CYCLING FROM FRANCE TO SPAIN - JUMPING IN THE DEEP END

I think I need to start off this blog with an answer to the question: WHY? 

Why or what would make someone decide to get on a bicycle and use it as a method for travel? Personally the motivation behind this idea had been slowly growing since I met a round the world cyclist ‘Nigel’ from the UK in Indonesia... that was when the idea was nothing more than an insane after-thought that would definitely never happen. But since then I heard of more of these crazy dudes and even read a very inspiring blog from another British guy who has cycled 80,000 km around the world in 6 years. That's when some serious questions started floating around in my mind... “would I be able to do something like that?” ... “what does it take to achieve such a feat?” ... “where is my personal limit?” I like a challenge and once I started to contemplate the prospect I became obsessed wondering if I had what it took to undertake a cycle journey (even just a small one). I had to be realistic and stay within my time and budget so I decided on cycling through France and attempt to reach Portugal.

The first and only test ride I had time for... what could go wrong!

Keeping budget in mind since I still have many months of motorbike travel planned for the Americas I borrowed a mountain bike off my uncle and bought a 99 euro ebay trailer to hook on the back. In this I packed my usual travel gear including my tent, sleeping bag and gas burner... however I added a small solar panel in order to charge my phone whilst touring since it was doubling as my navigation device. Next up I booked a cheap flight to Paris from Frankfurt and for 55 euro the bike joined me! Flying with a bicycle varies airline to airline however in my case I got a box from a local bike dealer (for free) and dismantled the pedals, handle bar and front wheel, easy as that.

The solar panel in action later down the track... it was priceless on this trip!

Before leaving home I loaded OSM (open street maps) onto my phone. These are free open source offline maps and come with all the positives and negatives of open source information! Time to jump into the deep end! To explain that last statement. I am not a cyclist. The furthest I have ever cycled is 40 km about 3 years ago and that was a "one off", this past year I have been riding a motorbike soaking in different cultures but struggled to maintain a fitness routine (i.e.. non-existent). So this was going to be interesting!

4pm, Monday the 28th of September I landed in Paris and by 6pm I had assembled my bike and begun the 47 km ride in to the city centre... usually on the first day everything that can go wrong will, and this trip was no exception. Within the first 25 km my rear axel bent and fell apart, it was one of those make or break moments and it happened in the first 2 hours just as the sun was setting! Luckily I managed to do a botch repair on it (bent it straight and loctite the quick release) and I cycled on in the dark arriving in the outskirts of the city by 9 pm.

The only road leaving the airport! One of the worst experiences ever.

Broken already, it would have been easy to call it quits right here.

It was a great feeling entering the city, Paris has a reputation for being a beautiful city for a reason. But that was all short lived as I began peddling uphill and a dark figure casually stepped out in front of me grabbing my arm, as I turn I realize there are 3 more grasping at me and the bike... I won’t lie, my mind panicked but luckily some sort of instinct kicked in and I stood up, yelled at the top of my lungs and peddled that bike as hard as I could. Some how I broke through and was free. What a welcome to the city, I was shaking. After cycling past roughly 25 prostitutes and 4 drug dealers roaming the quiet parks I arrived at the city campsite at 11 pm... totally knackered and it wasn’t even day 1!

Sunset in the outer suburbs of Paris, fixing the trailer...

With a low of 3 degrees the first night I was up early trying to get warm in the hot showers. After that a quick tour of the city before leaving around 2 pm and managing 49 km for the day. I spent the night camping on the edge of a farm, I just asked politely in my best French. Which involved a lot of miming but he seemed happy for me to sleep there... must have noticed that I had no idea what I was doing!

I guess I had to since I was here...

Farm camping! It has been so rewarding taking the first step and asking.

In the first 5 days I covered 595 km which consisted of several 100 km days and one 140 km day which isn't huge in cycling terms but the trailer was like a 10 kg anchor and it required a lot of tinkering to keep it working on the offroad tracks I was taking. Night time temperatures were usually around 2 degrees which was bloody FREEZING! Day time temps of 15 to 20 Celsius were absolutely ideal.

Nice and flat, but windy! Many European countries have quite a lot of wind and solar energy.

You don't get to choose when you have a flat tire!

Stealth camping in the middle of a town... getting up early to pack away before the dog walkers come by!

