frank9755
Cyclist
- Location
- West London
Manche to Med - Ealing to Montpellier, via Newhaven / Dieppe
I left Ealing after lunch on a Friday afternoon in the middle of May to ride down to Newhaven for the night ferry to Dieppe. The objective was to ride across France to the Mediterranean. With a cunning lightness of planning, I had a general idea of a route, a few pages torn out of a Michelin road atlas and a tent, but no travel or accommodation bookings, or certainty on how many days I would be riding for.
I made the ferry on time but Newhaven-Dieppe is not the ideal overnight journey as there's only four hours of sleeping time and I arrived at 3:30am (only 2:30 UK time). There's not a lot going on in Dieppe at that hour, so I said goodbye to a German cyclist I'd met on the ferry - who preferred to wait for daylight before setting off - and headed south, on mile after mile of deserted roads through silent, sleeping villages.
It was an unusually cold May morning, and was still getting colder. At about 6am, I noticed frost starting to form on the grass by the roadside. A couple of times I had to stop to thaw out my hands and feet, wishing the sun to come up. Eventually it did and the frost, and my limbs, thawed out, the cafes and boulangeries opened, and I was on my way.
Nine days later, I reached the Med at La Grande Motte, near Montpellier.
I had a celebratory splash around in the warm waters, satisfied that I had had a tough but enjoyable ride. At 826 miles in total it was the longest tour in distance that I've done and also the longest in time I've done solo. There were four flat days in Northern France - to the West of Paris and over the Loire at Chambord - followed by five hilly days, in the Massif Central and Causses, and a final short run down to the coast.
Day 7 was the hardest day's cycling I can remember. Inspired by two Belgian cyclists I'd met at a campsite who were doing some mountain routes in the Massif Central, I took to the high roads. Without a detailed, coutoured map, it was hard to predict exactly what I was taking on and I ended up with some good climbs: four signed cols of around 1300m in the morning, in near deserted countryside, and, after lunch, two major descents and climbs where deep river gorges cut across the plateau.
Day 8, through the Causses, was also tough, with some more big climbs right through to the end of the day. However, it led to the visual highlight which was the town of Ste-Enemie. This is set in a deep limestone gorge. I approached it from the top of the gorge, about 1000m up. As the road descends it zig-zags, circling the town, giving a series of breathtaking views. I struggle to remember anywhere more scenic.
Other highlights of the trip were these:
- France itself. I've been there often enough and seen many very pretty towns and villages, but I didn't realise that the whole country was like that. I struggle to remember a single place I went through that didn't have that charming, rustic French beauty, which Britain can match in the best bits, but nowhere near as consistently.
- Other cyclists I met along the way, some who rode with me for a few miles, some who helped me with directions, all of whom were interested in my trip, and in particular one who rode with me for 20 miles and offered me a bed for the night if there had not been a campsite in the next town.
- Valencay - the chateau of my favourite historical character, Talleyrand, who was Napoleon's foreign minister and who was adaptable enough to play a key role in five different regimes before, during and after the Revolution. The chateau keeps fairly short hours in May, so I had to make do with a view through the gates.
- The high meadows of the Massif Central, which are full of wild flowers at this time of year. In particular dandelions and daffodils - countless millions of them, spreading mile after mile.
- French campsites. Almost ubiquitous, clean, cheap and friendly. Some in beautiful locations next to rivers, all with dusk and dawn chorus. This one is at Bruere-Allichamps.
- Easyjet getting my bike back from Montpellier without causing any major damage
There were some inevitable low points too:
- I found campsites in towns where I wanted them to be on every day apart from the third, when I drew four blanks in succession. Two towns had sites which were not yet open, one didn't have a site at all and bridge repairs meant I couldn't even reach the fourth town. This led to me having to cycle an extra couple of hours longer than I would have liked, and pushed me a bit further East. The silver lining was that it took me to Valencay (above).
- I probably overdid it a bit on days seven and eight in the mountains. I remember lying in my tent in Ste-Enemie afterwards and feeling as if I had just played a hard rugby match, with aches pretty much everywhere. Despite eating a lot, I lost almost half a stone in weight on the trip.
- Heading in the wrong direction coming out of Chartres. This was the biggest place I passed through and it's always hard to navigate through cities. There was a strong westerly wind that day which had been across me all day, and I sensed something was wrong when I was leaving the city speeding down a road at almost 30 mph with the wind behind me!
- Saddle sores. These built up on the first couple of days, probably as a result of the overnight ferry without the chance to wash and change, but a trip to a pharmacist, some sign language and a bit of new vocabulary gave me some cream to sort things out and keep the show on the road.
- Too much luggage! When I checked my panniers in at the airport they were almost 19kg. Partly this was because some of my camping gear is a bit old and heavy, but also because I took too much stuff. I don't know when I thought I was going to find time to read four books - it was three and a half too many!
Overall, though, it was a fabulous trip with many great experiences and memories and a real sense of achievement at the end
Route is here
Overnight stops and daily mileage (cumulative)
Day--Miles to date--Spent night
1--74---Newhaven/Dieppe ferry
2--171---Ivry la Bataille
3--245---Bonneval
4--342---Valencay
5--402---Bruere-Allichamps
6--530---Besse
7--605---Chaude-Aigues
8--669---Ste-Enimie
9--740---Anduze
10--804---La Grande Motte
11--826---Home!
