The fighting of 1944 inflicted severe damage upon Caen, the capital of Basse Normandy and the town where I am currently staying. Much of the central area is taken up with uninspiring architecture from the post war period. I knew all this by simply reading my Rough Guide […]
I am aware that back in the UK it is currently very wintery but here on the other side of the channel…
Now well into our second full day of the exchange. So far, no emergency phone calls from desperate teenagers demanding to go home early. It’s early days however… Yesterday was spent mainly in Falaise; the morning in classes at the collège, the afternoon wandering around the town. I […]
Just woken up on the first full day in France. Yesterday was a long but ultimately successful one. I managed to avoid the ferry quiz and we didn’t lose any of the children en route. What looked like a former prisoner transport vehicle came to pick up us […]
The Mont St. Michel to be specific, and a very quiet one at that. But a nice one and so far there are no English men in the bar knocking back pints of lager. Then again it is only 10.30am. There’s time yet… I’m off the bike for […]
I’ll try and emulate some of these stunning photographs – see the full set on the BBC website – on my upcoming travels to France, Slovakia & then during this summer’s cycle along the Mediterranean coast. Amazing… More information on the World Photography Organisation website.
Ian Street, fellow Yorkshireman, cyclist and writer has written the following piece for his website IntoThe Orchard. Ian is a man with ideas that need all the publicity they can get. Have a read and, as he says at the end of the article, contact him if you […]
A couple of publications have come my way in the last few days. The first is a cycling touring guide for the French portion of the Eurovelo 8 route in the south of France. The guide’s author, cyclist & teacher (sounds familiar) Daniel Jamrozik emailed me about its existence […]
I need to get back into the habit of blogging while on the move. Apart from this summer’s epic cycle (is it really ‘epic’ or is it just me trying to spin?), I’m off to France in just under three weeks with a small group of 15 year […]
Here are a couple of events into which I am more than happy to funnel a little oxygen of publicity. The first is the Anjou Velo Vintage taking place in the Loire Valley town of Saumur in June. Way back in the summer of 1993 I spent about […]
To help celebrate passing the milestone of 5,000 copies of Good Vibrations: Crossing Europe on a Bike Called Reggie, I asked people on Twitter & Facebook to nominate people or causes who might benefit from receiving a complimentary copy of the book. I had quite a few nominations and thanks […]
I received a message this week on the Facebook page from Neola Kay Wilby; “I’ve just been looking at your route for the summer. My boyfriend and I will be cycling from northern Spain to Croatia then to Romania, cross through Germany, Amsterdam and back home! We’re doing it over […]
On watching the video below your first reaction may be ‘hasn’t the person behind the camera got better things to do with their time on a cold, snowy day in the north of England?‘. It is a film of a journey through Calderdale in West Yorkshire but not […]
Regular readers of this blog will no doubt be aware that on the 1st July I set off from Greece in the direction of Portugal on my bike. My mission is two-fold. Firstly because I want to. Secondly because I will write my second book about the trip. […]
Not only is the Tour de France 2014 coning to my home county of Yorkshire, it will be passing through the town of my childhood, the place where my parents, brother & his family still live! Stage 2, Elland. More details on the Visit Yorkshire website & the date […]
In exactly 6 months’ time I will be in Athens, or somewhere near Athens. My bike will have been reassembled after its flight from London, my panniers packed with equipment, clothes & supplies & my mind no doubt full of excitement and anxiety as to what the subsequent […]
This is the official announcement from the Tour de France website: “Les organisateurs du Tour de France ont le plaisir d’annoncer que le Grand Départ du Tour de France 2014 aura lieu au Royaume-Uni, dans le comté du Yorkshire, avant une arrivée d’étape à Londres. Après une année 2012 exceptionnelle […]
‘Pieman Pete’ has a few suggestions; “I was looking at the Italia routes you mention… I have climbed Tende (on the south route) and it is a relatively gentle climb until the last 10km. I have been up it a few times (see Flickr photo) and is definitely […]
I’ve received an email from Giulia of the Italian national cycling organisation, FIAB. I had emailed her asking about possible contact that may be of use when I cross the north of Italy from Slovenia in the east to France in the west. More on that at a […]
On the very same weekend that I prepare to head off from Athens along the Mediterranean coast towards the south-western point of Portugal, the 100th Tour de France sets off from Corsica…
