nbjtours

Total mileage 828 miles

This was a slightly different tour, not only did we miss our forever compadre Chris but rather than cycling out in the wilds , we were crossing Northern France. A part of the country that is more populated and also perhaps familiar to more of us even if we only ever drive straight through it.

In spite of this lack of true wilderness, in the main the roads were very quiet and although we always checked before crossing or turning left across the road, outside of a town we only had to stop once otherwise the expression for the lead rider was ‘usual’ carry on pedalling. Of course the other benefit of cycling in France is that their roads are so much better than ours and faster to cycle on – easily worth 2-3 mph. I reckon we called out for potholes less than a handful of times the whole trip whereas at home it’s every two minutes. The only exception to these superb roads were the gravelled sections caused by the heat melting the original surfaces.

As well as the super quiet roads we also had long stretches on cycle greenways, most of which were tarmac and others hard surfaced so still quick to ride on. Again better than we find on U.K. greenways and long distance cycle routes. Nbjtours did find a couple of really rough tracks to prove a point but it wouldn’t be a true ride without these.

In the absence of Chris it was good to see Nigel join us on a few occasions for the last couple of miles. As ever Nigel, Monica and Broomey were always there in support and our succour when needed. Daily trips to Lidl were supplemented by a patisserie visit to try to local specialties. Luckily the energy we used ensured that two pastries a day had no effect on our waistline. A Fiat Green Van is such a welcome sight. Gill joining us for the first few days demonstrated what a smooth operation we have set up with the rolling support in Broomey essential for how we have travelled all around Europe.

Part of these trips has always been exploring the places we pass through and this year we have done even more of that having learned from the successes of last years Camino route.

As well as seeing car rallies, cycle races, car museums and white water kayaking competitions we have deliberately headed for the centre of bigger towns and explored their fabulous winding cobbled streets, churches and cathédrales. Troyes, Metz, Toul, Châteaudun, Sens, Quimper and Luxembourg City are all worth a visit.

The other reason for going into the centre of town was to get our tour passports stamped. All part of engaging with the locals who apart from one exception were only too happy to accommodate these mad Englishmen.

A few historical sites en route were surprising such as the Roman amphitheatre in Grand, the Aérotrain track north of Orleans and we enjoyed recreating a lap of Le Mans

The other thing that I usually rabbit on about are the flowers and wildlife. Whilst we did see some wild flowers because we were a bit later this year and it has been so warm many of the spring flowers had gone and of course we didn’t cycle in quite as wild an environment as usual.

The one creature we did see more of were butterflies. Mammals were sparse but we saw a couple of Pine Martens ( one alive) two deer, some hares, a black red squirrel and those bats of course. The most surprising sighting being an Octopus in Brittany.

The weather of course was perhaps the overriding factor as we have never experienced such temperatures before especially with no shelter from the sun. We were lucky as on a couple of mornings we were surrounded by storms but remained virtually dry throughout and didn’t ever have to put on a rain jacket.

Plans are already underway for two more adventures in 2026 & 2027 if our bodies and legs can cope . Next year I can announce will be an eight day tour from Heusenstamm in Germany to Le Puy again to coincide with the St Jacques de Compostelle UTMB trail races. This will likely to be in early June and will explore parts of France we’ve yet to cycle through in Alsace and Burgundy as well as a bit of the Rhine valley in Germany. A bit of wine tourism can be expected !

We are hoping to have a fuller cycling team and a good number of runners from Tonbridge to support when we get to Le Puy again

In the meantime thank you to all our readers, families and of course Nigel, Monica and Broomey without whom all this would still be a dream in my head.

Completed tour passport ( after trip in the shower!)

Day 10 Liverdun – Luxembourg

107 miles. 3684 ft climbed

So who knew? Schengen is actually a very small town in Luxembourg near the border of Germany and France. Having spent nine and a half days cycling across France Nick and I briefly crossed into Germany before going into this Luxembourg town and visiting the exhibition centre all about the border free zone!

With Nick having to get to the airport this evening to fly home for a key family gathering. Nigel got us up all early for breakfast and we managed to leave the campsite just after seven.

The route today mostly ran alongside the Moselle River or the adjacent canal. It remained warm but with some cloud cover so it was actually a big cooler than forecast at 28 degrees.

The first segment’s highlight was Nick hitting the local pump track. As ever Nick chose the hardest track first but was still smiling at the end so completed all four.

The cycle path was fully tarmac and generally very busy with lots of bikers and walkers.

Coffee stop was at an early 9 o’clock and we were treated once again to a patisserie special as below.