I left Ealing after lunch on a Friday afternoon in the middle of May to ride down to Newhaven for the night ferry to Dieppe. The objective was to ride across France to the Mediterranean. With a cunning lightness of planning, I had a general idea of a route, a few pages torn out of a Michelin road atlas and a tent, but no travel or accommodation bookings, or certainty on how many days I would be riding for.
I made the ferry on time but Newhaven-Dieppe is not the ideal overnight journey as there's only four hours of sleeping time and I arrived at 3:30am (only 2:30 UK time). There's not a lot going on in Dieppe at that hour, so I said goodbye to a German cyclist I'd met on the ferry - who preferred to wait for daylight before setting off - and headed south, on mile after mile of deserted roads through silent, sleeping villages.
It was an unusually cold May morning, and was still getting colder. At about 6am, I noticed frost starting to form on the grass by the roadside. A couple of times I had to stop to thaw out my hands and feet, wishing the sun to come up. Eventually it did and the frost, and my limbs, thawed out, the cafes and boulangeries opened, and I was on my way.
Nine days later, I reached the Med at La Grande Motte, near Montpellier.
I had a celebratory splash around in the warm waters, satisfied that I had had a tough but enjoyable ride. At 826 miles in total it was the longest tour in distance that I've done and also the longest in time I've done solo. There were four flat days in Northern France - to the West of Paris and over the Loire at Chambord - followed by five hilly days, in the Massif Central and Causses, and a final short run down to the coast.
Day 7 was the hardest day's cycling I can remember. Inspired by two Belgian cyclists I'd met at a campsite who were doing some mountain routes in the Massif Central, I took to the high roads. Without a detailed, coutoured map, it was hard to predict exactly what I was taking on and I ended up with some good climbs: four signed cols of around 1300m in the morning, in near deserted countryside, and, after lunch, two major descents and climbs where deep river gorges cut across the plateau.
Day 8, through the Causses, was also tough, with some more big climbs right through to the end of the day. However, it led to the visual highlight which was the town of Ste-Enemie. This is set in a deep limestone gorge. I approached it from the top of the gorge, about 1000m up. As the road descends it zig-zags, circling the town, giving a series of breathtaking views. I struggle to remember anywhere more scenic.
Other highlights of the trip were these:
- France itself. I've been there often enough and seen many very pretty towns and villages, but I didn't realise that the whole country was like that. I struggle to remember a single place I went through that didn't have that charming, rustic French beauty, which Britain can match in the best bits, but nowhere near as consistently.
- Other cyclists I met along the way, some who rode with me for a few miles, some who helped me with directions, all of whom were interested in my trip, and in particular one who rode with me for 20 miles and offered me a bed for the night if there had not been a campsite in the next town.
- Valencay - the chateau of my favourite historical character, Talleyrand, who was Napoleon's foreign minister and who was adaptable enough to play a key role in five different regimes before, during and after the Revolution. The chateau keeps fairly short hours in May, so I had to make do with a view through the gates.
- The high meadows of the Massif Central, which are full of wild flowers at this time of year. In particular dandelions and daffodils - countless millions of them, spreading mile after mile.
- French campsites. Almost ubiquitous, clean, cheap and friendly. Some in beautiful locations next to rivers, all with dusk and dawn chorus. This one is at Bruere-Allichamps.
- Easyjet getting my bike back from Montpellier without causing any major damage
There were some inevitable low points too:
- I found campsites in towns where I wanted them to be on every day apart from the third, when I drew four blanks in succession. Two towns had sites which were not yet open, one didn't have a site at all and bridge repairs meant I couldn't even reach the fourth town. This led to me having to cycle an extra couple of hours longer than I would have liked, and pushed me a bit further East. The silver lining was that it took me to Valencay (above).
- I probably overdid it a bit on days seven and eight in the mountains. I remember lying in my tent in Ste-Enemie afterwards and feeling as if I had just played a hard rugby match, with aches pretty much everywhere. Despite eating a lot, I lost almost half a stone in weight on the trip.
- Heading in the wrong direction coming out of Chartres. This was the biggest place I passed through and it's always hard to navigate through cities. There was a strong westerly wind that day which had been across me all day, and I sensed something was wrong when I was leaving the city speeding down a road at almost 30 mph with the wind behind me!
- Saddle sores. These built up on the first couple of days, probably as a result of the overnight ferry without the chance to wash and change, but a trip to a pharmacist, some sign language and a bit of new vocabulary gave me some cream to sort things out and keep the show on the road.
- Too much luggage! When I checked my panniers in at the airport they were almost 19kg. Partly this was because some of my camping gear is a bit old and heavy, but also because I took too much stuff. I don't know when I thought I was going to find time to read four books - it was three and a half too many!
Overall, though, it was a fabulous trip with many great experiences and memories and a real sense of achievement at the end
Route is here
Overnight stops and daily mileage (cumulative)
Day--Miles to date--Spent night
1--74---Newhaven/Dieppe ferry
2--171---Ivry la Bataille
3--245---Bonneval
4--342---Valencay
5--402---Bruere-Allichamps
6--530---Besse
7--605---Chaude-Aigues
8--669---Ste-Enimie
9--740---Anduze
10--804---La Grande Motte
11--826---Home!
