On Saturday 21st September at about 1700 I arrived under the Eiffel Tower in Paris to mark the end of an epic four days of cycling with a wonderful group of people, coming from over Europe and as far away as USA and Japan

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Below is a summary of the journey.

Day 1 - 18th September- London to Calais

The ride actually began before the official start with a short 5 miles from my hotel in Croydon to Crystal Palace.....I forgot Crystal Palace was on a hill. We were officially let loose at 0700, just as the sun started to peek above the horizon. It was a beautiful day with sunshine all the way to Dover. The route took us through some beautiful countryside and along our "wonderful" roads and lanes. Not too many scares en-route. We were corralled close to Dover then escorted into the ferry port in convoy. A very smooth crossing and a few hours later we were cycling to our first night on French soil.   

A few months before the start of the ride one of the participants posted that he expected to be averaging 18 - 20 miles per hour. I think that this was met with fear and scepticism. As it happened I ended up cycling with this gent for the whole of the trip, and it was hard, way beyond what I thought I was capable of, but it was fun

99.5 miles cycled

Day 2 - 19th September- Calais to Abbeville

The cycling day started at 0700 again and a small group of us set off, in the wrong direction, one of whom was Nick Dando of Phyllis Tuckwell! Fortunately we had only done a few miles before we realised what we had done then it was heads down as we tried to make up the lost time. So much for a leisurely ride through the beautiful French countryside. It really was stunningly picturesque countryside as we cycled through northern France to Desvre, a small market town that provided a wonderful coffee and cake stop. It was said that we would then follow river valleys before finally arriving in Abbeville, but some of these roads definitely took the "high" road, with some interesting climbs.

When we arrived at our hotel there was sunshine and refreshment!

 75 miles cycled

Day 3 - 20th September- Abbeville to Beauvais

The route today followed the river Somme out of Abbeville. We stopped for a photo opportunity as we crossed the Somme river as the sun rose and the mists spiralled. Very sombre moment. Though the famous battle likely comes to mind first, the name Somme derives from the Celtic word for 'tranquillity' which should fully encapsulated the feeling of the day. Today was a very tough day with quite a lot of long climbs and continuous headwinds. We came to the conclusion that the whole of France was on holiday in a different part of the world, because they were most definitely not at home along the route we followed. We finish the day in Beauvais.

70 miles cycled.

Day 4 - 21st September- Beauvais to Paris

The final day of cycling lived up to the hype. It was a tough start with a steep one mile climb close to the start then fast ride to the coffee stop at Ravoux, apparently van Gough's birth place and the area in which he painted the Sunflowers. As we entered the coffee shop one of our group sat at the shop's piano and reeled off tunes by Elton John, Queen and Oasis and we had to join in this impromptu moment...brilliant Then we pushed on to the outskirts of Paris where we stopped for lunch on the banks of the Seine. The traffic lights were all against us, but this gave us plenty of opportunities to admire the great architecture. After lunch we following the river down through the suburbs until we reached the Bois de Boulogne – the most significant park in Paris. We then have a short ride along the famous wide boulevards of Paris before reaching the finishing point at the Eiffel Tower!  The arrival at the Eiffel Tower and seeing all of the support was really special. Celebrations ensued before cycling to our final hotel and a celebratory meal.

A fantastic experience.

65 miles cycled.

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