Cont'd

Met some nice Northern Irish lads at the campsite last night, they're on their way back from a 2 month tour of Europe...including Belgium so they gave me some nice tips.

Charlie Gordon...Skywalker is going to have some great
stories to tell when he gets home.

Normandy's version of the Lochside trail. 

With lots of French cows instead of huge pigs.

I think the trail used to be an old railway path cause all of these old houses
along the way look like old train stations...with the names of the towns
on them.

First espresso of the trip.

Myatt...this is for you.  Cassoulet in a can...3 Euros, plus the first bottle
of cidre pruchased on the "Route de Cidre".  Pan au Chocolate for dessert.

Look at that cloud....it was GREEEEAT!

Plus the cork came in handy as a bar end plug.

Best 3 Euros I've spent so far, pork sausage and duck in a can.

The hills aren't alive...cause I killed them.

Just griping cause today was TOO HILLY for Normandy..and 2 days of riding into the wind...BLOOOWS!!!!  After 2 flats in an hour, an extra day in Paris, and looooots of cidre....it's been formidable!  First day:

Flash rains...2 on the first day, 4 on the 2nd.  At least they only last around
10 minutes.

Monet's Gardens.  

Campsite view...castle built by Richard the Lionheart.  Not bad.

First taste of the local cidre.  Smaller glass than I thought, and most of the
cidre's are around 3% & 4% alcohol.  Still tasted good after 100km.

Campsite restaurant makes their own terrine...unreal.

Cycling along the Seine.

Last Cascadian Brews for the summer...Bonjour Paris!!

For the last night Nick, Shaun, and I thought it would be fitting that we go have some West Coast ales at the Alibi Room in Vancouver.  

Goodbye Driftwood, I will see you soon.

The Alibi Room has an INCREDIBLE selection of old movie scripts.

Then it was off to the airport.  Luckily, Shaun had to drive one of the planting trucks back to Ladner so I was able to hop on board.  THANKS SHAUNNERS!

Thank god for the MTC

Got to the airport with 2 hours to spare.  This is before:

And after.  

And this is what I got to drag around the outside of Montparnasse
train station for 35 minutes while 5 cabbies decided whether or not they
would take me to the hostel or not.

"Pied de Vent", or Foot of God as I learned on the Magdalene Islands.

This was nice.  I've wanted to walk along these banks since watching
 'An American in Paris' for the first time.

The rain stopped and it was a great way to finish a long day of travel.  Still have to find the map to where I'm going tomorrow...

One more day...

Planting is over, money is saved.  Now it gets exciting!  Everything's packed up and weighed.  So far, this is what's coming:

 Originally, was going to go with this Filson field bag as a handlebar bag, but in the end had to switch to the Sackville ShopSack which made more sense.  I'm taking my 40th Anniversary Klettersac from Mountain Equipment Co op along to use as a day pack.

Rivendell's ShopSack

My new Klettersac (on the right) next to an original.

  

In the end, I'm carrying about 50 lbs on the bike.  More to follow...