geeteetravels

Waiheke Island

The rain started to ease the day we left Auckland and we took the short ferry to Waiheke Island. The temperature remained on the cool side and the wind high but at least we were not getting drenched in minutes. Waiheke reminds me somewhat of Saltspring Island with a bit of a hippy vibe while also having some very opulent estates on the hills. It is very green and tropical with many trees, plants and flowers that we see in Hawaii. There are many beautiful bays, beaches and walking paths to enjoy here which we took advantage of however it remained showery for most of the time we were here. We stayed in a suite within a home and it was lovely and comfortable with a large garden out back and a patio to relax on when the sun came out.

We did one cycle loop of about half the island on the nicest day and despite it only being about 20kms we had a few big climbs so it was good training, not too easy. The other 2 days, in between showers, we walked on some of the many hiking paths (Te Ara Hura) leading to beautiful vistas and through the bush. We have started to see the many sheep in New Zealand, apparently 5X more than people. We are also seeing many different birds that we’ve never seen before such as oystercatchers, fantails, herons, and godwits. We are on the hunt for the Blue Penguins that live here but haven’t been lucky yet.

To leave Waiheke we rode to the east end of the island which is much less developed and took a ferry out of Man O’War bay, and over to Coromandel town on the peninsula of the same name. This ride too wasn’t very far, but involved 2 notable climbs of which one was on a gravelly washboard road so the going was slow. We had allowed enough time though and arrived in time for a snack and drink in a lovely vineyard cafe as a reward for our efforts. We were certainly the only cyclists on that road, however the drivers seemed tolerant of us. We don’t see too many people powered bikes here, similar to Europe and home. The ferry ride across the Firth of Thames was a bit bumpy but enjoyable with only 4 passengers (and 4 washrooms) on this crossing so it felt like our own private yacht. The 4 staff members were very friendly and interested in our journey.

The ride into Coromandel Town was fairly short and flat so a nice way to end the day. Our plan from here was to cross to the east side of the Coromandel Peninsula and ride south to Tauranga over the next week. However, the heavy rains we experienced in Auckland hit even harder in this region causing many mud ‘slips’ onto the highways and one deadly one on Mt. Manganui into a caravan park with 6 people killed. The roads are still being cleared and fixed and we have no certainty when they will reopen so we have been forced to do a major reroute, unfortunately. Instead we will be heading south on the west side of the Coromandel and making our way to Tauranga from an alternate route.

Tags: NewZealand, tandemcycling

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Categories 2026

HNL, Auckland and Unusual Weather

22 Jan

Our lovely friend Rob brought us to the airport with our new bike cases and the rest of the luggage on an unusually warm Calgary day in January for our Westjet flight to Honolulu (HNL). There was some trepidation about the level of scrutiny the U.S. border guys would give us but we went through that, and security, in record time, perhaps, due to the Nexus cards we now have. Westjet got us to HNL without issue and we took the hotel shuttle to our airport hotel for the night. The hotel itself was underwhelming and expensive for our 8 hour stay. Back to HNL on the 6:00am shuttle we went, only to discover the Air NZ flight was delayed by more than an hour, leaving us lamenting the extra hour of sleep we missed. But, Air NZ made up for it in lovely service, great food, and the luxury of their ‘skycouch’ which we opted for. This upgrade gave us an entire row with a footrest that raised 90 degrees creating a platform to snooze on. Getting through NZ customs was also easy, and off we went by pre-booked shuttle to our hotel in the Parnell suburb. The weather all over the North Island was, unfortunately, ‘wit’ (kiwi word for wet). In fact the next day it set precipitation records in some parts, even causing deaths from landslides, and flooding roads in areas that we plan to go to in the near future. Happily the rain has stopped now and is not expected to that degree in the week ahead. The Parnell hotel turned out to be perfect for our needs and the 3 days in Auckland went by quickly. We missed some outdoor activities we had planned, but did get to the Auckland Museum. The museum houses exhibits on natural history, NZ history, Maori culture, and included a Maori Cultural Experience/performance. It was all well worth the price of admission. The rain quit overnight on Thursday and we headed to the ferry for Waiheke Island, riding on the left side of the road very cautiously, and successfully completed a few right hand turns into the correct lane! I should mention that the hotel did give us a momentary scare saying they had no room to store our luggage and the unknown employee who okayed this months ago never should have. After seeing for ourselves there was room in their luggage room we convinced the manager it would work, and she acquiesced. Yikes, all over again? We took an earlier ferry than planned as we had time, and we are very happy with our first few hours on Waiheke. Island vibes definitely and the sun came out in full force in the afternoon. We are staying in a suite within a local lady’s house. The host is lovely and the suite has everything we need.

