If you are a member of Cycling UK and pay your ยฃ4 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 Cycle Magazine. (If you are not a member, why not?? It’s a bargain and the magazine is one of the best cycling reads that you can get your hands on; real people, real cycling, real stories…)
You can read the full article on the Cycling UK website (if you are member) by following this link. If you are not a member (still haven’t joined since reading the previous paragraph??) then you are only able to see some of the article. Fear not! Now that the magazine is an old issue, you will find the full article below. This is how it appeared in the magazine…
…and this is what I wrote:
Le Grand Tour by Andrew P. Sykes
Le Grand Tour wasnโt Plan A. It wasnโt even Plan B. It was more of a Plan C. Yet in no way did it turn out to be a third-rate cycle. 5,000km from The Hook of Holland to The Hook of Holland via The Netherlands, Belgium, France, Switzerland, Austria and Germany in the summer of 2022.
The story had started back in the innocent pre-COVID days of 2019. My third book – Spain to Norway on a Bike Called Reggie – had been published a couple of years previously and, with book number four in mind, I was keen to set off pedalling once again. By the early months of 2020 I was busy planning a six-week trip from the northernmost point of Japan at Cape Sลya to the countryโs southernmost point at Cape Sata. The plane tickets had been bought, a new touring bike purchased and research was in full swingโฆ
We know what happened next.
Even by early 2022, Japan still hadnโt opened its doors to foreign visitors, but continental Europe had, so I came up with a Plan B, to cycle around the Baltic Sea following the route of the EuroVelo 10. It lacked, however, one key ingredient: my enthusiasm. The war in Ukraine also threw up logistical problems involving Russia and its exclave of Kaliningrad. However, with a ticket already purchased for the Hull to Rotterdam ferry for the evening of July 2nd, were there other options? The most obvious was to turn right upon arrival at Rotterdam, not left. Plan C had been born.
Although I have a reputation as being (as I was once introduced at The Cycle Touring Festival) โMr Cycling Europeโ there are many iconic routes in Europe that I have never cycled in their entirety; the Avenue Verte to Paris, the Vรฉlodyssรฉe along the west coat of France and the Rhine Cycle Route to name just three. Could my Plan C be an opportunity to plug some of these gaps in my cycling knowledge? I pored over the map and attempted to piece together a route.
By turning right at The Hook of Holland I could follow the North Sea Cycle Route (EuroVelo 12) to Calais and the Vรฉlomaritime (EuroVelo 4) to Dieppe. Here I could head south in the direction of Paris along the French section of the Avenue Verte, the route linking the British and French capitals. A route Iโd never before heard of – the Vรฉloscรฉnie – connected Paris with Mont Saint-Michel, where I could rejoin the Vรฉlomaritime as far as Morlaix in Brittany. From there I could follow the northern portion of the Vรฉlodyssรฉe (EuroVelo 1) to Royan where the Vรฉloroute Des 2 Mers A Vรฉlo could take me to the Mediterranean via Bordeaux, the Canal de la Garonne, Toulouse and the Canal du Midi. The EuroVelo 17 – called the ViaRhรดna in France – could be followed from Sรจte to Andermatt, high in the Swiss Alps where, rather conveniently, the Rhine Cycle Route (EuroVelo 15) could return me to The Netherlands, The Hook of Holland and my ferry back home on September 3rd. That didnโt seem too shabby for a Plan C.
Was it, however, feasible? I had negotiated a few weeks of extra holiday from the school where I teach in order to set off at the start of July, but I needed to be back in the classroom on September 5th. There was no renegotiating that. Nine weeks. Assuming a day off every week, 54 days of cycling along a route that I estimated to be around 5,500km. Just over 100km per day. Iโd managed this in 2013 as I cycled along the Mediterranean from Greece to Portugal but it had left me bereft of energy as I trudged through the heat of Andalusia in the final week of the cycle. Ten years later? I was sceptical and as the date of departure approached I was increasingly concerned that I had committed to what seemed like a doomed cycling plan. Might a Plan D be needed?
No, it wouldnโt. Just a slightly modified Plan C.
Combining carbon-friendly modes of transport to travel longer distances needs to be championed, not shunned and with this in mind I decided that in order to make my epic journey a more realistic endeavour, I would allow myself to take a maximum of ten trains, each of no more than 100km. It was a wise move and my journey was no less epic as a result. My average daily cycle would now be a much more cyclist-friendly 80km per day.
To cut a longish story short – youโll be able to read all the details in the book that Iโm currently writing – I arrived back at The Hook of Holland on the afternoon of September 3rd, just in time for that ferry home. The trip had gone to plan but, as with every cycling adventure there were highs and lows, surprises along the way and challenges that had to be overcome. Thatโs what makes our chosen method of travel so enjoyable.
