Pedalling for a Purpose

It was a 'Melbourne-like' day today - we started riding in the rain, and ended up riding in full sun, and a very strong headwind to finish. It just didn't have the cold with the wet. David led us out of town and onto the Eurovelo route for the 95 km ride to our next stop, Chalon-Sur-Saone, a town with a population of around 45,000 people. Fun fact - the town is famous for being the birthplace of photography plus, local resident, Nicephore Niepce took the earliest surviving photograph. I knew you'd like that. The rain was constant, however, it was rather refreshing given the heat of 28 degrees Celsius we rode in yesterday. Our American teammate, David, was setting a cracking pace early and it was challenging keeping up with this 72-year-old man! Today was different from our first 3 days of riding. We spent time away from the canals and Doubs river, to explore the many French villages and towns en route. We rode through the town of Damparis - the car drivers were very cou...

Yesterday I had 'issues' with my cantankerous bike which resulted in me emailing the hire company about the much-needed maintenance requirements otherwise, as advised by a bike shop in Montbeliard, the front axle wouldn't last until Saint Nazaire. More on this later in this post.  We wanted to get an early start to Day 2 as we were to travel 90 km to the city of Besancon (pronounced nothing like it spelled). Our host, France (yes, I checked again!), had prepared a wholesome breakfast consisting of bread and cheeses, croissants, pancakes, fruit compote and coffee. We had our fill and left around 8.00am. It was a really picturesque ride out of Montbeliard, through parklands on very good bike paths. The wind was at our back so we made a good distance, averaging around 19 kilometres per hour. It's very flat along the Canal Rhone du Rhin and today we also spent time following along the Doubs River which we'll follow for the next few days. Some two hours after eating a fu...

To minimise costs we've decided to twin-share where possible. David and I were to share a room this first night. To set the scene, David and I are newly-minted friends, meeting a few times on the Eurovelo 15 last year. We checked in and I headed off to the shower with around 30 hours of travel grime to wash off. As I re-entered the main room I saw something that one can't unsee ... David was completing stretches after his journey from Paris. For a guy over 70 years of age, I have to admit that he is very flexible ... I just wish he wasn't doing the exercises in his underwear! It could have been worse ... thankfully he was facing away from me. I'm not sure if the twin share arrangements were getting off to a great start in room number two either. Brett had a shower, dried himself off with a towel, and then proceeded to use the remaining towel to wrap around his waist and trundle back into the main room to get changed.  Cue Col going for his turn in the shower only to fin...

So I'm travelling on this trip with 4 old and new friends. Two old friends read my blog from last year's trip and wanted to know when the next one was ... and so here we are! Col and Brett are ex-RAAF mates.  I've known Brett for around 40 years. I was best man at his wedding with Janine, and I'm Godfather to his daughter, Ashley. We've done many of my hiking and motorcycling trips together over the years. So you could say we're best mates. Imagine my surprise when we breezed through check-in and immigration at Brisbane airport, entered the lounge and found the open bar ... just to him utter friendship-ending words of, "I'm not drinking". We're now sitting in different rows of our flight ... apparently too late to uninvite him! Sitting in different rows ended up being my bad! With haste to welcome my new travelling companion, an older woman heading home to Birmingham, I asked if she'd enjoyed her holiday in Australia. "Can't wait t...

And so, another adventure begins! This time last year, I was around halfway through my solo ride, source to sea, along the Eurovelo 15, from Oberalppass to Hook of Holland. I fly out tonight from Brisbane, Australia, to cycle across France from Mulhouse near the Swiss border to the Atlantic Ocean at Saint-Nazaire. The ride follows the Eurovelo 6, along the Doubs and Loire rivers, exploring the UNESCO World Heritage Loire Valley. The tourist brochures note that the Loire Valley is renowned for its numerous châteaux (castles), charming villages, vineyards, and the Loire River itself. Given that there are over 300 chateaus in the Loire Valley alone, I’m sure I’ll enjoy the first one … and then concentrate more on the many wineries enroute. Similar in distance to my ride last year, the route will be around 1,250 kms (plus an additional couple of hundred exploring towns and villages ... and getting lost!) This year will be a bit different as I’ll be travelling with 4 friends who decided...