by Liz

With one major west coast under our belts, we are turning our sights towards another, this time the west coast of France. On Saturday we leave for Roscoff and on Sunday we embark on the grandly named Vélodyssée. It’s the French section of the EuroVelo 1 bike route and was recommended to us by Ray, our fellow Pacific Coast Highway cyclist and friend, who we met on a sunny May afternoon on the northern California coast. 

The Vélodyssée ticks a LOT of boxes – it’s shorter, closer to home and 90% off-road. Compared to the Pacific Coast Highway it has the feeling of a jaunt – less than half the length, 16,000 feet of ascent instead of 120,000, shorter daily mileages, and we’ve only wanted to do it for a year as opposed to more than half a lifetime. There’s been a lot less hype in the preparation.

The training has been different too, less intense, and in many ways more enjoyable through the summer months, instead of all the crazy-cold UK-winter training we did for the PCH. My first training ride was at the end of April on the anniversary of our setting out from the Canadian border. I’ve done all bar one ride under my own steam with my e-bike turned off, which has been challenging (and slow!) but satisfying. I’d like to have a go at completing the Vélodyssée by pedal power alone but it remains to be seen how I’ll cope with multiple consecutive days of riding like that, not to mention whether Philip and I would actually see anything of each other en route. As before, preparations included making a crib sheet for my 95 year old mother.

Philip has bought a Gazelle very similar to the bikes we rode in America. I’ll be taking my much lighter Trek, now three years old. We’ll get the train from Epsom Downs to Victoria on Saturday, cycle to Paddington, then it’s a train to Plymouth and overnight ferry. We’ll hopefully disembark on Sunday morning in time to make some purchases for breakfast and lunch at one of Roscoff’s boulangeries before they close at midday, as well find somewhere to buy provisions for dinner and breakfast the next morning – French bakeries and food shops keep their own Sunday and Monday opening times. It’s all coming flooding back to me. A long time since I lived in France. 

Why are we doing another bike tour? The Pacific Coast Highway ride was a massive, life-changing event for us and before we left America we wanted more. Why blog again? Dare I say a few sweet and generous friends have encouraged us to. It’s principally a way of keeping in touch with loved ones. Also, following the ride last year, as an afterthought, we had a blog book printed, in two volumes due to its sheer length, comprising the daily blogs and photos we posted as we rode the Pacific Coast Highway, and a raft of supporting notes so our most treasured memories of the trip are all recorded in one place. We’ll probably do the same this time around – assuming all goes well and we enjoy it, which we aren’t taking for granted.

With two days left, the fine-tuning of kit selection is reaching a natural crescendo. The house and garden will be in the safe hands of Andrii, and Teddy when he returns from Ukraine, along with Olenka and Danylo who will be staying in September. We’re not raising funds for charity this time but thanks to the generosity of so many of you, our Pacific Coast Highway ride raised a whopping £3,058 for Water Aid and Move, even before gift aid was factored in. We’re keeping an eagle eye on the weather forecast and so far it looks promising so we’re cautiously optimistic. No camping again of course – Philip has standards. Instead we’ve booked Air BnBs of one sort or another right the way to Bilbao. Once again, all we need to do is keep up.