Day 19- Mussonville to Blanquefort- 122 kms

3 Jul

We made an early start on our ride this morning at about 6.50 am to be well down the road before the heat kicked in!!

Yes this was before breakfast which was a little difficult but once I got going we had done about 30 kms before the hunger pangs started

The town we selected for breakfast had a village market being set up with food stalls and the like so we had a good choice of food. I had an OJ and 3 croissants. Chris had an OJ and croissant .... I later found a coffee shop that did cappuccino!!!! Wow what a change for France!!

After breakfast we then proceeded along some very pretty cycle ways which are a real feature of the Medoc region

The paths are everywhere and are well marked and FLAT!!!

This made for very fast riding until we came to our next stop in the village of Carcans... not sure how it got it’s name as it certainly does not sound French

At Carcans we had 2 each of the biggest lime and lemonade ( Chris had water with his lime) drinks you could imagine as we were feeling the heat. We also had a toasted baguette with butter and jam.... not the ideal lunch but we were hungry

After lunch we decided to take a shorter route than planned which meant about 20 kms on the road. Luckily for us most of the traffic was heading to the coast for the weekend break so traveling was both fast and safe and we made good time to Sainte Helene to rejoin the bike path

The route then took us on to the outskirts of Blanquefort on the most magnificent bike path. The surface was very good and was flat and in good straight stretches. I opened out in time trial mode with average speeds for Garmin distance gaps of 8 kms each of 30 kms/ hr plus in to a slight headwind and in temps of the mid to high 30’s.... it was exhilarating to say the least

We had a final stop at a pretty cafe to have a drink and fill water bottles as we were using water at a fast rate with the high temps and humidity

The cafe was an old railway station which served food and drinks much like the situation at My Evelyn in Melbourne

After the drink we traveled in to Banquefort and rode with a Zfrench guy out for a lazy 60 km ride... he was interesting to chat with as we made our way along the bike path. He had done over 20,000 last year!!! I thought what an effort but looking at him he was at least 20 yrs younger than me

We finally arrived in our hotel in Blanquefort at 3.30 pm after doing over 120 kms...

A great effort I thought on a hot and humid day....somewhat different to the weather at home in Melbourne I hear!!!

Dinner and entertainment last night in Musselton..