Category: France, Belgium, and the Netherlands End-to-End 2023
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France, Belgium, NL End to End 2023 – Day 15: Chartres to Mousseaux-sur-Seine – 103k, 594m climbed
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…
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France, Belgium, NL End to End 2023 – Day 14: Châteaudun to Chartres -56.8k, 455m climbed
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…
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France, Belgium, NL End to End 2023 – Day 13: Vendôme to Châteaudun – 54.8k, 391m climbed
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…
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France, Belgium, NL End to End 2023 – Day 12: Tours to Vendôme – 90.2k, 776m climbed
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…
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France, Belgium, NL End to End 2023 – Day 11: Châtellerault to Tours – 82.1k, 520m climbed
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…
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France, Belgium, NL End to End 2023 – Day 10: Pressac to Chatellerault- 99.3k, 775m climbed
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…
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France, Belgium, NL End to End 2023 – Day 9: Angoulême to Pressac – 85.3k, 968m climbed
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…
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France, Belgium, NL End to End 2023 – Day 8: Guîtres to Angoulême – 99.3k, 1,212m climbed
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…
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France, Belgium, NL End to End 2023 – Day 7: Bordeaux to Guîtres – 78.2k, 650m climbed
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…
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France, Belgium, NL End to End 2023 – Day 6: Biscarrosse Plage to Bordeaux – 82.9k, 595m climbed
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…
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