Time to Bicycle!

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Celene and Patrice (Pat) have been extremely helpful! Although Tuesday is the day that school starts, and Celene has to take off time from work to help get two children to two different schools, they suggest that we wait until 9:30 and then Pat will drive us to a trail head to start...that way, we will be where we are supposed to be, and won't be struggling in traffic. Our goal is 70 ksm, about 43 miles, to a small chambre d'hote just north of La Reole. We will be passing through the area known as "between the two seas."

An explanation: The river Garonne comes from Spain, and the river Dordoyne from France merge just north of Bordeaux to form one of the largest, if not the largest, estuary in Europe, the Gironde. Usually, the rivers flow into the Atlantic, but sometimes, the tides are so high, that salt water backs up into the rivers...and sometimes they flood the area that we are biking through...this provides the "saltiness" that one can sometimes taste in dry wines from Bordeaux.

Celene has made reservations for us. We will be served breakfast, but since our reservation is only 24 hours in advance, the owner will not be able to prepare dinner for us, but she is willing to drive us into La Reole if we desire. It is very likely that we will just want some bread, wine, and cheese before collapsing into bed!

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