A couple of weeks’ ago I posted some comments from Tim about cycling through Albania. I asked him for more details on his own cycle through this lesser-known European country and he has kindly obliged: The main reason I wanted to get in contact was because I was […]
From the European Cyclists’ Federation website: “Cycling tourism is one of the biggest growth sectors in tourism. A new study says it’s worth €44 billion per annum to Europe. Experts are getting ready to discuss how they can make this sector even bigger at a conference this week in […]
Only found out that the Tour Méditerranéen existed this week… Lazy journalism I know but hey! it’s Sunday so this is what Wikipedia says about the race: “Le Tour Méditerranéen is a professional road bicycle racing event held in southern France along the Mediterranean Sea. The Tour Méditerranéen is a five-day stage race that began in […]
Digital mapping moves on apace. Only this week I was emailed by a guy from the German website Cycle Routes & Tours pointing out that some of the Eurovelo routes have been mapped on his site. I’ve added the links he gave to the relevant route sections in […]
Well, that’s what it was called when I was growing up; it’s a great name isn’t it? Imagine other races being named after drinks; The Beer Race, The Orange Squash Race, The Bloody Mary Race… None of them works quite so well as ‘The Milk Race‘. It’s now […]
Matt writes; “STATS Total Days: 42 Rest Days: 10 Cycling Days: 32 Total Distance: 2900km Avg Distance per Cycling Day: 90km Number of Punctures: 0 Accommodation Campsite: 21 Wild camped: 2 Couch surfed: 13 Hostel: 5 Hotel: 1 Total Expenditure*: 1086€ Avg Daily expense: 25€ *Not including flights […]
Tuesday 4th August Straubing to Passau: 5 hours 10 minutes, 90km “Waking up late, I strolled into town, to find every second person in leather pants and drindl dresses. It could only mean one thing. I followed the swarms of people as they headed down the street. One […]
Morgan – see previous posts – has made it home to Parma. He writes; “Made it [to Parma] last week on Wed 25th, after 1470km and 19 days… I was late but glad to arrive [& was] welcomed by a group of Greek friends celebrating with drinks and […]
Saturday 28th July Rest in Basel “I was hesitant to leave France. Firstly I would miss it. France had been an amazing experience and as much as I wanted to enter a new country, I felt there was also more of France that needed to be explored. The […]
Friday 27th July Montbéliard to Basel: 4 hours 42 minutes, 90km “So today I made it across France. My first country on European mainland had been crossed. Just want to shout out to everyone reading and following my trip! Thanks for all your comments, I am getting and […]
Thursday 26th July Besançon to Montbéliard: Time Unknown, Approx. 100km “The first thing I did that morning after saying goodbye to Nelly and Julien was head up the steep hill to the citadel. It was the one thing that Nelly said I could not leave without visiting. Besançon […]
A couple of Warmshowers visitors have passed this way over the last few days; first there was Bob, a novice touring cyclists in his 60s and then there was Wade, a novice touring cyclist in his 20s. I’m a novice touring cyclist somewhere in the middle! Bob is […]
Monday 23rd July Blanzy to Chalon-sur-Saone: 3 hours 16 minutes, 49km “To say I slept well last night would be a lie. It was a restless night, I kept waking up expecting to see a farmer with a flash light and shotgun. As soon as the sun’s rays […]
Sunday 22nd July Gannay-sur-Loire to Blanzy: 8 hours 10 minutes, 130km “I think I may have solved my dew issues. By pitching under a shaded area (where it seems the dew strikes last) and waking up early enough to avoid it setting in, I was able to pack […]
If you have signed up to The Times’ Cities Fit For Cycling campaign, you will have just received another email from the editor of the newspaper, James Harding; Dear Reader How far cycling has come since we started the Cities fit for Cycling campaign less than six months […]
Wednesday 18th July Tours to Blois: 3 hours 42 minutes, 72km “I met Nate at the main square the next morning. Wearing a typically French horizontally striped shirt, he was sitting at one of the tables in the centre of the square and waved to me, signalling his […]
Tuesday 17th July Chinon to Tours (via Azay-le-Rideau): 3 hours 36 minutes, 68km “I was woken up by a bird flapping on the roof of my tent this morning. It now takes me about 40 minutes to pack everything, load up the bike and cycle off. After exploring […]
Sunday 15th of July Ingrandes to Angers: 4 hours 26 min, 67km “I was woken up at 11pm last night to what sounded like a French revolution! From the number of bangs, I presumed it was a magnificent fireworks display (I was too tired to even lean out […]
It’s time to get up to date with Matt Krog as he cycles along the Eurovelo 6 from Nantes to Budapest. Saturday 14th July Nantes to Ingrandes: 4 hours, 68km “Breakfast came included with the hotel price and so I decided to take advantage by helping myself to […]
A couple of weeks ago I posted the BBC Olympic Trailer; sleek, stylish, arty… It’s not quite like that in some places around the World as these three television trailers for the London Olympics demonstrate. They all have their charms however, kicking off with NBC’s Hollywood take on […]
