Schedules Collide with a Windy Bridge

“To travel is to discover that everyone is wrong about other countries.”

Aldous Huxley

Biked Belgium for a week in 2017. Last summer we traversed Rails to Trails in South Dakota, USA. To take the bike riding a little further, Suva and I came up with a general plan to bike from the Atlantic Ocean to the Black Sea . . . in stages. With the proper planning, it would correspond with a ten year anniversary ride across part of Belgium.

A Cycling Network?

EuroVelo, the European cycle route network, was the motivation. EuroVelo, is a “network of 17 long-distance cycle routes that cross and connect Europe . . . Only routes approved by the European Cyclists’ Federation can be called EuroVelo.”

Specifically, EuroVelo 6, which runs from France to Bulgaria is a guide, but we will wander north into Belgium after France, before returning south to EuroVelo 6.

Suva and I have decided to divide the trip up into segments with the first starting in Saint-Brevins-les-Pins, a French summer beach town.

Schedules Collide with a Bridge

Fortunately a week long school fall break and his vacation aligned. From October 4th to the 10th, we are biking along the Loire Valley from the Atlantic Ocean to Briare in north-central France.

Today, Suva flew in from the United States while I arrived late last night from Egypt. After brunch at Resto Odessa (named after my hometown), we jumped on the train to the Atlantic Ocean. Unfortunately, we thought it was stopping in Saint-Brevins-les-Pins, but instead dropped us off in Saint-Nazaire, the twin town just across the Loire River inlet. Two options for Suva and I were to ride our bikes 4.5 hours to get to our lodging, or cross Pont de Saint-Nazaire, one of France’s longest bridges.

As we strongly considered turning around and finding a place to stay in Saint-Nazaire, two Aussi cyclists were approached looking to cross the same bridge. We chatted about the wind, fog, wind, impending death if hit by a truck, and the wind. A French man rolled by and I asked, “can we cross this bridge?” “Ben oui, I cross it every day.” In his sandals nonetheless. The American/Aussi cohort decided to cross together. I cycled to the apex of the bridge, which was quite high and very windy, while Suva walked his bike over two miles across the cable stayed bridge.

Finally brought the bikes to Saint-Brevin-les-Pins, never having planned to bike today.

Day 1 of Stage 1

Tomorrow, Dipping the tip of our tires in the Atlantic Ocean for day 1 of stage 1 before continuing to Mauve-Sur-Loire 50 miles away. Let’s hope Suva doesn’t have to tackle anymore bridges.

Some interesting news from around here – Russian tanker off of the Saint-Nevaire coast.