Le Grand Tour: Day 16 – Roz-Sur-Couesnon / Forward Planning
Last night on the campsite there were at least seven cyclists and another four walkers in the cycling-walking section. All except me have now left and I have been joined, so far, by just two cyclists....
View ArticleLe Grand Tour: Day 17 – Roz-Sur-Cousenon To Saint-Briac-Sur-Mer (72km)
If I wanted variety after having cycled along the seemingly endless disused railway tracks of the Veloscenie, I certainly got variety today after my day of rest / escape from the heat. The cycling was...
View ArticleLe Grand Tour: Day 18 – Saint-Briac-Sur-Mer To Hillion (80km)
You are not reading this on Wednesday 20th as, yesterday evening, my 25GB of data ran out. I was expecting this to happen at some point and also expected to be able to easily purchase more data. But...
View ArticleLe Grand Tour: Day 19 – Hillion To Saint-Quay (50km)
A shorter day - just 50km - but it helps me out when it comes to getting to Morlaix by the end of Saturday. Where I am now - a place called Saint-Quay - is about half way between Mont-Saint-Michel and...
View ArticleLe Grand Tour: Day 20 – Saint-Quay To Louannec (72km)
The omens were not good at 8am. The campsite at Saint-Quay certainly lived up to its name by having a ‘belle vue’. Indeed my pitch - as with many others - was facing north-east and if there were no...
View ArticleLe Grand Tour: Day 21 – Louannec To Morlaix (36km + Train)
I have a day off in Morlaix tomorrow so will write up day 21 at some point in the morning leaving you to enjoy the photos and the pictures. I’ll also be publishing episode 055 of The Cycling Europe...
View ArticleLe Grand Tour: Day 22 – Morlaix –“If They Bite You, Bite Them Back”
According to the bird’s eye view of Morlaix in the image below, that’s the motto of the town. Original, no? It’s been a hot day so far, despite Brittany being the cold corner of the map of France on...
View ArticleLe Grand Tour: Day 23 – Morlaix To Gouarec (98km)
Today was planned to be a short cycle of 50km. In ended up being the second longest cycle yet at 98km. If nothing else, it will work wonders on the daily average which had dipped down to 75km. I need...
View ArticleLe Grand Tour: Day 24 – Gouarec To Rohan (68km)
I was up early this morning (when am I not up early in a tent? I’ve said this many times before but for me it’s not a case of ‘waking up’ when I’m camping it’s a case of when to stop trying to make an...
View ArticleLe Grand Tour: Day 25 – Rohan To Frossay (91km + Train + 19km)
It’s been a good day on the bike… and as I write this, it’s not quite over. At 5:30pm there remains about 15km (and a train and a ferry) to ride. All will become clear. With no convivial breakfast on...
View ArticleLe Grand Tour: Day 26 – Frossay To La Bernerie-En-Retz (93km – 18km)
Up early again this morning and almost the first off the site. I was beaten to it by a French solo cyclist, about my age who I exchanged a few words with before he set off home at the end of his week...
View ArticleLe Grand Tour: Day 27 – La Bernerie-En-Retz To Saint-Gilles-Croix-De-Vie (86km)
I’m getting a little tired and weary. Not of the cycling - that’s fine - but if all the names of places. In Brittany it was a case of not being able to spell the towns and villages properly. Down here...
View ArticleLe Grand Tour: Day 28 – Saint-Gilles-Croix-De-Vie To La Rochelle (140km)
Google estimated the distance today at 121km. I wouldn’t normally trust Google distances when it comes to cycling but when I compared the Google route on Google Maps and the EuroVelo 1 / Vélodyssée...
View ArticleLe Grand Tour: Day 29 – La Rochelle To Saint-Fort-Sur-Gironde (Train + 39km)
They certainly packed them in at the municipal campsite in La Rochelle. As predicted, it was a noisy evening, including fireworks at one point. Things did quieten down after midnightish but then at...
View ArticleLe Grand Tour: Day 30 – Saint-Fort-Sur-Gironde To Bordeaux (44km + Ferry + 42km)
Today was a good day. A very good day. Well, apart from the first 10km, but that aside, I loved today’s cycling. It had everything that you might want from a good cycle touring day; beautiful scenery,...
View ArticleLe Grand Tour: Day 31 – Bordeaux
A short one today… and no video. It’s often tempting on a non-cycling day to plunge into full tourist mode and spend an exhausting day visiting the sites. Today I haven’t done that. I’ve spent much of...