The next leg took us through Metz. In an incident reminiscent of his accident in Switzerland two years ago Nick slipped his front wheel on a kerb and ended up on the floor at the bridge of the dead , an apt name. Nick thankfully was fine apart from a bit of grazing.

As we ran into Metz we saw a white water kayak competition which was being announced in German. A closer look showed it was a round of the German championship- perhaps they have designs of taking this bit of France back!

Metz is a beautiful city with many cafes and restaurants huddled around a large old quarter. The cathedral is a gem with the most stained glass in any medieval building and the third highest nave in France at over 41 metres. Certainly worth a visit.

Some of the windows are by Marc Chagall like our own Tudeley church. But on a more grand scale.

Leaving Metz after our passport stamp we continued on the towpath to our lunch stop which involved a switch of river banks. As always Nigel and Monica were ready and waiting.

Generally the bike paths were excellent but the one above was in a state of collapse and we had to proceed with care. We remained on the river crossing from one side to another then into Germany for 500 metres before getting into Luxembourg as described above. The Moselle hillsides were covered in vines on the Luxembourgish side. Who knew Luxembourg was a wine producer.

It was now a time to change how we rode as everything seemed to go uphill and we had to pedal hard to get to the top of some very steep slopes. On one of these hilltops we found a couple of guys testing a huge drone away from prying eyes. One thing that was evident was the super road quality and lots of expensive cars. I made a big Bentley wait as I entered a small town whilst passing a parked car.

A tea stop had been programmed in at the top of one of these hills and much to Nigel’s delight a car rally went passed The cars were everything from old Minis and 2cvs right up to modern Ferraris.

We arranged to meet up with Mark and Teresa in Luxembourg City so Nick and I set off on the last leg of the trip. A few more hills before then hitting a windy cycle path which we bashed along at a rapid speed passing everyone else until we came to the foot of the city of Luxembourg.

The route initially took us to an elevator but the queue was long so we decided one last climb up a cobbled street and through the city walls was in order. Safely accomplished we then headed for the big city square

We got the best and most appropriate stamp in our passport, did a selfie and had a nice cool coke before joining Nigel , Monica, Mark and Teresa on the outskirts of the old city.

Mission accomplished on the longest ride day of the tour.

Nick then had a rapid shower and change before a free tram to the airport whilst the rest of us went back to Mark and Teresa’s for a celebratory evening meal in the local park.

Unusually I was too tired to finish the blog immediately so have jotted this down the following morning.

I hope you’ve enjoyed the trip. I’ll put together some post trip thoughts and teasers about next year’s plans later.

Bye for now

Day Nine

Vouécourt to Liverdun

84 miles 4111ft climbed

The day today was one of history, spanning many centuries and each one told its own story many of which remain relevant to today. This is how it turned out.

We started today as we would finish it running alongside a river/ canal on perfectly smooth tarmac, but in between it was a bit different. We only ever saw one boat on the perfectly maintained canals and locks so it seemed an over investment.

During the day today we were once again plagued by the closed road scourge and the canal tow path was no exception. Having spoken to a woman by closed sign she said give it a go it’s probably just a fallen down tree from the recent storm blocking the path We gave it a go and she was right- just a fallen tree.

The terrain had seriously changed and we now had rolling hills fields and woods so after the first eleven miles on the canal towpath we had to hit the roads.

The roads then climbed up 200-400 ft over 1 to 3 miles and then went back down again so a hard push was followed by a long speedy descent. This was good fun but gradually wore out the energy as the legs were certainly more tired than a week ago.

Another road feature of the day was gravel. The heat of the last week had meant that the tarmac had melted in a number of places so they had gravelled the roads to try to protect them. On two full several kilometre sections between villages we had to ride super carefully as it was not dislike trying to ride Nick’s drive! We have to admit that one of these sections was closed to traffic but we didn’t fancy the detour!

As ever Nigel and Monica had sourced some top class pastries ( peach tarts) and equally good halts today so we did not go wanting.

We passed through lots of villages which genuinely seemed very run down with rotten doors and gates so the area is not as wealthy as it would first appear.

Our history visits began after coffee as Nick and I stopped off in the small village of Grand. ( A mistitle if I ever saw one). This village is home to one of the biggest Roman amphitheatre’s in Europe which would have held 15-17,000 spectators adjacent to a large Roman town. The amphitheatre was buried under earth until properly rediscovered in 1960. details can be found on https://grandlagalloromaine.vosges.fr/. What an amazing building in the middle of nowhere.

