Tag: France

Garry McGivern Travelsonabike2 bicycle touring in France

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Travelsonabike2 This Day 12th September 2013

Bicycle Touring This Day 12th-September-2013 A group of people with bicycles

Garry McGivern Bicycle Touring France

This week’s Travelsonabike2 bicycle touring on this day post comes from France on the 12th September 2013. I’m heading for Greece, my first long-distance ride since my world tour.

Thursday, 12th September 2013 Bognor Regis to Neufchatel-en-Bray, France via the Newhaven, Dieppe ferry. 63 miles.

I decided yesterday morning to go away on another tour, seeing as I’ve not been on one since I returned from going around the world. I was originally going to do this trip back in June, but the weather was so nice at home that I decided to stay put and enjoy it. But now the weather has turned and the days are getting shorter. It seems like a good idea to head south, hopefully, to a warmer climate.

It was a hectic day yesterday after making such a late decision; there was quite a lot to do. Packing, sorting the house out, banks, work and making sure the cat was going to be fed. Oh, and telling friends and family I was going away for a month or so. I think I got it all done, apart from checking the bike out.

I’m Off

Nice early start today. I was up at 3.30 am to cycle the 30-odd miles to Newhaven. I left home at 4.30 and was in Newhaven by 8 o’clock. It was a nice, easy ride with just a bit of drizzle. But nothing to really worry about. The ferry crossing was very smooth. The channel was like a mill pond.

Castle
Dieppe Chateau (castle)

I was going to camp in Dieppe tonight, but I met six other cyclists who were cycling to Paris. They seemed to be having the same problem as I do. Not being able to find the right road out of a city. So, I decided to tag along for the amusement. After all, it was still only mid-afternoon, and the route they were looking for was an option for me to take. It didn’t take long before they found it. Once we found it, I realised that I was a few miles from the campsite where I was going to stop, so I decided to continue along this route.

Avenue Verte

It’s the London to Paris cycle route and runs along an old railway line. I said goodbye to the six other cyclists, knowing I couldn’t keep their pace up. (they were on lightweight racers with no luggage) Although I did spend the rest of the afternoon playing the hare and tortoise. They’d zoom off and then have to stop for some reason when I would pass them. Then they’d zoom past me again. This happened a few times until I found a campsite for the night and stopped.

Don’t Forget It’s Sepsis Awareness Month: Learn The Signs

September is Sepsis Awareness Month, as it is every year. And as a sepsis survivor myself, I want to promote it as much as possible. So, people recognise the signs, and we can save as many lives as possible. It takes 5 minutes to learn the signs of sepsis.

Slurred speech or confusion

Extreme shivering or muscle pain, fever

Passing no urine all day

Severe breathlessness

It feels like you’re going to die

Skin mottled or discoloured

Please learn the signs. It’s really important as it could save a life. 1 in 5 people don’t know the signs. Don’t be that person. Learn the symptoms, and spread the word as much as possible so others can be as lucky as I was.

Follow Garry’s Bicycle Touring Adventures

(proof that there is life after sepsis)

Subscribe to my blog and follow me as I travel around on my bike. Plus, as a subscriber, you’ll be among the first to receive news and updates on future tours. And, of course, you can always follow me on social media: Facebook, Bluesky, Threads, X, Instagram, YouTube and Pinterest. I’m also on Flickr, where you’ll find pictures from all my tours, along with a monthly photo update that I publish each month.

If you want to find out if I’m away touring at the moment and check my location, visit the Where’s Garry page.

Follow Garry on his travels

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Travelsonabike2 This Day 5th September 2022

Bicycle Touring This Day 5th-September-2022 A wet tent covered in leaves

Garry McGivern Bicycle Touring France

This week’s Travelsonabike2 bicycle touring on this day post comes from France on the 5th September 2022. And I’m stuck in camp with a dodgy stomach, sheltering from a storm.

Monday, 5th September 2022, in Bray-sur-Seine.

Well, I had good intentions of moving on today, but I thought it best to stay put due to a dodgy stomach. It’s bad enough having a bad stomach in a tent. But it’s much better than being caught out somewhere on the road. I had that experience in Nepal.

What was I saying the other day? I’d rather be ill while away than unwell at home. Well, at 4 am this morning, I didn’t think so. I had to get up and rush off to the toilet. Luckily, I made it in time, just! Still, all this downtime gives me a chance to catch up a bit with my social media. I’ve been inundated with comments and messages over the past few days.

Cars and building with pillars
The market hall in Bray-sur-Seine

There was a bit of a violent end to the day, and I don’t mean my bowels! I could hear a rumble of thunder gradually getting closer for well over an hour. The thunder was still in the distance when it started to rain. Thinking that I’d missed the storm, I began to relax. Unfortunately, the rain got heavier, the wind picked up, and then we had a hailstorm, which lasted for a good five minutes. When the storm had passed, I looked out of the tent; it looked as if it had been snowing. I was glad I’d pitched my tent under a tree, which is now covered in leaves. There’s a short video on my Facebook page taken during the storm.

Don’t Forget It’s Sepsis Awareness Month: Learn The Signs

September is Sepsis Awareness Month, as it is every year. And as a sepsis survivor myself, I want to promote it as much as possible. So, people recognise the signs, and we can save as many lives as possible. It takes 5 minutes to learn the signs of sepsis.

