Tag: Eurovelo 12

Le Grand Tour: Day 24 – Gouarec To Rohan (68km)

I was up early this morning (when am I not up early in a tent? Iโ€™ve said this many times before but for me itโ€™s not a case of โ€˜waking upโ€™ when Iโ€™m camping itโ€™s a case of when to stop trying to make an effort to get back to sleepโ€ฆ) and was packed by 8am. My official campsite advisor Tim Sanders (who until only a few minutes ago was my โ€˜unofficialโ€™ campsite advisor but as nobody else has offered their services, Iโ€™ve upgraded him to the honorary post; itโ€™ll give him something to chat to Ed Pratt about the next time they meet at their local Park Run in Somerset. Anyway, back to the pointโ€ฆ) โ€ฆMy official campsite advisor Tim Sanders messaged at 8:05 asking โ€œHave you met Geoff?โ€

Le Grand Tour: Day 23 – Morlaix To Gouarec (98km)

Today was planned to be a short cycle of 50km. In ended up being the second longest cycle yet at 98km. If nothing else, it will work wonders on the daily average which had dipped down to 75km. I need to get it back up to 80km+ to be in with a realistic chance of making it back to Rotterdam before the return ferry sets off on September 3rd.

Le Grand Tour: Day 22 – Morlaix – โ€œIf They Bite You, Bite Them Backโ€

According to the birdโ€™s eye view of Morlaix in the image below, thatโ€™s the motto of the town. Original, no? Itโ€™s been a hot day so far, despite Brittany being the cold corner of the map of France on last nightโ€™s TV forecast. I’ve returned to the hotel for a siestaโ€ฆ Iโ€™ll head back out soon for anothercwander. Thereโ€™s a festival of all things Breton taking place in Place Allende this afternoon so Iโ€™ll perhaps update this later. In the meantime, note that episode 055 of The Cycling Europe Podcast was published this morning – part 4 of my โ€™Grand Tourโ€™ series – so if you have 55 minutes to spaceโ€ฆ All the links can be found by navigating over to the podcast page of the website.

Le Grand Tour: Day 21 – Louannec To Morlaix (36km + Train)

Finally writing this upโ€ฆ Not many will read this (as the post was published last night without any text) but it will, at least, be an aide-memoire when I later use these notes to write a book. In a way the โ€˜Mercedes afternoonโ€™ I had experienced on the previous day continued until the following morning. Yes, it was a cheap, municipal campsite but it was packed to the rafters with screaming children. One particular specimen gets his / her starring role in episode 055 of The Cycling Europe Podcast which has now been published.

Le Grand Tour: Day 20 – Saint-Quay To Louannec (72km)

The omens were not good at 8am. The campsite at Saint-Quay certainly lived up to its name by having a โ€˜belle vueโ€™. Indeed my pitch – as with many others – was facing north-east and if there were no clouds, we were in for a cracking sunrise. I happened to be awake at 5am so I clamped the GoPro to its tripod and set in motion a time lapse video. Alas it was cloudy and the resulting video merely showed black clouds become grey ones. Nothing too spectacular there. However, by 8am the sun had risen and was beginning to poke through the clouds. Perhaps an opportunity to get the drone in action to capture the magic. And it did. You can see that shot at the start of todayโ€™s video.

Le Grand Tour: Day 19 – Hillion To Saint-Quay (50km)

A shorter day – just 50km – but it helps me out when it comes to getting to Morlaix by the end of Saturday. Where I am now – a place called Saint-Quay – is about half way between Mont-Saint-Michel and Morlaix and this makes the two planned long days of cycling to Morlaix a bit shorter and hence more manageable. My average has now dipped below 80km per day but Iโ€™m sure that will be rectified as I speed along the flat(ish) lands of the Velodyssรฉe next week.

Le Grand Tour: Day 18 – Saint-Briac-Sur-Mer To Hillion (80km)

You are not reading this on Wednesday 20th as, yesterday evening, my 25GB of data ran out. I was expecting this to happen at some point and also expected to be able to easily purchase more data. But thatโ€™s when it got problematic. A phone call to Vodafone is on the cards when their call centre opens on Thursday morning. I suppose if all else fails I can buy a French SIM card. Thereโ€™s also the matter of me having had to change my mobile number (could that be complicating things?) but that sorry tale is for another day (and probably another websiteโ€ฆ)