Tags: auckland, New Zealand, NZcycling, tandemcycling

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Categories 2026

Cycling in Aoteoroa – New Zealand

13 Jan

We are leaving the Canadian winter behind for a long awaited trip to the deep South Pacific, a part of the world not seen by Tara, and not by George in 45 years(!). This will be a different adventure from cycling in Europe where bike paths and trails parallel to highways are relatively common. For one, everyone rides and drives on the left side of the road. Two, the cycling infrastructure has not progressed as it has in Europe, probably because the density of people is much less in New Zealand, and Three (?). But from our research, they are busy catching up. We will be staying for 3, 4, and 5 nights in places along the route and taking day trips out and back, rather than 2 or 3 nights most commonly on our previous rides. There are 23 ‘Great Rides’ identified across the country many of which are old rail trails and many others which are gravel pathways. We will be on several of these on our planned route, which you can see above. Also we take several ferries as this is an island nation after all. With our bike we can ride on gravel as well as tarmac (kiwi word) and where we are on smaller roadways (most of the time) there isn’t likely to be much traffic.

New Zealand is bigger than we initially thought, from a ‘cycling the whole thing’ perspective. We will only be on the northern half of the north island, and even then will be using a train, and a bus, and a longish ferry (straight lines on the map) to help cover the territory. We essentially do a loop east and south of Auckland where we begin, and then a north loop up to the Bay of Islands. We are fortunate to have planned in visits with NZ friends and Calgary friends as part of the north loop.

On Saturday the 17th of January we fly to Honolulu direct from Calgary, overnighting only, before flying onward to Auckland over the dateline into Monday. This breaks up what would otherwise be a 14 hour flight, and that’s only from Vancouver. Once we are finished our seven weeks of cycling and return to Auckland, we head to Fiji for a week of rest (phew!) on the way back to Honolulu, and home. We trust that our new bike cases will be waiting for us in Auckland when we get there. Now I have trackers on the bike as well as each piece of luggage so I will be watching… (see the last blog entry and images below)

Tags: bikepacking, cycling, New Zealand, tandem cycling

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Categories 2026, Annual Start Posts

Return to Mâcon and Lyon

21 Jun

Today we rode from Paray le Monial over to Mâcon, and when I say ‘over’ I mean it because there are nothing but hills between the two. We looked at alternatives but selected one using smaller roads, but not ‘smallest’. It was a lot of climbing anyway and this one was fine with little traffic. The weather has now decided to be hot for our last few days so at the end of it we were well spent. At one point we lucked out and came upon a bar at just the right time as they are not frequent out in the agricultural hinterland. Terrific views were had along the way and also a 1.6km tunnel under a hill (thanks!). We were also happy to be back in the vines as we neared Mâcon. We are staying at the same apartment we were in 3 weeks ago and really liked. Mâcon seems much more alive now as we strolled about in the evening.

Back to canal riding for our last one but a bit of a problem. Tara has hurt a toe by stubbing it on a corner and it is hurting her. She is okay with cycling but not good for walking as we think it may be broken. It is another hot day for cycling and a long way but flat again. This stretch is probably the best one for beauty as well as services like water , toilets, and cold drinks. It got busy as we got close to Lyon as cities often are, but also we got to ride through another tunnel which dropped the temperature likely by 15 degrees for an excellent break from the 30+.

