clairedavieswriter

Let the train take the strain, said I.Hold my Stella, said the signalman in Liège.It had all started so well… yesterday, the very helpful man in the ticket booth at Arlon station (still manned after 5pm, I observed) furnished me and Bernard with tickets (€27 and €4 respectively, for a four hour international journey), confirmed…

It’s another double-bill blog day, and now Team Bernard is two down, one to go for this trip. It being a very minor road, there was no grand country sign to help me mark my achievement this time, but I can confirm that the village of Eischen is on the other side of the border,…

After yesterday’s food desert, I fear today I may have overcompensated. Having set out with a banana, three madeleines and a protein bar, I then stopped at the boulangerie and added a pain au chocolat. Do you do sandwiches? I asked. Désolée, said Madame La Boulangère, but she knew someone who did. Imagine my surprise…

Last week, on my ride to Brussels, I was enjoying a banana in the shade of a tree when I was approached by a thin, bald, middle aged man in round red framed glasses, riding a huge electric mountain bike and emanating nervous energy. Think Tintin’s Professor Calculus on a health kick.After plying me with…

As is often the case after a hiatus, I was excited about getting underway again, but nervous at the same time. As it turned out, I needn’t have worried. Despite the distance, the hills and the heat, the ride didn’t feel all that strenuous.This may well be down to the exemplary R&R on offer chez…

Today’s lesson was ‘Cycling Infrastructure: how to do it (and how not to)’.For my ride to Brussels, Guillaume had come up with a route that looked suspiciously like some of his less brilliant ideas from last year. For those who weren’t following that trip, his rationale could generally be summarised as ´Take the shortest route,…

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…