John’s epic French cycle: part 1

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In September John and his friend Andy went on a trip organised by Saddle Skedaddle and cycled all the way from St Malo to Nice – 1030 miles with 61,675 feet of elevation. There were ten in the group, plus two guides who took it in turns to cycle and drive the van with luggage, snacks, and sometimes a picnic lunch. He had a wonderful time and came back with hundreds of photographs from which I’ve selected some highlights. (Click on the galleries to see captions.)

Day 1, Monday 07/09/26: Glasgow-Gatwick-Rennes by air. Transfer to St Malo.

Day 2, Tuesday 08/09/26: St Malo to Chateaubourg. 71 miles / 114 km. 2,526 ft / 770 m ascent.

The hotel in Chateaubourg, Ar Milin’, had some very interesting sculptures in its grounds. In fact, most of the hotels were quirky in some way.

Day 3, Wednesday 09/09/26. Chateaubourg to Avrillé. 72 miles / 117 km. 2625 ft / 800 m ascent.

This day’s highlights included a lot of churches.

Day 4, Thursday 10/09/26. Avrillé to Saumur. 57 miles / 92 km. 1967 ft / 600 m ascent.

This day’s journey yielded some pretty pictures too, but the highlight has to be the destination – Saumur itself. This is one of the few places John visited of which I have personal memories – from a three week tour, including the Loire Valley, which we did in 1982 – no plans: just us, a car and a tent. Ah, the carefree days of youth!

Day 5, Friday 11/09/26. Saumur to Saint-Loup-Lamairé. 43 miles / 70 km. 1804 ft / 550 m ascent.

The highlight of this journey was a place called Fontevraud-l’Abbaye which had, unsurprisingly, an abbey, and an attractive church, Saint-Michel.

However, the real stand out was where they stayed. In Saumur they had been near the Château. In Saint-Loup-Lamairé they had rooms in one! The Château de Saint-Loup-sur-Thouet is a historic 17th-century château and 11th/12th-century medieval fortress which I meant to link to, but the website is unavailable. It was run by a married couple, and when the husband died the wife decided to sell up, so maybe this means she has succeeded since John was there. It certainly needed attention: look carefully at the pictures of John’s room and you will see the peeling paintwork. However, it did have a resident cat!

Day 6, Saturday 12/09/26. Saint-Loup-Lamairé to Le Vigeant. 77 miles / 123 km. 2854 ft / 870 m ascent.

Lusignan, Le Vigeant, and the River Vienne.

Day 7, Sunday 13/09/26. Le Vigeant to Brantôme. 75 miles / 122 km. 4364 ft / 1330 m ascent.

Cycling along the Vienne to Brantôme-en-Périgord (where the river is the Dronne) with a picnic lunch on the way. I often had to put up with an image like the last one pinging onto my phone as I endured a dreich Glasgow evening!

And so ended the first week! So far so good – but the big climbs were still to come.

France

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  1. What an adventure and what an experience! My favorite town of the bunch is Saumur. And how cool to actually stay in a real castle. The peeking paint adds to the charm. 🙂

    The question is: could John have cycled this way and this much during the carefree days of his youth as well? He seems in incredible shape!

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    • Well, we both cycled in the 80s / early 90s but I thought 30 miles was a long way! We did once take our bikes to the Lake District and cycled over a few passes there, and we had a couple of very gentle cycling holidays in France but nothing like this. I suppose when working John did not have time to dedicate to getting so fit.

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  4. When you go through it on a bicycle, you realise just how big France is. This was indeed an epic journey . . . and very well illustrated too.

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  8. Goodness me! Thank you for the map as it puts the cycling adventure into perspective! It truly is an amazing cycle ride and everyone needs congratulations for all their effort! Great photos too…I like the chateau with the cat.

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  12. Brilliant! What a ride. And time to take so many wonderful photos too. Blue skies galore, but I bet he’s glad the heatwave had lessened somewhat. Such a fab château – I wonder how much that would sell for…

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  13. That looks a magnificent trip. Even when I was younger and a keen cyclist though I would never attempt a ride like that. John must have a steel bottom as even on day trips wearing padded shorts and a gel saddle I was always glad to get off it. I notice you too have a new feature on here I’ve not seen before asking for my name. Bob. BSS.

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  14. Wow! That is quite the bike ride but I know bout this route because my nephew wanted to walk it( she chose the long one in Scotland instead). These pictures re so beautiful especially loving the churches, but that countryside is lovely. The place he stayed in is very chic. They call it something when it’s a bit weathered but forget the name.

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  15. A marvellously illustrated account, detailing all kinds of destinations we’ve never discovered. You certainly had some interesting accommodation John, and I’m glad you all took the time to ‘stand and stare’ as well. Just going to pop this post over to Malcolm’s account, as I know he’ll enjoy reading about your adventures. Thanks for having this ‘guest editor’ along, Anabel!

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  17. This looks like an amazing trip and John certainly got some great photos. I can’t really pick a favourite but I do like the gorgeous cat 😊 Oh, and you finally get to read my canal post 😉

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