France en Velo – Channel to Med by Bike

Four years ago, after completing Land’s End to John O Groats (LEJOG), I searched for another challenge and found the Manche to Med (M2M), the English Channel to the Mediterranean. For the past three years I just haven’t been able to find the time to give it a go; however, this year I did. Not only did I find the time, I also managed to talk my sister in law’s husband in to doing it too. This is a brief account of the ride, costings and planning details.

The Route

The route we followed was that set out in the France en Velo book by John Walsh and Hannah Reynolds. It follows a 1,000 mile sweeping arc from St Malo to Nice via the Loire and Lot Valleys, the Dordogne and the Massif Central. The guide book costs less than ten pounds, is hugely detailed and breaks the thousand mile journey in to manageable stages. The maps and route descriptions are comprehensive and there is plenty of information on places to stay and sights to see along the way. We followed the vast majority of the route with the exception of a couple of corners we cut off on the odd section of a mile or two and with the exception of the last three days where the heat was just too much and we headed in a straight line for the Med; more of this later.

Equipment

I used my trusty Specialised Tricross with two Avenir rear panniers and an Avenir handle bar bag. My Companion, Graham, used a Plug gravel bike with two large Thule panniers plus a frame and cross bar bag. I had a Vango Banshee two berth tent with an inflatable mat and a Vango sleeping bag. Graham had a Vango Soul II tent with a similar inflatable mat and sleeping bag. In addition we both had first aid kits, a small tool kit and the bare minimum of clothes to see us through the two weeks. In total we carried approximately 15 kilos each.

There were no major mechanical problems, although Graham’s tubeless tyres found it hard to cope with the heat and after one particular afternoon where he spent more time blowing them up than riding, we put a set of tubes in them and they were instantly cured. Graham’s Thule panniers were good quality; however, we both failed to realise they needed fitting to a special Thule rack. Consequently, the first day they kept working free from the standard rack on Graham’s bike, so we cable tied them to the rack frame and used a single bungee wrapped around both to hold them together for the duration. This worked fine.

Accommodation

Although we camped every night, apart from the last, we took no cooking equipment and generally ate out for lunch in restaurants, where we had some stunning Menu Du Jour meals. For breakfast we visited any boulangerie and bought pastries, which we ate whilst enjoying morning coffee sat outside a café. In the evenings we tended to use a supermarket, usually Intermarche, where we purchased, baguettes, cheese, olives, coleslaw, cous cous, etc all of which were eaten back on the campsite.

Budget

The trip cost much more than I thought it would, mainly due to the price of everything in France. I personally think France has become a very expensive country to visit in the last few years and eating and especially drinking has become eye wateringly expensive.  We hired a one way van from Enterprise for £160 inclusive of fuel to get us from the Midlands to Portsmouth, the ferry cost £45 each and the return flights cost £135 each, which included bikes and luggage. In total I spent 600 Euros during the trip, which included all food, drink and camping costs. That came in at nearly three times what LEJOG cost four years previously.

The Journey

The table below was the one we used for planning assumptions before the outset. I’ve substituted a column on the right with our actual mileages on. Whilst we did manage to complete the objective of cycling M2M we did deviate from the route in the book on the final three days due to the shear heat. After the first few days we found ourselves gripped by record breaking temperatures, as France made global news headlines with temperatures up to 45 degrees Celsius. This changed our plans considerably. In order to make progress, and indeed survive, we found ourselves getting up at 5.00am ready to leave half an hour later. We then rode as far as we could until just after lunch when we would stop to eat followed by a quick dash to a campsite. Despite this we found ourselves out in the heat of the afternoon on several occasions, the worst being 43.6 degrees Celsius as we pulled off the road in to the campsite. As Graham pointed out, that is dangerous territory to be in and people die sitting in the shade in that sort of heat.

