With Apollo in France

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With Apollo in France John & Ann Rhodes I arrived home from work one day to be asked by Ann, "Do you mind lifigo to Rome, Croatia, and Bosnia- Herzegovina? Oh, and afterwards France, London and Vancouver. l'd leave in a fortnight. " I was about to protest but just in time I remembered Nepal '93 and China '96; SO I said, "that's lovely dear, I'm sure it must be your turn and it'll get rid of some unwanted money. " But after a few days' reflection / changed my tune: "I'm coming too. I nn did her Mediterranean thing then Apollo the puter registering a steady 40 km/h. Apollo handles like tandem, tent and I met her in Frankfurt. We all a bus when he has 25 kg of gear attached, but get him flew to Lyon in France, with amazing views of the rolling and his momentum is quite something! We'd got Alps en route. We spent the next three weeks practising al bit fit by then. our French and pedalling to London. Thel best part was a Then there was Raymond, who befriended us as we wonderful bike shop and factory in Lyon, specialising in ate our lunch in St Aignan sur Cher. He was born in tandems. Apollo received a major componentry upgrade, 1902 and had been a prisoner of war (WWII) in Leipzig to the detriment of our Visa account. Penance was done with only potatoes to eat ("Les Allemands ne sont pas by biking 115 km into a northerly wind on the first day bons pournous").His wife had sent him chocolate. Now out of Lyon and spending three days in a religious com- she's been dead for ten years ("Je suis seul. Pas de munity at Taizé. femme. "). He took us to his tiny home and showed us European architecture is a bit of a disappointment. around it with pride, opening every cupboard for in- It's mostly very old and built without benefit of corru- spection. On the kitchen table was a pile of postcards gated iron, weatherboard, Hardiplank or ranchsliders. and faded photographs of his parents and sister. His There's a great quantity ofi it, especially of the ecclesias- wife's clothes werel laid out on the bed upstairs. We left tical kind. We passed an ancient stone church in every quite misty-eyed as he was getting out the whiskey village; that's a lot of churches as the villages are never glasses. more than 10 km apart and usually closer. And more... the microlight pilot who buzzed us with Passed? We stopped and photographedheaps of those a friendly wave on a still evening south of Paris; the ten churches and helped to clean spider webs from one. hot air balloons in the sky an hour later; the cheap wine We also took part in the grapeharvest, worked lock gates (John wasn't allowed it at lunchtimes as he was steeron the Loire canal, photographed a million wild flow- ing); and above all, far, far above all, the utter friendliers, and ate endless cakes and pastries Apollo fuel ness and helpfulness of everyone we met. People waved, from village patisseries. they wished us "bon voyage" or "bon courage" or "je We're trying to sound blasé but we can't do it! Biking vous souhait un bon séjour"; and whenever we wanted through France was a wonderful adventure in the strict help (which was often) they went out of their way to sense of the word: an activity with uncertain outcome. give it. At Pontoise, on the way out of Paris, we stopped At the start of each day we had no idea where we'd be to ask directions of a dark-skinned man whose presthat night or what surprises were in store. Surprises like ence here we took to be part of the legacy of France's the windmill between Blois and Chateaudun, or the old imperial adventures in North Africa. Empire yes, Africa city of Moulins (we'd never even heard of Moulins!). It no. This was, Jean-Marie from Guadeloupe. Minutes later gave us our first cathedral (except Ann had already been we were eating lunch in his apartment with his family to St Peters). She did some fast-talking and got us up and toasting one another in Coca-Cola. thel bell tower and onto the roof. Surprises like Gisors in Oh yes, Paris. We kept meeting people who told us Normandy. We only went there to visit the supermarché not, on any account, to bike into Paris. Take the train, and discovered a ruined castle. Surprises like the pa- they said, the traffic is horrendous. This was only weeks rade (fire-eater, marching girls, unicyclists) on a Satur- after the Diana episode. Biking in Paris sounded as day afternoon in Chateaudun, or like trying our hand at though it had the potential to be an activity with uncerstone carving in a chateau courtyard ("c'est tout à fait tain outcome. The youth hostel warden at Bourges phocomme le fromage!"). Like