Now we sit waiting for the hotel to find our bike case which has gone astray. *** ten days later *** The hotel LOST OUR BIKE CASE! This was a biblical level disaster for us and we are now home but there was a lot of angst, tears, and total mystification and disbelief along the way. The short story is a) the hotel has taken full responsibility (in writing) and will reimburse us for a new case and expenses, b) the manager found us a bike box just under the maximum size allowed by the airlines, c) we packed the bike in with a lot of padding also hotel supplied, d) we got a huge taxi to get us to the airport, e) we got it on the flight to London ok, f) we had to plead with a bus driver at Heathrow to allow it on his bus to go between terminals, g) we got it on the flight home, h) and finally, our brilliant friend Rob came to pick us up in his van rather than Lyndsay and her smaller Subaru.

Alas, no relaxing and re-visiting Lyon in our final 2 days. C’est la guerre. Au revoir. p.s. Tara’s toe is recovering but carrying rather than rolling bike cases didn’t help.

Tags: bikepacking, biking, bourgogne, cycling, tandemcycling, travel

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Categories 2025

Cronat and Paray le Monial

9 Jun

We left our accommodation in Chatillon with our 300euro damage deposit intact despite one (previously sabotaged) broken chair and a sore derriere. The weather was starting to clear up and we only had a few sprinkles on the ride today. We were heading to a one night stopover in the town of Cronat, marking a change in our route from the Nivernais canal network, turning south alongside the Loire river. This also meant joining the Eurovelo 6 cycling path for the next two days. It is well known as it traverses Europe all the way from the Atlantic to the Black Sea. It has been interesting being exclusively on a cycle route as we have met many other cyclists following the same route and some we have met several times and even had dinner in Paray le Monial with a charming couple from Luxembourg (Yvonne and Dan). Once off the canal we were met by some hilly terrain, finally, as we were not really close to the Loire at this point and found we could still climb hills.

Cronat is a small town in the heart of Charolais country. We saw many Charolais as well as a fair number of sheep and some goats. Our lodging for the night was a B&B called La Heron Pourpre managed by a very hospitable couple from The Netherlands, Jolanda and Martin. This seems like an unusual name but not if you have been here. Along the canal we saw many herons pourpre. We attempted many times to get a good picture of one but they are shy so fly off as soon as they sense we are near. The B&B was lovely with a garden in the back and a pool but unfortunately not quite warm enough to swim. We also had our dinner here as there wasn’t anywhere else in town and Martin is a capable chef. Our meal consisted of four courses: fresh salmon on white asparagus/egg/greens as a starter, Charolais veal with an oyster mushroom sauce/fresh vegetables/potato and leek fritata(?) for main course; chevre in pastry and other cheeses with honey third course; choux pastry filled with whipped cream and blackberries for dessert and finally a home made coffee liquor. All very tasty except Tara slipped the hard boiled egg and potato fritata onto George’s plate which he accepted gratefully. Interestingly, the meal was a very reasonable cost at 30 euros each or about $48 CDN. Wine was less than $5/glass as well. It helps to get outside of the bigger cities cost wise.

The next day our ride took us to Paray le Monial and the weather was perfect. The first 15 km was again through the hilly countryside amongst the Charolais herds and pretty villages. After this the route again followed the water, along the Loire river. It was a beautiful day and we saw many cyclists, local and touring like us (even one fellow Canadian from Quebec), pretty villages, boaters, fishers and bird life.

We arrived at our new lodgings, Maison St. Louis, and were greeted by lovely hosts again with a cold drink and a “sort of” conversation about the city and its religious importance in broken French and English. This is a bit of a quirky place, again a dorm-like environment with shared spaces and overtly religious. The city is famous due to a saint having a vision or apparition of the heart of Jesus Christ. Consequently since the late 19th century this has been a pilgrimage destination, which was obvious as we walked around to the various sites, mostly religious, today. The town is very clean, well maintained, and certainly picturesque; I think there is good money in religious tourism. Indeed, our host said about 3000 people live here but 5000 more are tourists at peak.

