Eurovelo 6 .The story so far

It was back in 2008 that we cycled the Loire valley from Briare to Nantes ,doing the first stage from Paris to Briare, then on to Tours with friends Ash and Lee.

   We crossed to the left bank at Briare over a magnificent viaduct designed by Eiffel ,and wandered along quiet back roads through beautiful little villages and passing the occasional Chateaux along the way

Accommodation was either a chambre dote ( B and B ) or a bungalow like this one at 50 euros for 4.

   We passed several nuclear power stations on the Loire, France has heaps of them. The girls took off and left us whenever we passed one !

We stayed with friends Bart and Annika at Usse and had a lovely evening of music and wine . The Chataeux D'Usse is plainly visible just up the road.

Ash and Lee returned to Paris from here while we carried on to Nantes . We stayed with good friends John and Myriam there and visited the Jules Verne theme park where we saw the giant elephant . What a place ! After we had ridden to the coast at st Nazaire , john dropped us at the Brest canal which we then followed north.

   So you see the first part of the Eurovelo 6  bike route , we did quite by accident,but it made us want to go back and do more. 

   So,  last year we did the next stage to the headwaters of the Danube, and this year we'll start at that point ,Immendingen, following the Danube (Donau )and see how far we can get ! At least Budapest I hope. The route goes from St Nazaire on the Atlantic to Constanta on the Black Sea .

Homeward

This was the first time we'd been up over the Takaka hill and probably the last. Takaka is a pretty village , and Collingwood also, but that hill !!

 

There was plenty of space on the ferry so lined up with dozens of other campers , all hire ones, and crossed back to Wellington .

We came home via Taranaki so we could drop in on family

This is Okaiawa where I grew up, ok , where I lived as a youngster. The tennis court is where I met Christine nearly 50 YEARS ago

   Got home Sunday 9th so christine could play inter club the next day !

10. The west coast

As we head into the Haast pass we came across the blue pools. It gives us a chance to stretch our legs and it was a very pretty place.

This coast is well known for its one way bridges, whitebait, bush ,and bloody sandflys. Before the road , whitebait was flown out by the plane load. To signal the plane a large piece of cloth was laid out. Red for a half load, silver for a full load. 

 If only ?

This is a DOC camp at lake Paringa. The fishermen waiting for the fog to lift were from Te Puke

Fox glacier was another thing on our bucket list and it was everything we'd imagined .

The club own a site at Franz Josef so we dump our waste and top up with fresh water

The next stop was at Ross beside the beach. Not that nice but the bull seal made biking on the beach interesting

Hokatika is a pretty town in an otherwise boring coast where trees grow sideways?  This one way bridge is shared with the train

At Greymouth we take the inland route, past this graveyard for old Morris and Austin's at the coal ghost town of Brunner

Through the Buller gorge and finally reach this amazing free camp just out of Motueka.

the place is called rankers.co.nz and it's not only free but we were invited to help ourselves  to their veges and fruit. Swimming hole,toilets,.. bludgers HEAVEN

9. Queenstown /Wanaka

The traffic jams of Otago! Sheep ,ducks and camper vans. We stayed in Fairlight where the Kingston Flyer used to finish

I had a cold swim in Queenstown before visiting our friends Bob and Britta. They do extensive cycling in Europe and we sat around with their books and a wine ,and planned this years cycle trip.

The next day we biked a bit of a local route to Arrowtown. Great trails down here, toilets everywhere and even compressed air for our tyres

No , not this one, it's the Chinese loo in Arrowtown. On the way out we went up and over the Pisa pass and through Cardrona. At over 1000 meters it's the highest sealed road in NZ and reminded us of the French alps with its cyclists.

Christine made a small contribution to the Cardrona bra fence (when I say small)  before the decent into the lovely Wanaka