clairedavieswriter

It’s a double bill of blogs tonight, you lucky people. Scroll down to read about the last leg of my France end-to-end. But meanwhile, my end-to-end of Belgium is already underway: I was delighted to see that the former border post has been put to much better use. As first impressions go, a luxury chocolate…

My end-to-end of France is complete. With only a few characteristic hiccups, Guillaume the Garmin has led me from one end of the country to the other, and the trusty Bernard has carried me up hill and down dale, on tarmac, gravel, grass, cobblestones and farmers’ tracks, without complaint – and without a puncture.Together, in…

Are you there yet? Not quite. But very nearly. Since crossing the southern border of France at Hendaye on 11 May, it has taken me 16 and a half days to pedal here, and I’m on track to reach Bray Dunes, the country’s most northerly point, tomorrow morning. Despite yesterday’s exertions, when I hit the…

When I planned it, today’s ride looked ‘undulating’ but not particularly testing. However, if you add a 16mph headwind, gusting to 26mph, on legs that suffered the same punishment yesterday, the hills become more of a challenge, and I was back to using climbing gears on the flat. So in practice, it was not a…

I’m not going to lie, today was very hard work. My blowy friend was back, and of course I was riding straight towards him. While this time I was never at risk of being knocked over, I did find that, when going downhill, I had to keep pedalling, which should give you an idea of…

Team Bernard enjoyed a tranquil 36 hours in our tiny cabin, scarcely 5 metres from the Seine. But this morning there was a difference of opinion with regard to our route out. Guillaume wanted to take us back the way we’d come, via Bonnières, to a bridge. But I’d discovered we could go in the…

Today I experienced two of those ‘I can’t believe I cycled here’ moments. First when I realised I was in Normandy (albeit quite a way from Trouville) And then when I reached the Seine. Bilbao seems simultaneously a very long time ago, and only yesterday. Mind you, after 103k in the saddle, even this morning…

They say train hard, ride easy. If that’s the case, the last three days must have been training, because today I felt I was flying. Obviously, it helped that my northeastern nemesis let up a bit. But who knows, maybe you get fitter if you pedal over 1,000km in two and a half weeks? It…

On paper, today looked like a doddle, but our friend from the northeast had other ideas. If I’d thought the last two days were tough, he made clear I had another think coming. There were times when I could barely make headway at all. Even so, I preferred that to a sidewind: on one occasion…

Team Bernard started the day beside La Loire… And ended it beside Le Loir: We had company throughout: And despite the constant threat from the northeast: It was a thoroughly enjoyable day, which I confess came as a bit of a surprise given how fatigued my legs felt this morning. How to explain this unexpected…