DAY 5 - Moulins Sud to Chateauneuf les Bains

Moulins Sud to Chateauneuf les Bains.
57 miles, 11.9 mph average, 1080 m climb, 3000 kcal used

Well it tipped down overnight, so it is just as well this ended up being a night in a hotel - though we hope you aren't envisaging us lying in luxury, as this F1 place is at the budget end of budget! 

Trust me, the entrance is the fanciest bit of this place!

We left the motel at 9 and hopped through the puddles straight into the nearby Boulangerie / Epicerie for boutiques supplies, then off. The route started off on quiet roads across the Allier flood plains past fields of ready to harvest maize, dotted with giant irrigation structures that made us feel tiny. We crossed the river and had our first climb of the day, short and sharp up to Chantel de Neuvre where we were afforded an excellent view from the church. 

Action shot - blogging support will be asking stiff
questions about risk assessments!

Carrying on along the ridge for a while, we continued to have good views until plunging back down to the river again. A closed bridge forced a diversion along a promising-looking cycle route, but the sting in the tale was a short, brutal 15% climb (think Hovis add), before descending to St Pourcain. Climbing again, we set out across an agricultural, rolling landscape. We stopped at a great spot; a shelter with seat and view across to the Chateau at Chareil Cintrat (this was more of a fortified enclosure). 

A shelter, a seat, somewhere to lean the bike and a view -
what more could cyclists ask for?!

We consumed a large part of the food we had procured earlier, steeply up and down to Chantelle before Jeremy realised he had left his iPad behind. Dumping bags he headed off on a 12 mile successful retrieval sprint. Moving on we passed on to to Bellenaves for our first major climb of the trip, brutal at first before more gently rising to 622 m. Then steep up and down until a final spectacular decent into the 'gorgeous' Gorge de la Sioule. Spectacular scenery with, at one point, a view enlivened with ducking and weaving ?martins. Passing the old bridge at Pont de Menat we ended up at our second Chateauneuf of the trip (this one les bains) at about 6 pm. 

The hobbits followed Strider to Weathertop

Pont de Menat - we didn't cross it, so no need to brave
the cobbles on a bike.

Campsite was quiet with no proprietor in site so we pitched tents and headed into the village. Enquiring of some locals we found all the eating places are closed on Thursday afternoons, so back to the tents to cook our emergency meal!

Very cold night followed - 6 degrees - so we're lying in our tents wearing all our clothes.

Best bits

Rowan - view over the Allier from the church viewpoint
John - watching the ?Martins dog-fighting over the Gorge de la Sioule
Roy - getting to the top of the first big climb
Jeremy - finding my iPad still there (following closely on from worst bit - leaving iPad behind at lunch spot and having to cycle back 6 miles to retrieve it)

Worst joke
Gorgeous cycling! (When cycling along the gorge......)

DAY 4 - Sancerre to Moulins Sud

Sancerre to Moulins Sud

73.9 miles, 736 m climbed, average speed 12.9 mph, 3492 kcal used
Weather: initially warm and muggy with some sunshine, cooling with low cloud and occasional, locally heavy rain.

We broke camp in good time after a very hot, suffocating night which we all spent on top of our sleeping bags. As we were finishing off, a chap (Steve) came over to talk to Roy and John; a South African who lived in New Zealand, but who also spent time in Jersey, he had seen a press article about Roy and the ride! Small world indeed...

We headed out just after 9 am into the town for food, a quest that takes up much of our non-cycling time. Boulangerie was found quickly and we loaded up with goodies, and had some absolutely delicious almond croissants for breakfast, but we had to go half way to Sancerre to find the rest of our food. 

We eventually headed out at 10 am and made good progress on a much cooler day than yesterday. The route ran parallel to the Canal lateral a la Loire, which we had followed for some of yesterday too, although we only saw it occasionally. Some seriously big boats (pleasure cruisers rather than the traditional Canal boats we are used to) use it and we came across one lock which one of the monsters appeared to have wedged in. We only rarely saw the Loire itself, and in fact caught our last glance in Marseilles-les-Aubigny. Up and down was the order of the day, more so in the afternoon.

Big boats on the canal

We had lunch in Cuffy where we saw our first 'proper' castle as a ruin, but some of the chateaux we passed were very nice; none particularly ostentatious. One very attractive one appeared deserted, so maybe we should come back and do a Dick Strawbridge...

