Adventure Cycling Association

Meet your touring companions at our first campground for introductions, orientation, and our first overnight. We'll enjoy a hearty dinner and conduct our inaugural map meeting. While you're getting to know your fellow participants, our on-tour mechanic will make sure your bicycle is ready for the Acadian roads. Then it's time to crawl into the tent and get some shut-eye to dream of the cypress swamps and lazy bayous in your future.

Today will be an immersion in Acadian culture. We will make our way to Lafayette where we will visit Vermilionville Historic Village and the Acadian Cultural Center before riding to our overnight location near St. Martinville.

Today we will pedal into rural suburbs and then past fields of sugarcane and rice before entering the town of St. Martinville. The third-oldest town in Louisiana, St. Martinville contains many marvelous examples of Southern architecture, such as the historic St. Martin de Tours Catholic Church and La Maison Duchamp on Main Street. Departing St. Martinville, we'll ride through increasingly rural country until gaining the levee road on the west edge of the Atchafalaya Basin. The campground in Butte La Rose lies along the levee, offering a peaceful place to pitch a tent.

Departing Butte La Rose, we'll make our way up the levee road past McGee's Landing, and then we'll pedal to Lake Martin for a relaxing tour on the swamp where we'll search for alligators, rare birds, and flowers. After the fascinating sightseeing, it's back to pedaling as we make our way to camp.

The longest day of the tour takes us north up the Bayou Teche, through the town of Arnaudville, and to the bayou's origin in Port Barre. At Port Barre the Teche draws water from Bayou Courtableau, then flows southward to meet the Lower Atchafalaya River at Berwick. During the time of the Acadian migration to what was then known as the Attakapas region, in the mid- to late 1700s, boating on the Teche was the primary means of transportation. From Port Barre, we'll follow the Bayou Courtableau northwest and then ride along the southern edge of the Thistlethwaite State Wildlife Management Area before entering the town of Washington. Today we'll also reach the highest elevation on our route — a jaw-dropping 81 feet above sea level! After a long day of pedaling, we will relax along the lake at Chicot State Park.

We'll begin the day with a visit to the Louisiana Arboretum and then continue on the peaceful roads of Chicot State Park as we make our way to Ville Platte. Later, we'll pedal through Mamou, located in the heart of Louisiana's Cajun country and the self-proclaimed "Cajun Music Capital of the World." Arguably the most famous bar in all of Louisiana is Fred's Lounge in Mamou, where KVPI radio out of Ville Platte has been broadcasting its Saturday morning live Cajun music show for more than 50 years. Arriving at our campground, you can pitch your tent, enjoy the lake, and tap your feet to live music in the barn.

We'll pedal through heavily wooded lowlands and across the Bayou Mallet today before winding through Acadian farmland eastward to Grand Coteau. You'll cross the bayous Plaquemine, Wicoff, and Bourbeux, and, finally, begin following the scenic North Wilderness Trail along the east side of the Bayou Fuselier back to where we started. True, the tour may be over — but son of a gun, we had big fun on the bayou!