Category: France, Belgium, and the Netherlands End-to-End 2023
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France, Belgium, NL End to End 2023 – Day 24: Bièvre to Arlon: 96.1k, 1,428m climbed
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…
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France, Belgium, NL End to End 2023 – Day 23: Dinant to Bièvre – 53k, 1,220m climbed
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…
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France, Belgium, NL End to End 2023 – Day 22: Brussels to Dinant, 96.2k, 1130m climbed
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…
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France, Belgium, NL End to End 2023 – Day 21: Maldegem to Brussels, 91.1k, 530m climbed
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,…
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France, Belgium, NL End to End 2023 – Day 20 (part 2): De Panne to Maldegem – 89.2k, 423m climbed
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…
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France, Belgium, NL End to End 2023 – Day 20 (part 1): France: the last leg – Dunkirk to Bray Dunes, 12.4k
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…
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France, Belgium, NL End to End 2023 – Day 19: Auchy-au-Bois to Dunkirk – 74.7k, 425m climbed
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…
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France, Belgium, NL End to End 2023 – Day 18: Abbeville to Auchy-au-Bois – 83.8k, 993m climbed
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…
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France, Belgium, NL End to End 2023 – Day 17: Gournay-en-Bray to Abbeville – 85.7k, 838m
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…
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France, Belgium, NL End to End 2023 – Day 16: Mousseaux-sur-Seine to Gournay-en-Bray – 70k, 693m climbed
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…
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