Highway Cello

I didn’t sleep very well.  I was worried about the day’s climbing, which I calculated to be 6000ft. You need a strategy.  I know, of course, that no battle plan survives the first contact with the enemy.  But we should have a plan anyway. Not that the mountain should be seen as an enemy.  It’s […]

There’s the exhaustion of two days’ hot and hilly riding ( I’ve climbed 8000ft altogether over the last two days).  And there’s the accumulated exhaustion of two weeks’ steady progress through France. Don’t misunderstand me – I’m not 8000ft higher up than I was two days ago.  Cyclists only record the uphill, and not the

Serge sent me off early with a very good breakfast.  There’s a long way to go, and a couple of big hills early on.   The first one starts ten miles away, and I think I should try to get to the top before the 9.00 o’clock heat. It’s one of those hills where you use

Given a choice between a 40mph headwind and a long slog uphill, I’m going to choose the hill.  Every time. So after yesterday’s wind, today is a pleasant diversion.  Of course, the hills aren’t easy, and they’re often intimidating.  When you see a sign that says you must have snow tyres from the beginning of

Yesterday (I’m writing this in the morning, having gone straight to bed last night) was a day to forget. Hot and strong from the south, all day like the unrelenting sun, the wind has been, according to the weather page, in excess of 40mph.  All day.  It’s not safe going uphill at 6mph, and it’s

There are pros and cons to a headwind at 36 Celsius. You need quite a bit of wind to achieve any kind of cooling effect, and to combat the waves of pizza-oven-like heat rolling up off the road.  But it increases the effort required, and therefore the loss of water.  I find it hard to

I misled you yesterday, when I wrote about the Marne Canal.  I left that behind the day before – yesterday’s canal was the descriptively named “Canal between Champagne and Bourgogne”.  And there is a bit more of it today.  But the path is not very good, and after a few miles I revert to the

Today is a real holiday.  I’m cycling slowly along the canal which goes nearly all the way from Chaumont to Langres, counting the herons, and looking for places to swim.  It’s only 25 miles to Langres, and I feel I’ve got all the time in the world. I divert from the canal every few miles

The Hotel des V. in Br. was cheap.  But you wouldn’t call it cheerful.  The Patron wants his guests – there are about five of us – to appreciate that he is greatly overworked, and that anything would be too much trouble. I eschewed the grim looking breakfast, and had a pie and pastry from

I’m not in Aix, obviously, that’s way down south, and I’m only just entering Champagne country.  But I think that may be where this wind is coming from.  It’s warm and welcoming, which is nice, but it’s not the right direction for cycling. Today promises to be the first proper hot day.  The forecast is