View ArticleLe Grand Tour: Day 32 – Bordeaux To La Réole (80km)
There’s no mistaking that I have now arrived in the south of France. Not only has it been hot (in fairness, it’s not been in the least but cold since Brittany) but there have been a long list of things...
View ArticleLe Grand Tour: Day 33 – La Réole To Agen (89km)
There were times this morning when I thought this particular day - the whole trip perhaps - were being derailed… It all started by me heading over the bridge back in the direction of La Réole. Oops!...
View ArticleLe Grand Tour: Day 34 – Agen To Grisolles (94km)
I judge my WarmShowers hosts on how I provide for WarmShowers guests when I host back at home. Alas in recent years this has been less frequent. When I lived in that beautiful tourist hotspot that is,...
View ArticleLe Grand Tour: Day 35 – Grisolles To Toulouse (31km)
I’m still suffering g from the mosquito bites inflicted upon me in Marick’s basement on Thursday night. I really wish I had got out of the bed and killed each one of the little f*****s. Not only would...
View ArticleLe Grand Tour: Day 36 – Toulouse To Alzonne (92km)
I’ve seen the Pyrenees for the first time this evening. After so much relatively flat or tame topography over the past five weeks, it’s good to finally have a little drama added to the landscape. They...
View ArticleLe Grand Tour: Day 37 – Alzonne To Pouzols-Minervois (71km)
I’m on one bar of 3G tonight so getting anything uploaded aside from some good old text is very doubtful. No, more than doubtful; it won’t happen as I’m not even going to try. I’ll update this post...
View ArticleLe Grand Tour: Day 38 – Pouzols Minervois To Montagnac Via Sète (134km)
I’’m glad to have finished the Canal du Midi section of the Canal des Deux Mers cycle route. Now in Pézenas - I’ll explain in a moment - the highlight of yesterday was cycling along the excellent voies...
View ArticleLe Grand Tour: Day 40 – Montagnac To Chateauneuf-du-Pape Via Sète (77km +...
Day 39 existed. I didn’t just time-warp myself from day 38 to day 40 but having met up with friends Basil and Liz in Pézenas yesterday lunchtime after having done my pit-stop tasks (washing, post...
View ArticleLe Grand Tour: Day 41 – Chateauneuf-Du-Pape To Montélimar (93km)
Today has seen some of the best cycling of the trip so far. I had, in my mind, relegated the Via Rhôna to a fill-the-gap route that I would have to endure in order to get me from the Mediterranean to...
View ArticleLe Grand Tour: Day 42 – Montélimar To Tain L’Hermitage (96km)
Ten bridges today. Ten. That means that I went from Drôme (to the east of the Rhône) to the Ardèche (to the west of the Rhône) five times in each direction. In the new reality of Brexit, that probably...
View ArticleLe Grand Tour: Day 43 – Tain L’Hermitage To Lyon (By Train)
Caught the train to Lyon this morning. After all the heat it’s perhaps not surprising that when the rain decided to fall it put on quite an impressive thunder and lightening show. The downpour was, at...
View ArticleLe Grand Tour: Day 44 – Lyon To Sault-Brénaz (81km)
I don’t like Mondays… Someone has beaten me to the song. I really don’t like Mondays in France as most places are closed. There is a special corner in hell for bank holidays that happen to be on a...
View ArticleLe Grand Tour: Day 45 – Sault-Brénaz To Seyssel (112km)
Running a bit late tonight. It was a long day of cycling (although not the longest) but thoroughly enjoyable. I hesitate before I say this (as I would need to think more carefully about all the others)...
View ArticleLe Grand Tour: Day 46 – Seyssel To Lac Léman (97km)
Very wet evening. I am reminded of cycling across Europe in 2010. Arrived in Switzerland… then left Switzerland. Full details tomorrow…
View ArticleLe Grand Tour: Day 47 – Excenevex, Lac Léman To Aigle, Switzerland (67km)
The difference between the situation I am tonight in Aigle, Switzerland compared to the situation I was in in Excenevex near Lac Léman just 24 hours ago is a stark one to say the least. But before I...
View ArticleLe Grand Tour: Day 48 – Aigle
As I thought I would, I have spent the day in Aigle. It rained heavily overnight, continued raining this morning and this afternoon and only decided to stop at around 3pm. It remains very overcast with...
View ArticleLe Grand Tour: Day 49 – Aigle To Sierre (81km)
On one level - the cycling level - it has been a pretty standard day. Dare I say boring? A flat ride, 90% off road on a good quality path beside the Rhône following the route of the EuroVelo 17 or, as...
