It’s Been a While
My elbows nudge into the hoods and my head hangs over my front wheel. I haven’t ridden in this kind of heat since southern Europe on last year’s Transcontinental. I’m […]
That didn’t go to plan
Pull my phone from gilet pocket and tap WhatsApp. Aborted. Legs and head both gone. Heading back to Dieppe, should be there by 1pm. Three course lunch and beers? Hit […]
Randonneur Round The Year?
Whilst idly plotting some routes earlier I realised that the last two months I’ve done 200 kilometre rides in France, both of them logged as DIY by GPS audaxes. There’s […]
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 […]
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 […]
Seven Tractors
Almost-silence hangs in the mist. The only sounds are bird song and the gentle whirring of block and chain. The valley sides are obscured by layers of tracing paper haze. […]
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 […]
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 […]
North Country
Heading south to pay a visit to the north country. Drifting off the ferry in a sleep-deprived daze and heading up the hill on autopilot. Riding in a puddle of […]
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 […]
Bunking Off
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 […]
Tour de France Sojourn Day 4
Headwind. Headwind. Headwind. Three hour nap on a ferry. Headwind.
Tour de France Sojourn Day 1
I rattle and rumble down the ferry gangway into early morning France. It’s around 5am and I’ve not had anywhere near enough sleep. Out of the port and it’s left […]
Diary of a Novice Randonneur, pt.7 – Tour des Trois Vallees
The sky overhead is crashing and sparking setting off car […]