Leaving Grand we then had a ten mile up and down cycle to Domremy La Pucelle. This small town is famous for the birthplace of Joan of Arc who defeated the English despite the fact she was just a 19 year old girl ! We know her as the Maid of Orleans but pucelle is French for virgin and Domremy’s name was given La pucelle in her honour. https://www.jeanne-darc.info/location/domremy/

After seeing these sights we stopped for lunch. Our lunch stop next to a village green was enlivened by a class of 8 year olds who had been brought out for a cycle ride by their teacher ( and some parents) over 13 km for a picnic and play. Could this ever happen in the UK with our risk averse position ? Just as we were leaving another local lady with her daughter came and had a chat to us insisting it was in English to help her improve her language skills.

After lunch we once again climbed long slow hills and descended long fast slopes whilst being buzzed by several fast jets from the nearby airbase. In an interlude between the up and the down Nick had to stop to meet his calling as he saw a few goats. ( for those of you unaware Cabrera can meet goatherd)

We had a brief tea stop and although it had threatened to rain all day we were lucky and it stayed dry and whilst overcast it remained sticky and warm.

Before we came into the big town of Toul we came across this large Canadian Air Force war grave cemetery which was next to a similar WW1 French one. The majority of the fallen were under 25, younger than our own children. What a waste and testament to the folly of war.

Toul is clearly a military town as we passed a large barracks and the town itself is surrounded by defensive earthworks. We were not quite sure what the pink fountain was all about but it did look good.

We then made a beeline for the cathedral which we had seen from miles away. A superb building in a town that neither of us had heard of before. Just as we were leaving we heard a honking and chugging and following the noise came across a Model T Ford rally. This rally had over 40 of these cars lined up the oldest being from 1911 and the newest 1926. It was interesting to see the development they had undertaken in those years.

We left Toul and then had ten miles alongside the river to get to the campsite. During the ride we came across this small electric engine which was used from the 1920’s to the 1970’s to pull the barges after the demise of horse power and before diesel engines were fitted to boats. There were over 600 of the little beasts towing barges across France and creating less pollution than self propelled boats – progress eh?

Nick & I decided against an attempt to to get into Liverdun where our campsite was because of the steps into the medieval town so we sped down into the busiest campsite of the tour full of Dutch and Germans before showering and enjoying our steak dinner.

Just one day to go before another tour is successfully completed.

Day Eight

Marcilly le Hayer to Vouécourt

102 miles 4692 ft climbed

As Chris would say, today was magnificent. The temperature had dropped making cycling more pleasant and after two and a half days crossing the flat central plain the countryside began to change as we entered the Champagne region with rolling hills, woods and mixed agriculture including vines of course.

The name of this small village we passed through was therefore very appropriate as we had certainly crossed over into a different world.

Just as we got up this morning the heavens opened and we had torrential rain for ten minutes or so. This slightly delayed our departure as for a while we couldn’t even see the other side of the campsite, so heavy was it falling

However we were lucky as the two big storm systems were once again either side of us and we only ever got a smattering of rain a couple of times during the day.

Our first stop was early after only 20 miles as we had agreed to an additional detour to climb up to the Champagne village of Montgueux. Our standard coffee & croissants were followed by a visit to Olivier Lassaigne champagne. https://www.champagne-olivier-lassaigne.fr/fr/content/79-oenotourisme-champagne-olivier-lassaigne.

Having chosen Champagne Olivier Lassaigne we were shown round by his wife Stephanie. She explained that this small village is on a rare outcrop of chalk equidistant between the northern Champagne producers near Reims and the southern producers in the Aube department. Apparently the grandfather only started producing champagne in the 1950’s for the big Champagne houses but they started to produce their own champagne in 1974. Olivier produces his own today but sells his excess to Nicholas Feuillette & Veuve Cliquot whose bottles we see grace our supermarket shelves. As a small family producer ( 19000 bottles) She was very concerned about climate change ( a producer only half a kilometre away lost everything to a hailstorm two weeks ago) and also the champagne houses who are setting the price of champagne too high so people drink an alternative.

Leaving the hill of Montgueux Nick and I sped rapidly downhill into Troyes helped by the slope and tail wind averaging almost 30 mph for a couple of miles. Getting into Troyes we had fun negotiating the traffic lights in company with two guys, one on an electric cargo bike the other an electric scooter.

Troyes is a super pretty city and formerly the capital of champagne until Reims took that title. Having been amusingly abused by a large, toothless, 62 year old man because he had six daughters, we got our passports stamped in the tourist office and exited the city entirely on cycle paths.

Although this was a long leg we had a tail wind and had good cycle paths alongside a river or the huge man-made lac d’orient often shaded by the trees of the adjacent forest so could not complain.

Nigel came out to join us for the final five miles before our lunch stop, enjoying being pushed along by the wind.

