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Well here I am back in London having covered 701 km on a bicycle in a week with 19Kg of luggage on board.  Pierre did a few more Km’s having cycled to Bromley (30K’s + the bit from St Pancras back to Ealing).  For me, legs are a bit “heavy” and feeling a bit saddle sore but otherwise I’ve emerged unscathed from the trip – on the upside I’m quite a bit fitter than when I left, just need to try and keep it up now.

When I cycled from St Pancras to Victoria station, it was the first time I’ve cycled in London.  Won’t do that again by choice.  Taxi drivers seem to regard cyclists as legitimate targets, pedestrians walk into the road without looking  and the roads are full of potholes.  The country roads in rural France were in far better condition.

Anyway, some data about the trip for those who are interested.  Google Earth required for the routes and the Altitude graphs are just JPG files so can be viewed in most browsers.  You may get a few warnings dependant on your security settings.

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Google Earth file : Day 1 Charing to Folkestone

Altitude Graph : Day 1 Charing to Folkestone

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Google Earth file : Day 2 Tunnel to Haut Pichot

Altitude Graph : Day 2 Tunnel to Haut Pichot

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Google Earth file : Day 3 Haut Pichot to Sibiville

Altitude Graph : Day 3 Haut Pichot to Sibiville

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Google Earth file : Day 4 Sibiville to Poix de Picardie

Altitude Graph : Day 4 Sibiville to Poix de Picardie

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Google Earth file : Day 5 Poix de Picardie to Chaumont en Vexin

Altitude Graph : Day 5 Poix de Picardie to Chaumont en Vexin

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Google Earth file : Day 6 Chaumont en Vexin to Coulombs

Altitude Graph : Day 6 Chaumont en Vexin to Coulombs

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Google Earth file : Day 7 Coulombs to Nogent le Rotrou

Altitude Graph : Day 7 Coulombs to Nogent le Rotrou

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Google Earth file : Day 8 Nogent le Rotrou to Yvre L'Eveque

Altitude Graph : Day 8 Nogent le Rotrou to Yvre L'Eveque

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Google Earth file : Day 9 Yvre L'Eveque to Sermaise

Altitude Graph : Day 9 Yvre L'Eveque to Sermaise

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Google Earth file : Day 10 Sermaise to Angers Gare St Laud

Altitude Graph : Day 10 Sermaise to Angers Gare St Laud

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The GPS totals are slightly less than those on the Cycle Computers as the GPS was not on for local journeys to the restaurants, bars etc.

A summary of the route above (Ashford to Angers) as a screenshot from Google Earth.

So conclusions.  well I think I’ve achieved something and very glad I did it – just over 700Km on a bike with all the camping gear etc is quite something.  I really enjoyed the trip although some of the steep hills were a bit of a challenge and we certainly got to see areas and villages (well) off the beaten track in France. 

Would I do it again – yes - so maybe time to start thinking about another trip in the future (if Pierre is up for it that is !).

So thanks for following the blog and I hope I didn’t waffle on or bore you too much. 

Finally thanks to Penny (aka Support Assistant) for updating the blog when we were on the trip – she did an excellent job of translating my mumblings into a readable piece of text.

Time to sign off.

Cheers for now

Joe Willis

Email : joe@joewillis.co.uk