Bike Trip Day 1 - to St-Brevin-les-Pins

Tom came to town and stayed at Roger’s and Dominque’s place before our trip.  We had arranged to rent two electric bikes, so we picked them up the Friday before we were to leave Lyon and took them to Roger’s place.  I had brought my saddlebags to Roger’s on Friday also as the plan was to have the car there so we could pack everything and load the bikes there.  Anna and I would come over that morning so I could help load and Anna could take pictures.  The four of us then drove to Gerard’s place to pick him up, with Anna taking pictures and then she would head back to our apartment.  [While we were gone, Anna had a busy week planned with lunch with Estelle, a French class, and a day of sightseeing and lunch with Dominique, among other activities.]

Tom, Gérard, David, Roger ready to Leave in Gérard's Trusty Peugeot

We left Gérard’s at about 9:25; the car trip took about 9 hours, with coffee, gas, and snack stops.  The French Autoroute system allows for rapid travel as the speed limits are often 130km/hr, which is almost 80mph.  For 300km the cost is close to 30 euros or $35. 

We traded off driving; we had frequent stops, lively conversation, and much scenery to look at.  We arrived at our hotel at about 6:30PM, unloaded the bikes and put them into locked storage. 

Our hotel had no restaurant and there was a Liverpool-Tottenham soccer game on TV that Roger wanted to see so we walked about a half-mile into town to find a place that had the game on and where we could eat.  We found a sort of ‘sports-bar’ where we could have some casual food and see the game.  We also chatted with the restaurant folks as we are quite the anomaly in small French towns – a Frenchman with two Americans and a Brit.  I went back to the hotel at half time as I am not much of a soccer fan and I wanted to be sure to be well-rested for the start of the trip.