2010 Part 3: Over breakfast this morning we all agreed that to remain in Chamonix was effectively a waste of time. The rainfall experienced over the last few days was locked in around the Alps and nothing was going to change that any time soon. Realistically we couldn’t ride the passes we had planned on […]
2010 Part 2: It didn’t matter how often or how many websites we checked the 7 day weather forecast for the Alps remained bleak. The eternal optimists among us refused to accept it would be as wet as predicted. The realists on the other hand thought riding south into poor weather was imprudent. Now the […]
2010 Part 1: We had a long, monotonous 500 mile ride ahead of us today but the carrot at the end of the stick was the infamous Nurburgring Nordschleife, possibly the most iconic racing circuit in the world. Our 9.50am Euro Tunnel crossing to France may have meant an early 6am departure from Bewdley, but […]
2009 Part 1: As Gaz, Pete and Mark’s 7am departure time loomed this morning the skies over Bewdley were decidedly dark and menacing. In fact the medium range forecast for Europe as a whole didn’t look particularly promising and snow was even expected in Arabba, their ultimate destination in four days’ time. The idea was […]
2008 Part 4: Everyone envied Cat this morning. We might have laughed at his hire car when he finally turned up in Belfort yesterday, but today we were set for a very wet day and it was Cat who’d be having the last laugh. The forecast today was for heavy rain across the whole of […]
2008 Part 3: After the catastrophic failure of Cat’s Tuono on the Galibier yesterday, this morning saw him waiting for a man with a van to take him and his bike to Grenoble. It wasn’t exactly clear what was going to happen after that but if the problem was terminal – which was looking likely […]
2008 Part 2: Suffering the effects of sleep deprivation compounded by too much wine Gaz, Taj and Pete decided not to ride today. Instead they spent their day exploring Briancon’s rich history – that’s what they told the rest of us anyway. On 8th July 2008 – next week – several buildings including the city […]
2008 Part 1: Over a few pre-tour beers last night it was agreed we needed an early start this morning. We settled on a 7am meet at Kyle’s house. We had a midday ferry crossing booked and it’s 220 miles and an easy 4 hours from Bewdley down to the docks. The weather this morning […]
2007 Part 4: Today saw us heading west across the Pyrenees to Esterencuby, about 5 miles from Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port. However we were split on how to get there. While Gaz and Pete preferred the most direct route, the rest of us decided to go the scenic way. Before we left Saint-Lary this morning though Madame presented […]
2007 Part 3: We had quite a big ride planned today with our proposed route taking us over 6 passes. After our second pass of the day, the Pourtalet, we would be leaving France and spending pretty much the rest of the day in Spain. Once on the Spanish side we were going to head […]
2007 Part 2: Today was the day that Phil, Chris, Gaz, Taj and Mark kicked off their tour and saw them riding down to Plymouth to catch the overnight ferry to Santander. It was also Cat’s birthday – the big one. Aside from a short 14 mile round trip to the supermarket so Pete could […]
2007 Part 1: Late yesterday afternoon we – that’s Cat, Pete and Kyle – set off from Bewdley and travelled the 150 miles – most of them wet – down to Portsmouth to catch the 10.45pm overnight ferry to Caen. At 6am this morning soft music was piped through to our cabin and all of […]