clairedavieswriter

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:…

Today was a day of cols, coasts, cracking good cycle paths, and some proper Basque weather. I knew we were in for some climbing and had been preparing Jon for the worst well in advance. My warnings seemed justified when we realised we were on a Tour de France route (Trabakua is the name of…

Happily for Bernard and Colin, the two-night crossing was smooth, but sadly, Bilbao had not received the memo about blue skies and warm sunshine. It’s not for nothing that this region is called La España Verde.Dressed for the deluge, we wended our way through Bilbao, crossing and re-crossing the river Nervión, including on this remarkably…

It may have rained on the King’s parade, but the sun came out for ours. I’m pleased to say that I have company for the first two weeks of my six week tour. Jon is smiling because he still thinks he’s going on holiday. Bernard’s stablemate, Colin, was feeling a little self-conscious with his shiny…

Spring has sprung, the swallows are swooping, and Bernard has been for a wash and brush up. It can only mean one thing: it’s time for our next adventure. So where are you off to this time? Good question.  Team Bernard – that’s Claire in the cockpit, along with Bernard the bike, Guillaume the Garmin, his…