France - North Germany — The Story

CHAPTER 2 Pyrenees, French border - Lyon, France - Belgium/Germany [may 7 - June 11, 2022]

Europe Project : April - September, 2022 … Lisbon to North Cape in Norway with a return to Vancouver via the Faroe Islands and Iceland.

May 7, 2022

France 🇫🇷

It is a gradual climb, long but with a profile that allows us to keep a steady pace. First on a dirt track, just outside of Pamplume, which soon becomes a shady path along a stream, to eventually join the road that will take us to the low pass of Cazadores. Our itinerary mingles with that of the pilgrims who have left from different parts of France to reach San Sebastián on the Atlantic coast. Some have been on the trail for a few weeks, others for a few days. The starting points are numerous and spread not only on the French territory but also in several European countries. The "Trail" is in fact a multitude of itineraries of which the most northern point is Trondheim in Norway where we will pass in several weeks. Very rare are those who walk more than 2 weeks but the spirit of the "Trail" is present in all minds.

Since our departure from Lisbon, we have been lucky enough to be able to trace our route along many remote paths. The "Camino Verde" gives us a feeling of total freedom from the road traffic stress . This network of paths along country lanes or old railway lines is often well marked and blends in with the European cycling routes, known as the "Euro Velo". Without trying to calque our itinerary on the Euro Velo, we sometimes ride them without meeting any other cyclists in this early spring season.

It is only from Pamplona that we meet our first cycle-tourists and bikepackers. The descent of the pass towards the French border is fast and long in a green narrow valley where sheep and cows are mixing their bell sounds. Our smiles contrast with the tense and sweaty faces of those who are struggling to climb the pass. With the exception of some, surprisingly in big numbers, who have chosen the electric bike option to be part of the pilgrim community. The frustration is visible on the faces of the "non-electrics".

Throughout our first 1800km, sharing the road with road traffic went smoothly. Car and truck drivers showed a lot of respect to us and our 2 wheels. Feelings of safety that are sometimes embarrassing especially on some of the country side narrow climbs when drivers have to wait patiently for an opportunity to overtake.

As soon as we cross the border between Spain and France, we experience our first honks and signs of impatience. The spirit of kindly sharing the public road network will fade away as a good memory from Portugal and Spain.

It is around lunch time that we arrive to Saint Jean Pieds de Porc. A well-known touristic little town in the French Pyrenees.

Most of the villages we have crossed so far have left us with a rather unexpected feeling of desertification. In spite of the recent urban development or renovation of the cultural and historical heritage, we are surprised to encounter only a few inhabitants and even less tourists. The contrast is all the more striking in this first small and very touristy French town. The higher prices for a coffee and croissants are not the only surprise, many coffee places and restaurant terraces, some more welcoming than others, however, incite to stop. Returning to the lower altitudes, we already miss the fresh and pleasant air of the pass. The heat is clearly exceptional for this time of the year and the weather forecast is preparing us for the first heat wave of the season. Sitting in a shady terrace, our bikes leaning against a nearby wall, are the subject of various and sometimes admiring comments. Unaware of our nearby presence, some tourists on bus tours pretend to be bicycle experts in front of their audience from the bus tour mates going on and on in a technical lecture that degrades us to the status of motorized cyclists. Our frame bags and the big hub of the rear wheel equipped with the Rolhoff system (internal hub speed system) make them believe that the bikes are electrified. Their comments devaluing, wrongly, our effort - and …ego 😂 - turn into a laugh from us when some of them pretend to be master senior experts explaining in detail a non-existent electrical system. The joke has its limits and it is difficult for me to remain always without reaction....

With our bikes loaded with food and water, we set off again in the direction of Olorons St Marie and, not without difficulty, we find a place to camp along a river, at the foot of a large hill that we saved for the cooler hours of the next morning.

Since the day is going to be very hot, we leave at 7am. The climb starts after only 2 km, so without much warm up, we attack the 8%+ gradients. The pass remains at low altitude but a sign at the top congratulates us for having climbed the steep sections.

The road is very hilly, offering us beautiful views of the Pyrenees. The ribbon of asphalt seems to be just sitting on the landscape. This leaves us with the feeling that the concern to facilitate bicycle travel was not an important point in the construction blue prints of the road network. We go up, we go down, we go up, we go down, it's endless. Yet, the trend after Oloron Sté Marie will be more difficult through the Gers and Cantal. We slowly leave the Pyrenees and lose some altitude to reach the city of Pau. My passion for the mountains and caving sport activities, when I lived in Belgium, led me to spend exploring a lot of time in this region. My memories of Pau are mainly of a noisy and dirty town, but a must stop over when travelling by train or for supplies before going to the mountains. The surprise is big and unexpected. We discover a city that has become essentially pedestrian, where walking between the different newly renovated historical sites has become a real pleasure, as well as the quiet moments on the terraces of the many cafes and restaurants. A feeling of good lifestyle “a la Française”. The same surprise occurs for many other touristic towns crossed later on.

