Day 25: Col Gd St Bernard to Aosta
Our last cycling day 🥲. We had a pilgrim’s breakfast with many other guests - there were many “youth groups” staying here as the hospice functions as a youth hostel. We hung around for a “pilgrim’s blessing” but we may have got the instructions wrong. We caught the end of the morning service, then...
Day 24: Orsières to Col Gd St Bernard
So…….. We changed our mind 🙄. We were leaving our hotel In Orsières and a fellow guest was loading up her bike with panniers etc like us, but she was going to cycle up and over the Gd St Bernard Pass. We began to feel feeble 😔. And when we got to the station/bus stop, we met a Swiss cyclist (mid 4...
Day 23: Montreux to Orsières
It was a hot restless night in our hotel in Montreux, but it was bearable watching the scenery from our lakeview balcony - see photos @night & @dawn. We set off along the Rue du Lac before the traffic got going 👍🏻. We paused at the very scenic Château Chillon (“Switzerland’s most visited tourist d...
Day 22: Lausanne to Montreux
Gosh - starting our fourth week cycling 🚴♂️. So we realised that our next stage was not actually intended to be a full day, just the stage along the lake. But we had tortured Booking.com for an affordable hotel (for Switzerland anyway 🙄💶💶) in Montreux which in cycling terms is no distance at al...
Proper cyclists vs. Us v1.2
We will probably add to this Proper cyclists (PCs) wear cleats, we wear trainers/Keen sandals. Proper cyclists (PCs) cycle up Cols. Err, so do we 🥳. Proper cyclists (PCs) look like they are dressed for the Tour de France. Their outfits look new and clean. PCs outfits are coordinated with branded to...
Day 21: Pontarlier to Lausanne
There was thunder and lightning for several hours last night. Spectacular lightning flashes. And it rained heavily for a few short bursts. So in the morning it was fresh, cool and still drizzling a bit. But after breakfast the cloud cleared and the sun came out. We set off along the scary main road...
Day 20: Mouthier to Pontarlier
We discovered our hotel provided a full-on “fine dining” experience. So we sat down to a delicious three course meal and fortunately did not fall asleep from tiredness and nose dive into the desert course or similar 🥱. The main course was a selection of dead birds quail, duck, pigeon etc. No option...
Day 19: Besançon to Mouthier-Haute-Pierre
Well it rained yesterday evening and the temperature dropped refreshingly. Our hotel for the night is shown on its website covered in snow, so we are very excited about that 😂. Thinking Husky rides, snow shoeing 🤔. We started the day cycling under the Besançon hill through a tunnel then we had a l...
Day 18: Gy to Besançon
So it was a hot night and we showered during the night. However hotel breakfast was served at 06:30 and there were wisps of cloud over the sun and it was definitely cooler. So we set off up a steep climb out of Gy - 5km of up, but it was through a cool forest 🌳. The route had lots of ups and lots o...
Day 17: Champlitte to Gy
So our apartment proved to be very cool despite the extremely hot weather outside. Even cooler overnight 👍🏻. Anna nipped out to the boulangerie on the corner - this is one of few villages which still has an open one. We made our baguette picnic from the cheese we spent so long choosing in the air...
Day 16: Langres to Champlitte
This is the first day of a series of short days to workaround the heatwave combined with hill climbs and unhelpfully placed accommodation. Our hotel is busy and full of tourists to or from other holiday destinations all up for an early breakfast at 7am 😳. Anyway we were up and off and cycled along...
Day 15: Chevillon to Langres
Today was going to be a fairly hot day, but not one of the two heatwave days coming up. The route is all along the canal towpath and the accommodation stops few and far between. So we thought we would try for a longer stage and go all the way to Langres about 100km. It is Sunday and there are no sho...
Day 14: Châlons to Chevillon
Gosh - 14 consecutive days of cycling 😌. Today was 100% cycling on tarmac canal towpath. So, fast, smooth and easy cycling. So we planned a longer distance and as the towns didn’t fall naturally for our planned distance, we booked a room at a tiny family hotel in a tiny canal side village. In the s...
Day 13: Pontavert to Châlons-en-Champagne
OK, so today was forecast a bit cooler. We reviewed our route and cut out a couple of needless loops and meanders, but still kept to country roads and canal paths. So we plucked up courage and booked somewhere 95km away on mostly canal paths with a steep ridge between two major canal routes. Trimmin...