With no rain forecast for the afternoon. Nick & I decided we could power on to a slightly longer tea stop at Colombey Les Deux Églises, famous for being the birthplace of Charles de Gaulle. The terrain had changed and became a bit bumpier but was enjoyable No doubt because we had passed into another world.

We had a couple of longish hills before enjoying our tea and biscuits on the grass by the Charles de Gaulle memorial- I wonder what he’d have thought of the English having tea on his lawn. Although we didn’t want to go round the museum we did ask the very lovely ladies to stamp our passports which they were very happy to do.

Whilst we had already added some extra miles we agreed to finish the last 15 miles in style even though there were four more categorised climbs. All were negotiated well and we enjoyed some more long descents apart from a gravelly moment on our last turn into one village. We finally finished at 7pm after having left at around 8.30 this morning- a long day.

A long day but over 100 miles successfully completed. Much more enjoyable for so many reasons than the struggles in the heat yesterday.

The campsite is genuinely picture postcard and again only costs €13. The scent of Lime trees and Heron on the river just adding even more. The village is pretty too with the Victorian laundry house housing a colony of bats as a bonus.

We now only have two days left to complete our trans country journey. Again we expect the sun to shine and the temperature to rise tomorrow. Until then ….

Day Seven

Pithiviers to Chigy

72miles 2926 ft climbed

I’m sitting outside under the awning sheltering from the thunderstorms that have been circulating our campsite since we arrived, in the hope that they will bring cooler weather.

In a first for an NBjTours trip and having consulted our resident doctor we decided to abandon the last 14 miles to avoid sunstroke as the temperature had risen to over 40C again with no wind or shelter.

It had grown steadily hotter during the afternoon and we were genuinely slowing down concerned about over heating as the was no shade. One stop we had was beneath a TGV line which was pretty impressive with trains bombing over our heads at 250 kph. The next as featured above was in a Victorian laundry on a small river which was beautifully cool and ideal to cool us down. After this treat we only had another three miles to go before Monica put us out of our misery and we headed into the camper to our overnight campsite.

The morning was a sharp contrast to the blazing sun of the afternoon and it was pleasantly warm with broken cloud although we were lucky as two storms passed either side is us only depositing a couple of drops.

Leaving Pithiviers we firstly ran through the very pretty Oeuf river valley whose houses bore evidence of long term wealth. The chateau above was owned by the de la Taille family, staunch supporters of the king of France and great poets. Puiseaux was good for a stamp and was home to a famous rose grower André Eve whose nursery is nearby.

Although the first section was a bit up and down at least it made a change to beating out the kilometres between endless hedgeless crops.

We did have a bit of fun by deliberately getting wet under one of the many water irrigation cannons.

Our coffee stop was just after Chateau Landon where the old lady in the tourist office could not have tried harder to ignore us and unsell her town.

As usual Nigel had surpassed himself in finding a pretty spot next to a run down bridge where the stream was full of fish and dragonflies and butterflies danced above the water.

Whilst we were at coffee one of the gum trees let go of a large branch not far from us and it came crashing down so we didn’t hang around for too long.

We turned off the road and briefly ran alongside a canal where we met Hans, a German who was cycling from his home town to Santiago, but was very keen to point out he was doing the hard route ( unlike us) and likely to take him 8 weeks. Now Basil Fawlty had always told us not to mention the war , but Hans was keen to let us know that the French must dislike us Brits and although he was German he promised not to shoot us!!! He was perfectly pleasant but we felt a little misguided.

As Hans started it, Nigel noticed these two Second World War memorials which just brought home the brutality of it all. The free French resistance fighters were shot by an allied plane whilst they were trying to help destroy a German column towards the end of the conflict. What a sad ending.

The next part of the route followed as accurately as I could, 15 miles of the Chemin de César Roman road which was a mix of proper road, forest trail and farm track. Nigel thought he’d better check us out before we went off road but all was good, although the intervening centuries have left it in a poorer state the Roman legions left it.

We had a couple of deviations , one to get over a motorway and the other because a factory had been built either side of the road so the mayor had allowed the firm to built him a bypass, although interestingly the maps still show it was passable – this was the second time this has happened.

Our lunch stop was in a pretty village but the temperature had started to climb and it’s fair to say we were a little leisurely in getting going after the stop.

We next came upon the biggest town of the day hoping to get into its cathedral, designed by the same man as Canterbury Cathedral and also a place of refuge for Thomas a Becket before coming back to England to his death. Sadly it was closed for renovation.

Although neither Nick or I are great Coke fans the heat demanded an ice cool coke in the square before we set off again on what became the last leg of the day as I described earlier.