An example of one of the chateaux

Goodbye to the Loire

Under increasingly grey sky's and cooler temperatures we now left the Loire and entered the valley of the Allier. We quickly came across the end of the canal at what looked like a giant canal boat roundabout.

Canal boat roundabout?

We now moved away from the river a bit, doing more up and down as the landscape became more hilly. A largely agricultural landscape with scattered farmsteads and villages, as well as a smattering of chateaux. We stopped at one point for a stretch where a tiny lizard decided to try to hitch a ride on John's shoe. 

"I want a go on a bike!" - Lizard catches a ride

Then at some point it began to rain, light at first, then more heavily, stinging sharply on some of the steeper downhills. As we came into La Veurdre (after passing through Chateau sur Allier, where we saw no chateau) it stopped; indeed we noticed the road was dry. We screeched to a halt outside a cafe to find it closed, but fortunately noticed a nearby hotel with its door open. A polite enquiry confirmed that they would supply hot drinks so we piled in for two rounds of hot chocolate and cafe au lait. We got talking to the landlady who turned out to be British and was amazed by our quest. They were all very kind and we would reccommend them to any other passing cyclists ...

Mid afternoon hot drinks - a real tonic

We set out just as it started to rain again and initially put on coats (except John who rightly spotted that it was not going to rain for long). Reinforced by hot drinks we made good progress, stopping in Les Bruyeres to eat the excellent flans we had picked up in the morning, before covering the last 12 miles at a pace. 

John's flan carrying device came in handy again

Between showers on the final stretch to Moulins

Moulins presents an intriguing face when approached across the bridge over the Allier, but to the south, where our hotel is situated, is modern industrial and shopping estate. Hotel is very basic, but will keep us dry. 

Bridge over the Allier with the twin twin spires in Moulins

We feasted on giant pizzas in the nearby shopping centre; all but Roy were defeated by their size, so we have some of tomorrow's lunch already sorted. 

The pizza place had heard that they needed to feed cyclists...

As I write this, the latest deluge is slackening and the forecast for tomorrow is for cool and cloudy with the rain clearing overnight.  


Best bits
For all of the mid-afternoon, post-rain stop at the hotel in Le Veurdre
Additionally, for Roy, was meeting Steve at the campsite in the morning, who had seen a press article about him and ride.

Saying of the day: slowly, slowly catchy monkey!
Apparently it's real!

Random thought of the day:
Why is it (if you are right handed) that a fork feels wrong in the right hand unless you don't have any cutlery in the left (or is that just me?)

DAY 3 - Chateauneuf sur Loire to Sancerre

Chateauneuf sur Loire to Sancerre (next to)
61 miles, 301 m of climb, 2653 kcal, 12.5 mph average speed
Weather: ridiculously hot. I mean, seriously ludicrously hot. We saw a roadside thermometer at 40 deg and John's cycle computer was reading over 36 most of the afternoon.

Today we definitely earned our crust - this was a hard day, and I say that as a seasoned cycle tourer, so please remember to get your sponsorship in! There are links in the sidebar of this page. What made it so hard was the temperature, as alluded to above. Today's ride was challenging, but in theory not as hard as yesterday's; shorter and less climbing. But we found ourselves really struggling at about 50 miles and had to stop and rest for a while to recuperate - as well as eat and drink almost all of our remaining supplies. Anyway, it worked, we made the last 10 miles, albeit a bit later that we would have liked. But we arrived unusually exhausted and frazzled.

The day started with a brew of porridge before packing up and then off into town to pick up supplies for the day. We had identified potential shops on the previous night's walk and were disappointed that the artesan boulangerie we had identified were on holiday, but pleased to find another open just down the road. Again, great quiches and apple tarts (the latter were a lifesaver at our emergency stop at 50 miles). Fruit veg and cheese were also stowed and we rolled away to follow the Loire for the day not long after 10 am.

Much of the day we spent following our pre-planned route intermixed with opportune sections of the EV6 cycle route.

