As near as damn it to Carcassonne

2011 Part 4: We were leaving Arreau today for Trebes, a commune close to the walled city of Carcassonne. To get there we essentially had two options. We could either ride up to La Barthe-de-Neste and then head due east past Saint-Girons – about a 4 hour ride. Or we could drop down into Spain […]

It’s good to be back in the Pyrenees

2011 Part 1: Unlike last year’s wash out this year’s tour got off to a much more auspicious start. It was the usual starting point, Kyle’s house in the centre of Bewdley, and by the time everyone finally turned up a little after 10.30am it was already t-shirt weather without a cloud in the sky. […]

Return to Santander and the ferry back home

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 […]

A plan comes together in Urdos

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 […]

The long, wrong way down to Millau

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 […]