Day 4, on to Montargis 598KM

Today's destination was a place called Montargis, at the start of the Bourgogne region. Today was tougher than the day before, as I was dealing with crosswinds and headwinds.

Day 3, Normandy to Chartres 452KM

Had some distance to do today, the sun was hot, and my legs felt fresh



and then I found somewhere twinned with Stowmarket



Futher down the route one of my panniers partly came off- I hadn't been checking the nuts and bolts and one must have come loose (idiot!). So I looked for the nut and bolt for a good hour, until giving up, doing a botch job with cable ties and cycling to the nearest village. A kind French family in a farmhouse helped me out and replaced the part I needed, and also gave me some water and chocolate. This was the second time in two days that people had helped out with whatever they could, once you told them you were doing a solo tour.

Here's Chartre cathedral from the distance

Day 2, Normandy 313KM

After just a handful of hours sleep in some useless reclining chair, I rode off the ferry in the morning mist with some other cyclists who I met on the ferry. We had breakfast and coffee in Caen, then I set off on the way to, well, Italy. I hadn't planned on staying anywhere in particular that evening, just going on the assumption that any place larger than a small village in France normally has a campsite.

Breakfast in Caen, 213km



I reached a place called Gace that evening- a strange, quiet village, hidden in the Normandy hills, where I could get nothing to eat. France closes down on Sundays, and the backwaters of rural Normandy are even more closed. I was saved by an english couple who kindly sorted me out with a can of lentils and sausages at the campsite, that being the only meal I had eaten since leaving Cirencester the day before (pringles on the ferry don't count)

Day 1, leaving England 193KM

I left England in the pouring rain- everything (everything) was soaked through after the first five miles. To make things worse, I got lost at Somerford Keynes- less than five miles from the parents' place. When you're starting on a 1,100 mile journey, getting lost after five miles is less than pleasing. Once I reached the hills near Marlborough the rain had subsided long enough for me to take a photo.

This is as good as it got all day, honestly



Leaving home at one, only four hours behind schedule, I thought that 10 hours would be enough to reach Portsmouth. Well it would have been had I not underestimated a) the distance b) the speed of my bike fully loaded and c) the complexity of the road network near Portsmouth, in the dark. Oh yeah, and d) punctures - two of them, one my own fault. So I ended up lost, in the dark, arriving twenty minutes before the ferry left at eleven, to find they had already shut the doors. I had to buy a new ticket for a different ferry at some cost.



Not the greatest of starts!

Here's the bike fully loaded for the cyclophilic among you

The Route

Some people have asked me what the planned route is, so here it is:

Leckhampton Hill

This is some hill- rising from the flooplain up to 260-300 metres, it starts off at 10/15%. It was hard enough in my fiesta a few years ago. Part of the training involves climbing hills without standing out of the saddle, as that will be virtually impossible with the extra weight of bags on the back wheel. So, I climbed up there sat in the saddle. I've probably climbed more metres in the last four days than I did in two years in Essex, so this is definitely the right place to train for the Alps.

Steep hills

Thanks to all who have donated so far to Kalayaan. We're up to £100, only £1900 to go to reach the stratospheric target!

Started training this week. Brother Alex came up from London on Sunday and we went off finding some hills. I had forgotten just how steep Chalford hill was.




It was about 1 kilometre long, 25% gradient in some stretches, with a total climb of about 160 metres. Painful, very painful. Much harder than the Alps, I'm guessing.