Tags: cycling, france, tandemcycling, travel

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Categories 2025

Chatillon-en-Bazois

7 Jun

We started the day by having breakfast in the chapel (as one does) before packing up and heading out into the rain. We knew we couldn’t avoid it but it isn’t a big deal since we are waterproof and it wasn’t cold. It does get a bit tiring as it was quite relentless but we found respite at a couple of bars for coffee and tea. This part of the ride broke the record for us with passing by of 58(!) locks on the canal. The boats look like fun but you would really have to enjoy passing through locks if you were travelling this way. We passed by another section of the canal which had 3 canal tunnels for the boats, not for us. There was a ‘promenade’ boat tour but like for many things we are a bit too early. It must really boom here in July. We enjoyed speaking with a Dutch cycling couple going all the way from the Netherlands to somewhere south of us to visit friends. They had travelled by bike far and wide.

Our accommodation turned out to be a bit of a pain here. It was my third choice after the first was fully booked, and the second choice cancelled our reservation only a couple of weeks ago. There are few choices here and this one was well situated but also required a 300euro cash damage deposit as well as self-cleaning to avoid another 40euro charge. We don’t travel with much cash anymore and it costs to withdraw from ATMs. Then, despite the official check-in time being 4pm on this rain soaked day the host emailed and said she could only make it by 6pm. Aargh. It is an okay place but we’d like to put it behind us with our 300euros intact.

The second day was mostly spent in doing laundry and ‘taking a day off’ after the trying one yesterday. Besides there isn’t much to see here and it’s still threatening rain. We hit the supermarche and said hi to the local Charolais herd.

Our hotel in Clamecy owned part of a chapel and put it to good use

Tags: bourgogne, france, nivernais, tandemtravel, travel

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Categories 2025

Clamecy

5 Jun

We woke up to heavy rain in Auxerre but by the time we left to ride it had stopped. The forecast looked rather bleak (cool and precipitation) but somehow we managed to evade the rain. It was cool, but a comfortable temperature when pedaling. There is heavy rain and hail south and east of us today in France so luckily we were in the right place. We did encounter one problem on our route today, a large tree that had fallen across the path and onto power lines. We could not get past it with our bike and bags so had to back track a bit and find a road to go around the blockage.

There are many boat tourists on this canal. Every lock we came to today either had boats in it or waiting to enter and all the locks were manned by staff, unlike the Burgundy canal where we saw few boats. We witnessed one fellow on the Burgundy canal working at one lock then racing ahead on his motorbike (passed us) to the next one ahead of the boat he just put through. We spoke to one couple on a boat today and they said they aren’t required to book the locks, they just arrive and wait. It is a slow way to travel, we are much faster. There were 38(!) locks on the ride today from Auxerre to Clamecy, about 70kms. I think all the waiting would get tiresome.

We arrived at our new abode for the next 2 nights, La Boule D’or, in Clamecy. It’s an older place with a hostel feel (shared kitchen, courtyard with ping pong, etc.) but we have our own room and bathroom and it’s very bike friendly. An old chapel is where breakfast is served so that is a new experience. There is very little choice for accommodation in the smaller places like this, you take what you can get.

We did a walking tour here as well to get a good look around. The town is very medieval looking, sort of like Auxerre, with narrow streets and half timber construction. There are also many canals within the city and a confluence of two rivers, the Yonne and the Beuvron, and is sometimes described as the Venice of the Nivernais. It is famous for timber floating (flottage de bois) as it is in a rich forested area and on a river. The wood was cut around here and then assembled into large rafts/trains (75 meters long) which raftsmen (flotteurs) then took downstream to Paris where the need for wood to burn was great and supply inadequate. This was happening from the 16th to the 19th century until coal heating took over. It is quite a fascinating history as it went on for nearly 4 centuries and is the genesis of the canal system on the Yonne river, and contributed hugely to the development of so many places along the route.

