Heading home by way of Macon and Laon
2018 Part 5: When we awoke this morning there was barely a trace of the storm we’d experienced yesterday. The first thing we did though was head down to the hotel basement to check on our kit. Last night the hotel kindly let us dry our textiles, gloves, and boots in their boiler room. For […]
We really should have cut and run at Barcelonnette
2018 Part 4: As a point of interest, if you want to ride mountain passes, big ones, then alongside Chamonix we can’t think of a much better base to have than Briancon. This is the reason why we’ve stayed here so often over the years. There are literally dozens of fantastic roads and passes to […]
On to Briancon over the Glandon and the Galibier
2018 Part 3: Like our ride from Besancon to Le Grand-Bornand a couple of days ago, our ride from Le Grand-Bornand to Briancon could be as short or as long as we wanted it to be. The fastest non-motorway route was 116 miles and 3 hours. Our preferred route was 6 hours and 155 miles. […]
Semnoz, Revard, Saisies and la Colombiere
2018 Part 2: We really weren’t too sure what conditions we’d wake up to this morning. While this summer has been hot and sunny, up in the mountains this has often culminated in some spectacular thunderstorms. Yesterday evening we’d experienced thunder and lightning during dinner and the weather remained unsettled when we retired for the […]
Le Grand-Bornand via Valenciennes and Besancon
2018 Part 1: As with every tour this one began at the customary starting point, Kyle’s house in the centre of Bewdley. It was the usual straightforward motorway run down to Dover; M40, M25 and M20/A20, enlivened only by the need to filter through the heavy traffic on the mobile car park that is the […]
North to Normandy and Avranches via Mont Saint-Michel
2011 Part 7: Up until this point we’d enjoyed fantastic weather on this year’s tour. That all changed this morning when hot and sunny was replaced by wet and miserable. Experience told us that on days like today, when the weather is inclement and there’s a long ride ahead, everyone just does their own thing. […]
The Giant of Provence, Mont Ventoux
2011 Part 6: Mont Ventoux is one of the most famous climbs of the Tour de France, although infamous may be a more appropriate description when it comes to the Giant of Provence. It’s right up there along with Alpe d’Huez, the Tourmalet and the Galibier. It had been on Phil and Kyle’s bucket list […]
Through the Cevennes to Saint-Jean du Gard
2011 Part 5: The overall plan after Arreau had been to work our way north-east so we could see both the Millau Bridge and Mont Ventoux. The added bonus of this detour was we got to ride through the Cevennes, a range of mountains in south-central France and one of the most spectacular national parks […]
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 […]
Port de Bales and lunch in Saint-Lary
2011 Part 3: There were no big miles planned today, just a pleasant 130 mile loop that was going to include a lunch stop in Saint-Lary at Auberge de l’Isard – where we stayed for a couple of enjoyable nights during our 2007 tour. Besides that our only other goal was to see if we […]
Dipping into Spain and some classic Tour de France cols
2011 Part 2: Still a little weather obsessed after last year it was a relief to see that the Meteo France forecast we’d seen last night was spot on when we awoke this morning. We hadn’t really doubted that it would be sunny today but you never can tell in the Pyrenees where conditions can […]
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. […]