Day number	Day	Date	Description	Mileage + Ventoux	Mileage ride only	Mileage + Ventoux + rest day	Actual
1	Thu	20th  June	Travel Day	0	0	0	0
2	Fri	21st June	Ride day	67	62.5	71.5	65
3	Sat	22nd June	Ride day	67	62.5	71.5	89
4	Sun	23rd June	Ride day	67	62.5	71.5	77
5	Mon	24th June	Ride day	67	62.5	71.5	72
6	Tue	25th June	Ride day	67	62.5	71.5	72
7	Wed	26th June	Ride day	67	62.5	71.5	76
8	Thu	27th June	Ride day	67	62.5	71.5	76
9	Fri	28th June	Ride day	67	62.5	71.5	72
10	Sat	29th June	Ride day	67	62.5	71.5	64
11	Sun	30th June	Mt Ventoux day	30	62.5	30	59
12	Mon	1st July	Ride day	67	62.5	71.5	85
13	Tue	2nd July	Ride day	67	62.5	0	64
14	Wed	3rd July	Ride day	67	62.5	71.5	53
15	Thu	4th July	Ride day	67	62.5	71.5	63
16	Fri	5th July	Ride day	67	62.5	71.5	20
17	Sat	6th July	Ride day	67	62.5	71.5	48
18	Sun	7th July	Travel day	0	0	0	0
			Total	1035	1000	1031	1055

The Travelogue

 Day 1

Newark to Portsmouth via Telford

The first day was all about travelling. I picked the Renault Kangoo up from Enterprise in Newark just after they opened at 0800 and was back at home ten minutes later. I managed to get my bike in easily without taking the wheels out using a couple of bungees to support it and the panniers were laid on the floor. It was an easy 2 ½ hour drive to Telford where I picked Graham up from. We managed to stand his bike beside mine, again without need to remove the wheels, and used a bit of sacrificial cardboard to stop them rubbing together. The earlier traffic around Birmingham seemed to have cleared and we made such good progress we even managed a coffee stop at some friends in Newbury.

As we came down the big hill towards Portsmouth we were met by a torrential thunderstorm and were both left wondering if this was a sign of things to come. In the weeks before our grand depart France and much of Northern Europe had seen plenty of unseasonal rain and parts of the route we were due to take had seen flooding.

It’s always painless dropping of rental cars and vans at Enterprise and today was no exception. We unloaded all our gear in a big pile on the car park and Graham started putting his panniers on whilst I handed the keys over and signed the paperwork. Duly loaded we set of towards the Port.  A couple of minutes later we cycled back past the car rental forecourt and stopped to have a look at the map rather than just guess the way..!

Our overnight ferry was due to sail at 8.00pm, which gave us a couple of hours to get a meal before boarding. Naturally, we went to the closest pub to the ferry terminal, the Ship and Anchor. To be honest there’s no way I would have gone in there with the good lady wife just because of how it looked from the outside; however, it was great and had one of the cheapest menus I’ve seen in a pub for years, with all meals priced at £7.50. There were an eclectic mix of dock workers and people like us just passing through.  Four pints and one exceptionally good meal later and we were lined up ready to board the ferry. There were a lot of bikes to go on and it took some time to get them all stowed in a compartment to the front. On board we did the usual ferry things, watched it leaving port, had three more pints of beer, walked around the duty free shop and eventually crashed out on the floor for the night.

Day 2

St Malo to Fougeres

65 miles               

Hot and sunny

After a completely painless crossing of the pan flat channel we arrived in glorious sunshine and on schedule in St Malo. There was a bit of a phaff getting the bikes out, because some people had decided to take their panniers on board with them and had also decided to fit them again in the bike compartment, which created a small delay for those waiting to get bikes out. We eventually walked our bikes up the ramp and cycled to the sea front near the old fort where we dipped the front wheels in the sea, took our pictures, and changed in to cycling gear for the off.

For the first half of the day we cycled along the undulating coast road in glorious sunshine before turning inland towards Fougeres. This area being the oyster capital of France, there were no end of opportunities to try this delicacy; however, as neither of us really fancied them, we stopped for the Menu du Jour at a roadside restaurant along the way for 14 Euros; the first of many. We continued on along fairly flat roads before stopping late in the afternoon at Camping Municipal de Fougeres,   just outside the large town of Fougeres, where we bought our evening meal of baguette, olives, coleslaw, cous cous and wine (2.50 Euros) from the Intermarche. We were also treated to some light  entertainment, as we watched the staff fighting with a local shoplifter in the fruit and veg isle. We were both very pleased to have achieved 65 miles without any real pain apart from a hangover headache.