One funny note though is that when we came into Sens a policeman with a radar gun jumped out from behind a sign and laughed saying “only 27kph you’re ok carry on”

Seeing the terrain on a camper ride to the campsite Nick & I were glad Monica had advised against riding as there was no shade to be had.

The campsite is in need of an upgrade and whilst I was showering it appeared the local works committee came into the block to discuss what they would keep and whether they would just knock the whole block down and start again. Come to Marcilly le Hayer to find out next year when I bet it’s more than 13 euros!!

They were frantically combining whist the storms got ever closer and even moved to a new field but I cannot hear it anymore so fear that the rain that is now thundering down has stopped action for the night.

Let’s hope it stops for tomorrow which thankfully looks much cooler.

Day Six

Vibraye to Pithiviers

95 Miles 2467 ft climbed

We may only be 50 miles south of Paris but based on the weather we have had we could be by the Mediterranean. Not only has the sun shone but as we approached our lunch stop there were more and more fields of deep purple Lavender.

Nigel and Monica had therefore decided to park up overlooking one of these fields and took the opportunity to hang out the washing alongside the farm track.

Whilst we were having our lunch the farmer drove up to check us out. We explained we were just lunching and he was fine. On asking about the lavender he said that it had only started in the last 5 years and that he produced essential oil which went to the perfume and washing producers. We also asked about the bees which were buzzing so loudly you could hear them on the lavender. He advised that he had 70 hives just around the corner but don’t get too close as he was stung last week. Leaving he gave us permission to take a small bouquet of lavender each and wished us ‘bonne appétit’.

This morning, once we had left the campsite and the busy town of Vibraye we didn’t see a car for almost ten miles as we worked our way along a pretty river valley which was not to be typical of the terrain we were to cycle through today as it was green and wooded with small hedged fields, filled with many cows.

After a short steepish climb we got onto that flat plain full of endless fields for which this part of France is known. Home to the sprint stages of the Tour de France and for us lovely smooth tarmac helping us increase our speed.

We saw many Buzzards, Kestrels and almost certainly a Goshawk. They were all hovering or soaring above the fields looking for prey- Potentially some of the hares we saw bounding about earlier in the day. Don’t tell Nick but Nigel and I heard a cuckoo today.

We had an early coffee stop in the small town of Courtalain which had a large Chateau and its grounds surrounding half of the town. It was here by chance we decided to have lunch in the Lavender region.

Nick continued to pace us across the fields of wheat until we came to the largest town of the day, Chateaudun. As the lady in the tourist office explained its situation is because it’s on the only hill and overlooks the river. The ascent to the castle was short but very steep. As we reached the top breathing hard a nice old gent congratulated us and agreed it was a tough climb.

Our lavender lunch stop was not much further after Chateaudun and having properly refuelled we would only have 40 odd miles to go in the day. As the temperature had begun to climb into the 30’s we did programme in an extra water/ ice cream stop. In addition to the bees there were also these two very colourful dragonfly species keeping us company.

Cycling across the plain it was very evident that my basic geography lessons were not wrong with smaller villages 5-7 km apart and larger villages or towns 20 km apart. This was very helpful as it was then easy to measure our progress by settlements ridden through.

As we kept trying to get our passports stamped at each Mairie it was interesting that their opening times appeared totally random, so we were not always successful, presumably this was down to the local mayor to sort depending on his other job. All were manned (or womanned) by middle aged ladies no doubt in need of a part time job. Without exception they were all very pleasant, stamped our passports and were surprised to see these mad Englishmen. Perhaps we had made their day by being something a bit out of the ordinary.

The last stop was by the end station of the experimental Aérotrain track north of Orleans. Set up in the 1960’s and running tests until the mid 1970’s this invention actually surpassed 430kph, but was doomed to failure because of the petrol crisis and the death of its inventor. However the track remains and is a tribute to the fastest ever land based passenger transport. If you are interested in more detail check out. https://www.railtarget.eu/technologies-and-infrastructure/jean-bertins-aerotrain-the-story-of-a-french-genius-and-his-failure-5840.html

The last leg saw us push hard for a rapid finish only stopping at one point in the shade to have a drink and cool down. We managed a tour of Pithiviers and visited the tourist office for a stamp but sadly didn’t get one of Pithiviers eponymous pies.

The campsite tonight was simple but once again clean and serviceable. It was almost expensive at 30 euros including a concession. The owner seeing Nick said to Monica I’ll only charge for a child for him but don’t tell !

Dinner tonight of various French sausages with potato salad and coleslaw was rapidly devoured before Monica was looking to beat the lads at shed again!