Clamecy is also the birthplace of a famous writer/historian, Romain Rolland (1866-1944), who received the nobel prize for literature in 1915. He wrote novels but also commentary about the two world wars he lived through. He was a pacifist who lamented the destruction and loss of relationships between the French and German people. He was an interesting man who apparently influenced and had relationships with notable people including Ghandi, Freud and Richard Strauss, I may have to read more about him. This much we learned in the excellent museum here, along with the flottage history.

Tags: canal, cycling, france, tandemcycling, travel

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Categories 2025

Auxerre

3 Jun

Auxerre is pronounced with an “s” sound rather than an x, as opposed to Auxois which is pronounced with the x sound. Not sure why. We are very close to Chablis and other wine producers such as some who produce Crémant de Bourgogne, a lovely bubbly white wine.

Our ride from Tonnerre to here was a bit longer, a bit cooler and extremely buggy. All of these bugs, especially aphids must have hatched recently. We saw a few people riding on the canal with face masks and George finally had to do the same after eating too many and having to try to keep his mouth closed while cycling. I am luckily in his draft and don’t have as much trouble. They land on my arms and legs but not in my face and mouth.

We came to the end of the Canal de Bourgogne and turned south to join up with the Canal du Nivernais. We are now riding beside the Yonne river, no longer a canal, with many more boats and tourists and even bigger locks. We haven’t seen vineyards yet but we will soon as we ride south. We rode through predominantly grain farming regions for the last few days so a much different feel here. I thought it seemed more economically depressed with less activity in general in the farm areas whereas Auxerre seems bustling with activity, economy and tourists on bikes and boats, or both.

We found our new apartment quite easily just up from the river. It is hidden behind an ordinary looking blue door after which you enter a traboule (pathway through buildings) which leads to several apartments. We found our apartment which is lovely with a nice terrace. It amazes me what you find behind the doors here.

We spent the first day here on a walking tour. It is a very interesting looking city as many of the buildings in the old city are the half timbered style, including our apartment. It is full of narrow windy streets and there are also two large churches and another abbey creating a breathtaking view. Our second day was spent riding around the surrounding area to a few small towns close to Auxerre. We are back in the wine growing areas, however tasting excursions don’t work well with riding a bike, so we focus on the scenery and history. We were able to visit an interesting archaeological site from the Roman times that has uncovered evidence of grape cultivating as well as a villa with baths and in-floor heating!

In the land of half timbered houses from the 16-17th century. The statue is Cadet Rousel, a character from a revolutionary song

Tags: cycling, france, travel

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Categories 2025

Montbard and Tonnerre

1 Jun

We left Pouilly en Auxois for Montbard on a beautiful sunny morning, and another day which promised some heat. We will still be going alongside the Canal de Bourgogne for the next few days, easy and flat riding and the trail surface is almost all paved though a bit bumpy in spots. The heat seems to have brought out more cyclists, or maybe it’s because it’s Friday and more folks have the day off. It’s not crowded though and I love to see them. We were able to check in to our rustic hotel early in the afternoon which gave us time to ride over and see the nearby Abbaye de Fontenay. The Abbey dates from the 11th century and was inhabited by Cisterian monks following the doctrine of Saint Bernard. The buildings went through many transformations including industrial and commercial use but are now well restored and presented for the public. Interesting to me was the monks had the earliest working metallurgical factory in Europe and invented the hydraulic hammer to help in the forging process. Educated dudes those monks. Our hotel looked a bit like something from an old western but turned out ok with a decent restaurant for supper and breakfast.

