Somme Friendly
After one of the recent Normandie trips Claire mentioned she was interested in riding over there sometime. A few minutes later a weekend was pencilled in and an email sent […]
Monts et Rivieres
Turn left out of the drive and start climbing. Ten kilometres of up. Not steep but constant. Compared to home these hills are mountains, up through the trees to the […]
Normandicat
As soon as I start pedalling I relax. I know what I’m doing now. Riding bikes. Done loads of it. Cheered off by the organisers and volunteers we all turn […]
Tour de Causse
Damn, my ears are cold. Freezing fog in the valley, ice forms on the brake levers. Skittery tyres in the corners… pssht, let a little bit of air out. Wheels […]
24 Hour Partir People
I can see the sea from the front door so heading south on the bike is not possible. I can choose any combination of east, west, north, but nothing to […]
Armastice Day 200
After storms on the south coast and a rough crossing we rumble down the ferry ramp into France in calm, dry weather. It’s really early, a bit after 4am local […]
Channel Hopping
The ferry turns and powers away from England in a soft haze that mutes the whiteness of the chalk, rendering the cliffs as almost inverted shadows. […]
Newhaven – Welcome to England
Rolling off the ferry at Newhaven it’s lashing down, absolute stair-rods. I get to the train station only to discover there are no trains this weekend. It may be the […]
Five Sevenths
Half way up the hill out of town I spot a bench nestled under some trees. Shade, at last. I pull over, lean my bike against one end of the […]
Bunking Off (Reprise)
One last continental fling before the clocks change, a ride half done before daylight. Guiding the girl on her way to Paris from Oxford to the Avenue Verte by the […]
Six Days of Lot
Three is the Magic Number
A while back my friend Ollie from work said he wanted to ride up Mont Ventoux for his fortieth birthday. I mentioned that my friends Jo, George and Oli had, […]
Bunking Off
Alpine Weekender
Thursday “Not here, you need to be at the North Terminal”. I really should have checked my boarding pass before I joined the huge queue to drop off my bike […]
Restless
An overwhelming desire to be somewhere else. The overnight ferry from Newhaven to Dieppe. 130 kilometre potter around a corner of Normandy. Lunch and a nap on a beach. The evening ferry […]
Road to Rouen
I was invited by the nice people over at Victor and Liberty to write something for their blog. They asked a couple of weeks before I had a day trip […]