Day 3

Fougeres to Chalonnes-Sur-Loirre

89 miles

Hot and sunny

This was a big riding day, made harder by a constant headwind. We set off with high expectations of an easy start, as our guide book told us the first stage from Fougeres to Vitre was the flattest stage on the whole route. I’m not saying it was hilly, but it certainly wasn’t flat, not by Lincolnshire standards anyway. Early on in the day Graham’s panniers worked themselves free of the rack again and then one of his trainers got caught in the wheel. At this point it became clear something was wrong with the fastening system so we made a temporary repair by fixing them to the frame of the rack using cable ties.

Having set off in good time we arrived early enough to enjoy pastries and coffee in the bustling market square in the beautiful old town of Vitre. Much to our later disappointment, we left this beautiful town without really exploring it heading for the town of Craon, where we envisaged we would have a fine lunch and more time to explore. Instead of finding a similar medieval town we found a fairly run down place with little of any real interest and few places worthy of eating. We ended up eating our lunch of baguette, pringles, cous cous and coleslaw from Intermarche, under the shade of an old pine tree on the outskirts of town.

As the afternoon heat started to build we found ourselves drinking copious amounts of water, as we pushed on for the town of Chalonnes-sur-Loire. Just as the guide book promised the last few miles were all down-hill and we crossed the various channels of the Loire River at great speed and headed for a restaurant on the southern side of the town right on the waterfront. With 89 miles in the bag the first pint of lager slid down very quickly, as did the second and third.  We also enjoyed a fantastic meal before heading off to the campsite at Camping les Portes de la Loire on the other side of town.

By the time we arrived at 9.00pm the reception area had been closed for over an hour, so we just found ourselves a pitch and camped for free. The reviews for this camp site weren’t good. They spoke of poor facilities and lots of noise from the road. In one respect they were wrong, the facilities were great; however, with it being Saturday night there was plenty of noise from the road until well after 2.00am. The very second the road noise stopped a local donkey decided he’d take a turn. Finally, the donkey ran out of steam just in time for the first birds of the dawn chorus to strike up. It was not a great night’s sleep.

Day 4

Chalonnes-Sur-Loire to Loudun

77 miles

Hot and sunny 27 degrees Celsius

We woke early, mainly because we hadn’t slept much, and set off in the cool of the morning. Nobody stirred, as we rode through the villages chiefly because nothing really happens at all in France on a Sunday. In France no shops open except the boulangerie and in some bigger towns perhaps the Intermarche might open for a few hours in the afternoon. We managed to get our breakfast pastries, but it wasn’t until mid-morning that we managed to find a coffee in the town of Brissac-Quince. Two café au laits, cost 5.60 Euros. Initially we thought this was expensive; however, as we came to learn, it was fairly standard.

Despite the strong headwind continuing we rode for mile after mile along the banks of the Loire in the glorious sunshine at a good pace and saw plenty of other cyclists travelling along the popular Loire Cycle route. Just as it seemed we were destined to eat energy bars and biscuits from our panniers for lunch, we came across a fantastic restaurant on the banks of the Loire. We ate lunch on a terrace overlooking the river. It was one of those afternoons with the wind blowing through your hair, sitting in the shade, where everything felt good in the world. Graham had pork loin with a rich mushroom gravy, I had the most gorgeous vegetarian salad with chips. Total cost 31 Euros. If we hadn’t of been cycling I’d have had a bottle of wine and gone to sleep it off in my motorhome.

After such a glorious lunch the afternoon ride felt hard. The route, no longer flat, headed uphill, with several hard climbs, where it seemed to take a long time to reach the top. In addition to several bottles of water we quenched our thirst in a café with two ice cold coca colas in the town of Fontevraud-L’Abbaye, for the less than bargain cost of 5.60 Euros. It appears the cheapest anyone can buy a coca cola for in France, even in a supermarket is 2 Euros.

