This was a last minute decision: do a test ride before starting my tour south from Banff. There is new equipment to test: a new trailer, an almost totally new bicycle build, including frame (so, essentially, an almost totally new ride), new tubeless tyres… And I’ve never cooked on tour before, preferring restaurants where available …
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 …
Sunday 21st May. Near Reading to Thatcham. 30.7 km. Apart from being discovered by a couple of mildly-interested dogs out for an early morning walk with their owners, no-one appeared to notice my overnight stay. Easy riding along the river to Sonning Lock, where the Thames was left behind, for good this time. For the …
Thursday 18th May. Greenwich to Chertsey. About 63 km. I was in England and had time to ride for a couple of weeks. I’d never really contemplated touring in the UK; I was too used to the fast and fairly aggressive driving and didn’t think it would be much fun. But I’d bought a guidebook, …
I’ve quit. Just like that. Call it what you will: I blinked, I bailed, I chickened out, … I had planned three days in Chamba, to rest and to get supplies for the trip over the hill. Which is how I feel right now – over the hill. Thanks to the Iravati Hotel having wifi …
Best Western Hunky Dory Resort and Spa. Km 34 from Pathankot. Thursday 22nd June, 2016. 32.1 km today. (Wow!) Average speed: Not very much. Saving the current track to a file, then clearing the current track means I lose access to useful data such as elevation gained, average speed, etc. All I can get from the …