meeting the oldest inhabit- tocopied his street map of the big P for us and painstakant of Amay-le-Chateau. She'd turned 100 just a few ingly highlighted the route across town to the hostel days before. Like riding west from Bourges (our second where we were booked. As we got closer to the throbcathedral) on a glass-smooth road with a following wind. bing metropolis we bought maps of its environs in inl'd just said to Ann "the boys in the Tour de France creasing detail and positioned ourselves for the final peloton would sure motor along here" when a bunch of assault by spending our last night camping à la ferme racing cyclists appeared from a side road. We flew along with only 50 km to go. In the event, the Parisian circulain their slipstream for 10km, trading names of60's Tour tion wasn't too bad but it sure made the streets of Welheroes and acknowledging les All Blacks, with our com- lington seem empty by comparison, and it demanded Tramping and Mountaineering 1998 adigios Serving wine, grape harvest near St Joseph en Beaujolais John Rhodes total concentration by both riders. We parked Apollo at where we went that day with beautiful pen and ink the hostel and explored on foot and by Metro. For what sketches of the main sights. we did, see any tourist brochure. The biggest painting At Vancouver airport Allan (expatriate Kiwi) met us. we saw in the Louvre was 12.5m long. Apollo stayed in the left luggage. "On no account are You may have guessed that Paris wore us down a bit you to bike across the city!" Elaine had insisted. Allan and it was a relief to get back in the saddle and rolling and Elaine devoted their Thanksgiving weekend (turkey! again. Two days put us at Dieppe (chalk cliffs!) and across pumpkin pie!) to a royal treatment of us and watched to southern England (Newhaven) where the price of ac- uncomplainingly while their larder was dented by appecommodation immediately trebled. With this incentive, tites magnified by Gallic calorie loss. They took us on we puti in a longish day to reach free accommodation. A walks and bike rides through forests of Douglas fir and one-in-sixteen climb from the Weald onto the North red cedar, and we looked out over the waters of Burrard Downs nearly defeated us. We pulled in just on dusk to Inlet to the distant spires of the city. Bill Hargreaves' place in Kingston-upon-Thames. Bill is On our last day we sampled downtown Vancouver, a vintage T&M (60s variety) with an urge to feed and while the bell-desk people of a luxury hotel looked after shelter clubbies far from home. Wel had clocked up 1200 their Commonwealth cousins by minding our panniers km since Lyon and were pretty satisfied with ourselves. at no charge. Our eyes popped at low prices in the The city of London exerted the same kind of fascina- Mountain Equipment Co-operative and we left with a tion on us as had Paris. That is, we felt compulsively major repackaging problem before checking in for the drawn to it like rabbits mesmerised by car headlights, flight home. with results only slightly more rewarding. The outcomes Yes, do go biking in France. It's a cycle tourist's parawere certain and the streets so noisy it was impossible dise. A capillary network of minor roads, traffic-free and to hold a conversation. Southeastern England, and Lon- perfectly sealed, covers the country. The French have don in particular, is obscenely overpopulated. Our view wonderful institutions called gîtes d'étape, a bit like small of it was redeemed when Bill took us on a 25 km bike youth hostels, which are cheap and comfortable. Some ride entirely through green places: beside the Thames even supply sheets and towels. In September, after the (shades of Wind in the Willows and Three Men in a Boat) holiday season but before the winter shutdown, we ofand through Hampton Court Park and Richmond Park. ten had them to ourselves. Sometimes we tented in Wel learned that wide open spaces exist within a minute's camping grounds. We lived cheaply out of supermarbiking from Bill's gate; that Richmond Park is a sample kets; but as we couldn't carry a whole cabbage on the of England as it was before anybody, except maybe a bike, wildturnip tops picked at the roadside gave us our few chaps running around in woad, lived there; and that evening greens. And (haven't we already said this?) the a single bike piloted by a fit sixty-ish bloke can acceler- people rewarded our meagre efforts at their language ate a whole lot faster than a tandem. Bill, who's an ac- with great friendliness. Nous voulons retourner! We want complished artist, later sent us a hand-drawn map of to go back! Tramping and Mountaineering 1998