I tried to call ahead to the campsite in Loudun to book a place as it was the only one for miles; however, the answer machine message I got seemed to suggest the site had closed in 2018. I thought this couldn’t be right and convinced myself the message meant the reception was closed until 1800. Either way, we had no choice but to press on because there simply wasn’t any other option. In the town of Loudun the only shops we found open were a boulangerie and a garage; therefore, we purchased our second batch of pastries of the day, in addition to, coca cola, water and crisps from the garage. On reaching the campsite on the edge of town we found the site was indeed closed and had closed in 2018.  Fortunately, right next door was a beautiful lake and country park, so we wild camped in that for the night. Not easily put off by the closed sign and the fencing round the site we managed to hop over near a gate in to the disused campsite and use their cold water taps for a wash.

Day 5

Loudun to Lusignan

72 miles

Overcast with some spotty showers maximum 32 degrees Celsius

I don’t even know what happened last night, I was so ill. I’m not sure what caused it, but I had food poisoning from something. My suspicions are it was from some water we got at a leisure centre in Loudun. We’d stopped there to ask about campsites and the chap had filled our bottles for us. At the time I thought the water tasted a bit of chlorine, but was so thirsty I thought no more of it. Either way I spent the entire night being sick and crapping in the bushes. The only saving grace was that we weren’t on a camp site. About 10.00pm I felt a bit queasy, but thought it was the effort of the day and went to bed. An hour later I was spewing in the bushes. This carried on in half hour bursts all night long, with the only variation being the sudden urge to open my bowels too. By 6.00am it had all but passed; however, I was totally and utterly spent. At one point I’d been spewing that hard I swear I’d passed out because at one point I woke up with the cold wet grass on my face. Graham had heard me being ill, but as he said, there was nothing he could do about it. I dosed myself up with paracetamols for the stomach cramps I was having and we set off to see how far I could go. I don’t remember much about the day apart from we covered as many miles as we needed to, I managed to eat two digestive biscuits and drink tons of water. It all felt very painful. That night we found a great campsite at Camping de Vauchiron, that only cost 11 Euros, and I crashed out early with a few more digestive biscuits.

Day 6    

Lusignan to Rochechouart

72 miles

Overcast to start then hot and sunny maximum 34 degrees Celsius   

We rose early and the riding was fantastic in the cool of the morning on good smooth roads. We had the first stage in the bag by 0940 and spent half an hour enjoying pastries and coffee in a very picturesque town square. Fortunately, the sun stayed hidden behind high clouds for the next few hours and again we made good progress; however, as lunch time approached the cloud melted away and the heat rose instantly. With plenty of hills in the final stage of the day we both ran out of steam about ten miles before the end and were very relieved to finally roll in to the campsite. I’ve finally gotten over whatever food poisoning I had and after several days on digestive biscuits and water I’m back on real food. In the evening we went out for a look around the town and enjoyed two beers on the terrace of a restaurant. That was, we enjoyed them until we came to pay for them, and found out they were 7 Euros each. No wonder there isn’t anyone in any of these café bars or restaurants.

Day 7

Rochechouart to Hautefort

76 miles               

Overcast to start then hot and sunny 37.4 degrees Celsius

Yet another very early 5.00am start. It’s just like being at work this. The first stage was absolutely beautiful, cool and refreshing with the full power of the sun masked by high clouds. We managed to complete the first stage of 39 miles in 3 hours 50 minutes to Brantome, but then it all went downhill as the sun came out. After morning coffee and a late breakfast we set off again at 11.00am and only managed 26 miles in 4 ½ hours which didn’t even include the two hour lunch stop whilst we tried to avoid the heat of the day. Graham’s Garmin really didn’t like France at all. It really was struggling to find a route anywhere and we’ve found ourselves relying on old fashioned paper maps for the majority of the route and my iPhone to navigate us out of towns. Today, it sent us up what looked like a short cut (I know short cuts make for long rides) and we found ourselves pushing our bikes half a mile up a very steep gravel track back to the tarmac lane.

