The time is almost upon us when we hit the French roads for the first time this year as a group. As a cyclist who spends his winter months in the UK either cycling indoors or risking live and limb on the hostile environment of the British roads I really look forward to this moment. Sadly the UK can be quite unforgiving when it comes to road cyclists. Admittedly there are still those amongst us that need to brush up on their road etiquette. There are also the pot-holes to avoi

Bowing to public demand we made an additional weekend tour to Normandy to round off a fine year’s road-cycling to the region. For the very first time, we made a November trip to get in the sights and smells of autumnal Normandy. Blessed by a gap in the traditional weather pattern we cycled trepidatiously off the ramp of the FB ‘Mont St. Michel’ and into a bracing sea breeze coming off La Manche. Even the veterans in our group were slightly taken aback by the freshness of the

We concluded our penultimate cycling tour of 2019 with an absolute gem of a mid-September spectacular. Autumn is my favourite time to cycle in Normandy and if the weather is with you, road riders can hope for nothing finer. Cycling in the September sunshine, up and down the rolling undulations of the Norman Peninsula is always a treat. Come September and with the cycling gods smiling on you with some sun – then, there is nowhere else I would rather be. This year was the 75th

France, as we all know, is a wonderful country for both cycling and history and so it became blindingly obvious that we should put the two together so that our tourists get the best of both worlds. Now, part of my job is particularly onerous in-as-much that I need to test the accommodation we stay at before we actually take guests there. I am always struck by the amount of history that surrounds the places where we stay and the areas we cycle through. The focal point of inter

There is something quite spectacular happening in the ‘Bocage’ in Normandy around this time of year. For the uninitiated the region that centres on St-Lô, just south of the Cotentin, is known as the Bocage; the word describes a type of cultivated countryside, very common in western France, where fields are cut by tight hedgerows rooted into walls of compacted earth well over a metre high. As we cycle through the area, it is awash with every imaginable shade of yellow signalli

Normandy is constantly compared to Devon, with Brittany being described as the Cornwall of Northern France. As a resident and one who has cycled lots of the roads in each area I heartily resonate with the comparison. It’s easy to see why. Normandy and its undulating hills, rustic farmland and lush, green meadows have famously given the world cheese and apple-based beverages. No prizes here for guessing which. And the beaches are beautiful, endless and sandy - locked in an end

Heaven from the saddle You will know that Normandy was the place from where William the Conqueror sallied forth to smite his cousin Harold to claim the British throne. You will also know that the region hosted the landing of the Allied forces during WW11 from where they delivered an equally compelling blow to the Third Reich. What you may not know is that there is a whole load more compelling history - between 1066 and 1944 - to be found here although I am not even going to a

You might not be taking part in the Tour de France but it is well worth taking a little extra care before embarking on your cycling adventure. So here are a few well worn tips to ensure that your trip turns out exceeds your expectations. 1) Make sure you are fuelled and ready to go Try and eat the right sort of stuff before you go. We are not going on a marathon but we might be cycling a little bit further than you are normally used to. You will be burning more calories than

Our group of 10 set sail from Portsmouth on a clear British Thursday night for the brief 6-hour voyage to Ouistreham on the other side of the English Channel or La Manche as it is more properly known in France. Probably the most stressful part of the journey is actually getting through the traffic of motorbikes, cars and heavy goods vehicles and up the boarding ramp to the ship. However once through the late evening rush hour we boarded and made our way to the bar. A little

A couple of years ago I decided to embark on my first Anglo-French cycling weekend. It was with no little trepidation that I wheeled my road bike onto the evening ferry from Portsmouth. We set sail around midnight for the French coast and were due to land at the crack of daylight. I should not have worried overly as there were plenty of other road warriors all ready to be set loose on the Norman roads. Basically you ride – or rather wheel - on and off leaving your trusty comp