Slurred speech or confusion

Extreme shivering or muscle pain, fever

Passing no urine all day

Severe breathlessness

It feels like you’re going to die

Skin mottled or discoloured

Please learn the signs. It’s really important as it could save a life. 1 in 5 people don’t know the signs. Don’t be that person. Learn the symptoms, and spread the word as much as possible so others can be as lucky as I was.

Follow Garry’s Bicycle Touring Adventures

(proof that there is life after sepsis)

Subscribe to my blog and follow me as I travel around on my bike. Plus, as a subscriber, you’ll be among the first to receive news and updates on future tours. And, of course, you can always follow me on social media: Facebook, Bluesky, Threads, X, Instagram, YouTube and Pinterest. I’m also on Flickr, where you’ll find pictures from all my tours, along with a monthly photo update that I publish each month.

If you want to find out if I’m away touring at the moment and check my location, visit the Where’s Garry page.

Follow Garry on his travels

Subscribe to my email and follow me on my travels

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Travelsonabike2 This Day 1st August 2010

Bicycle Touring This Day 1st-August-2010 Timber framed houses at night

Bicycle Touring France

This week’s Travelsonabike2 bicycle touring on this day post comes from France on the 1st of August 2010. I’m off to France for a change, but on this occasion, I’ve got somebody to cycle with.

Sunday, 1st August 2010. Bognor Regis, England to Rouen, France. 83 miles.

I wasn’t very popular today. We had to get up rather early this morning. We had to leave my house by 4.30 am to catch our 8.30 ferry from Portsmouth to Le Havre.

It’s been a nice couple of days at home. I made Katrin sample some of the delights of British cuisine, fish and chips, fried breakfast and the nation’s traditional dish, curry! I don’t think she was too impressed, though.

Girl sitting by river
Taking a break along the Seine

We’ve come to an agreement on our daily mileage. I wanted to do at least eighty miles, but Katrin wanted to do sixty. So we’ve split the difference and agreed that we’d do seventy miles and then camp unless it’s a place we want to see, then it’s a hotel.

We both won today. I got my mileage, and Katrin got her hotel, as Rouen was one of the places on our list to see. The old part of town is very pretty with its narrow streets, timber-framed houses, and pretty cathedral.

Subscribe to my blog and follow me as I travel around on my bike. Plus, as a subscriber, you’ll be among the first to receive news and updates on future tours. And, of course, you can always follow me on social media: Facebook, Bluesky, Threads, X, Instagram, YouTube and Pinterest. I’m also on Flickr, where you’ll find pictures from all my tours, along with a monthly photo update that I publish each month.

If you want to find out if Garry’s away touring at the moment and check his location, visit the Where’s Garry page.

Follow Garry on his travels

Subscribe to my email and follow me on my travels

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Travelsonabike2 This Day 27th June 2008

Bicycle Touring This Day 27th-June-2008 Houses along a river with a yacht in the water

Bicycle Touring France

This week’s Travelsonabike2 bicycle touring on this day post comes from France on the 27th of June 2008: a long, hard day and no campsite at the end of the day.

There is a more embellished version of this post, along with all the posts from my first long-distance bicycle ride, in my “Bilbao to Bognor” tour book, available to buy from Amazon.

Friday 27th June. Bannalec to somewhere in a field northeast of Brest near Lesneven. 106 miles.

I think today must have been my toughest day so far. I’ve had loads of long, drawn-out hills, making it feel like I’ve been cycling uphill all day. I got stuck in Brest for an hour. I’ve had a strong headwind. And to top it all, I couldn’t find a campsite tonight, and I’m having to camp wild in some field. But on the plus side, I reached my most westerly point of this trip, Brest.

I’ve been umming and aahing whether I should cycle out as far as Brest ever since I came up with the idea of this ride. And after today, I wish I hadn’t! It was a tough ride cycling against the westerly wind. But hopefully, now I should have the wind behind me as I head in a more easterly direction.

Church by the side of a river
Who knows where it is? But it’s somewhere in Brittany

I thought the ride to Brest was hard enough, but it got much worse once I was in the city. For some reason, I felt the need to go into the centre of the place. I didn’t have to, there was no reason to, but I did; what a mistake. I couldn’t find my way back out. Every road I tried went up a hill, and every hill I went up was the wrong one. It took forever to find the right road going up one hill, only to find out once I’d reached the top that it wasn’t the right way. It was an absolute nightmare.

Then, of course, to top the day off, I couldn’t find a campsite. It was dark when I reached Lesneven, my last hope of finding a campsite. There didn’t look as if there was anything else for miles after this town. But there was no campsite. I even looked for a hotel but to no avail. Realising that I would be camping wild tonight, I started searching for a suitable spot. And found one behind one of the many religious shrines along the side of the road. Hopefully, by camping here, the big man above will keep me safe.

Subscribe to my blog and follow me as I travel around on my bike. Plus, as a subscriber, you’ll be among the first to receive news and updates on future tours. And, of course, you can always follow me on social media: Facebook, Bluesky, Threads, X, Instagram, YouTube and Pinterest. I’m also on Flickr, where you’ll find pictures from all my tours, along with a monthly photo update that I publish each month.

If you want to find out if Garry’s away touring at the moment and check his location, visit the Where’s Garry page.

Follow Garry on his travels

Subscribe to my email and follow me on my travels