Opportune section of EV6, (or so I'm told)

The problem we had with the latter (a problem that stopped us using it throughout the day) is a common problem with cycle routes; the surface is often gravelly which is not good for touring cycling with our heavy loads and tyres thinner than the typical mountain bike. So we chose selectively, mostly with good outcomes. On one occasion we did have to turn round as the cycle route set off as an undulating dirt track through a small wood! Much of the day was spent on roads and tracks running along either the bank or levee of the Loire. A broad river with a lazy flow and tree topped islands to begin with, it gradually narrowed and flowed with more purpose as we went through the day. We went past two nuclear power plants, numerous chateaus and many picturesque villages on the way. We initially found that our tendency to follow roads that directly lined up with the sun had been inherited from the previous day.

The Chateau at Gien - great for lovers of pointy bits in architecture

The Chateaus at Sully and Gien were definite highlights; the latter seen across the river, the former in fully moated glory (the colour of the water suggests the moat might be a biohazard as well as a water one). It was also at Sully that we finally tracked down a bike shop for Roy to get some new brake blocks; he will be needing them soon!

The team posing by the moat at Sully Chateau

We made a minor diversion away from the river to go past a small village chateau and take in the river views from further away. On the way down from this we picked up a delightful stretch of the EV6; quiet, well surfaced and shady, it cut through the green fields for a few miles of cooler progress.
A definite exemplar of a good cycle track, It brought us out next to the Pont Canal de Briare, a spectacular cast iron canal aqueduct that goes over the Loire. Well worth the diversion.

That bridge is really an enormous aqueduct!

Detail from the end plinth of the aqueduct - llama-monster ship?

We again found a sheltered spot with benches for lunch; this time next to the flower-fringed village pond at St Gondon. A measuring pole with all of the worst floods makes showed that all of us would have been under water in June 1856.

Possibly the nicest lunch stop so far, lovely view - even had benches.

Proof stop would have been less lovely (and a lot wetter) in 1856

Spot the nuclear plant cooling tower in the background!

As reported above, the build up of heat during the afternoon (John recorded the maximum temp of 36.3 at around 4 pm) turned it into a bit of an ordeal and we were all very pleased to arrive at a very nice camp site in St Satur next to Sancerre. Running a bit late, we only just managed to get to the nearest restaurant in time, but were then able to have a delicious and sizeable (hooray) meal washed down with the local speciality drink (?)...

Best moments:
Rowan - spectacular Chateau at Sully
Roy - finding bike shop to get replacement brake blocks (also in Sully).
John - mid afternoon refreshing pomegranate along with 2 ice creams in the mid afternoon heat.
Jeremy - Pont Canal de Briare

Random thought of the day: cycling is very good for having random thoughts.

DAY 2 - L'Ile de Saussey to Chateauneuf sur Loire

Day 2 write up
L'Ile de Saussey to Chateauneuf sur Loire
63.2 miles, 553 m of climb, 13.1 mph average speed, 2942 kcal used
Weather hot, hot & then hotter. Clear skies and max 33 deg.

Early start

We had a welcome and filling breakfast at the hotel and were packed and away just after 9. Pleasant morning, not too hot yet. Having failed to find any shops in the first village we passed through, we hit the jackpot at the second; a boulangerie with many fine things provided us with quiches, croque monsieurs and flan naturals.

John's bike has a handy patisserie holder!

Topped up with fruit from a nearby Aldi (very French!) we were sorted for lunch and headed on along the side of the river Essonne. Some of the villages take pride in their bridges, so we would be greeted by fine vistas framed in flowers each time we crossed the river. As we went further up the valley, we came across an area characterised by enormous boulders scattered across the landscape; some houses were built up against them, whilst farmers had made piles where they had cleared fields. Fenced sections of road looked like vain attempts at corralling the boulders, which were breaking through the flimsy wires. The further we went, the larger they got, with whole hillsides covered. In one area with boulders piled up like giants' rockeries, there was a big visitor centre, so they must be quite a draw.

Some of the strange boulders

In the middle of the bouldery section, we stopped for a mid morning break, pushing our bikes off road into a small clearing amongst heather, firs and boulders; in the increasing heat of the day an aromatic experience. We eventually came out of the valley, beyond the boulders and into a chalk landscape, we were more exposed to the heat for a while and keen to find shade for lunch. Diving off the road into the small village of Estouy, we found a near perfect spot with benches in the shade of trees next to the village church (only missing a cafe and physios).