By the time we reached the campsite, at Camping Les Tourterelles, we’d run out of water, which actually was no bad thing because the water was lukewarm anyway due to the heat of the day. We were both dangerously hot. I think the owner sensed how hot we were because he told us to find a pitch and come and pay later. We both just jumped straight in the pool. It felt so good even though I was still in my cycling gear! The site was nice and cost 17.60 Euros with a small bottle of Heineken costing 3.60 Euros. We are paying much more for campsites than I had anticipated because we have to find ones with a pool in order to cool down in the afternoons.  The forecast for the remainder of the week is getting hotter still and this is beginning to feel like a survival exercise at times.

Day 8

Hautefort to Souillac

76 miles

Scorching hot maximum 40.8 degrees Celsius

We rose very early again at 5.00am again and setoff as soon as possible.  We rode hard all morning and only stopped briefly for breakfast with the intention of doing what we had to do by lunch time. With good roads and a real sense of purpose we arrived in Soullac at 11.45am. Being too early for lunch we tethered our bikes up in the square and went for a look around the town. We explored some really quaint side streets with shuttered windows and boxes of flowers trailing from the ledges.  After an hour exploring we returned to the square for the Menu Du Jour in a restaurant, sheltered by a huge gazebo covered in vines. The French are famous for their cuisine and we were again not disappointed. Graham had a huge pork medallion in a rich shallot sauce with sauté potatoes. I had the vegetarian salad with frites. In the end I shared the frites because there were just too many. It was a fantastic meal. With full stomachs we headed off to the campsite, which was only a mile away. We spent the late afternoon enjoying a couple of expensive beers at the campsite bar and swimming in the pool. In the evening we went for another explore around the old town and then tried to get some sleep ready for yet another very early start. This was easier said than done as it was still 30 degrees at 11.00pm.

Day 9

Souillac to Montredon

72 miles

Scorching sunshine from the start with an afternoon maximum of 43.6 degrees Celsius

Riding throughout much of today really felt hard going. We set off early and enjoyed coffee overlooking the cliff village of Rochamador served by two bungling middle aged ladies at the front of a bric-a-brac shop. We stayed longer than really necessary just to watch the entertainment of them trying to set up the shop for the day. From there we carried on to the Figeac where we decided to have a quick lunch in McDonalds. Even McDonalds is expensive in France. The veggie wrap meal was 8.70 Euros. When we came out Graham’s tyres were flat. It appeared he’d had punctures because there were the tell-tale white streaks where the self-sealing fluid had leaked from his tubeless tyres. Due to the heat of the road he had real difficulty getting the tyres to seal and stay inflated. For the first few miles until they cooled in the shade and the fluid got moving he had to stop and pump them up several times.

We learnt from the news that a nearby town had recorded the highest temperature ever in France of 45.84 degrees Celsius. Where we stayed was a mere 43.6 degrees. Graham was joking earlier that he’d never dipped his head in so many fountains in his entire life. Given the ongoing heat, and the fact that the heatwave is set to continue for several more days we spent a good hour with the big map of France in front of us along with the guide book and a notepad. We both agreed that we would continue to follow the route in the guide book for two or three more days because we both wanted to swim in the river under the limestone arc at Pont D’Arc, then we would see what the forecast had in store with the possible intention of making for the Mediterranean coast early if the weather in the hills was forecast to remain blisteringly hot.

Day 10

Montredon to Saint-Geniez d’Olt

64 miles

The heat is really taking it out of us physically, I’m sure I’m losing weight. I can’t even feel my stomach touching the top of my thighs when I’m on the drops anymore. We spent a good hour this morning discussing how much water we are actually drinking every day. We estimate it’s got to be at least ten litres each, plus two litres of fizzy pop, plus a pint or two of beer. We also spent a lot of time discussing the French attitude to life, food, work and anything else. Graham has developed this way of saying no like a French man that’s really funny. If you ask him anything, there’s a slight pause, his face becomes dead pan and he says, “no”, whilst shaking his head in that immoveable French way. Every night we get asked by the warden at the site if we want electricity, I turn to Graham and ask him, he says in the French style “no”, then we pitch our tent and plug in to the electric and grin.