As I was following named routes, perhaps 80% of the journey was traffic-free although that figure was probably closer to 100% in the first week or so of the trip as I cycled along the coasts of The Netherlands and Belgium. It was a gentle introduction to Le Grand Tour, a cycle where the vertical challenges wouldnโt really kick in until I entered Switzerland and headed in the direction of the Alps.
However, even when I arrived in France, most of the cycling was well away from major roads with cycle paths adopting the narrow lanes of the French countryside if there wasnโt a disused railway or canal towpath at hand. The French cycling authorities have done a commendable job in recent years in developing their medium and long-distance cycling routes. Along with their distinctive – enticing even – names (La Scandibรฉrique, La Vรฉlo Francette, La Route des Grandes Alpesโฆ), each has unique branding, is well signposted and has a wealth of information available online via dedicated websites. This was certainly the case with the six French routes that I adopted; La Vรฉlomaritime, LโAvenue Verte, La Vรฉloscรฉnie, La Vรฉlodyssรฉe, Le Canal des 2 Mars A Vรฉlo and ViaRhรดna. The national website, FranceVeloTourisme.com, is the best place to start your planning.
Cycling south from Dieppe along the Avenue Verte, I did think I had discovered a disused railway line that couldnโt be surpassed in terms of its quality and what it provided for the travelling cyclist. Aside from the quality of the route itself (no potholes here), there were regular opportunities to pause and eat in the cafรฉs that had moved into the disused railway stations, often having basic bicycle maintenance facilities available. Yet the experience would be repeated over and over again as I continued on my long loop around France. There were several such abandoned railways linking Paris with Mont Saint-Michel, more along the Vรฉlodyssรฉe and, when leaving Bordeaux, I followed the superb Voie Verte Roger Lapรฉbie linking the great city of wine to the Canal de la Garonne some 40km to the south-east. Many of these disused railway lines have been officially adopted as departmental roads (without cars). This requires the local authorities responsible for them to maintain them to a high standard. If only that were the case nearer to homeโฆ Combined with the canal towpaths, much of my cycle came courtesy of the toil of hardworking navvies of the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries.
Back in Paris, I did make life difficult for myself by not sticking to the route of the Avenue Verte as I made my way through the Parisian suburbs. It wasnโt easy when the signs had to fight for my attention amongst all the other urban clutter but I knew my destination was somewhere south and, making use of the compass on my handlebars, eventually arrived at Notre Dame in time to make it to my Warmshowers hostโs flat in the nearby Marais district. He proved to be an excellent host giving me a guided tour of the 4th arrondissement and fascinating insights into the changing face of his corner of Paris. I had equally memorable Warmshowers experiences on a co-housing project near Ostend, with a wonderfully welcoming non-cyclist in Agen (she had stumbled upon a lost cyclist in the street a couple of years previously and had been taking them in ever since) and even attended a birthday party with the extended family of a sprightly 78 year-old in Sierre, Switzerland. Most nights were, however, spent in the tent and Iโm delighted to report that, despite reports to the contrary, the French municipal campsite is alive and kicking. Famed for their locations near town centres, their facilities and above all their prices, the standout example was the Camping Municipal Champ Passais in the Normandy town of Domfront which still charges just โฌ4 per night for a cyclist and their tent. The facilities were about as good as you can get and the beautiful hilltop town was only a few minutes cycle up the hill.
One disappointing section of Le Grand Tour was the Canal du Midi. Iโd interviewed Declan Lyons, author of the Canal du Midi Cicerone guide for The Cycling Europe Podcast earlier in 2022 and I was aware that some sections of the towpath were hard going. In cycling from Toulouse to Sรจte I came to the reluctant conclusion that if you really want to travel along the canal, the best thing to do is hire a boat. Itโs a great shame as, in all other respects – the canal itself, its history, the surrounding countryside and nearby towns such as Carcassonne – itโs a wonderful area through which to travel, just not on a bike on the towpath. It also suffers from being the second half of the Canal des 2 Mers A Vรฉlo, the first part of which is along the superb Canal de la Garonne. The comparison between the two canals is stark.
I had few expectations for the ViaRhรดna. At the planning stage it was the part of the journey that simply linked two other places where I wanted to be; the Mediterranean and the Alps. It turned out to be the highlight of the entire trip. Again, money has been invested into the route and itโs very visible in the quality of the traffic-free sections, often along the river. I lost count of the number of bridges that I crossed but at 8am one morning, under a blue sky and with not another soul in sight, crossing the rebuilt suspension bridge near Rochemaure was a magical experience. Destroyed several times over its lifetime it has now found a fitting purpose in transporting pedestrians and cyclists across the River Rhรดne. Just one of many memorable moments.