Incredibly the temperature is set to increase again tomorrow as we continue to cross the centre of France. However there is a small chance of storms to end the day.

Day 5

Sablé sur Sarthe – Vibraye

80 miles 2953 ft climbed

We had a couple of unusual incidents today. The first was after lunch when Nick said to me “I see your hitchhiker has finally left , he’s been on your back for the last 5 miles”. Apparently a large bumble bee had sat just behind my shoulder for sometime without me noticing. Above, just a bit later this grasshopper joined Nick on his bike but didn’t hang around for that long.

The other Nickism first, was chasing clouds. Now you may ask how can cyclists chase clouds? As we had a following breeze we found on one stretch that we remained in cloud with a sunny patch constantly 200 metres ahead. Nick loves chasing so was determined to get into the sun. We had been running at around 20 mph and to get into the sun we had to increase our pace to 24 mph. Sadly just after we got back into the sun we entered a village so dropped back into the shadow meaning an acceleration to return to sun. A final uphill stretch again dropped us into shade before the downhill helped us return to sunshine! A good game toward the end of the day.

The day started bright but cooler as we got away as usual at 8 ish and entered the busy town of Sablé sur Sarthe crossing the river on our way to our first stop at Le Mans.

Thankfully the traffic calmed down as we got away from the town before getting to the very pretty village of Asnières sur Vègre where we were able to get over the ancient pack bridge and look into the waters below.

This morning was cooler and became overcast although any threat of rain did not arrive. We stayed on the road for most of the morning and kept switching back and forth over the TGV line so saw a few speeding by.

Making good time I popped into the Patisserie in Arnage before our coffee stop outside the Le Mans museum. The boys then went for a visit which included a McLaren exhibition as well as the Le Mans sports cars. The F1 McLaren is so big and ugly, no wonder they can’t overtake.

Nigel did not then take much persuading to join Nick and myself in having a cycle round a lap of the Le Mans circuit as near as we could. I have been to the 24 heures many times since my first visit in 1982 and was there only a week ago for the latest edition so it was a special ride for us all.

A lap of Le Mans is over 8 miles and includes the 3 mile Mulsanne straight As the race had only been a week ago they had yet to put up all the no go areas and on our bikes we were able to take one of the Mulsanne chicanes as well as the Indianapolis and Arnage corners properly. We took rather longer than the 3min 29 seconds the cars took last week but enjoyed the spin round.

Getting back to Broomey with Nigel still intact we then had lunch. There was just under 50 miles to go so one more stop would be fine.

We left the circuit and headed into Le Mans city centre. The roads were busy and tramways made navigation difficult so we decided to leave before a proper explore. Leaving the city we shortly hit the Abbaye Royale de l’epau which was closed but then had our only off road section of the day through its nearby forest. It was here we saw a black squirrel run across in front of us.

The final stop was a brief ice cream and water top up with only 10 miles to go as we had made good time chasing clouds during this leg.

After a reasonable hill we then had a lovely two mile downhill stretch into our overnight stop at Vibraye. This town was on the route of the very first Grand Prix de France in 1906. They even had to construct a wooden road around the town as they did not want cars going down the Main Street.

The campsite tonight was again a small municipal site run by the council, but still had a pool, crazy golf and access to sports facilities. When paying, Nigel was convinced they had undercharged us so questioned the bill. He was told no that’s correct. €13.88. ( that less than £12 or £3 a head) Unbelievable value.

Nigel was concerned the solar panels were not efficient and needed a clean so we gave him a leg up so he could get to work on the roof of Broomey!

All going well, a hotter day is promised again tomorrow.

Until then. Good night.

Breaking- Monica was declared the Shed winner of the evening!

Day Four

Guipry to Sablé sur Sarthe

84 miles 3634 ft climbed

Nick & I had just stopped next to a horse racing track which was filling up with spectators when Nigel let us know that we needed to get to our lunch stop by 13.00 at the latest as the roads we were due to ride were being closed for a bike race. We easily got there in time and tucked into our lunch, ready to have a longer than usual break.

Having chatted to the locals we established that there were initially two youth races over 5 and 7 laps on the 7km circuit before an adult race afterwards. We watched the youth races but Nick was keen to have a go as he felt some of the competition looked a bit old and grizzled. Unfortunately when asked for his UCI accreditation Nick was only able to provide his NBJTours stamped passport and they refused to let him play.

They wouldn’t let us ride against the race so we had to add a few kilometres to join our route by following the circuit round for about two thirds of the lap. As we peeled off the course the marshals seeing such fit and athletic cyclists mistook us for the leaders in the main race and told us that the lap continued to the right. We had to explain that we were cycling to Luxembourg so Nick was pretty made up anyway and got over not being able to race. ( Note : some of this may not be entirely true!)

