Bike Tour of La Réunion
Pretty much as soon as I got back from Capetown, I left on by 5-day bike tour of the island. I went with my friend Christiana. She is one of the people that did the October GRR2 hike with me in Mafate!
This was towards the end of January, full-on summer here. Accordingly, we woke up quite early every day to beat the heat. (not that it mattered, it was brutally hot by 8am each day!!) We typically started our rides as the sun was coming up, and finished them by late morning. Our average day was a cool 50k.
We circumnavigated the island counter-clockwise, so we would always be in the ‘outside’ lane, and thereby have a better view of the ocean for the entire journey!
Day 1 - St. Pierre to St. Joseph (Point A to B)
We set off early from my apartment in St. Pierre. This was a shorter day and one that I had done many times before. I worked in St. Joseph, our destination, so I commuted by bicycle there at least a few times per week. This was the shakedown cruise. Turns out we needed one, too! We had a couple flats and other kinks to work out.
We stayed with one of my teachers I work with in St. Joseph for the night. Merci Mme Thonnet de nous avoir accueilli!
Day 2 - St. Joseph to Ste. Rose (Point B to C)
We began our trend of starting our rides before 5am today. This was necessary because it was brutally hot by 8am most days.
On this day we passed through Les coulées de Lave which are sites of previous lava flows.
These are most prominent on the southeastern part of the island. Piton de la Fournaise is one of the top 5 most active volcanoes on the earth and is situated on the southern half of the island. There were many lava flows in the 90s and early 200os that are only just now beginning to have organic matter begin to grow back. Le Grand Brûlé is the largest one with flowed in 2007.
We also stopped in St. Phillipe for a midday picnic and swimming!
We arrived in Ste. Rose that afternoon and stayed at a wonderful BnB. Little did they know we would absolutely destroy their continental breakfast the following morning.
Day 3 - Ste Rose to St. Dennis (Point C to D)
This was our longest day. We woke up at the crack of dawn, packed up our bags and hit the breakfast table as soon as it opened. We loaded up and prepared for the first leg of our journey that day: a giant climb to an in-land river crossing. We labored uphill for the first hour of our day, but when we finally hit that suspension bridge over La Rivière de L’est" it was magnificent. We stayed for a while at this tourist destination, the site of the old bridge which is still standing, before carrying on.
When we continued, we entered the most glorious section of the trip: 7km of pure downhill. We managed to cover 7km in about 10 minutes, all the way to Ste. Anne. There was a good 6 minute stretch where neither of us had to pedal once!
Continuing onward, we passed the Vélo Cub de St. Benoît and could not resist taking a silly photo:
As this was our longest day, the last stretch was a long slog in the afternoon. By the time we reahed Ste. Suzanne we knew we were getting close, but it was in the peak heat of the afternoon. We stopped often for water breaks as we checked our maps. Navigation got a bit more complicated as we approached the largest city on the island, but we managed to find our way successfully to Christiana’s apartment!
Day 4 - St. Dennis to St. Gilles (Point D to E)
Today was jam-packed, but also short and sweet. It contained the sketchiest parts of the ride, so far, but it was also our shortest day.
We left St. Denis and started to curve around the northwestern part of the island. This area has extremely steep bluffs, and is very prone to rock-slides. As a result, the road gets squeezed into 2 lanes at points, as it gets wedged between the mountainside and the sea. For this reason, the narrow roads were the most hazardous part of our entire circumnavigation! See the photos below for some very narrow sections of road we traveled.
Once through that section, the roads became much more manageable. And past La Possession they really opened up. We only had ~37km that day, and we actually made our final destination before 11am. We hung out at La Plage de Boucan Canot for the whole afternoon, and eventually made our way to St. Gilles to stay with a friend for the night.
Day 4 - St. Gilles to St. Pierre (Point E to F)
This was our final day of the trip, and we were feeling strong. We wound our way down the western shore of the island. There were some nice rolling hills, and we took our time savoring the last of our scenic trip. Past St. Louis, we started to get back into my home turf and things were looking more and more familiar. The sights and sounds of civilization were calling—not to mention the thought of a shower and sleeping in my own bed! We finished strong on our route with some gorgeous vistas!
Reflections
I particularly enjoy bicycle trips in unfamiliar places, because it forces you to to slow down and see a place in a different way than driving through it. There’s a nice feeling of rolling into your destination town, with no particular feeling of where to stop, simply rolling through and picking a spot that seems inviting. Bicycling forces you to get off the main road and explore the smaller main streets of a town. It forces you to approach the unknown with an open mind and without any agenda, but also with more a childlike curiosity. It’s one of my favourite ways to soak in the local scene and get attached with a new place.
Bike ride to Cilaos
In late February, I had one particularly interesting and full Saturday. I woke up at 4h30, and me and my pal Jeremy biked from St. Pierre, at sea level, all the way up to the mountain town of Cilaos, at around 1200m. Here's the approximate route we took https://goo.gl/maps/R6GZXv9LeWC2
It was a brutal day, we took about 5h to get up the mountain, my legs were jelly when we did reach the top! But it was wonderful to be at elevation to have a break from the hot, hot heat of St. Pierre. We hung out and ate a hardy lunch, then took only 1h30m to get back to St. Pierre! What a crazy difference that makes.
We passed through 3 (one-lane) tunnels on our way to Cilaos, which were pretty dark to do on a bike. Next time, I’ll bring a headlamp! These tunnels have a right-of-way, but most signalling is done with your car horn, which of course we didn’t have. So it was always a bit of a gamble heading into the longer tunnels. Luckily we had no problems.
One of the most uplifting aspects of the trip was that most cars driving by served as our personal cheerleaders! More than half the cars that drove by would be honking a yelling jubilantly, encouraging us up on our brutal climb. Some also stopped and asked if we needed water or any supplies. It was great to have that support driving us onward! Partially this is because cyclists are a rare sight on this road, for all its glory... We saw only about 5 other cyclists total on this day.
Some photos from the ride to Cilaos:
A fantastic day but so very rewarding! If I ever go back to Réunion I will definitely be tackling this route again!