The crossing of the Gers and Dordogne regions, especially under a heat wave abnormally early in the season, is more sporty than expected. Even if the terrain and profile put us to the test, the crossings of historical villages are as many sources of visual and gustatory pleasures. Cahors, Rocamadour, Argentat, among many others are villages surrounded by forests, hidden in deep valleys or perched on rocky promontories. They offer us beautiful rewards every day for the efforts made. Our route consists of joining different historical points of interest while preserving a choice essentially based on small country roads that are often narrow but devoid of traffic. However, and against all odds, wild camping turns out to be more difficult than expected. Private properties, and lack of water near a possible place of camping, force us to anticipate a stop for the night in the middle of the afternoon and often without much discretion. On the other hand, the campsites available, even in remote corners, end up becoming eventually our daily destination goals. With prices around 10-12 euros, we have access to a shower and most of the time to a washing machine. Spring evenings are now longer and more pleasant to justify our stops around 4 hours regardless of the distance travelled. Great relax moments to encounters rare fellow travellers.

From castles to castles, from fortified villages to fortified villages, we progress surrounded by brooms in full blossom towards Cantal and the Massif Central aiming the city of Clermont Ferrand as the highlight. A superb region with landscapes drawn by a volcanic past whose contours are clearly visible leaving us with tired legs at the end of each day. All this part of South West France crossed is a real treat and a healthy challenge on a bike. Meetings, undoubtedly facilitated by the knowledge of the language, make this part of the journey one of the most varied and enjoyable since the beginning. From Clermont Ferrand we still have to reach Lyon to find Jennifer, my niece and her family living there. First family visit on our journey which will be followed by a longer visit of our respective families in Belgium. Belgium which we will be reached by car from Lyon, thanks to the dedication of Jennifer.

BELGIUM 🇧🇪

May 29

We are planning a break of more or less 2 weeks in Belgium in order to visit our families and take advantage of this time to do a complete tune up of the bikes after more or less of 2600km traveled and a change of the rear tires which did not turn out to be of great resistance since Lisbon. Aware of the seasons and the remaining distances, the continuation of the journey through Scandinavia encourages us to limit the time spent in Belgium. If the North of Scandinavia and its weather reduces our window of pleasant weather, we must also keep in mind Iceland which will follow and our necessary reservation of the plane between Norway and the Faroe Islands as well as the ferry to reach Iceland, our final destination. Important deadlines to be added to the schedule and an otherwise wide open calendar. I must say that the idea of a schedule to dictate a rhythm of a journey has never been our cup of tea in these circumstances. We like the feeling to decide our route and timing on the go.

Under recommendations and referrals, our bikes are left in the care of a technician who will prove to be totally incompetent. An adjustment, however unnecessary, of the tensions of the spokes of my rear wheel has resulted the explosion of my rim (!!). First hidden, then denied, an attempt at camouflage the damages fails and the technician has no other option but to recognize the damages while denying his all responsibility. The problem is that we are still in a “post Covid” period and spare parts are hard to find. Time passes and our plans must be reviewed. In the absence of positive results concerning the delivery of a new rim, we foresee the possibility of a simple cancelation of the trip on material breakage. A loss of time and trust in an efficient service from the technician have me repossessing the bikes, after a clearly expressed “disappointment”,(!!). Thanks to the efficient help and support kindly offered by Savery, …. thank you again Savery!, We will be saved by the technician of another bicycle shop close to the Luxemburg border who, not only will squeeze us in a tight agenda in his workshop but also will find a rim in record time. The trip is saved and with almost 2 weeks delay, we can get back on the road. In order to make up for lost time, we decide to take a train from Aachen in Germany to reach Hamburg.

GERMANY 🇩🇪

June 11

A crossing which, on paper, should go smoothly and with the exceptional financial advantage of a train pass at 9 euros on all German rail journeys offered in this summer season to give a car alternative at the high gas prices.

The train journey begins on a good note. We embark our bikes and find seats nearby. Since we were too late to make a reservation in the fast train we have 4 connections between local trains. The shortest one gives us 15’ to change platforms and trains. A screen on each carriage keeps us informed of the next train stops and possible delays. The 9 euros pass is a good idea, too good, and quickly we have the feeling that the entire Germany is in our train. More bikes, more strollers, more wheelchairs,…more people…, all kind of them, more of everything from one stop to another. All be translated by more time to embark and disembark, thus more delays announced on the screen. Luckily, the first connection is on the same platform and the 12’ delay give us a bonus of 3’ to catch the next train. If the first train was empty when we jumped in at the end of the line, this one is already 3/4 full as we push to find our way in. The space reserved for bikes is more than full.

