Bikepacking France - Where Cyclists Get Priority Over Cars

I'm riding the Eurovelo 3 from Paris to Bordeaux and after lacking a bit behind I decided to make up some time in the last episode by taking a train that would propel me about 80 kilometers forward along the route. This entailed me to have a couple of pleasant days in the French countryside ahead of me rather than pushing it to be able to make it to Bordeaux. For the first time I'm even able to have a bit of siesta in the afternoon to get away from the heat. The lovely French countryside keeps surprising me with fantastic greenways and roads made for cyclists rather than cars. So join me for a great day of bikepacking in France. Good morning from Chauvigny, France. This is the sixth day of my bike tour here in France. I've just made a stop here at the local farmer's market in town. Although it's eight o'clock in the morning on a Saturday, it's a really busting atmosphere here. A lot of people are up already and I think I'll start heading out of town now and make my way south on the Las Cannebriques trail. The riding in the morning is my favorite time of the day. The temperatures haven't reached extreme levels as they do in the afternoon and you're still fresh from a good night's rest. This morning being a Saturday meant that the traffic was going to be pretty minimal. So I really couldn't have asked for better conditions. Helmet hair as always. I've just made my obligatory breakfast stop here. I've cycled now for about an hour and a half and I've stopped to get some breakfast. I usually get these fruit smoothies in the morning. I'm not a coffee drinker so I drink this instead. And then I usually try to buy one of these pre-made sandwiches. And then I'll put this one inside of one of my bags. It's a pizza slice that it will hold for a couple of hours. So I'll have this as an early lunch before the more proper lunch of the day a little bit later in the afternoon. Wow, that turned out to be a lot of motorcycles. And almost all of them honked at me. You kind of feel a sense of camaraderie when you're on a bike or a motorbike. In the afternoon I usually start looking for a nice place to have my lunch and a little break from the sun. What I'm looking for in these types of scenarios is a picnic bench in a nice surrounding. Where I can be alone for a while. And it doesn't hurt if I can lay down for a couple of minutes either to rest and stretch the legs. What a nice little lovely road this last couple of kilometers has been. Cycling by the river here and it's very much up and down all the time. And that seems to be the motto for today. A lot of climbing compared to the other days. I think I've climbed more today than I've had for the first couple of four days or so in total. Here's another steep hill coming up here. And the number of bike tours and bikepackers have decreased by mainly one hundredth of what I saw in the Loire Valley. I think I've passed or met maybe 10 today. And during my time in the Loire Valley you met a cyclist or a bike tour every five minutes at least. Even more sometimes. You can definitely see the landscape change around me. For the first couple of days south of Paris it was basically totally flat. But now it's more undulating and curvy and kind of reminds me of Tuscany. And even though I have to climb a lot more hills I have to say I really like it. After each one of these climbs you gotta make you are always rewarded with a fantastic view over the landscape around you. Ever have that feeling when your tongue is dry like sandpaper and all you got to rinse down in the form of liquid is some lukewarm water? Well that's where I'm at right now. Cheers! Lukewarm! So we're at that time again of the day. It's about 2.30 now and this is the worst time of the day because it's so incredibly hot. I just found this little town here and thought I'd stop for an ice cream. Well worth! So this is a pretty smart thing they have here. If you look at the markings on the road. There's like one major lane and two bike lanes on each side. So the idea is the cars are supposed to drive in the middle lane until they meet another car. And then they'll pull out if it's safe and not another cyclist cycling in this bicycle lane. So it really shows that France has its priorities right. Here the cyclists have the higher priority than the cars. Just as it's supposed to be. And an indirect effect of this is it also lowers the speed of the cars. Because they have to be aware of any oncoming traffic here. Plus the few cars I've met have deviated off the middle lane. And veered out into the sort of opposite old lane. So you feel pretty safe cycling on these type of roads. Luke I've just ran into again. That's pretty strange. I think I met them like 70 kilometers ago or something. So I've deviated a bit off the Eurovelo and Lascan de Beric. And I've just passed 100 kilometers for today. So there's supposed to be a campground in the next town. And that's about 10 kilometers or so from here. But deviating off the original route also means a lot of navigation. And I ended up on a highway here which I just crossed it. I don't want to ride on that. So I'm gonna take a few smaller roads now down to the next town. That kind of feels like the story of this backpacking trip. That I get to camp and I'm so exhausted from the heat. So basically I just rolled in the last couple of two kilometers to the campground. And when I got to the campground it kind of looked like it was closed. But there was one car with a caravan towing behind it that was entering just before me. So they met a lady who showed them around and I just tagged along. And me plus them plus two motorcyclists are the only visitors at the campground. And it's pretty run down. I think it mainly just looks like there was a farmer's market or something in the morning here. Because there are a lot of tables put up with numbers on the tables and everything. The men's shower wasn't open. I have to use the ladies shower. But there's only one lady staying here and I'll make sure to go when she's not using the shower. But it's pretty close to town. I think it's just about 500 meters to the supermarket. So I'm pretty happy anyway. I just need a flat ground, a picnic table, access to water, electricity. And I only paid like 8 euros for the campground. So I can't really complain. So it's been a pretty tough day today as well. But now I'll just go and do the supermarket run. And take a shower and eat some food. Because I'm pretty starving as always. And today is a Saturday which means tomorrow is going to be a little bit tricky with the food. Because some of the supermarkets are closed during the whole of Sunday. And some close at like 12. So I gotta make sure to pick up some food at lunch that will last me the whole day. And I also think that most restaurants are closed on Sundays as well. It's gonna be a bit tricky to find some decent food tomorrow. Showered and I feel like a million bucks. Well it's well worth the 8 euros I paid for the campground. Just to get a shower and feel refreshed after a long day out in the heat. So I'm gonna eat dinner now. And I didn't feel like going to a restaurant today. Because I went yesterday. And the restaurant options in this town look kind of stale. So I went to a supermarket and got a poke bowl. And a bunch of olives and feta cheese that I've already eaten. And for dessert I got this chocolate dessert with extra protein in it. So you need that after a long day. So I've been pushing it quite hard now the last couple of days to make up some time. And I think I have about 150 kilometers left until Saint-Emilion. It's an old medieval town with world famous red wine. And that's a town I really want to visit on this trip. That's one of the highlights for me. And Saint-Emilion is only about 50 kilometers away from Bordeaux. I really didn't want to have these long days in the last couple of days. So now I have decent long enough days to be able to relax in the end here. Towards the finish line. If something were to break. It's nice to not have to push yourself to be able to get to the end destination. And this town that I'm staying in tonight is really far off either the Eurovelo, Lask and The Brick or anything other touristy. It's kind of right in the middle of nowhere. Not a lot of tourists pass by this town I guess. That's why we're only like three customers at the campground. And I guess that's both positive and negative. I kind of like it when it's kind of slow like this. And you can basically just leave all your valuables outside of your tent. And go to the toilet or shower. It's nice to have these kind of quiet evenings. Where you can get to bed early and start early in the morning. So that's what I hope to do tomorrow. And this day might not have been that much to write home about. But if you want to see a fantastic day on a bikepacking trip. You can do so by clicking the link up in the corner here. Otherwise, until next time. Have a good one!