A bench with shade = happy cyclists

After lunch we headed in to the town of Pithiviers, famous (we later found) for a type of pie named after it and some unfortunate WW2 history. It also has a spectacularly tall and sharp steeple, notably with a 'hole' half way up for the bells. Unusual we thought, but we have now seen a couple more so think it must be a regional style. We finally found an open shop and topped up our depleted water stocks before heading out into the now 33 degree heat. As we were heading into the Foret d'Orleans we thought that we would be getting some shade, but hadn't reckoned with an unfortunate alignment of the road direction with the afternoon sun, which meant we spent most of the time in direct sunshine!

Look at the spire on that!

It was rather beautiful though, going through the densely packed trees, even with the heat. We eventually reached the village of Vitry aux Loges, which I had read on the map as a place by a river, to find that it was actually a place on the (now defunct) canal d'Orleans, now a series of elongated lakes.

Canal d'Orleans lake

After a break for photos and a snack, we headed on into Chateauneuf sur Loire along a road spectacularly lined by trees with rectangular sculpted tops (or Minecraft trees as Rowan calls them), then through the centre to the bank of the Loire river, where we took a short ice cream break before heading over the 200 m bridge and on to our campsite.

The bridge at Chateauneuf sur Loire

Tents up by 6 pm, we then got clean and did the washing before heading into town for a well-earned and lovely Chinese meal, followed by a stroll through the town in the dark to look at the Chateau.

Trees make a handy bike stand at the camp site

Covered market, or very fancy car-park?!

The chateau 

Good day, but we're all very tired and aware that the forecast is for 36 degrees tomorrow...

Favourite moments
John - correction to last night (now that he is awake) - meeting up with Roy outside Notre Dame and the pleasant surprise at seeing Richard there too (I still reckon that it was sleeping)

Rowan - cycling through the Foret d'Orleans
Roy - early morning stop amongst boulders and firs (also finding the first single glove - see Paris to Venice)
John - getting up after a cleat-non-release incident and finding nothing was torn or broken
Jeremy - lunch in the shade

Random thought of the day:
Is gaffer tape the tape you use to tie up your father?

DAY 1 - Paris to L'Ile du Saussay

Day 1 report, Paris to L'Ile du Saussay
Total distance 34 miles, average 10.3 mph
Weather - 30 degrees hot, sunny


You'll remember from the previous bit that when the train was called to board we were very quickly reminded that panniers are not so good to walk with for any significant distance; our reallocated seats had put us in carriage 16 and we topped the ramp next to no 2! Some time later we gratefully flopped into our seats and found that on the plus side, panniers pack very well into the Eurostar luggage racks. The Eurostar service to Paris is very efficient and comfortable, so  that bit passed quickly and we discovered that the advantage of being in carriage 16 is that you don't have so far to walk when you get off. That said, the pickup point for the bikes at the Gare du Nord is in the equivalent of the basement with the broken stairs and lights where Arthur Dent had to go to find the bypass plans ... Fortunately, some of us had been there before and to our great relief the bikes were there. Bit of damage to my saddle, but otherwise all ok. Loaded up and off in no time, Rowan was quickly introduced to the pleasure of cycling in Paris.

Reunited with the beloved bikes

We finally located Roy, our 4th team member (he had cycled from St Malo to Paris over the preceding 3 days) having lunch in one of the cafes at the side of the Seine overlooking Norte Dame; after an agonised debate we eventually decided to join him. Very nice quiche and salad.

The team together for the official start at Notre Dame

So it was that we rolled away from Notre Dame at 2 pm to officially start the ride. The first part was easy, following various cycle routes generally along the north bank of the Seine. Safe but a bit slow with all the start-stop typical of such city centre cycle routes. Eventually we crossed to the south side at a pipe bridge with cycle path hanging off the side, then into a more industrial part of the Paris suburbs. Lots of fresh developments since our ride in 2010 that had used the same starting route. Familiarity with the route often helped the navigation and we made generally good progress, eventually breaking away from the Paris to Venice route to cross the Seine one last time and pass through the town of Evry. It's a strange place, a bit like Milton Keynes with a wide mix of modern architectures (including a rather large and gold painted pagoda structure) and planned streets. It's strangeness was confirmed when we passed people playing cricket in an athletics stadium!

Blog support discovered that this is a Vietnamese Buddhist pagoda complex which was opened by the Dalai Lama 

Finally we were out of the great conurbation and into the rural courtyside, initially along a broad but quiet main roan, then off through the small villages strung out along the sides of the L'Essonne valley, including the villages of Grand and Petit Vert.

