touring
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Armistice 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 time, body clocks on 3am and barely a handful of hours of sleep. Rather than heading straight onto the road we nip into the port…
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Newhaven to Nyhavn
SATURDAY The smell of baking bread wafts through the air as I climb the hill away from the ferry. The streets are still and quiet. Beyond the light pollution stars prickle the black sky. The air smells of recently ploughed earth and the sound from wind turbines overhead accentuate the strength of the wind. For…
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Flanders To The Alps: Notes On A Tour [Part 2]
Day 7 – Montriond and Morzine (18km) Snooze. Into Morzine for a coffee. Snooze. Up to the lake for a swim. Snooze. Day 8 – Col de Joux Plane (55km) Over the Joux Plane to meet Nigel for coffee. Lunch at Col de Ranfolly. The Reilly looks a little out of place surrounded by full…
![Flanders To The Alps: Notes On A Tour [Part 2]](https://themanfromicon.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/img_20180804_124916_443.jpg?w=1024)
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Flanders To The Alps: Notes On A Tour [Part 1]
Day 1 – Hastings, UK to Gent, Belgium (216km) Meet George and Vic at Brighton station. First train cancelled due to two pissed teenagers being dicks. That’s our time buffer gone. Meet Mark at Hastings station. Tailwind across Romney Marsh, heads down, smash it to Dover (didn’t need to worry about that lost half hour).…
![Flanders To The Alps: Notes On A Tour [Part 1]](https://themanfromicon.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/img_20180729_232024_644.jpg?w=1024)
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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. A mirror image the other side of the channel as mist solidifies into landforms. Heat bounces from the road. The snap, crackle, and pop of…
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Dolomiti
Last year I took part in the fifth edition of the Transcontinental Race but unfortunately didn’t finish the race, making it across parts of Belgium, France, Germany, Austria, and Italy before stopping short of Control Point 3 in the High Tatras mountain range in northern Slovakia. After recuperating in Poprad for 36 hours we rode…
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Seven hundred
Orange-pink cracks of light in the murky grey sky to the east contradict the weather forecast I saw the day before. This is good. If it lasts. The predicted headwind is present though. By 35km I’m cowering in a bus stop on a junction, 5km later when I spot an open café I’m wringing water…
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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 metal roof of the station but the rain sounds like it’s getting harder. I zip up my waterproof jacket and pull up my buff. Four…
the man from icon 