tour de france
-
Tour de France dairies 2022
Twenty one bends. Any space that a camper fits is filled, many German, French and Belgians camped out, Dutch corner banging out euro pop at 9.30am, thirty six hours before the tour hits. Beers cooling in streams. A corner festooned in Norwegian flags quiet on the way up but will be belting out AC/ DC…
alpe d'huez, alpine, alps, ardeche, ascent, auvergne, bicycle, bicycle tour, big ride, bike packing, bike touring, bikepacking, cantal, credit card bikepacking, cycle touring, cycling, france, fuck brexit, landscape, le tour, massif central, monts du cantal, mountains, randonneur, time trial, tour de france, vercors -
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 bag. Thirty minutes later I’ve dropped my bag at the right terminal and find my way to the departure gate for Geneva. A few hours after…
-
Tour de France Sojourn Day 4
Headwind. Headwind. Headwind. Three hour nap on a ferry. Headwind.
-
Tour de France Sojourn Day 3
Rest day. A book, a bottle of wine, sitting under a tree.
-
Tour de France Sojourn Day 2
The best thing about camping is being gently woken by the dawn chorus. The worst thing about camping is the dawn chorus starting at 5 a.m. And thus starts another long day. A few hours later I am diverted by the first of many Route Barrée signs in Abbeville. I follow the trail of yellow…
-
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 up the first hill of the day. An old woman shouts “ALLEZ!” from a high, unshuttered window. Light seeps into the sky, I can see…