View ArticleLe Grand Tour: Day 50 – Sierre To Ritzingen (74km)
I’m running out of energy today. Not me personally but my electrical gear. In sorting out my gear last week at the €35 campsite when the heavens opened and the tent ended up hosting the 2022 Lac Léman...
View ArticleLe Grand Tour: Day 51 – Ritzingen To Andermatt Via The Furka Pass (54km)
I did it! I arrived in my spiritual cycling home, Andermatt, a little earlier this afternoon after a lengthy, strenuous, exhilarating and ultimately beautifully satisfying climb to the Furka Pass. I’m...
View ArticleLe Grand Tour: Day 52 – Andermatt To Valendas (62km)
And so this pan-European odyssey enters its final phase: the Rhine Cycle Route or EuroVelo 15. But before I could crack on with that this morning, I had some sorting out of loose ends from the...
View ArticleLe Grand Tour: Day 53 – Valendas To Buchs (83km)
Life is getting complicated, for good reasons. I’m now in the Swiss town of Buchs and trying to plan tomorrow which will hopefully see me meet two people at either ends of the day; Ken, who is cycling...
View ArticleLe Grand Tour: Day 54 – Buchs To Konstanz (64km + Ferry)
The first part of Plan B has been enacted… Quite an achievement when you bear in mind that there wasn’t ever a detailed Plan A and when Plan B is about as vague as a Brexitier when you try pin them...
View ArticleLe Grand Tour: Day 55 – Konstanz To Kembs (59km + Train + 19km)
Basel… You almost ruined my day. More later on that score. Basel aside, today was up there with one of the best days of cycling and I’m so delighted that I’ve been able to sample at least some of the...
View ArticleLe Grand Tour: Day 56 – Kembs To Kehl (120km)
About 80% of today was deathly dull. Why did I end up cycling the Rhine-Rhône Canal again after having cycled it north to south in 2010 and been bored just as rigid back then? I suppose it was because...
View ArticleLe Grand Tour: Day 57 – Kehl To Phlippsburg (123km)
The best thing about day 57 is that it wasn’t day 56. That’s not to say that day 57 will go down in history as being a great day of cycling but it wasn’t anywhere near as monotonous as yesterday’s...
View ArticleLe Grand Tour: Day 58 – Philippsburg To Gernsheim (110km)
In the context of a two-month cycle around Europe I can put up with a few days here and there of uninspiring or troublesome cycling but I do feel for all those people who set their heart of cycling the...
View ArticleLe Grand Tour: Day 59 – Gernsheim To Braubach (135km)
Such a contrast after three tedious days of cycling. The Rhine has come back to me! It was an epic day in terms of length - 130km - but also in terms of the environment. Finally the steep-sided Rhine...
View ArticleLe Grand Tour: Day 60 – Braubach To Hürth / Cologne (121km)
It’s now day 61 and it’s turning out to be a ‘fun’ morning. I’m booked onto a train to Xanten from Cologne but in chaotic scenes very reminiscent of taking a train in the UK, there is some confusion...
View ArticleLe Grand Tour: Day 61 – Hürth/Cologne To Arnhem (16km + Train + 70km)
Today has been a real joy. Everything came together in a celestial meeting of cycle touring, travelling, people, places, weather… I loved it. Even the trains joined the party after an initial...
View ArticleLe Grand Tour: Day 62 – Arnhem To Rotterdam (161km)
The longest day of the trip but it needed to be.it’s now Saturday morning and I still have around 60km of cycling today: 30km from central Rotterdam to the Hook of Holland and then, back up and down...
View ArticleLe Grand Tour: Day 63 – Rotterdam To The Hook Of Holland (39km)
So there it is. Finished. After 63 days, 55 cycling days, around 4,700km, 7 countries, 10 train journeys, lots of ferries (small and large), 45 nights in the tent, 11 nights in hotels, 4 with...
View ArticleLe Grand Tour: The View From On High
It's now two weeks since I arrived back in the UK after the summer's jaunt around Europe with Wanda (the bike...). It's been an interesting couple of weeks to say the least. On a personal level, I...
View ArticleLe Grand Tour: The Film – Coming Soon…
Although during the trip I posted short daily videos recounting the tale of my cycle around Europe this summer, the main reason for filming what I did was to make a film about the cycle from the Hook...
View ArticleCycle Magazine: Le Grand Tour – Now Available Online
If you are a member of Cycling UK and pay your £4 every month, you will hopefully have had the opportunity to read my account of last year's Grand Tour that appeared in the June / July 2023 issue of...
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