Introduction

This blog describes a cycle ride across France from the Channel to the Mediterannean in September 2018, a trip that had been on the 'list of things to do' for a while. I had lined up an unsuspecting accomplice for the trip, but unfortunately he had to drop out at the last minute due to family illness so I made the journey tout seul.

The route for most of the trip was based on the book 'France en Velo' which describes a route on minor roads from St. Malo to Nice - about 1000 miles.

I reckoned that it would take me about three weeks to get to Nice, so I planned a shorter version that headed south from the Lot valley to hit the Mediterranean much further west at Sète. That was around 700 miles which would take about two weeks. This was the route I followed.

My bike for this trip was a 12 year-old tourer with a titanium frame and a few carbon bits (seat post and forks) as a concession to modernity. To allow for the rider's old age the bike was fitted with an extra-low granny gear - 28-tooth inner chain ring and 32-tooth sprocket - essential equipment for the hills of West Dorset as well as for long distance touring.

For this trip I did invest in some new tyres (Conti Gatorskin) - a proved to be good investment as i didn't have a single puncture.  The combination of new bib shorts (Lusso Carbon) and my trusty old-school Brooks leather saddle seemed to keep me fairly comfotable over a fortnight of cycling. 

I kept a diary during the trip and took lots of photographs, but my IT skills do not extend to compiling this sort of thing on a smartphone, so the blog was prepared later when I had access to a PC with a proper keyboard and screen.