It was boiling hot again today. The forecast keeps saying one more day hot, then getting cooler, but that cooler day never comes. Perhaps it’s because were moving south at the same speed as the heat. We managed to get to the campsite at Camping Marmotel by 2.00pm. Graham had a bit of trouble with his bike again today as the tyres keep going down still. He’s getting fairly frustrated with it now.

Day 11

Saint-Geniez d’Olt to Bagnols-les-Bains

59 miles

Hot and sunny maximum 38 degrees Celsius

We both felt like we could have ridden further than the 59 miles we did; however, we’d already learnt the lesson from previous days of carrying on into the afternoon and finding ourselves stuck in the heat with no water and the only campsite many miles away. We got to the site at Camping REVEA Tivoli reasonably early and after setting up went and sat in the Lot River near its source for half an hour cooling our legs in the clear, cool mountain water. In the evening we managed a beer in a local café and all in all probably did ourselves the world of good by putting something back in the tank that we’d taken out in previous days. With no let-up in the forecast we planned another early start the next morning.

Day 12

Bagnols-les-Bains to Aigueze

85 miles

Blisteringly hot and sunny maximum 41.5 degrees Celsius

Today was a day of two halves. The first half was awesome, the second a complete nightmare. From our site it was only six or seven miles to the top of the climb on the Col Des Tribes. From there it was a stunning 25Km descent followed by a few miles over undulating roads before another long descent in to Pont D’Arc. In the cool mountain air we even found ourselves wearing jackets for the first hour or two. We’d already agreed to stay at a campsite by Pont D’Arc after having lunch and swimming in the river. Buoyed by a great 60 miles of pure pleasurable riding, I foolishly suggested we took a baguette and a few things from Intermarche to the river at Pont D’Arc where we could swim in the river for an hour or two, enjoy a picnic and could “just do” the last 20 miles or so to Aigueze. Graham, was less than convinced but I read the summary from the guidebook to him which said “the hardest 2.5Km of this section occurs at the start……..whilst the overall gradient is up, there is little sensation of climbing, as the ribbon of road almost pulls you along to its next curve of the river”.

What a total load of horse dung. The first 2.5 Km were very steep and I mean very steep followed by 20 miles on the stickiest tarmac I’ve ever ridden on with few, if any, opportunities for shelter, no villages, shops, houses nor anywhere to fill water bottles and with the only café closed. We eventually arrived on the outskirts of Aigueze in the blistering heat, tired, fed up and with Graham on the verge of killing me for even suggesting doing the final leg. To his great credit half an hour later we were in the river cooling off laughing that the guidebook also said “the scent of herbs and wild goats also provides a heady concoction of smells”

Never have two people been more relieved to arrive in a campsite. This was the second time on this trip we’d pushed ourselves to dangerous limits in the sun and we vowed not to do it again. Graham said if I mentioned Mount Ventoux one more time he was going to insert his bike pump in me…! This was the day we both realised we were just not going to get to Ventoux in time to ascend it and get to the Med before our flight home. We’d been beaten back simply by the all-consuming heat.

Day 13

Aigueze to Mallemort

64 miles

Blisteringly hot and sunny maximum 41 degrees Celsius

After the exertions of the previous day we laid in this morning until 6.00am before setting off on reasonably flat roads towards Chateauneuf-Du-Pape. Having already decided to head towards the cool of the coast, this will be our final leg from the guide book. The mornings are so cool and refreshing it’s such a pleasure to ride them. I also think now we’re much fitter than we were to start, not that we weren’t reasonably fit anyway, we are coping much better with the heat and the task of cycling fully loaded.

We stopped en route to the Chateau for coffee and pastries, then stopped on arrival to look at what’s left of the chateau itself, before riding through the picturesque town, along its narrow streets (the wrong way it turns out) and on to Cavaillon, where we had a fantastic lunch and a good chat with the owner of a gorgeous little restaurant on the main street in the town. Again it was very hot when we arrived at the slightly odd campsite in Mallemort where everything initially seemed like it was too much trouble. Despite my initial feelings about the site as the evening worn on and the bar opened I started to warm to the place. I think the problem is any site where there appears to be quite a few people in permanent residence always has a ceedy certain feel to it.