As Gill was leaving us today she was up pronto to pack her motorcycle to get back to Caen and the ferry home. Pretty amazing considering that it’s her first trip abroad on a motorcycle at 76 years young!

As usual we left at 8 ish with the route almost a constant heading eastwards. Today’s route unlike that of the previous days was mainly on the road apart from a couple of short stretches on old railway lines.

The first town we went through at Bain de Bretagne had not woken up so we sped through. After the first of many straight roads where Nick pulled me along we wanted to continue straight on but the signs showed the road was closed.

Luckily there was a house by the junction and the lady of the house was having her morning coffee on the front patio, so I asked if the road was passable on a bike. She told me it was closed for bikes as well as cars so we’d have to go round. Pressing her on whether the road was fully accessible she accepted that it was but there may be police at the other end. We said we’d take that risk and we able to ride on a pristine newly tarmacadamed traffic free road for the full 4 km to the next village. Nick was sure it had been done especially for us!

En route we ended up being stopped on the road for a motorcycle rally – there must have been at least 200 bikes. Almost at the same time Nigel & Monica in Broomey also had to stop for a bike race.

We continued on to our coffee and croissant stop but firstly called into the attractive town of Martigné-Ferchaud whose large church we saw from several miles away.

Riding past a boulangerie the smell proved too much so knowing it wasn’t far to coffee I popped in to get some local specialities from this award winning baker.

As we left Martigné-Ferchaud I noticed another cyclist appear behind us and warned Nick ahead. Little did I realise that it was Nigel who’d come to find us and lead us onto the coffee stop which was in the middle of the local keep fit running route judging by the number of runners we saw.

After this we had a short stretch of railway which was varied gravel but made a change from tearing along the almost empty roads. The temperature had eased and was much cooler than yesterday. We stopped at this old station where the once garden flowers had gone wild and were frequented by many butterflies.

After riding through a very disappointing Craon we had our fun at lunch watching the cycle race at Pommerieux. How many UK villages could do this we wondered. No doubt the mayor is a cycling fan.

The next town we rode through Chateau Gontier was most remarkable for being where we watched Spurs lose the 2019 European Cup final on a previous tour- sorry Chris.

The roads from now on were excellent and we were able to power along mostly with a cross tail wind at 30-35kph but still managed a quick drink stop as we continued to get through our water at a rapid rate.

We had to do a little main road but were able to hop off and go through a couple of small villages no bigger than Hadlow but having churches big enough to be in a city.

We reached the campsite not long after 5 and were able to enjoy a quick swim before our salmon and coleslaw dinner. The campsite next to the river was excellent and once again was very reasonable 28 euros for the night.

I’ve been able to return to writing the blog in the comfort of the camper as Monica has been introduced into Nick Cabrera’s version of Shed on the new card table. Where are you Chris?

The weather remains dry and warm, rather than hot. Tomorrow we will try to cycle a lap of the Le Mans 24 hour race track. Tune in to see how we get on.

Day Three

St Nicholas des Eaux to Guipry

85 miles 2123 ft climbed

Today was again expected to be hot, very hot. However as we left the campsite the sky grew dark and the weather apps predicted 90 minutes of rain, some of it very hard. Nick for once being cautious put on his rain jacket. Whilst the sky remained overcast and we could see some rain, we got away with four drops so Nick was able to pack his mack away.

The clouds cleared by midday and the temperature began to rise. Nick reckoned it was even hotter than yesterday and his Garmin did register 41.6 degrees whilst we were actually cycling along. Certainly you could feel the heat ( that felt like opening an oven door) coming off the wheat fields whenever we broke free of any tree cover. We did stop every 10 miles or so to rest and drink.

The first part of the route ran along the towpath of the river Blavet which we followed up from our campsite as far as Pontivy. Much of Pontivy was cordoned off for a celebration later in the day but as usual there was no one around although it was already 9 on Saturday morning.

After Pontivy we left the river and had a ten mile blast over to the next river valley the Oust at Rohan. Having been shouted on by some locals as we went through Rohan we then joined the next towpath alongside this river.

The coffee and croissant stop was a few miles along this towpath

A fairly swift coffee stop was had – the camper crew having made the compulsory Lidl visit to replenish supplies.

Returning to the towpath we encountered a large family group which we had to negotiate before passing through. The towpath took us into the attractive town of Josselin. Here we took a detour into the town. Luckily it was market day and in addition to getting our passports stamped I managed to buy some fresh strawberries which only lasted until lunchtime.

By now the temperature was beginning to rise. Leaving Josselin we came across a mobilette rally. It takes all sorts!

