Ceri was one of the cyclists who submitted their photographs to the recent cycle touring photo competition and he even made it to the shortlisted final ten photographs. It was a cracking image (shown above). It was taken during a trip in February 2019 along the Ruta de la Plata in western Spain. In fact, his route from Seville to north-eastern Spain brought back good memories from my own cycling trip along a very similar route back in 2015 as I made my way from Spain to Norway…
Last weekend was the virtual Cycle Touring Festival. I was planning on writing a few words about the event myself but then a chap called Graham Johnson from Derbyshire got in touch. He had never previously attended the (non-virtual) Cycle Touring Festival but had signed up for a few of the online webinars – including the one delivered by yours truly – at this year’s virtual event and was planning on writing something for his local CTC / Cycling UK group newsletter. Could he use some of my photos to illustrate his text? he asked. Yes, of course! Could I publish your article about the festival on CyclingEurope.org? I asked. Yes, of course! Mutual happiness all round. And here is what he wrote, illustrated by the photographs he chose to use. I think it’s all rather entertaining. He is clearly a man with a book inside him.
Earlier this month I talked about the annual Cycle Touring Festival going virtual for 2020 and the time is almost here! The festival kicks off later today (Friday) and continues over this coming weekend of the 25th and 26th April. Laura and Tim Moss, who have organised the festival every year since 2015, have done a magnificent job in putting together, once again, an eclectic, interesting and potentially inspiring programme of events.
If you listened to Episode 015 of The Cycling Europe Podcast you will remember that Paul didn’t make it quite as far as Nordkapp, for fairly obvious reasons. But he did make it as far as Nice in France and will hopefully one day soon return to complete the journey. But here in the written world of these CyclingEurope.org posts (as opposed to the spoken world of podcasts), Paul is in Barcelona and about to set off in the direction of France…
Where were we? Or rather, where was Paul Gentle? The observant amongst you – well, the ones who listened to Episode 015 of The Cycling Europe Podcast – will remember that Paul didn’t make it quite as far as Nordkapp, for fairly obvious reasons. But he did make it as far as Nice in France and will hopefully one day soon return to complete the journey. But here in the written world of these CyclingEurope.org posts (as opposed to the spoken world of podcasts), Paul has just arrived in Valencia.
Imagine you set off to cross a continent on your bicycle only for a global pandemic to stop you in your tracks. That’s what happened to Paul Gentle as he attempted to cycle from Tarifa in Spain to Nordkapp in Norway. The Cycling Europe Podcast spoke to Paul about his plans, his cycle through Spain and France and his race against the clock to get back home to the UK while it was still possible.
