We visited the small church which had a minute model of a boat/barge dangling from the ceiling.

Monday 18^th June: Vibrac – Pons

A hot day but quiet country roads.  The scenery was pretty, with vineyards, crops and small villages but no bars or cafes.  Before reaching Pons, we had the first and only two punctures of the whole tour.

The hotel was most accommodating.  We ate al fresco and enjoyed raw fish, ducks tongues, waffles and ice-cream.  John’s face was a picture when presented with the ducks tongues!  We were feeling so happy that night that some of us began to sing the old well known songs whilst others sat rather disapprovingly!  A most chic elegant lady with her beautiful poodle, “Viassa”, sat opposite and called me over, speaking to me in French (the gist of which I understood) saying how wonderful to see the English so happy and that she enjoyed our singing!                                                                             34 miles

Tuesday, 19 June: Pons – Boyadville, Isle d’Oleron

The countryside changed constantly from crops to vineyards back to crops and more vineyards.

The stop at Abbaye de Sablonceaux was worth a visit.  Once a Cistercian Abbey.  Margaret, John, John D. and I wanted a closer inspection whilst the others rode on.  We took a wrong turning – ending up on farmers’ tracks but eventually found our way to Faveau across field tracks and the sunflowers.  We met the others at St. Sornin which had a wonderful church housing l6th century frescoes.  The ancient church had been well restored.

Onwards to Marenne and then we knew we had to face the viaduct.  We had a dreadful headwind all the way across which was difficult to deal with but also the constant flow of heavy traffic which became quite frightening at times.  It was dangerous for cyclists.  However we all managed to cross it except for Barbara and Alan who wisely took a taxi!!  It was a relief for all when we reached the other side.

There was another l5 miles to go north to Boyardville, along a busy main road which was not the most attractive route.  On either side of us were oyster and mussel beds.  It was rather boring.

That night we enjoyed the most delicious meal.  It was the freshest lemon sole one had ever tasted, caught that afternoon just around the corner.  Wonderful!                                                  52 miles

Wednesday, 20^th June – rest day

A lie in!   Bliss.  We decided to take a boat trip around the bay of Isle d’Aix and Fort Boyard  -  One and quarter hours.  It was full of interest for bird watchers and historians with Napoleonic forts etc.

John D. et moi took a gentle cycle ride along the cycle path to St. Georges, enjoyed a drink in a bar and then made our way to Saint Pierre and returned along quiet roads to rejoin the cycle track back to the hotel.  A good day out.                                                    15 miles

Thursday, 21^st June:  Isle d’Oleron - Saintes

This was our last day.  We returned to the mainland via the viaduct which this time held no fears for us.

We made our way to Saintes where Margaret had booked a room for us all to have a shower and a change of clothes.  A meal was arranged and then we alighted the Yorkshire Bikeliner Bus which brought us back to Blighty!

A full and enjoyable holiday – well planned, full of interest and an excellent “gout de France” where there were very few tourists! Super.

Sorry to say, but it looks as if my cycling days are drawing, if not drawn, to a close. Over the last few weeks it’s been a case of getting knocked off twice and falling off three times, so let discretion be the better part of valour and admit…well you’ll know what that means. The sense of balance ain’t what it once was, and just cannot come to a stop – can’t put a foot down and that could be awkward. Did try a trike but finished up in the garage of the Bishop next door, so that was that. And local lanes are more of a battlefield. Still have the old bikes of course; just take them out, twiddle the pedals around a bit and dust off the saddle.

This may sound somewhat downbeat, but it ain’t – so many things the bike has given – health, many friends, cash in the bank, sense of humour so essential to a cyclist, and oh, my goodness, what memories.

Fortunately a chap has moved into the flat above, and that seems to be the answer; a one-time Military bod he is a great walker, and we troll around together. Out across country three times a week and serious walking it is. This very day it was the canal tow path Hopwas to Whittington – great.

Having to put the bikes in the background, looked around for a replacement and came up with a new piano and spend hours – just simplest of Bach, Mozart and so on, and this proves a godsend. So much so that now I’ve invested in a new violin – can manage Pop Goes the Weasel with variations – no complaints as yet from neighbours but catch the sound of one or two windows banged down a bit sharpish.

Only recently did I consider Florida as a possible winter touring area as my perception was of hundreds of Theme Parks. It was only when British Airways made it difficult to take bikes that I looked at Virgin as a possible alternative carrier. Virgin fly to fewer American destinations, and one of these was Miami. A bit of reading showed that whilst there were no mountains, with the highest hill in the State being only 298 feet, there were other things to see.

The southern end of Florida comprises the east and west coastal strips separated by the large area of the Everglades. The Everglades is actually a very slow moving river. We’d seen TV images of people riding the ‘airboats’ – so that seemed a possibility to include in a tour. Then there were the Art Deco buildings in Miami Beach – and so slowly a tour evolved.

Of course it was down to Heathrow again, staying at the Thistle Hotel about 1 ½ miles from Terminal 3. Normally we would cycle into the airport, but the February forecast was of snow and ice next day. Fortunately we were able to bag the bikes up and leave them overnight in the left luggage, and use the Hoppa bus to the terminal next day.