Not long after, we had arrived at our destination; a small hotel of modern build with large windows opening out onto a balcony overlooking a small lake. Beautiful setting. But, restaurant closed on Sunday! I mustered up the French to enquire our options and then pass on our request that the receptionist phoned up for a pizza delivery, which she happily did. A quick round of showers and clothes washing just filled in the waiting time perfectly before the food arrived. It did not last long!

view from the balcony

Thank god for pizza delivery!

We have just watched a rather nice sunset over the lake with the crescent moon reflected in the water. John is already asleep, Rowan has been asleep and is now awake again, whilst Roy is writing his journal.

Tomorrow three of us will do our first full day - nearly 100 km as we cross over to the Loire valley and our first camp site.

Forecast: 32 degrees and sunny.

Favourite bits of the day
Ro's - coming down the Rue de Grand Vert and seeing our first chateau in the valley of L"Essonne. Interesting, almost Germanic architecture.
Roy's - evening pizza! Meeting up with the rest of the team at Notre Dame.
John's - falling asleep before I could write this bit!
Jeremy's - view back to Notre Dame as we left

Random thought of the day:
The motto of L'Ecole de Louis Pasteur should be: our school does not believe in a sterile learning environment.

On the way pt2

After a great evening out with the Rushton family and guests for Rowan's 18th, we were up at 6 am to pack and get down to the Eurostar departure lounge. Easy peasy! Slight shock on waking to find a minibar bill > £100 for stuff we haven't used, that aside 😬 all went smoothly. 

Quick check of bags and out the door, down to St Pancras station where we found John enjoying a luxurious breakfast hot chocolate (frothed milk with molten Belgian chocolate poured in). Great way to start the day! At the first barriers we showed our QR codes where we found we had been reallocated seats. Unfortunately Rowan had tried a dodgy gate and his ticked would not then work. Brief queue at the desk and was issued his new ticket, then on to baggage checks and customs. All went very smoothly; despite Ro's hold-up we were through into the waiting area by 7:30 where we duly spread out our many panniers. Realised we could have had that extra 20 mins in bed... 

That change in seats meant we had to walk almost the entire length of the train (18 carriages make up a Eurostar, I can report). We were very quickly reminded that panniers are not so good to walk with for any significant distance. Now sat waiting for the train to depart - Paris here we come. Here's hoping the bikes are there already ....

Luggage trolley? That would make it too easy!

On the way

Early morning ballet before setting off!

Early morning start for us today as we have to cycle to Loughborough to catch the train into St Pancras so we can send the bikes to Paris ahead of us. First time fully laden - bikes feel ok, if (surprise, surprise) a bit heavy. Early morning rain had fortunately cleared over so we had a dry run and arrived at the station with plenty of time to spare (although slightly surprised to be met by blogger support saying "what happened, did you take it easy?"!). A slightly unusual start to an 18th birthday for Rowan!

Off to Loughborough Station en route to London St. Pancras

The route

About the ride

Les Cols 2017

A sponsored cycle from Paris to Lourdes & the Pyrenees via the Massif Central

800 miles and >17,000 m of climb in 14 days, raising money for various charities.

Over the last 13 years we, a group of good friends, have successfully completed some fairly epic 2-week sponsored cycle expeditions, starting in 2004 with a Lands End to John O’Groats ride. Since then we have taken on the mighty Pyrenees (2007), cycled from Paris to Venice (2010) and done a return John O’Groats to Lands End (2014). In the course of these rides we have covered nearly 4000 miles and climbed the equivalent of Everest many times over. All to raise money for charity, and as a group we have raised over £100k.

We do these rides completely under our own steam – deciding routes, organizing travel, accommodation and running our own fundraising. All of the money we raise goes to the charities. These days we also do the rides unsupported (i.e. we carry our own luggage with us and don’t have a support driver).

We have always made the rides a challenge – doing things we know are going to be hard, that we can only just manage. This time is no different. Not only is the route challenging (we are taking in part of the toughest of European cycle routes, the 100 cols), we have also decided to carry our own accommodation, as we will be camping. We will be taking in classic climbs such as the Puy de Dome and the Col d’Aubisque. We hope that by taking a real challenge, we can inspire you to support our charities.