Off to our second one night stop, in Tonnerre 60km up the canal from Montbard. It was a hot, muggy, and buggy day with George especially getting plastered by a few billion aphids and some larger bugs as well. The good hot shower at the end was very welcome. Today we got to witness a boat actually going through one of the dozens of locks we have ridden by since joining this canal system. Not hugely exciting but interesting, and the whole process was less than ten minutes, not as much time as we had imagined. We are able to travel far faster than any of the boats we have seen and don’t have the necessary lock interruptions. The lock system is managed by a government agency, the Voie Navigables de France, and we see their vehicles and personnel all the time, but seldom in action. One thing we saw in Tonnerre during our short stay was the Fosse Dionne, dating from the 16th century, essentially a public laundry washing facility created due to a water source rising into this spot after seeping through the limestone cliffs above. The source has been investigated by divers as far as 380m back and 80m below the outlet. Over the years 3 divers perished in the exploration(!). It will be an even more compelling site once a budgeted and scheduled restoration is complete in the next two years.

A hot day on the canal and the first day in the short sleeves

Tags: france, travel

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Categories 2025

Pouilly-en-Auxois

29 May

We rode south and then turned north after leaving Dijon and riding towards Pouilly-en-Auxois. We were along canals the entire ride today, out of the vineyards for now, however still very scenic and tranquil. We are now on the Canal de Bourgogne trail. We saw some other cyclists, a few walkers, but not many other people once we were 10kms away from Dijon. We did see lots of herons and ducks along the canal and quite a few house boats that appear to be for tourists to rent, some very posh looking. We rode past many locks on the canal and with each one we rose about 2-4 meters, for a total of 333m from Dijon. Likely it is faster to travel by bike along here as each time you come to a lock in a boat you would have to go through the process. We didn’t find many services along the route and had to look hard for an open cafe in a canal side town. Also once we arrived in Pouilly we struggled to find some supper as the restaurant that is connected to our hotel is closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and unfortunately we arrived on a Tuesday. One other restaurant in the area is closed until July and another only serves midday meals. So our gourmet meal tonight was take out pizza… This is one of the places where we don’t have an apartment with a kitchen so we have to be creative.

We will be on the Canal de Bourgogne for several days so we got to know its interesting features and history. It is a critical 242km link in the overall canal system running from the English Channel to the Mediterranean Sea. It was used commercially from its inception in 1833 until late in the 20th century. Where we are now in Pouilly-en-Auxois which is the highest point in the entire system at 378m so there are many locks needed to get here from the south and then heading north for the descent as well. The most interesting bit to me is the 3337m long canal tunnel built right under the town and still in use. Before self powered barges they used many inventive methods to pull the boats through, ending in an electric tug which only went out of service in the 1970s. There is a tourist boat that goes through the tunnel but unfortunately not until July.

The weather was a bit sketchy the next day but we managed to ride to Mont St. Jean without getting too wet, a hill town with a fortress and church. The countryside here is very hilly so once you leave the canal-side, up up you go. A group of E-cyclists were also visiting the village and they cheered for us after completing the steep ascent on our non E bike. That evening we had to walk a couple of km out of town to find an open restaurant of the truckstop variety. We do what we must.

Now it is Thursday and we have had a really good day with great sunny weather, a lovely two chateau ride, and finishing with a very good meal in our hotel’s restaurant. Our outlook on Pouilly-en-Auxois has improved. Still, breakfast for Tara was oatmeal with applesauce while I ate pain au chocolat from the boulangerie next door. We did both sit out in the sun having morning coffees in the bar across the street though.

Our first chateau was the Chateau de Chateauneuf on top of a large hill with a single 12% grade switchback to get there. Chateauneuf is charming and the chateau has largely been reconstructed for tourists coming in. It is one of those iconic medieval castles with turreted towers and foreboding walls. The second chateau was in Commarin, just a few kms down the road. It had a different vibe to it as it is still inhabited by the same family who has owned it for 900 years. It is also one of the few chateau spared damage from the French revolution, the revolutionaries being out to destroy anything to do with royalty. It also still has a filled moat, no alligators but very large carp to keep the weeds and bugs down.