The end

Well back on the UK, waiting for the first train home from Portsmouth and David is back with his family. 

The final total is 673 km (420 miles) and 5,280 m ascent. Had a long wait for the ferry last night as it didn’t sail until 11 PM and it was late leaving but on time reaching Portsmouth. 

Great ride (apart from sore posterior), good food, no wine and just a single beer in the evenings, lovely weather although not suny every day (thank goodness last Sunday was ☀️ ☀️ ☀️ all day), trails were most good just the odd busy road and horrendous hills and finally really great company👍👌. Thanks David for all the organisation. 

400 miles

Just clocked up another 23 km this morning which takes the total to 640 or 400 miles.  Going past the British and Canadian D-Day beaches at the moment. 

Just on my way to Ouistreham for the ferry home tonight, but first the Pegasus Bridge as the last stop 

Chris

Long days and lots of hills

Hi all. 

Day 7, 92 km and 780 m ascent, ending Vire. 

Day 8, 88 km and 1060 m of ascent ending at Bayeux. 

Today we are having a break. We were going to cycle some of the D-Day beaches and memorials, but quite frankly the legs need a rest so we have booked a tour. 

Day 7 started with what we hoped would be a quick ride before breakfast to see Mont St-Michel. After getting to the coast from our stop at Ducey it became obvious that a heavy sea mist was not going to allow us. So it was an 18 km ride to see a field of cows and beyond which was a grey blanket of mist. 

After that a good breakfast and in the saddle for another 70+ km.  Fortunately is was on old railway greenways for most of it. But, it still required a lot of up hill and one particularly long and vicious one between two different greenways through a town. 

Day 8 (yesterday) we had been lulled into a false sense to doing another greenway. However, if finished after only 15 km and we were on small country roads which are nice and quiet and lovely riding but go up and down all the time with very little flat riding. 

We came across our first war cemetery in the afternoon. We stopped and looked on the 300/400 graves of British soldiers. When you do you appreciate what a waste of life it was, but given the circumstances of the times how else was it going to be changed!!

We have now cycled 617 km (385 miles) and 5030 m of ascent. 

Mont St-Michel in the morning

Is of course dependent on us waking up in time to fit it in. 

Day 5 & 6

We did not have a good WiFi or mobile signal yesterday. So no update for yesterday. 

We did another 20 k’s on the the old railway track and then 60 of up and down hills. Unfortunately the downs are over so soon you have not recovered for the next up☹️

We finished in Bagnoles-de-l’Orne. It’s like going back in time to a 70’s Spa resort.  But we did have a really good meal, probably the best of the trip so far. Although tonight’s salad and pizza was not bad either. 

Today (Wednesday) was a bit of a reverse of yesterday. 20 k’s of up and down then another old rail track for the rest of the way.   The legs are starting to feel the mileage now, 437 km (280 miles). We are both tired tonight. 

Tomorrow we are doing a short dash to see the Mont St-Michel early in the morning and come back to the hotel for breakfast as we are going back the way we came today for a bit before heading north for the Normandy beaches in 2 days. 

Photos!

Diss-used railways

We had a 74 km ride today. Fortunately 40 km was on an old rail line that had been turned into a green path way. That avoided the ups an downs for most of the day that you get through agricultural land. So on the old rail track the worse we had was about a 2 degree up hill slope.  But, you can still tell the difference after 5 hours of riding when you hit one of these “little” slopes. 

It was also much cooler today, cloudy and an odd drop of rain but never enough to wet us. The wind was still there but we had sufficient trees lining the path that acted as a wind break. 

So we arrived at our destination hotel at 5 PM. The earliest we have made it so far, only to find it closed until 6.  Fortunately some of the shops were open and we could get a drink and nibbles. 

The Art of Slipstreaming

Today was one of headwinds through the late morning and afternoon.  You know this when you have covered 20 km in the first hour and then it drops to more like 12 km/h.  

It’s really helpful when your riding buddy has already done 600 km along the Loire for charity followed by Mont Ventoux two days later and is basically fitter than you. That’s when he takes the lead and you slot into his 6 o’clock between 6 and 12 inches from his back wheel to your front. It is surprising how much differences it makes to the pedal power you have to apply to keep going at his speed.   If you lose his back wheel it difficult to get back to him. 

It also doesn’t help when the temperature gets into the mid 30’s and you are breathing hot air.  But, all in all not a bad day, nice country side, sometimes you don’t see another car in either direction for 10 to 15 minutes Nd the route signage is pretty good. 

85 km today and 480 m of ascent although a lot was rolling farm land heading into Normandy. 

Château du Maintenon

Saturday 11th

Left Versailles around 10am and greeted by some nice up hills followed by a few more!
Arrived at the hotel around 5:30pm. 74kms today.

Friday 10th

Met up at Notre Dame at 3:30pm and made our way out of Paris initially on the main roads heading south passed Gare Montparnasse and then on cycle paths through parks away from the roads. We reached Versailles just after 7pm.

David is the Blog Master

Seems like David is putting all the info on the Blog  at the moment. I am quite happy to save my fingers and let him. Yesterday ended up a good but tiring day given it started at 5 AM and long queues getting on to the Eurostar in London, 5 French immigration staff when all the trains are full!!!!!

Strava Route : Notre Dame -Versailles

Sent from my iPhone

Made it to the start!

Sent from my iPhone

Links to the routes and maps:

Paris - Mont St Michel - Veloscenic

https://www.veloscenic.com/

Mont St Michel - D-Day Beaches (Omaha & Gold)

http://en.normandie-tourisme.fr/sport-and-activities/cycling/normandy-cycle-routes/historical-route-427-2.html

I am meeting David in Paris tomorrow afternoon about 15:00 (CET) outside the Notre Dame cathedral. At Point zero des routes de France, you can find it on Google Maps.

Hi all

David is setting up the Blog again and this is a quick post to test it from me.

Chris