Paul & Richard do France E2E

Old knees to the Pyreness: Stats Summary Totals for Nord au Sud Charity Cycling Challenge end-to-end across France Distance:              1120 miles (includes 135 UK miles from Farnham to Dover) Climb:                  24,723  feet (like cycling up Liankang Kangri in the Himalayas) Moving time:      84 hrs Technicals: Punctures (Richard 1, Paul 2), electronic gear changing issues (Richard), jumping chain (Paul), broken derailleur (Paul), detached back spoke (Richard), and both now need new cleats! Relive each stage of our 12-day cycling challenge in our daily blog posts . Each an entertaining read and gives a taster of just how tough the tour was. A reminder of why we did this Phyllis Tuckwell Hospice Care   provides  F REE services and support to ensure patients and families living with an advanced or terminal illn ess  can make the most of their lives...

STAGE 10 (Day 12):  Agde to Cerbère Le Fin: Old knees to the Pyrenees Distance:      109 miles Climb:           3287 feet   Today's profile presents 88 miles of mainly flat terrain along the sparkling blue Mediterranean coast with a wall-to-wall sunny forcast set to hit 28°.  HOWEVER, after a daily climb average of 980 feet over the last week, the final push to the Spanish border presents us with around 2700 feet to cover in the remaining 18 miles! FUN FACT:  Cerbère is the last French village before reaching Spain. It's best known as an ‘international’ border railway station, on the line between Perpignan (twinned with Lancaster) and Barcelona (twinned with Dublin). Since France and Spain use different rail gauges, the border stations of Cerbère and Portbou are busy with various transfer or gauge adjustment operations. They did it! Totally exhausted after a VERY long day's cycling, we're chuffed to report that w...

STAGE 9 (Day 11):  Avignon to  Agde Mind the mosquitoes Distance:      111 miles Climb:           732 feet   Our penultimate ride takes us via Roman and Medieval villages, across the Camargue and along the Mediterranean coast to Agde. One of the oldest towns in France, Agde is a Mediterranean port on the Canal du Midi situated on an ancient basalt volcano. FUN FACT:  Famous for flamingos, horses and cattle, the Camargue is one of western Europe's largest river deltas: a vast plain comprising large brine lagoons ( étangs ), cut off from the sea by sandbars and encircled by reed-covered marshes. Approximately a third of the Camargue is either lakes or marshland. The central area around the shoreline of the Étang de Vaccarès has been protected as a regional park since 1927, recognising its great importance as a haven for wild birds.  DAILY DEBRIEF: Every life should have a little deviation You left us at the end of ...

STAGE 8 (Day 10):  Tournon-sur-Rhône to Avignon Sur le pont d'Avignon Distance:      108 miles Climb:           1060 feet     Another 100 miles ahead of us as we make a beeline for the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Avignon via Montélimar. Twinned with Rhondda Cynon Taf in south-east Wales, Montélimar is the gateway to Provence, heralding the first lavender fields and is famously the nougat capital. Avignon, like its Essex twin of Colchester, is steeped in Roman history. Yet Avignon can trace its roots even further back in time to the Greeks. FUN FACT: "Sur le pont d'Avignon" is a traditional 15th-century French folk song about a dance performed on the Pont d'Avignon (officially Pont Saint-Bénézet). The dance actually took place under the bridge and not on it ( sous le Pont d'Avignon, not sur ). Daily debrief: Pont to Pont What better way to follow two, one-hundred mile, rides than with another one? After a ...