Brian Palmer has written a review of Good Vibrations: Crossing Europe on a Bike Called Reggie for The Washing Machine Post; “Sykes has a glorious, yet understated wit, which is way more satisfying than any rip-roaring induced laughter at each paragraph end. The best writers and indeed, the […]
I love these fly-over videos of the path of the Tour de France; here’s the 2012 version. I played it three times to three different groups of kids at school. One of the boys asked me if I’d ever cycled the Tour de France myself; I let him […]
My weekend is visitor free! I make it sound as though I have people staying here all the time; this is not the case and it was great to see Matt, Ross & Pirrko but it did make for a non-stop weekend, my visitors departure and arrival sandwiched […]
Today is the last day of the half-term holiday… Back to work tomorrow. But skipping over five days back at the interactive whiteboard, next weekend looks interesting. If you remember a few weeks back, I had Kate Clabby staying here in Reading after she contacted me via Warmshowers.org. […]
Inspiration is one of those elusive things; it can’t be touched and can be as ephemeral as an English summer’s day. However, we are increasingly hearing the word as the London 2012 Olympics approaches and I myself think back to the day when I was inspired by watching […]
From the other side of the Atlantic, Mary Reynolds has written a review of Good Vibrations: Crossing Europe on a Bike Called Reggie for Examiner.com; “With a dry British wit (and some very wet days), Andrew Sykes tells of his amazing bicycle journey from Reading, England to Brindisi, Italy. […]
Another five-star review of Good Vibrations: Crossing Europe on a Bike Called Reggie; “Looking for something different I stumbled upon Crossing Europe on a Bike called Reggie and found it surprising and inspiring. The book works on a number of different levels. As a travelogue, the author takes […]
An email has arrived from Jack who fancies cycling around Europe… He writes in blue, I write in red. Well, I am a teacher, albeit one with a sniffly nose today. And on the day that Francois Hollande becomes the French president, it does give this post a […]
There are some great cycling logos around and about; I just came across another this morning while browsing; it’s the one in the bottom left hand corner of the montage above. I suppose the best cycling logos have a recognisable bike somewhere within them (although I’ll agree with you […]
I received an email on Friday from someone called Kate, a travelling cyclist who was planning on making Reading a stopover en route from London to Oxford. She’d found my contact details on WarmShowers, the social network for cyclists looking for and offering accommodation. I used the site […]
My cousin is a teacher of English language in Portugal. He works for the British Council in the beautiful hilltop city of Coimbra some 40 kilometres from the Atlantic coast. I’d certainly recommend it as a place to visit. Anyway, away from my travel advice, you’d think he’d […]
On the BBC’s Countryfile yesterday afternoon, the weatherman shown here explained how April 2012 had been very wet indeed. He used this graph to explain that in southern England since January 2010, there had only been three months that had received above average levels of rainfall. Of those, August […]
Today sees the infamous Paris-Roubaix cycle race… 260 kilometres from the Paris suburbs to the Belgian border. Rather them than me. Cobbles were a recurring theme as I cycled south along the Eurovelo 5 from London to Brindisi. It seems that any historic town worth its salt on […]
I received an email from Pete in New Zealand earlier this week. He is a man with a great, or should I say ‘grand’ plan. He explains that he is soon to move back to Europe from down under and will be living near Turin, Italy on his return […]
Lawrence Dallaglio is back on his bike again and this time he is cycling the Eurovelos 5 & 8, kind of… The cycling challenge is called “The Dallaglio Flintoff Cycle Slam” and the official website describes the endeavor as follows; “Between April 23rd and May 18th next year […]
Should you be thinking of cycling in France (OK, perhaps not at the level of the three guys here but…) and wondering what the difference is between the three kinds of cycle route in the title of this post, Maggie Lacoste of Experience France by Bike has just […]
CyclingEurope.org has just carried out its very first interview! It’s with a couple of cyclists who are planning to do something rather special and who are an inspiration to the rest of us. I’m sure you’ll hear and see their names a lot more over the next couple […]
My eBookshelf has three new touring-related publications, one of which mentions me! From left to right, the first two – The Bike Touring Survival Guide & Bike Touring – come from the Travelling Two stable and the first of those – the survival guide – is only a free […]
A couple of months ago, the editor of the Freewheeling France website approached me with a view to me contributing an article about the Eurovelo network specifically in France. I did, and the article has now appeared! In fact, it has been split into two articles; one about the […]
