Search results for ‘tour de france

Le Grand Tour: Day 33 – La Rรฉole To Agen (89km)

There were times this morning when I thought this particular day – the whole trip perhaps – were being derailedโ€ฆ It all started by me heading over the bridge back in the direction of La Rรฉole. Oops! Wrong direction. No big problem; Iโ€™d only cycled perhaps 50 metres across the bridge and by doing so made a nice video clip (yep, you guessed it – watch the videoโ€ฆ).

Le Grand Tour: Day 38 – Pouzols Minervois To Montagnac Via Sรจte (134km)

Iโ€™โ€™m glad to have finished the Canal du Midi section of the Canal des Deux Mers cycle route. Now in Pรฉzenas – Iโ€™ll explain in a moment – the highlight of yesterday was cycling along the excellent voies vertes that brought me inland from Sรจte yesterday evening. Cycling at the end of the day is something that doesnโ€™t often happen (the way I tend to organise my days) but the advantages of cycling at that end of the day are similar to those of early morning cycling; quieter roads, cooler temperatures and the โ€˜golden hourโ€™ sunlight that washes a beautiful soft tint over the landscape. Itโ€™s also worth noting (and remembering) that the winds tend to die down in the evening. Mmmโ€ฆ Perhaps I should do night shifts on the bike.

Le 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, errโ€ฆ Reading, I hosted quite regularly in the summer. Since moving back to rural Yorkshire Iโ€™ve hosted just three times. In Reading I was half-way between London and Oxford or en route to the West Country. In Yorkshire, despite it being far nicer, Iโ€™m not really on anyoneโ€™s cycle route (although not very far from the Pennine Cycleway – take note!). Anyway, aside from a warm shower, I provide food, drink, Wi-Fi, clothes washing, advice, deep-tissue massageโ€ฆ Well, most of those.

Le Grand Tour: Day 44 – Lyon To Sault-Brรฉnaz (81km)

I donโ€™t like Mondaysโ€ฆ Someone has beaten me to the song. I really donโ€™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 Monday in France. Today was one of the latter. Nothing open whatsoever this morning. We are celebrating the โ€˜Assumption of Maryโ€™. Not being a man of religion I donโ€™t know what Mary was assuming but perhaps it was that there might be something, somewhere that was open to buy lunch on a Monday bank holiday in France. There isnโ€™t. Even the French are exasperated; one couple who were cycling in the opposite direction stopped me in desperation at around midday asking if Iโ€™d passed an รฉpicerie that was open. I hadnโ€™t. They broke down and sobbed beside the cycle path in desperation. I told them my plan was to survive on my box of peanuts until I could cook something in the evening. I scarpered as quickly as I could lest they use force in getting hold of the cacahuรจtes. When I did I turn to look, I could see them chasing after me using surprisingly fluent Chaucerian language vowing to prise the peanuts from my hands. The entente cordiale only goes so farโ€ฆ They were my peanuts. I digress.

Cycling Into Paris

It seems timely… Here’s the route being taken by today’s cyclists in the Tour de France compared to my own cycle into Paris in 2015 en route to Nordkapp: Somewhat different although the two routes do coalesce somewhere near the Champs Elysรฉes. Here’s how I described the journey […]

Le Grand Tour: Day 8 – Dieppe To Forges-Les-Eaux (57km)

Tick, tick, tickโ€ฆ Basically thatโ€™s what Iโ€™ve spent today doing. Ticking off all the things that you might, in an ideal world, want a disused railway line, converted into a walking-cycling greenway – voie verte here in France – to have. If the dรฉpartement of Seine-Maritime set out to build what I consider to be an unbeatable bit of cycle-touring infrastructure, they succeeded.