v02 Getting to Southern France

A summary of getting to Toulouse, Fr where our cycling really begins.

[Music] on the road again I just can’t wait to get on the road again the hello everybody today is Thursday May 23rd so 3 weeks after uh we got onto the ship so the last video Ended as we were boarding uh our the the cruise ship that’s right so uh now we’re we’re due for the next video so we’re in southern France we’re in tulus and this was our plan for the start of the actual cycling trck uh we had decided to uh start down here rather than where we got off the ship uh up in brge Belgium and the the reason was as mentioned that we were afraid it was going to be cold and rainy well it did not disappoint it was it’s been cold and rainy uh but we uh we’ve had a we had a good short bike ride down to Lil got the rental car which is all part of the uh the the plans that we had we had put together and uh drove down uh to see a friend franois for five days five days in the sun was with us all along so we were very fortunate to do all the hiking and the and the the discovery that um our friend had planed for yes yes so visiting Britany on the coast was certainly uh certain fantastic it was our first time that area great hiking and some good cycling as well good food yeah great food uh and so then we uh we we we drove down to uh to too and uh in the rain and uh and cold so today it’s been raining but now the sun is out so this is actually fantastic so what will follow will be a short recap of the uh of our last three weeks the cruise then the drive down time that we’ve uh the activities that we did in Britany and uh we’ll be I’ll be commenting it as as we go along so then the real cycling uh starts which is the the goal for this uh for this YouTube channel which was the uh ride across Europe so we took the relaxing way to cross the Atlantic on a cruise ship and the first challenge was actually getting on the ship with the bikes with the ebike and which in the end worked out well we got to meet a lot of people as we had a lot of questions and uh but overall was was fairly smooth process we stored the bikes in the room and again that worked out well took some of the space but uh we spent our time Elsewhere on the ship relaxing in the different areas this ship in particular had an interesting roof top garden which was very nice because the weather cooperated as our on our Crossing except for a few days where it was windy we met interesting people that we got from all walks of life that we got to spend time with during the different activities around the ship and also during meals which were absolutely fantastic as was the entertainment every night what we didn’t expect were the uh the seminars that were provided during the day which we absolutely loved Unfortunately they were early in the morning so we had to get up early but it was definitely worth it we did our daily visit to the gym and we even had the opportunity to renew our vows with 100 other couples which was very pretty special we had stopovers in p delada Portugal as well as Cork Ireland and Portland uh England and Portland did not disappoint with the rain it was beautiful beautiful Town definitely we really enjoyed it we had a rainy day and very cold weather which uh we ended up uh finishing the uh the day in a coffee shop warming up uh and enjoying their local Delicacies we had made arrangements to end the cruise one day early in the Brugge which required authorization got on a shuttle with all of our stuff and then um to clear immigration dropped our bags at a storage unit which we had uh booked uh in brouge and then came back to the port to pick up our bikes and we’re on our way we got to meet some touring cyclists from the UK while we were waiting on the the drawbridge the cycling infrastructure throughout Belgium is uh is the best that we’ve seen so far it is fantastic and people really use their bikes to get around in the city but also on the countryside Countryside is is very nice very many small farms small uh um horse ranches uh and uh from what we could see in this region at least uh a lot of investment uh throughout along the way we saw many windmills of different types both old and new as well as very interesting bikes uh like this one for example now Brugge is known for its architecture and the canals as well as its main Square while visiting uh the the um brge we met this couple uh that were on the third year of Around the World trip so they had many interesting stories to to tell quite an adventure the next morning we were cycling down to L France to pick up our rental car we start out in full rain gear but the rain L up and uh before too long we were able toh take the the rain gear off again the the countryside very very nice and uh also with all the rain very green at this time of year we rode on bike lanes and bike path the whole way the funny thing is they actually allow scooters motorize gas powered or not to ride the these Lanes as well as mentioned we saw a lot of investment with cranes in many different places as well as nice new buildings with interesting architecture we completed our 78 km ride right on time to pick up the car got a plug-in hybrid so I got to experiment with the the charging infrastructure in Europe before leaving we had to stop by Ru we have of cycling Fame because of the Peri rube race very nice down town as well our drive to to is 1500 km our first stop was PL in Britney to see a friend uh the dry down was very pleasant uh with the the very Countryside scenery our friend had organized uh a discovery of the area including history using a children’s illustrated book very good way to do it actually to get a high level view there’s a nice Trail which goes along the U the uh the Shor side of Britany called gr34 and it’s actually 1,800 kilm long so we did a little bit of that as you can see in this uh this this little video uh and uh it was fantastic it’s what what a treasure for the for the region we also rode our bikes uh in going north uh to cap Fel on bike path that took us through Countryside as well as to the Oceanside ending at the Lighthouse we also had the opportunity to go to a an island which is a no car Island which has many hiking opportunities to discover to discover it and it’s called Ila again very nice it’s located just on the southern tip of uh of Britany we were very fortunate to be able to discover this area with our friend franois meet some of her friends and family and discover the the food habits and Delicacies of the area which were again uh new to to us once we were done that we were on our way to um to too uh another close to 800 kilm away was a uh an easy drive with a stopover in BAU for the night we did encounter a significant amount of of rain uh on on the way down so again validating our decision to actually drive to the southern uh part of France before continue on so Balo is very nice uh with a lot of historic areas and known for its wine culture too is known for its history like this Capal building for example but also as the center for Aerospace in Europe as it is the headquarters for Airbus uh operation we are now ready to start our cycling trick heading towards the Mediterranean so that’s it for now bye guys bye see you later [Music]