A cycle route across southern Wales, from Chepstow to Fishguard, following National Cycle Network 4 (NCN4). Into Wales at Chepstow, over the old Severn Bridge, on a sunny afternoon. Narrow lanes with high hedges, and little traffic. Fortunately, because there was little room to pass and stinging nettles in the hedges! A pleasant night in …
The Western Way is the name of the first part of our summer of ’19 cycle trip. It is from south-east London (Greenwich) to Bristol first along the Thames and then following, where possible, the Kennet Avon canal. We’re near Bath at the moment, maybe 30 km ride from Bristol, waiting out some threatened thunder …
Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument I slept out at Alamo Canyon campground, a ‘primitive’ camping area with just four sites. It was the first time in a while to be out under the stars. Magical. In the morning, I took my camera for a walk up the canyon. Inadvertently, my left hand brushed a cholla …
Tuesday 1st August, Sully-sur-Loire, 63 km Unpaved to start, then cobbles. A mixture of roads and paths in the heat. Our map showed two campsites around Sully. The first didn’t appeal very much so we pushed on into town, where the chateau, with a large green moat, was breathtakingly beautiful. The second campground had …
Friday 28th July, La-Ville-aux-Dames, 73 km Paved trails helped us put on some miles after our unusually (even for us) late start. Getting into and through Tours was well signed and surprisingly easy. Getting out of town was not quite so straightforward after I ignored a sign telling us to go west (in order to …
Monday 24th July, Saumur, 55 km More pretty Loire Valley countryside, and small towns and villages. Again, nothing spectacular but a nice gentle feel to it all. We stopped at a church, Église Saint-Aubin. The high stone ceiling and arches were similar to those of Église Saint-Symphorean that we’d seen the previous day. Later, in …
Wednesday 19th July, Saint Nazaire, 60 km Pleasant riding towards the city of Saint Nazaire, just on the north side of the Loire estuary from the start of the EuroVelo 6, our chosen route across France. Everything so far has been to get to the start of this route. We didn’t have any expectations for …
Friday 14th July, Dinan to Saint-Onen-la-Chapelle, 56 km. (Bastille Day. And Mum’s 85th!) A bit of everything (good) today. Back through town, carefully down the steep cobbled streets, to the river. Over the old bridge and along the Rance (now a canal), stopping to phone my mum in London to wish her a happy 85th …
Tuesday 11th July London to somewhere between Portsmouth and St Malo Three of us left Greenwich for Waterloo station at around 12:30, having been forced to give up waiting for Charles, the cab-driver who still had my reading glasses in his cab. Chris came along, thankfully, to make sure we (I) didn’t get lost on …
This post is long overdue. About two years late. And I no longer have the notes I made at the time so this post is mainly a few pictures and some vague memories. (I will be repeating this route, then continuing further, starting in late July 2019. This time I will have my wife for …
Pathankot, Punjab 16th June, 2016 In retrospect, taking a taxi to Pathankot was a very good idea. We left Delhi at around 6:30 am and made good progress, weaving between lanes in that particular Indian flow to driving where any gap sufficient (barely) for a vehicle becomes a traffic lane and the actual road lane …
Bloomroom Hotel, New Delhi June 14th 2016 My first ever cycle tour, in 1991, started in Bombay (I don’t think it was yet Mumbai, but could be wrong). I was in a shabby hotel, not far from the airport, and spent the first day making a lengthy journey downtown to try to find some maps: …