Mas des Costes

Thursday 5 October (my birthday, just in case you didn’t know). 0 kms Feeling: Withdrawal symptoms. Why am I not in the saddle? A big THANK YOU to everyone for wishing me well on my birthday. An 853 mile bike…

Day 27, Tuesday 3 October Cassagnas to Mas des Costes, Tornac 62k Feeling: Elated!! I did it. Brief blog – too much going on. Total distance cycled: 1372 kilometres = 853 miles. Arrived to great reception from Liz, Mike, Jane, and…

Day 26, Monday 2 October Sainte-Enimie to Cassagnas via Florac 44k (and about 1000 ft up vertically) Feeling: Good. Last day tomorrow! The challenge was to cycle from our house in Wimbledon to our house in France, which I estimated…

Day 25, Sunday 1 October Buzeins to Sainte-Enimie via Sévérac-le-Château and Les Vignes 58k Feeling: Good. Excellent day’s cycling Before talking about today I want to say a few more words about last night’s B&B,  Entre Dolmens et Fontaines. Hervé & Laurence…

Day 23, Saturday 30 September Entraygues-sur-Truyère to Buzeins 70k Feeling: Cold, wet, and slightly bruised. It rained hard today, turned quite cold, and…….. It had to happen. I parted company with my bike today,  but, luckily at low speed. I…

Day 23, Friday 29 September Figeac to Entraygues-sur-Truyère 64k Feeling: Good! Great day’s cycling. First job – shop for picnic: Doug and I decided at the last minute to take a slightly more northerly route to avoid the steep hill out…

Day 22, Thursday 28 September 0 kms today – day off. Total distance cycled: 1074 kms or 667 miles. About 285 kms (177 miles) to go. Feeling: Good, and looking forward to the last section. Figeac is the final staging…

Day 21, Wednesday 27 September Labastide – Murat to Figeac 47k Feeling: invigorated (apart from my brain) Brilliant ride today across the Quercy plateau, so mainly level, with downhill towards the end. It was an absolutely clear and bright morning…

Day 20, Tuesday 26 September Sarlat-la-Canéda to Labastide-Murat 56k Feeling: Good, after irritating start Luckily I checked ahead with the B&B I’d booked for tonight as it turned out they decided not to open this week and cancelled my reservation.…

Day 19, Monday 25 September Excideuil to Sarlat-la-Canéda 66k Feeling: fine, now I’ve dried out. Short post today as it’s a poor internet connection at our B&B. Just finished an excellent breakfast when a big thunderstorm arrived – lots of lightning,…

Day 18, Sunday 24 September Limoges to Excideuil 72k Feeling: Good but tired. This has been a tough day, but, nevertheless, still good. 72k is quite a long ride in any conditions, but it’s been hot today – around 26…

Day 17. Saturday 23 September 0 kms today – day off. Total cycled: 830k or 516 miles. About 280 miles to go. Feeling: Good, but a little tired. No saddle soreness, but quadriceps certainly know they’ve seen active service. First,…

Day 15, Friday 22 September La Souterraine to Limoges 61k Feeling: much better, and mightily encouraged by so many terrific comments. Keep them coming. Had a good day today. So, I have quite a lot to catch up on. A…

Day 15, Thursday 21 September Argenton-sur-Creuse to La Souterraine 58k Feeling: Exhausted. Tough day today in hot weather. Miscalculated route, timing, lunch stop, water supplies i.e. just about everything. Wonderful countryside but very hilly ride and didn’t reach our destination…

Day 14, Wednesday 20 September Azay-le-Ferron to Argenton-sur-Creuse 60k Feeling: great – just a brilliant day. Dinner at our hotel last night was a comedy act. The waiter hadn’t a clue what he was doing and the food was poor.…

Day 13, Tuesday 19 September Chenonceaux to Azay-le-Ferron 81k Feeling: got a few aches and pains today  – long time in the saddle. Went to Chenonceau station with Liz to see her off on the 08:15 train, and she is…

I am delighted that anyone reads this blog. One or two of you have said how much you like to hear about the food. This post is for you. Dinner at La Roseraie, Chenonceaux. Crème glacée de petits pois à la menthe,…

Day 12, Monday 18 September (Liz’s birthday) Tours to Chenonceaux 35k Feeling: Good. Brilliant day. Today, as well as being Liz’s birthday, is the first changeover day. James arrived in Tours last night and the three of us made the…

Day 11, Sunday 17 September 0k today. 538k total cycled so far. Feeling: chilled Day off the bike. After a false start at our B&B, it has again proved to be another real find. The owner is a painter, and…

Day 10, Saturday 16 September Restigné to Tours 47k Feeling – looking forward to spending two nights in the same place. Uneventful ride along the Loire, passing one enormous chateau after another. Getting rather blasé about all these chateaux. Foggy start…

Day 9 Dampierre-sur-Loire to Restigné 35k Feeling a bit like a tourist. But, this was always planned to be the touristic part of the ride, with the hills coming later. Our hostess at last night’s B&B, in addition to offering us Marguerite’s…

Day 8 Angers to Dampierre-sur-Loire 58k Feeling – a sense of history Our room in our B&B tonight was used by Marguerite, Queen of England by marriage to King Henry VI, and daughter of Rene of Anjou. She was crowned…

[nwm_map id=”1″] This map is updated daily showing the exact location of each night’s stop.

Day 7, Wednesday 13 September Thorigné-d’Anjou to Angers 30k Feeling a bit damp, but in good shape and spirits Our B&B at Thorigné-d’Anjou, Le Rideau Miné, proved to be another real find. Sat in the garden on the banks of…

Day 6, Tuesday 12 September Soudan to Thorigné-d’Anjou 59k Feeling good. Over dinner last night we met two German geologists who gave us the rather disturbing news that, apparently, there’s already evidence of the next glacial period starting. They then…

Day 5, Monday 11 September Rennes to Soudan, 64k. After a hard day in the saddle, battling wind and rain, a little rest and recuperation is in order. No better place to do that than http://www.lamarmoire.com A great place to stay,…

Day 4, Sunday 10 September Quebriac to Rennes 44k (well it is Sunday), feeling good This is what it’s all about. Calm sunny morning. Gliding through the Breton countryside. Morning coffee in a village bar. Buy some cheese and pate…

Day 3, Saturday 9 September St Malo to Quebriac via Dinan 58k. Feeling drier after the deluge. Well it was a pretty rough night in the Channel so we didn’t get much sleep, but felt better after some breakfast in…

Day 2 Dunsfold to Portsmouth via South Downs and Chichester. 77k cycled. Feeling wet. Liz keeps asking me if I’m having fun as we cycle through the hail and torrential rain. Then, we reach Chichester, stop for hot soup, and…

Day 1. Wimbledon to Dunsfold. 65k cycled. Feeling good. Finally, after years of talking and planning, the day has come. Sue next door waved us off, and then it was miles of busy roads in London traffic to get out…

Tornac or bust, via Portsmouth and St Malo

getting ready where is the parrot?