Where are Ron and Ellen?
France: 7 September - 20 October 2005
Part 1: Bordeaux - Marmonde, 8-17 September 2005
Ellen and Ron leaving Bordeaux, 13 September 2005
Bordeaux, France - 9 September 2005
Links in the text below are to individual photos or to a small group of photos. To see all the photos from the 9 and 17 September reports combined on one page, click on the thumbnail at the left.
Dear all,
We are safe and sound in Bordeaux, sitting at Rachel and Tim's house, doing email while they are at a parent meeting at Isaac's school.
Our flights were all on time, and we got the train to Bordeaux from the station at the Paris airport, arriving at our hotel in Bordeaux at about 8 yesterday evening. Although we were able to use a luggage cart in the Paris airport and train station, we did a lot of hauling of that luggage down the stairs to the train platform, into the train, out of the train, through the Bordeaux train station and up a flight of stairs to the street, down one block to the taxi stand, then up three flights of narrow winding stairs to our room on the 3rd floor (which would be the 4th floor in the US because the ground floor is floor zero). George and Sharon saw the luggage, two bike suitcases, one backpack, one huge duffle (containing the other backpack and the camping gear), and our two day packs for carry-on, so they know how much there was. We slept well last night!
Today we've enjoyed walking around Bordeaux with Rachel, and after I finish this message we'll be spreading out the maps we collected at the tourist office and planning the next part of our route.
Love to all,
Ellen and Ron
Marmonde, France - 17 Sepember 2005Dear family and friends,
We are in an Internet cafe in Marmonde, having had only brief access to Internet on the campground's office computers for the past several days as we cycled and camped. So now we are trying to catch up.
We spent 5 nights in Bordeaux. While there, Ellen's brother reached us to tell us that Ellen's mother, almost 91, had been hospitalized with pneumonia and would not survive. We knew we could not get home in time, but were in frequent phone and email contact with home. She died on Sunday evening 11 Sept. Ellen and her brother decided that since there will be a cremation and memorial service, we should continue with our trip and hold the memorial after October 20. Our current plan is that Ron will come back with Ellen to be there for the service, and then will go to Ethiopia in late November. Ellen's mother had been in declining health, so her death was not unexpected, and we are relieved that it was not a prolonged and painful process. She loved to travel, and was always talking about her trips, so we feel she is very much with us.
Our friends in Bordeaux were most kind to us, and we enjoyed our time with them despite the news from home. They took us to some of their favorite nearby places, a ruined abbey in one direction and an old citadel in another, and on both days we had wonderful picnics with all sorts of lovely French food and local treats: bread, cheese, jam, ham, yogurt in amazing flavors unknown in the U.S., fruit, tomatoes, etc. Ellen and Ron also had a great time in the back seat, chatting with almost 4 year old Isaac as we drove along.
Tuesday morning we set out along a 55 km paved bike path on an old rail bed. Although it was gradually uphill most of the way, it went through lovely countryside and acres, kilometres, miles and miles of fields with grape vines, some just harvested, some almost ready to harvest, and some actually being harvested by amazing huge machines. We passed places where there were huge things that looked like the silos we see for storing grain in the mid-western US, but these were vats or storage for the wine-making process. It is an amazing industry. Too bad Ron and I are not much of wine drinkers -- I'm sure many of our friends are shaking their heads about what an opportunity we are missing!
Tuesday night we camped in Creon, and Wednesday before we set out we went to the weekly market and stocked up on good food, including a huge piece of tuna and tomato quiche that we ate on the spot as our lunch and the roasted chicken we had for dinner in Frontenac at a beautiful campground on the grounds of a small chateau. We liked the spot so much that we decided to take a rest day: we aren't in good biking shape yet, especially biking with our packs on the back rack and towing the carts with all our camping gear! We stayed a second night, spending most of the free day sitting in the sun and reading.
We continued on Wednesday to the end of the bike path and then by regular road to La Reole, a small town with old narrow winding streets, built up the side of the steep hill overlooking the Garonne river, where we camped just beside the river. Today we finally reached the canal that parallels the river, and had a fine time biking beside it, crossing it several times, and watching boats go through the locks.
Tonight we have a reservation at a bed and breakfast 5km from Marmonde, right beside the canal. A break from camping!
Love to all,
Ellen and Ron
Forward to the 18-25 September 2005 report, Damazan - Toulouse
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While we're traveling, reach us at bikepacker
Last updated: 27 November 2005