Day 12: St Quentin to Pontavert
14 July - French National Day and a Bank Holiday. Today was forecast to be cooler (28°C) and this turned out to be the case though the sun was still too hot over the middle of the day for cycling. We planned to spend lunch in the medieval town of Laon with its famous Cathedral which stands proud on...
Day 11: Bapaume to St Quentin
Well we knew it was going to be hot today - at least 33°C. So we refreshed our plans. Our cycle route tries to follow the Via Francigena foot route. This meanders in a leisurely fashion across the countryside and our cycle route matches it quite closely village by village. But this adds about 33% to...
Day 10: Bruay to Bapaume
It is forecast to be a hot day 32°C. So we were cautious about planning our route for the day. We would make it to Arras at 32km and review the situation. If we pushed on, we would stay at Bapaume at 62km. So we had breakfast outside at our lovely holiday parc. Some confusion as to whether we had pa...
Those slag heaps etc
It provides an important and well preserved example of coal mining and its associated urban planning throughout the two centuries of intensive coal extraction from the end of the 18th century to the last quarter of the 20th century, through industrial methods involving a great many workers. This suc...
World Heritage Belfries
The belfries are both civic buildings and symbols, and highly significant tokens of the achievement of civil liberties acquired through the dissolution the abbeys that had remained sovereign since the high Middle Ages.
Day 09: St Omer to Bruay-La-Buissière
So you were impressed yesterday that we had seen two World Heritage sights in two days huh? Well, wait for this…… We saw two more World Heritage sights before lunch today 💪🏻. Ha! The Belfry at Aire-sur-la-Lys (coffee and pastry break at 25km cycling) and the Belfry at Bethune (lunch at 56km cyclin...
Day 08: Calais to St Omer
So as we’d lost an hour crossing the Channel, we were an hour behind ourselves getting up 🙄. And we hadn’t booked hotel breakfast because we wanted to try for a café. So that’s what we did and what a choice of pastries. We wandered further until we admired the World Heritage Belfry and town hall (1...
Day 07 Whitstable to Canterbury, Dover & Calais
Much cooler today and somewhat overcast. We made swift progress on gravel tracks and quiet country lanes to arrive in Canterbury for about 10 am. We went straight to the Cathedral to purchase our Via Francigena “passport” (£5). This entitles “pilgrims” to discounts along the way. Including free entr...
Day 06 Gravesend to Whitstable
It was sooooo hot today. Blue sky and 30°C. Only bearable whilst we are cycling and generating air flow 🙄. However it was a good cycling day. As we started out from Gravesend there was a “happening”. A couple of fire ships were shootings plumes of water in the air, the band of the Royal Marines (we...
Day 05 Enfield Lock to Gravesend
Today was overcast and pleasantly cool with promise to blue skies and heat late afternoon. We left at 08:30 and cycled along the Lee Navigation, the Hertford Union Canal near the Olympic Stadium and finally the Regents Canal to reach the Isle of Dogs opposite Greenwich and the stunning new developme...
Day 04 Maldon to Enfield
We enjoyed a cooked breakfast in the charming dining room of the quaint Blue Boar in Maldon - like a set for a Dickens novel. Set off just before 9am. Bit of a slog up to Little Baddow, but on the ridge cycled past mansion after mansion. Clearly a Millionaire’s row/village. Downhill to Chelmsford. W...
Day 03 Ipswich to Maldon
We left early for us at 8am and had coffee from Starbucks by Ipswich station along with pastries from our B&B in Halesworth. A steep slog out of Ipswich led us through quiet villages until we picked up the bed of the former railway to Hadleigh. This whisked us through sylvan glades to the pretty vil...
Day 02 Halesworth to Ipswich
Started the day in our B&B in Halesworth. 5 star accommodation and cooked breakfast. Left 09:30 and admired a deli in Halesworth after 5 minutes but too soon to stop sadly 🥲, but that didn’t stop us stopping for coffee at Emmett’s deli in Peasenhall after an hour. We’ve bought gifts and food online...
Day 01 SHX to Halesworth
We are off. A short shake-down ride to our first night stop to check everything works. Alistair fell down the garden steps this morning and grazed his elbow and knees so he knows he can’t take anything for granted 😂. We picked up the Number 1 cycle route outside Bungay and followed it to Halesworth...