My days consisted of cycling, eating and drinking... there was almost no time for anything else. An example of my daily intake:

- 5 litres water

- 2 litres juice

- A coffee

- 2 croissants

- 2 baguettes

- Some kind of cake

- 6 bananas

- 500 g fish

- Bowl of rice

Then at night I would stealth camp, however I was extremely careful as hunting season had started and I did not want to end up like the recent French guy that was mistaken for a wild boar. That meant edges of forests usually bordering on beaches. This made for ideal scenery but also difficult to hide!

About 15 % of the bike trails I took were unpaved.

Another stealth camp along the way...

Slow going, averaging only 10 km/h on this stuff.

After this first stage I definitely hit the wall physically and mentally especially as the head winds picked up as I neared the coast. To recuperate I had a day off in La Rochelle but the following day I only managed 40 km in 4 hours due to the stormy weather which had just hit the entire western coast. I was stuck for 3 days. This gave me time to reflect on the last week which had been the biggest learning curve of my life, from door knocking twice a day for water to navigation issues and ending up in the middle of an enduro motorbike race...as well as what it had taught me about myself, unintentional character building!

Nutritious breakfast. It was difficult to eat enough!

Arrival in La Rochelle, what a feeling!

One day rest and then straight into this... everything was soaked!

High spirits... before the rain came back!

After the storm subsided and only drizzle remained I pushed on with all my stuff smelling like peppermint tea... in the rain my teabags had gotten soaked and imparted their deliciousness with all of my belongings, but hey I wasn’t complaining (it was just weird)! The entire West coast of France reminded me so much of home albeit slightly denser populated. Sunsets over the ocean, white sandy beaches with gnarly barrels (international surf competitions happening), pine trees, snakes and surf boards everywhere!

Waiting in the morning for this interesting bridge to open...

Beautiful cycle paths along the coast, looks like Perth!

Detouring to find a lunch spot...

Aaaaaand found one!

It's not a real adventure until there's a ferry involved!

 

It was all going well until one of these rascals crawled into the gears of the bike, since then it was never the same!

When in doubt follow the train tracks!

Back to more trails through pine forests, seriously am I in Western Australia???

Amazing campsite that night... although I was woken in the middle of the night by a wild horse. Probably one of the scariest moments of my life!

My time in France was absolutely amazing and that really came down to their epic organisation in terms of cycle routes and the FOOD, oh the food... especially the bakeries had the best pastries I've ever had. So good! But after 1072 km I reached the Spanish border which was a rad milestone in itself. Time had practically run out for what I had planned for this trip and so after 1098 km I ended this cycle journey in San Sebastian (foothills of the Spanish Pyrenees).

Setting up the solar panel in the morning sunlight.

Making my way back to the trails...

Over 100 km of cycle paths like this, I couldn't believe it!

Waking up to the crack of your tent breaking is not the best... especially when it's pouring outside!

Fixed the tent and got an early start to the day...

Luckily I was rewarded that night with another awesome surf beach/river mouth.

I wonder when the next time will be that I see these figures...

More nutricious breakfasts... need more energy! 

The VELO cycle path goes from the UK all the way to the Spanish border, it is truly a great ride.

The struggle is real... damn trailer again!

Arrival in Spain!

The last bits of the cycle path before it disappeared, beautiful coastal towns!

Beach art in San Sebastian!

Goodbye bicycle... didn't quite make it to Portugal but I wasn't going to achieve 1200 km in 5 days.

That's it! I rode from Paris to San Sebastian in 15 days where 4 were spent waiting out the storm. That's an average of 73.2 km per day or 99.8 km per day only including the ones I actually rode. With a cadence of roughly 70 rpm I think the pedals made about 400,000 revolutions on this trip (massive guestimate). I spent most days charging my phone for one hour using the solar panel and that charged it 30%, for navigation the phone lost between 30-50% charge daily... that meant I could go about 4 days without an extra power source. Also interestingly the daily costs averaged to 15 euros, pretty much identical to motorcycle travel! But I'm sure you could cut that down the more hard core you get... but that was my comfort limit. On my final day I sent the bike back to Germany with a courier service and donated the trailer to a homeless man outside the hostel (and no I didn't take a selfie or a video of that).

Typical cycle paths through French cities.

An ipod is a good thing to have along for the journey!

It will probably be a few years before I get the chance to do something like this again but when I do I will do it in a drier season, use a touring bike with panniers and not set an end goal... just go with the flow! It's been amongst the most challenging and rewarding experiences I've ever had.

Final night in San Sebastian, that night I caught the train to Lisbon... for more adventures!