STAGE 7 (Day 9):  Creches-sur-Saône to Tournon-sur-Rhône Cycling the  Saône then riding  the  Rhône Distance:      106 miles Climb:           755 feet   Lyon, the third largest city in France, marks today's halfway point and where two rivers meet: the Saône and the Rhône.  But none of the bright lights of Lyon for us. We’re heading for Tournon-sur-Rhône: a pretty petit riverside village with a castle, a church and a port. FUN FACT:  Lyon is home to Guignol, France's most famous puppet character. Created by puppeteer Laurent Mourguet of Lyons in the early 19th century, the hand puppet was supposedly named after a Lyonnais silk worker. Guignol performed with regional dialect and mannerisms, dressed in traditional peasant garb. Perpetually surprised, he was easily duped but quick to extricate himself and his drinking companions from trouble. Though sometimes approximating a Lyonnais version ...

REST DAY 2:  Creches-sur-Saône Totals so far Distance:              685 miles Climb:                 18,886  feet   Moving time:     52.5 hrs The rain continued through the night, and we awoke to further downpours of epic proportions. As positive as ever, Richard remarked that this was perfect for our rest day as neither could imagine cycling through the resultant torrents flooding the gritty canal paths. Paul and Jacqui spent much of the morning battling mud and helping free other wheelspinning campervanners bogged down in the mire (they knew those tracks would come in handy one day). Richard and Teresa abandoned their tent on stilts, taking refuge in the onsite café. By midday, the rain eased enough for the support crew to don their hiking shoes and, excited to be free of their driving duties, headed for the nearest supermarché to stock up on as many supplies as t...

STAGE 6 (Day 8):  Lamarche-sur-Saône to Creches-sur-Saône Sidling along the  Saône Distance:      101 miles Climb:           538 feet   The first of five consecutive +100-miler rides, but the profile is one that every cyclist loves: downhill all the way to our endpoint just south of Mâcon...headwind willing. FUN FACT:  Mâcon gave its name to local vineyards and wine appellation, and is twinned with two Cheshire towns: Crewe and Nantwich. DAILY DEBRIEF: Toxic Catfish and Soggy Bottoms Before we discuss today’s ride, we need to talk about last night (minds out of the gutter please). Unlike our LEJOG ride two years ago, we don’t have any scheduled meet-ups and stops with friends along the way. This time encounters are unscheduled and, to date, fewer: but last night’s was the nec plus ultra . Richard and Teresa’s hosts, Franck and Stefanie, offered the four of us a reasonably priced home-cooked dinner. So with Jacqu...

STAGE 5 (Day 7):  Chaumont to  Lamarche-sur-Saône A day of two halves Distance:      80 miles Climb:           2270 feet     The first half of today's challenge is uphill, the second half downhill. Still following the Champagne-Burgundy Canal we part company with the waterway as it disappears into the three-mile tunnel, leaving us to take the higher ground and cross from one wine region into another. FUN FACT:  The high point is Langres at an altitude of 500m on top of the rocky spur of a plateau where several rivers originate: the Seine, the Aube, the Meuse and the Marne. Reknown for his catchphrase "it's all downhill from here" means  – for the first time  – Pa ul is factually correct from that point onwards...but he hadn't factored in a strong headwind! DAILY DEBRIEF:   If you can have a hump day with even numbers, this was it. After having schlepped up and down the hill, Paul and Richard set of...

STAGE 4 (Day 6): Châlons-en-Champagne to  Chaumont Distance:      91 miles Climb:          525  feet     The profile of today's 92 miles is a gentle but consistent uphill gradient alongside a canal, climbing just 1100ft. We skirt the town of Saint-Dizier, which is five miles from Western Europe's largest man-made lake, Lake Der-Chantecoq.   FUN FACT: The Champagne-Burgundy Canal is 140 miles long, consists of 114 locks and 2 tunnels - one of which is nearly 3 miles long. Chaumont is twinned with the Lancashire market town of Ashton-under-Lyne, in the foothills of the Pennines, six miles east of Manchester. DAILY DEBRIEF:  A tale of two veloroutes It was the best of routes, it was the worst of routes – is perhaps how Charles Dickens might have begun today’s blog. As he is no longer around, we’ve done that instead. Although today was not the halfway mark in France it was, by the end, half the number of rid...