After Lyon, the ViaRhรดna took my route in the direction of Switzerland and mountains became a feature of the cycle for the first time. That said, it wasnโt until after several days cycling in Switzerland that the major physical challenge of the cycle presented itself: the climb to the Furka Pass at 2,436 metres. Following in the tyre tracks of Sean Connery in his Aston Martin in Goldfinger, it was a long climb but rewarded with Alpine views and a long descent into the valley to Andermatt and the same campsite where Iโd stayed overnight in 2010 en route to the Gotthard Pass and Italy. If you happen to have read that first book, youโll be delighted to hear that I had no repeat problems with spokes in 2022. My new bicycle (a bike called Wandaโฆ) is made of strong stuff. A Koga WorldTraveller, complete with carbon belt and Rohloff hub, she performed superbly throughout the trip. Not even a puncture, courtesy of the Schwalbe Marathon Plus tyres.
My onward journey along the Rhine required another climb to the Oberalppass, but having just earned my spurs at the Furka Pass, I chose to take one of my trains. It was train number eight of the trip. The previous ones had been chosen for a variety of reasons; to make progress (Calais to Le Touquet), avoid suburbs (Paris to Chartres), to relieve the boredom of cycling along the Nantes-Brest Canal (Redon to Couรซron)โฆ But here in Switzerland it was because I fancied taking one of the little red trains that had been passing me along the Swiss valleys for days. Nothing whatsoever to do with it being another strenuous climb.
From the Oberalppass it was, literally, downhill all the way as I headed east through Switzerland before swinging west and then north along the Rhine. Time began to play on my mind. I left Andermatt on August 23rd so I had just 12 days to get back to Rotterdam, The Hook of Holland and my ferry home. The two remaining trains helped, as did a ferry on the Bodensee from Bregenz to Konstanz (after drinking far too much beer with a German friend Iโd met up with for lunch) but I wasnโt confident of completing the loop on time until the very end of August and it did require some long days in the saddle. But where better a place to spend hours in the saddle than back in the cycling nirvana of The Netherlands. I reached the sign at The Hook of Holland in the mid-afternoon of September 3rd. My ferry back home to Yorkshire departed at 8pm that evening and I was back in the classroom just 36 hours laterโฆ
The book should be available to read in late 2023 or early 2024 but if you canโt wait until then, listen to episodes 52 to 59 of The Cycling Europe Podcast. They were all recorded, edited and published during the cycle. There are also four films to watch on YouTube. All the links can be found by visiting CyclingEurope.org/LeGrandTour.
And if youโd like me to talk to your Cycling UK affiliated club, please get in touch. There is no fee. The good folk of Calderdale CTC and Sheffield CTC (where I have already spoken) will hopefully attest to it being an interesting tale.
Fact File
Distance: 4,700km cycling + 800km on ten trains
Route: An anti-clockwise circular route from The Hook of Holland via The Netherlands, Belgium, the north coast of France to Dieppe, Paris, back to the north coast at Mont Saint-Michel, the west coast of France to Royan, Bordeaux, the Canal de la Garonne to Toulouse, the Canal du Midi to Sรจte, the Rhone to Switzerland and the Rhine back to The Hook of Holland.
Named Routes followed: North Sea Cycle Route (EuroVelo 12) / Vรฉlomaritime (EuroVelo 4) / Avenue Verte / Vรฉloscรฉnie / Vรฉlodyssรฉe (EuroVelo 1) / Vรฉloroute Des 2 Mers A Vรฉlo / ViaRhรดna (EuroVelo 17) / Rhine Cycle Route (EuroVelo 15)
Conditions: 80% traffic-free, fabulous weather, just a few stormy days between Lyon and the Alps.
Accommodation: 45 nights camping, 11 nights in hotels, 4 nights Warmshowers, 2 nights on the ferry, 1 night Vrienden op de Fiets
Bike used: Koga WorldTraveller Signature (a bike called Wanda)
Maps/guides: IGN 924 Greenways and Cycle Routes of France, Kompass Radfernwege Deutschland, maps picked up for free in local tourist offices for each of the named routes and Cicerone Guides.
Iโm glad I had the apps for the national train companies on my phone: SNCF (France) / SBB (Switzerland) / DB (Germany) as they made taking the ten trains so much easier.
Next time I would not have so many beers in Bregenz and cycle the entire length of the Bodensee instead of taking a ferry. I think I may have missed a treat.
Getting there & back: Overnight Hull to Rotterdam ferry with P&O. Prices vary according to the season but for a very flexible return ticket I paid around ยฃ250.
Further info: CyclingEurope.org/LeGrandTour
Read an exclusive extract from the new book below:
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Categories: Adventure, Cycling, Le Grand Tour, Travel