Most of the Kindle sales of Good Vibrations: Crossing Europe on a Bike Called Reggie have so far been within the UK – 90% of them. The remaining 10% is made up mainly from sales via the Amazon.com site. These could be in North America or, quite frankly, […]
This flight over Britain reminds me of the Tour de France animations that get released every year to showcase the route of the big French cycle race. I think I’d like to live in animated Britain; there is no litter, the sun is shining and most importantly, the tacky tourist […]
David Gander who runs Prêt à Rouler, a bike hire shop in South-West France today gets a free advert on CyclingEurope.org. He pointed out earlier today that all the links on the Eurovelo 5 page – the posts I made when I was cycling south – were not […]
Well, kind of. More of a poster tour really which consisted of me cycling around the bicycle shops of Reading asking them if they could possibly put up the poster in the window. But they all did, so a big thank-you to A.W. Cycles (Reggie’s spiritual home of […]
That sounds familiar doesn’t it? I have received this very nice email from Alf in Newbury. He sounds as though he may be one of the first customers for my new book (big news about that within the next 24 hours, hopefully) although if I knew how to […]
I know you are all out there checking the blog avidly every day to see if a publication date has yet been set for my book recounting my little adventure of summer 2010 along the Eurovelo 5 from Berkshire to Brindisi… No? Well, I can’t quite give you […]
This blog has become a little more generalist of late with me discussing a varied range of topics from trips to France with groups of school children to how the re-decoration of my flat over the last couple of weeks has been progressing. I need to get things […]
The following email arrived earlier today and the first line comes straight from a pitch on Dragons’ Den; Hi Andrew, You don’t know us but we are a new company that will focus on eccentric races and charity events, we are planning a 2600km bike ride across Europe […]
It has now been a week since Reggie was deposited back at A.W.Cycles for his repairs and end-of-academic/commuting-year service. And he is sorely missed. I appreciate that when he does return – perhaps towards the end of next week – he will look fantastic and purr like a […]
It’s not every day you can say this, in fact I’ve never said it before in my life but I have written a book! It’s finished; 1 book, 302 pages, 998 paragraphs, 10,546 lines, 112,850 words and 498,698 characters. Goodness that took some counting! I started on the […]
The University of Reading have given up on adult education. Not that they think the adults of Reading are so full of knowledge that they don’t need educating any more (if only that were the case), but it doesn’t make them any money so they shut down all their […]
When cycling to work this morning, I was thinking that if ever The One Show were to have an article about the Eurovelo 5 on their programme then surely I would be the person they would turn to. This was tossing over in my mind (it’s amazing what […]
“Estimated time of departure: 5th May 2011. We are cycling across Northern France, a bit of Germany, Switzerland (the high bits) and zig zagging down Italy (trying to avoid the high bits) to Taranto in Southern italy which is where Mary Ann lives. Hopefully friends and family will join us from […]
Another sample chapter is available online! Click here or follow ‘The Book’ link at the top of the page. Day 6 was when the rain started as I cycled from Maubeuge to Charleville-Mézières in the north-east of France. Feedback welcome and if anyone knows a publisher… 🙂 Update @ 3pm: […]
Mary Ann Coupland and her friend Sally are about to head off on the Eurovelo 5. They have set up a Just Giving page to raise money for Cancer Research UK. Here is there story in their own words; We are cycling from Boulogne sur Mer in France […]
As I did with Eurovelo 5, I have taken all the places mentioned on the official description of the route and plotted them onto a Google Earth map… France seems to be lacking in detail bit it gives you an idea of the route. I have added the […]
The following is from the back of the ECF Eurovelo Map; Cadiz-Athens-Cyprus 5,888km “The Mediterranean area is very popular for tourists, but until now not so much for bicycle tourism. However, various initiatives have improved facilities, especially in Spain & Italy. And similar initiatives are in the pipeline […]
A group of soldiers is taking on the Eurovelo 5 in (what I consider to be) reverse. This is what it says on their Virgin Money Giving site; In March 2011 team Tartan Cassino will start their arduous challenge. The team will cycle from Monte Cassino in Italy […]
When I cycled to southern Italy along the Eurovelo 5 last summer (remember that?), I spent a relaxing hour or so in the French city of Metz on the morning of the 27th July. I sat in a café and knocked back two espressos to fortify me for […]