The flight was uneventful, but we encountered problems at immigration. There is now a new machine at Miami which reads all 10 fingerprints. Whilst I had no problem, the machine refused to identify Beryl’s in spite of several attempts. We and several others were taken to a small overcrowded room, and no-one would tell us anything. We got talking to one chap and he had been detained for four hours so far! I suppose we lanquished there for about an hour, all the while worrying about what happened to the bikes and panniers. Eventually we were told we could go, none the wiser and without any apology. On cycling out of the airport we encountered major roadworks, just as we did last year when leaving Washington airport. Our prebooked hotel was on the airport perimeter, and we’d also booked our last night there so we could leave our plastic bike bags there.

We’d also booked the next two nights at Miami Beach. Careful planning took us there through all the back streets and through industrial estates – but such a quiet route. Miami Beach is reached by a number of bridges, but we took the Venetian Causeway (Toll for cars) which had a good hardshoulder for us. We arrived early enough to have a good look round before it got dark at about 7pm.

The next day we were picked up at our hotel for the prebooked tour of the Everglades and the airboat ride. It wasn’t as exciting as I imagined it would be, but we got close to alligators and numerous birds. The tour then took us to see some of the sights on the south side of town.

The tour proper then started, heading north up the coast for 3 days. This is the home of many wealthy people and the architecture of the apartments, along with their manicured gardens, was quite an attraction. Once again a good hardshoulder and light traffic most of the way gave a pleasant ride.

We stopped off at the interesting turtle farm at Gumbo Limbo Nature Centre and also at the Monastery of St Bernard de Clairvaux. This was originally built in Sacramenia in Spain in 1133-1144. Cistercian monks occupied the monastery for nearly 700 years, but in the mid-1830’s it were converted into a granary. In 1925 William Randolph Hearst purchased the Cloisters and the Monastery’s outbuildings. The structures were dismantled, numbered and boxed in 1100 crates. They remained boxed in New York for 26 years due to Hearst’s financial problems. Eventually they were purchased and re-erected at North Miami Beach. 

As we neared Palm Beach we decided to book in at Lantana for two nights. We cycled up the coast to Whitehall, now the Flagler Museum. Henry Flagler (1830-1913) was the founding partner of Standard Oil, and the most important developer of Florida. His railway ran down the east coast to Key West, and he built a string of hotels. When Whitehall was completed in 1902 it was proclaimed as “more wonderful than any palace in Europe and more magnificent than any other private dwelling in the world.”

On the way back to Lantana we went through Lake Worth where they were holding a Finlandia Day. There were stalls and music, along with an interesting wife-carrying contest. Unfortunately a thunderstorm closed the event early, but we sheltered and missed the worst of the bad weather.

It was now time to head inland towards Lake Okeechobee, the second largest lake in US, being about 100 miles round the circumference. The ride to Belle Glade was flat, but the headwind made for a hard 50 miles. This was an agriculture area of mainly sugarbeet and cane, with the occasional processing plant on the skyline. Boredom was staved off by the variety of birds that we spotted. Both Belle Glade and Okeechobee were uninspiring towns, though the standard of the hotels was fine.

Next day the scenery changed; hills, lakes, rivers and miles of orange groves. Lake Placid was an interesting town as they had built a reputation for some excellent murals throughout the town. There was a display in the Visitor Centre and we were fortunate to be inside when another thunderstorm struck. This prevented us fully exploring the town. Neither were we able to go up The Tower because it had been closed by the authorities for ‘health and safety’ reasons. We were looking forward to this as it would have given us a good view of this interesting area.

Our next destination was only a short ride to Sebring. We decided to stay at the historic Kenilworth Lodge hotel. We thought this historic hotel would be expensive, but it was surprising cheap at £44, including breakfast. It was opened in 1916 with many innovations such as electricity, a lift and private bathrooms. There was also a central lobby where all the ‘snowbirds’ staying for an extended holiday away from the northern snows, meet and play cards, scrabble etc in the evenings. Sebring itself was interesting as the roads were laid out on a radial basis from a central (town) green – instead of ‘blocks’ as in most American towns.

The next three days we did a large loop from Sebring. Whilst there were still orange groves, there were also ranches and more varied agriculture. The roads were in the main quiet and peaceful. We stopped off to look at the historic Bok Sanctuary. This had been created in 1922 on ‘Iron Mountain’ the highest point in Florida at 298 feet A carillon tower was added to be a visual and aural centerpiece for the gardens. We timed our visit just right for a carillon recital, sitting on a bench in the sun. We wandered round the gardens before continuing our ride.

Then it was back to Sebring and the Kenilworth Lodge. The hotel hosts a number of cycling events during the year which sound quite interesting. Next day we caught the train back to Miami. The 170 miles took under 4 hours, but as seniors it was so cheap at about £12 each. The bikes had to be boxed, but we were not charged for the secondhand boxes; we paid just £2.50 each for their registration.

Upon arriving back at Miami there was a bus with a bike rack which dropped us almost outside the hotel. This was a godsend as by now it was dark and the particular route was fairly busy.

Next day was our last day, but the flight was not until the evening. We caught the same bus and it took us to the coast south of Miami. Here we cycled over to some islands, before getting the bus back right into the airport. What a relief as we did not have to do battle with the airport roadworks.

Overall this was an interesting tour and I would have no reservations about exploring the more northerly area of this sunshine State. Beryl had just one puncture so I was able to have quite a holiday from the cycle mechanics!