2009 Euro Tour -- Ride Day 24 — 20 July 2009 — 02000 Laon — Circle

<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #000000; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial;">Great ride in beautiful varied countryside without the heavy panniers.<span> </span>We passed through an area along D18CD (I assume this refers to Chemin des Dames) that had memorials and a museum focused on the WWI dead.<span> </span>There was also an area we climbed to called the Plateau de Californie where there was a look-out.<span> </span>Nice, but it is really an area of intense history, so different from the peaceful and open Europe of today.<span> </span>Overall, really a nice relaxing ride through an historic area with so many reminders of the pain of the past.<span> </span>The below pictures help illustrate what a wonderful ride this was.</span></span></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #000000; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: medium;"><br /></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #000000; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: medium;"><br /></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #000000; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: medium;">Background:<span style="font-family: Arial;"> <div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></div> </span></div>

My wife and I have been doing self-supported tours in Western Europe (a majority in France) since 1993.  This series of rides covers our 2009 4.5 month route through parts of France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and then back to France.  Our beginning and ending point is near Chadurie (south of Angouleme) where our friends have a farm with Gites and Chambres d'Hotes.

We rode our Dawes touring bicycles purchased in 1993 heavily loaded with 700Cx32 tires.  All of our riding was on paved roads, mostly with very little traffic.  Pretty much the only unpaved sections were some bicycle paths in Germany and Austria. Sadly, that wasn't so great as Helen fell a number of times on the unpaved paths.  Fortunately, though, no serious injury.

If any questions, feel free to email me at jeffkadet@netdiving.com

Jeff