clairedavieswriter

Châtellerault was largely closed yesterday, it being Monday (?), but did its best to make up for it this morning, sending me off in style with velvet-smooth tarmac and smartly painted bike paths. I crossed the river, passed between this imposing pair of gatehouses… And turned right, at which point I realised I was in…

Having pedalled over 720k in two weeks, we enjoyed a restorative weekend with old friends, involving very little exercise, plenty of good food, and the odd pick me up. But today it was time to get back on the road. We pedalled north through rolling farmland, crisscrossing another fine river. The air was noticeably warmer…

This morning (Thursday) we acquired a fresh domestique. Harry took on responsibility for directions – Guillaume didn’t seem unhappy to have the day off. With gilets and jackets on against the morning chill, and fresh pastries secured in our panniers… We crossed the Charente once again and followed its meandering valley north. We enjoyed quintessentially…

In a moment of linguistic over-confidence, I tried to tell our hostess last night that I’d seen a red squirrel on our ride. Unfortunately what I actually said was that I’d seen a Russian squirrel. In the circumstances, her reaction was impressively neutral. I guess I’d better keep going to my French lessons. Animal of…

Today we swapped pines for vines: As the crow flies, our destination lay north east of Bordeaux, but Guillaume took us on a wide loop to the south and east first. For once, we weren’t complaining: with cycle paths as well- maintained and inspiring as this, it would’ve been churlish not to take the scenic…

Today we bade farewell to Les Landes. La Gironde didn’t look all that different at certain points. But in between these photos we passed a big area that still bore the scars of last year’s fires. Pine forests, homes and entire campsites had been consumed, and reconstruction was underway everywhere: a desperate race against time…

This might be a good moment to share my plan for the next 800 miles or so. Technically, to achieve the longest distance across France from south to north, I should have started somewhere in the middle of the Pyrenees, but that just wasn’t practical, and I’m making the rules, so… Having hugged the coast…

Last night at Le Jardin, a convivial vegetarian restaurant in a quiet back street, frequented solely by foreigners, we enjoyed our first real vegetables since leaving home… During dinner, the brief window of good weather slammed shut.This morning dawned to a clap of thunder directly overhead, and torrential rain. After breakfast at the Cafe du…

Contrary to early meteorological indications … the sun shone all day, which allowed plenty of time to take the sea air … review yesterday’s route: … and indulge in some harmless window shopping. Among the high end boutiques selling expensive espadrilles, designer deckchair seats and couture clothing to the well-heeled, there were outlets catering to…

Today marked the beginning of my End-to-End project, proper. But before that, we learned that our stop last night, Orio, was once a whaling town, whose ships hunted as far afield as Newfoundland. We saw hints of its past in murals: … graffiti: … and street art – these fish were made from sardine cans:…