our way either. But boy that Bordeaux landscape! Best riding ever!