Dutch Wheelman Bicycle Tours

A little shopping is always a must, but that was left behind as we headed to our winery visit in Cadillac. En route we had a photo opportunity at the ruins of Montarouch. The quaint little town of Targon was our lunch stop and we all enjoyed our break for a variety of pizza. Then wine tasting at Chateau Fayau finished everyone’s day with that warm happy feeling! Kind of a good thing that our hotel was only about a mile from the winery!

What would a trip to France be without a visit to the patisserie? Today we made a stop and what a selection! Everyone looked forward to Saint-Emilion, which proved to be the most beautiful town on our trip. The views of the country side is full of vineyards, the wine is a treat for the taste buds and the food is excellent

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The first noticeable change for the day is that we are riding thru the vineyards. Everyone was excited about our first winery visit to le chateau Lilian Ladouys Filled with knowledge about growing grapes and making wine we headed for our gourmet picnic at a grocery store parking lot.This gave a new meaning to a takeout meal. Then we went on to the ferry which took us across the Gironde to Blaye. On both sides of the river we learned about the protection of Bordeaux in the 17th. century against foreign invaders. A walk around the walled fortress gave us an idea of the engineering skills during that time.

This ride took us over beautiful bicycle paths through the woods and by the upper end of Lac de Lacanau. Our fall trip was hampered by a bad storm as we entered Hourtin. The wind was strong enough to knock over most of our bicycles.Thunder and lightning was plentiful, so we took cover in a church. As we continued our ride a final lightning strike put a bit of a scare in us, but under a steady rain we made it to Queyrac

What a difference in the weather. In July we rode here under perfect blue skies and bright sunshine. Yesterday we had a solid cloud cover and a soaking rain right before we got to the end. Even the ocean was pretty rough.

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After a long day of traveling and assembling bicycles we are ready to start riding tomorrow. We’ll be heading to Lacanau along the Atlantic Ocean.First off we have to celebrate Carlos and Tim’s birthdays.

14 of us had a great time pedaling and sightseeing in the Bordeaux area of France. There was no lack of sun and high temperatures, so the Atlantic ocean and hotel pools were welcome sights in the afternoons. Averaging 40 miles a day gave us plenty of time for sightseeing, picture taking and most importantly stops at the patisserie. And of course, what’s a trip to Bordeaux without adding the wine!

Our final day in the Pyrenees mountains. Our last mountain top was the Col de Spandelles, which was also the most remote top that we passed. It also made for a treacherous downhill. A nice valley road took us back to Pau. In 11 days 825 miles were covered. The climbing total was 93,000 ft. Again a special thanks to Cindy and Cheryl for providing us with the needed food and drink to make this all possible. We could not master a trip of this magnitude without their help !! Another great trip in a great area that is a cyclist’s dream. Endless beautiful country roads that will lead you to endless mountain tops.

After being treated to spectacular views on a daily basis, today’s ride might have topped them all. The climbs we covered were the Peyresourde, Col d’Azet were we treated by lots of para gliders and Hourguette d’Ancizan where donkeys ruled the mountain top and stuck their heads into cars as soon as the door opened.