Albert says that he first heard the story of Frederic Roy of Boulangerie Roy Le Capitole from Nice, France, on the news on television. Frederic’s lavender croissants are famous in the south of France because he uses lavender water as he kneads the dough, which gives them a delicate but very firm lavender flavor. Albert was hooked.
That was 2021 and despite the traveling restrictions, within minutes, he had formed a plan in his mind to get there by bike. You see, as much as Albert loves traveling and biking, he can hardly do either if he doesn’t have a purpose or an end goal for it. As he puts it, he had finally found the reason to bike his way into France.
Man and his plans, God’s never-ending source of amusement, as one saying goes. Further travel restrictions prevented Albert from setting out then, but he and Frederic kept in contact for the remainder of the year. On June 28, Albert left Belgium and, sticking to a carefully drawn-out route, he biked into France and right at Frederic’s doorstep two weeks later, on July 12.
His ride was over 1,400 km (780 miles) and was a physical feat that Albert took great pleasure in: his bike is of the traditional kind, with just pedal power, and no electric assistance. He had his location turned on and was always in contact with Frederic, who, in turn, would post photos and updates to his social media. With him, he carried just a sleeping bag, a change of clothes, and a jug of 7 liters (1.8 U.S. gallons) of water in his pannier bags – and, of course, a bike repair tool kit. He would ride an average of 12 hours a day and cover some 100 km (62 miles), and he was lucky that he only got a few hours of bad weather during the entire journey.
“I carefully planned a route along smaller rural roads to avoid motorways, busy regional roads and cars as much as possible,” Albert tells the media outlet. “I'd stop for a plat du jour (daily special) for lunch and at night, I'd pitch up in a campsite.”
It was an epic adventure, one that Albert will certainly remember for the rest of his life, but there was a slightly bittersweet aftertaste to it. Asked by CNN how he liked the world-famous lavender croissant that he’d biked such a great distance for, Albert’s reply was that it “could be improved even more,” like by adding pastry cream like they do in Belgium. Ouch!
S’il n’y à pas de mauvaises surprises aujourd’hui , Albert parti de Belgique à vélo le 28 juin devrait arriver à #Nice06 demain pour goûter les croissants à la lavande ???????? un périple de plus de 1400km???? #CotedAzurFrance pic.twitter.com/0e6LljPjbe
— Frédéric Roy (@fredericroynice) July 11, 2022
Petite préparation de déco aux couleurs de la Belgique ???????? pour l’arrivée d’Albert cet après-midi à #Nice06 ???????? #CotedAzurFrance Plus de 1500 km à vélo pour venir goûter les croissants à la lavande ça se fête ???? ???? pic.twitter.com/E573dMQOgy
— Frédéric Roy (@fredericroynice) July 12, 2022
Beaucoup d’échanges et de bienveillance cet après-midi avec l’arrivée d’Albert parti de Belgique à vélo il y a 15 jours pour venir goûter les croissants à la lavande à #Nice06 avec dégustation de produits locaux ???????????? #CotedAzurFrance pic.twitter.com/EL2EOllMUd
— Frédéric Roy (@fredericroynice) July 12, 2022