Tag: Eurovelo 1

La France ร€ Vรฉlo – ร€ La Rencontre De Ses Habitants

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Time to dig out your French dictionary and start regretting not having done your French homework all those years ago. Here’s a fun – and very well made – film about cycling across France during the COVID 19 epidemic. His route is not dissimilar to that of my own journey south across France in 2022. Other films about cycling across France are available, notable my own… Thanks to the ever-supportive Simon Johnson for pointing me in the direction of Tortuga’s film. One for all lovers of France (and those in training to become one…)

Cycle Magazine: Le Grand Tour – Now Available Online

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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…)

“How Did You Remember That?”

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It’s a question I am occasionally asked. My quest to re-cycle the route of last year’s Grand Tour around Europe in written form continues… Today I will hopefully ‘arrive’ in La Rochelle. It was one of the longest days of cycling from Saint-Gilles-Croix-de-Vie to La Rochelle on the west coast of France. 140km in total. At least the landscape was flat and it was a beautifully sunny day. This is the fourth book that I will have written about my travels on a bike. When I think back to writing that first book, it was very much a detective job as I didn’t record much information about the cycle from southern England to southern Italy in 2010; a few short web posts, a few photos, no video to speak of and not even a GPS track. Why would I bother? It wasn’t as if I was ever going to need all that detail again…

EXCLUSIVE: Le Grand Tour – Day 26

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In the writing of the book about last year’s Grand Tour of Europe, I’ve arrived in the west of France, at a small family-run campsite near the coastal town of La Bernerie-en-Retz. I occasionally post what I’ve written to the website and below you can read my account of day 26 of the journey that took place in late July 2022. I have to say that this fourth book is taking me far longer to write than the previous books, but that’s for good reasons rather than bad. I have no pressure with this one. I ticked the box of having a book published through official channels with ‘Spain to Norway…’ and have as yet made no effort whatsoever to find a publisher for this fourth instalment of my travels. As a result, I have no deadline to finish the first draft. It will happen later in the year, perhaps even in early 2024 but I do feel that the quality of what I am writing is benefiting from the lack of external pressure. You may ultimately agree or disagree… but you might have to wait until the spring of 2024 to find out. If you are a publisher, feel free to get in touch.

Cycle Magazine June / July 2023… And Le Grand Tour

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Welcome to June… and to the summer of 2023. Well, if the first is your definition of summer. There are several from which to choose. My focus over the next few months will be continue to write the first draft of my new book about last year’s ‘Grand Tour’ of Europe. I’m now heading south along the Vรฉlodyssรฉe in the west of France (day 25 of around 60) so I should have that draft ready by the end of the summer. However, earlier this year I was approached by Dan Joyce, the editor of Cycling UK’s Cycle magazine, asking if would be able to contribute an article about last year’s cycle. That article has now been published and if you are a member of Cycling UK, you should have received your copy of the magazine in the last few days. It’s the June / July issue.

“One Of My All-Time Favourite YouTube Videos… Epic Stuff!”

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On July 3rd 2022 I set off from The Hook of Holland in The Netherlands, turned right and pedalled off in the direction of France. It was an anti-clockwise tour of the continent; the EuroVelo 12 along the Belgian coast, the EuroVelo 4 to Dieppe, Lโ€™Avenue Verte to Paris, La Vรฉloscรฉnie to Mont St Michel before rejoining the EuroVelo 4 to Morlaix, the EuroVelo 1 / Vรฉlodyssรฉe to Royan, the Canal de la Garonne to Toulouse, the Canal du Midi to Sรจte, the EuroVelo 17 beside the Rhรดne to Andermatt in Switzerland and finally the EuroVelo 15 / Rhine Cycle Route back to The Hook of Holland and the return ferry to Hull on September 3rd.

The Cycling Europe Podcast: Episode 067 – Cycling In Brittany – Tim Boden / Geoff Husband

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In June 2022, Tim Boden – an experienced group cyclist – set off on his first solo cycle tour, to Brittany in north-west France. His route took him from the port of Roscoff along the Vรฉlodyssรฉe / EuroVelo 1 to Redon. He then joined French regional route number 42 to follow the coast to Saint-Nazaire before returning to the Vรฉlodyssรฉe for a cycle beside the Loire to Nantes and back to Redon. Here he rejoined the eastern portion of route 42 to cycle north to Saint-Malo. Tim talks about the routes but also the history and culture of this distinctive French region. We also revisit two encounters from episodes 55 & 56 with three French cyclists – Fabian, Julian and Guillaume – and, from Breton Bikes and Camping de Gouarec, Geoff Husband.

YOUTUBE EXCLUSIVE: Episode 067 Of The Cycling Europe Podcast

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In June 2022, Tim Boden – an experienced group cyclist – set off on his first solo cycle tour, to Brittany in north-west France. His route took him from the port of Roscoff along the Vรฉlodyssรฉe / EuroVelo 1 to Redon. He then joined French regional route number 42 to follow the coast to Saint-Nazaire beforeย  returning to the Vรฉlodyssรฉe for a cycle beside the Loire to Nantes and back to Redon. Here he rejoined the eastern portion of route 42 to cycle north to Saint-Malo. Tim talks about the routes but also the history and culture of this distinctive French region. We also revisit two encounters from episodes 55ย  & 56 with three French cyclists –ย  Fabian, Julian and Guillaume – and, from Breton Bikes and Camping de Gouarec, Geoff Husband.