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Day 6 Descent

A day of more descent than ascent, hooray, not too far either. As I came down to breakfast madame’s two sons (7 or 8 or so) were squabbling because they didn’t want to clear the tables. When I checked out they had achieved harmony and had a friend with them, all three happily laying the […]

Day 5 Two hills

I knew this would be a hard day, almost all off road, so a first-thing visit to the Boulangerie for Quiche Lorraine, Tarte aux Mirabelles, Flan. As I entered in my cycling gear, the woman behind the counter gave me a look as though I was an apparition from another world. There was no breakfast […]

Day 4. Misty, fishy.

After some research and assistance I got the pass sanitaire sorted and loaded onto the French app – relief, I wouldn’t have to sleep outdoors. With rain pouring down I gave up on the off-road route for today, I didn’t fancy tricky descents in the rain. Started out late, cycling through steady rain, meandering around […]

Day 3, Saulieu to Lac les Settons, with a mystery of buttons

Pouring with rain first thing. I hung around in the hotel until they chucked me out at 11 o’clock. The rain was easing and I wandered through the town. It has statues of bears scattered about. As I was drifting around a woman passed me, on her way to church, and said what sounded like […]

Day 2, stone in my shoe, Avallon to Saulieu.

The route starts under the medieval walls of Avallon, on the outside, overlooking a steep valley. Down that, up the other side into the new part of town, then into the forest. Nice singletrack through the woods, oak, birch, beech, spruce all mixed up. Bumpy over stones and roots, bang crash, up, down up, up. […]

Day 1 Streatham to Avallon

Avalon was, I think an island in a lake where King Arthur died, after instructing Sir Bedivere to throw his sword, Excalibur, into the lake. Bedivere refused three times, why is it always three? Also where “The Lady of Shallot” weaved a web and pined for Launcelot, according to Tennyson. Willows whiten, aspens quiver,Little breezes […]

The Bike

I only started riding a mountain bike two years ago. I bought it from Planet X Cycles, mail order. It’s called a Whippet. Carbon frame, no suspension. I made the following modifications, mainly to make it lighter: 1 Changed the front forks for ones with a bit of suspension – Lauf Boost Forks. 2 Added […]

The Route

The route goes through the hilly part of central France, starting in Burgundy and ending on the Mediterranean coast. It’s about 1,300 km long and took 28 days to complete (I had a rest day now and then). The website for the route is here