Not my next adventure I hasten to add, but it is someone’s; Hello, I stumbled across your site whilst researching this famous pilgrimage route. My name is James Anderson. I am an extreme sportsmen and adventurer and next summer I plan to run from Canterbury to Rome in […]
My pan-European cycle continues to generate a fair bit of interest. Andrew from Leicestershire writes; A friend and myself are planning to cycle from Rome to home (Leicestershire) next year for the Loros charity. I was wondering if you could send me the exact route you took (plus […]
Doretta Vicini emailed a couple of days ago reporting back on her talk about the Eurovelo network to the Ciclomundi Festiva in Siena at the end of September; There were many interesting reports about long bicycle rides, as for example the one by the Swiss Claude Marthaler who also wrote several books, […]
I think I’m getting there with the new-look website. Clearly I would have preferred to go to work yesterday and today instead of coughing and sneezing over this computer (it’s true – I would; the hassles of being a teacher and missing two days of school cannot be […]
Here’s a little story that, in the past hour has had its denouement. Kind of… Before I set off on my trip along the Eurovelo 5, I made sure that I wasn’t going to be stung by any hefty mobile phone charges from Orange. I had recently upgraded […]
This is the fifth attempt at writing the content of this post; all previous efforts have disappeared before they arrive on the blog itself. I am wondering if it has anything to do with “upgrading” my browser to IE9…. Let’s try again this time in Firefox. Mmmm… seems […]
I’m not sure whether it is or not but crossing over into Italy at some point tomorrow will feel like it. I’ve notched up just under 1,600 kilometres in two and a half weeks; the estimate was for a total of between 3,000 and 3,500 over five weeks […]
Because I could probably eat one. What was that? Oh yes, this is Switzerland not France. The bottle of wine, before you puritans comment, is a 50 cl bottle by the way.
Let’s start with the stats; Cycling time: 6 hrs 14 mins 34 secs Distance: 103.41 kms Average speed: 16.4 kms/hr Maximum speed: 51.6 kms/hr Eurovelo 5 total: 1,426.6 kms Just a note on the statistics; they are a reflection of where the bike goes between setting off in […]
I am, finally in Switzerland. In the centre of Basle in the square outside the train station. The general consensus of opinion at the campsite last night was to watch the fireworks in Basel to celebrate the Swiss national day from the bridge in the picture. The campsite […]
These pictures of campsites with tents and trees and the sun are becoming a bit repetitive aren’t they? Sorry, I’ll try be more imaginative tomorrow night. Here are today’s statistics; Cycling time: 4 hrs 39 mins 9 secs Distance: 99.07 kms Average speed: 21.3 kms/hr Maximum speed: 32.5 […]
Firstly today’s statistics (which are all a bit affected by me pushing the bike from the campsite into the town, slowly….); Cycling time: 5 hrs 43 mins 20 secs Distance: 105.36 kms Average speed: 18.4 kms/hr Maximum speed: error!!! It says 129.5 kms/hr which is clearly nonsense. Probably […]
I came down from the cathedral and went off to meet up with Claus, my friend from Stuttgart. I had thought that it might be difficult trying to find him in a city that I certainly didn’t know well and that he had visited only fairly sporadically but […]
Stuttgart Claus offered to come to Strasbourg today rather than tomorrow which is good news as I can now “bank” the extra rest day for future use and head off down the Rhine tomorrow morning. It just means that I have to do Strasbourg in 24 rather than […]
It is so nice to meet people en route who are interested in what I am doing. This morning it was the guy at the entrance to Metz campsite, tonight it is my neighbours on the site here in Dabo. They were heading back to southern Germany (near […]
What a fabulous day! The question mark in the title is merely because I have now been doing this for so many days that I am beginning to forget all of the great days I have had. This afternoon’s cycle from Morhange to Sarrebourg continued in the same […]
This is Morange, 50 kilometres from Metz and just under half way I reckon to Sarrebourg, my destination. This morning’s ride was nice; rolling countryside, the odd little climb to keep me awake, a mixture of sun and cloud to heat me up but then cool me down […]
This coffee tastes as good as it looks. The weather is looking up; blue sky without any threatening clouds. Fingers crossed. I was changing the dressing on my foot at the campsite entrance this morning when a French chap struck up conversation. He had watched me pack my […]
….before my eyes shut while typing the previous post last night. Much of yesterday’s route was dotted with remnants from the Second World War; lots of pillar boxes and a couple of monuments. The number of names of American soldiers who were either killed or lost in action […]
When I woke up this morning, I would have been hard pressed to tell you that the Meuse was in France let alone in the area I was travelling in. It has, however, transformed what was becoming a bit of a pedestrian cycle (can I say that?) ride […]