We continued alongside the river for several miles before switching from river cycling to railway greenway cycling

After we left Ploermel we found Nigel on his bike ready to show us the way to our lunch stop. Sadly we don’t have photographic evidence but I can confirm that he cycled 5 miles out to meet us and the five miles back.

Our final leg was easily the hottest but luckily we were mostly on the railway in mottled shade with only a few sections in full sunshine.

A brief detour to this watermill ( of the white ass) surprised us as it was fully open but was not vandalised in any way. cycling along these greenways has been great. The only annoyance being that we have had to cross roads every now and again. We reckon that of around 60 crossings we only had to stop twice for traffic so we ( usually Nick ) just said usual to indicate it was good to go.

Our final stop before a short ride to our campsite was to the Manoir de l’automobile at Loheac which is also the biggest Rallycross circuit in France and has good links with Nigel’s local circuit at Lydden.

We had a quick walk round the huge museum which not only had a mix of competition cars but also an eclectic mix of wagons and other memorabilia. Leaving the museum was a brief 5 mile ride to our campsite.

Nick has been saying that we have not seen much wildlife. Perhaps it’s true that the wild beasts are more sensible than the mad English cyclists in this hot weather.

Having said that we did see a magnificent pine marten yesterday and we have been constantly harassed by chiffchaffs and chaffinches as well as some close calls with buzzards flying under the trees. The dry weather has also encouraged many butterflies some of whom we’ve had close encounter.

Cheeky chaffinch under our table.

Dinner tonight was Spaghetti Bol. Nigel was good enough to clean our bikes ( Thank you Nigel, beyond the call of duty) and once again I am writing this outside. Storms are possible again tomorrow and Gill has decided to leave the crew to attend to crisis at home.

Slightly weary signing off for the night.

Day Two

Douarenenez to St Nicholas des Eaux

86 miles

5249 ft climbed.

We’ve been doing these cycle tours for 18 years now across France and to southern Spain and Portugal and had some hot and dry days But today felt the hottest and muggiest day ever with the temperature hitting 38 degrees, whilst we were moving. Nick claims that at one point he saw his Garmin register 45.8 degrees C! To give you an idea I have drunk over 5 litres of fluid and have yet to need to go to the loo! When we called into one of the town halls to get our passports stamped the lady behind the counter just laughed at these mad Englishmen cycling on such a hot day.

To try to minimise the heat we left the campsite ahead of time before 8am and rode across the estuary into a very sleepy town Nothing was open and no one was about.

Leaving the town Nick and I joined the first of two long greenways. Whilst the surface was unmade up gravel for the most part there were no potholes and we didn’t need to shout out once all day to check the road surface. The greenways have the added benefit that they are usually flanked by trees and today that kept the sun off our backs.

This greenway took us almost to the largest local town Quimper, but before Quimper we had a bit of small road which was as smooth as a freshly resurfaced Brands Hatch.

We got into Quimper just after 9 am and even though it’s a big town it was empty. The tourist office had yet to open, but we took advantage of being in town and stopped for coffee and croissants.

We had arranged to meet Nigel and the rest of the team for lunch after another long stint on a greenway which took us through to Rosporden where we were able to get our passports stamped.

It was now that we had a couple of brief but sharp warm showers which were welcome but made our legs and bikes very dirty . Nigel disappointingly has for once refused to clean them!

Nigel and Monica followed by Gill on her motorcycle had as usual done the Lidl shop and then found a deluxe lunch stop by a village church. The camper’s awning came in super useful as a heavy but only ten minute rain shower could have interrupted proceedings.

Unlike our greenway filled morning this afternoon was exclusively on small country roads. As we left lunch our first town was the very pretty Le Faouet, which had the biggest covered market I’ve seen.

The route was very up and down and designed to occasionally run through very pretty river valleys- the prettiest who was the river Scorff where we had decided to slot in an addition stop to top up the water bottles and cool down a bit in the shade as the heat was by now reaching its height.

We even had a quick stop in a chapel St Anne des Bois to cool down.

The last leg to the campsite remained tough being up and down in the relentless heat. The final highlight was the view over the river meander right next to our campsite at St Nicholas des Eaux

Getting to the campsite enjoying a cool beer and a swim before a bit of stretching and a healthy chicken casserole with plenty of veggies was certainly the right way to finish the day.

I am sitting outside at half past ten writing this blog as it’s too hot in the camper as the temperature is still 27.5 degrees. Please note Nick did provide that figure.

As the Fast Show said Tomorrow has promised to be Scorcio We have once again planned a three stop day to ensure we keep our water topped up.

Wish us luck.