We must be content to stay at the entrance of the car under the disapproving gaze of the passengers at the sight of our bikes. We will remain standing for more than 3 hours, at each stop of the train we have to move the bikes to allow the passengers to get on or off the train. The day goes on and the train is now completely full. Our next connection is not impacted by our new delay. We have 25 minutes. But this time it gets complicated because we have to change platform which means we have to go down one floor to go under the railroad tracks. There is an elevator on the platform but it is too small to accept our 2 bikes in one trip. The long line of cyclists or parents with their children's strollers discourages us to wait. We will take the escalator. A first attempt that turns out to be much more perilous than anticipated. The slope is steep and while my front wheel starts the descent, my rear wheel with the weight of the panniers and the angle imposed by the escalator makes the bike tip over in a kind of un-controlled salto. Sylvia watches the scene from the top of the escalator and waits to see me on still ground, safe and sound before launching herself into the ordeal with lesson learned from my poor performance. The ascent to the platform is much more controllable.

Our 3rd train is just as full. The looks given to us are this time much more disapproving, we have to push to enter and we will continue to make a close introduction to another part of Germany. A real social class and demographic session to which is added a bath of sweat and body odors. Our 4th train should take us to the center of Hamburg. Not being sure of the feasibility of each connections, we wait until we are on the 4th and last train to book an accommodation in Hamburg. Miraculously, the train has a special bike car where we find shelter. Everything seems to be going well, we can now book a hotel for a last minute very low rate. A few minutes pass and an announcement made by the conductor informs us that we will have to change train in the next station....(?) , the toilets are all full (!!!), they have to empty them and for that disembark the passengers who would have been very disappointed to not be able to use the train toilet for the last 30 minutes remaining on the journey. We believe in a joke but the information is confirmed. We are promised that this change will only lead to a delay of about ten minutes. In reality it will be 45 minutes. The check in at the hotel must be done before 9pm, this new delay risking to compromise the reservation I decide to phone to confirm our arrival even delayed. I discover an email from Booking.com, informing us that the hotel booked is overbooked but that an alternative is offered to us followed by a refund of the price difference if we accept the new destination. Not much other choice than to accept even if the hotel is out of the city center. This day begins to feel like more an exhausting and stressful experience rather than a relax and lazy train journey. The very next train station stop in our empty toilets train and…obligation to get off , all of us. The train will not go any further. In order to recover a big part of its delay, the passengers waiting in Hamburg were taken to our new terminus and the train will leave in the opposite direction right away with all the passenger from Hamburg. The Deutsche Bahn (the national train company) literally is getting rid of us. And, for us to get to Hamburg, we have to take a local subway train located 2 floors down. No elevator, no escalator, we take the stairs with the crowd furious of this new frustration. Arrived 2 levels down, the platform is packed up with people. We barely manage to get out of the flight of stairs. Our faces must be expressive because a person offers his charitable help but also tells us that no train is running because some people are wandering on the rails in the tunnels and the security services are looking for them. Until then, everything is at a standstill! We are pretty sure there must be a candid camera that has followed us since the early hours of our day trip, and we will be in the “best of” for 2022. We go back up the 2 floors by the same staircases to the surface public ground, so that we can locate us and finally cover the about 25km to our new hotel. We arrive there without too much difficulty. It's 11pm, June 21st, the longest daylight of the year, late dusk. A disgusting burger at the nearby McDonald's will end our “9 Euros day”.

After a short night, a lazy lunch in the center of Hamburg, a short visit by bike of some city highlights and we start our route to the Danish border which will be reached 4 days later. We ride along canals, passing small towns typical of Northern Germany, bucolic country sides, life is great. The pleasure to get back on our bikes and to return to the rhythm of the trip, eclipse the desire to discover more of this part of Germany. In the initial project, Belgium and Germany were only short transition countries in order to arrive in Scandinavia in the best season. The loss of time linked to the problem of the bicycle and the non-exciting experience of the German train customer service boost the desire to discover the Scandinavian nature as soon as possible. The last couple of days, we have seen and deal with enough people to deserve a mental break. We are looking forward to live adventure again in the North of Europe for this 3rd part of the trip....

challenge

+10250m/-10470m

ROUTE

919KM

Biking TIME

17 days

off road

94KM

CHAPTER 2

Pyrenees, French border - Lyon, France - Belgium/Germany [may 7 - June 11, 2022]

France 🇫🇷