Day 14

Mallemort to Saint-Maximin-la-Saint-Baume

53 miles

Hot and sunny maximum 39.6 degrees Celsius

Another hard day to keep going mentally. Having spoken to a Dutch cyclist the evening before we borrowed a guide book of a route she was following and decided that as we were heading in roughly the same direction we would follow her route rather than go along the main road. We took photos of the route, which went across several pages and we also looked at the profile, which had a picture of a Dutch looking cyclist riding a gently undulating route. The reality was tough and I mean tough. Some of climbing towards the end was up switch backs that I only just made it round due to the gradient. In the end we got back on to the main road for the final 8 miles and stopped for lunch in a town near the campsite. I don’t speak a lot of French but I’m not bad at Spanish. Our waitress was Spanish so in the end we ordered lunch in Spanish. I did think how bizarre it was for two Brits to be ordering a meal in a French restaurant in Spanish. I had yet another vegetarian salad, which was excellent and Graham had some herby chicken with chips, which he didn’t really enjoy much.

After several days of blowing his tyres up every afternoon as soon as the heat of the sun got on them, today Graham gave in and decided to put inner tubes in them, even though they’re tubeless. When he took them off it was clear what has happened. Apparently, the self-sealing liquid in the tubes has either disappeared or has dried up in the heat. In the back tyre there was no liquid left and in the front one there was still a small amount. No liquid, no sealing, no air in the tyre.

Our campsite for the night at Camping Fontenelle was quite expensive, but I think the further south we go the more this is going to be the case. The pool was great though and it had a really good bar overlooking the site and a wood fired pizza oven. We had pizza, chips and beer for tea.  Tomorrow we are going for the coast so I spent an hour or so looking for a decent site near Saint Raphael. As we get closer to Nice the number of campsites drops off significantly. I eventually found one five miles North of Saint Raphael. When I called them they said we couldn’t reserve a space, but they did have some special pitches for cyclists on a first come first served basis and they didn’t expect them all to be full. We are going early anyway so we’ll be there in plenty of time. I hope it’s good because we need two nights there.

Day 15

Saint-Maximin-la-Saint-Baume to Le Dramont

63 miles

Hot and sunny maximum 35 degrees Celsius

We woke at 5.00am this morning and were underway shortly afterwards. Today I was a man on a mission and there was no stopping me. Today I was going to swim in the Mediterranean, even if I had to carry my bike the last ten miles. I really enjoyed this ride; in fact I’d say it was the second best day riding of the trip. Graham was less keen. The entire route was along a reasonably busy main road; however, most of the way we were able to ride several feet off the road on the shoulder they seem to have on most French roads. We road straight through several towns in the middle of the rush hour in stand still traffic and out the other side, which I always find quite exhilarating albeit quite dangerous too. The best bit was the gradient. Apart from a couple of small rises the entire route was a gradual descent to the sea. The going was so good we actually managed an average speed of 14.5 mph, which anyone who has toured will tell you is excellent.

By late morning we were riding through the outskirts of Saint Raphael searching desperately for a glimpse of the sea. It wasn’t until we turned the final corner on to the coast road we saw it. What a fitting spot to end the M2M; a glorious little beach on the front with a wide boardwalk. Not too busy, just right. We did the good old British thing of shaking hands and dipped our wheels in the sea. It wasn’t really until later that day the magnitude of it all hit me and I accepted that we’d actually ridden across the entire country on bikes in the blazing heat.

After a brief rest, and the by now compulsory can of coke, we rode the 5 miles along the coast towards Le Dramont and our campsite for the next two nights at Camping Le Dramot. Although the site was expensive at 18 Euros each per night it was on the beach front, had its own pool and shop and was fairly huge. We couldn’t believe our luck, as the warden checked us in then marched off through the campsite with us in tow to a special area reserved for cyclists and backpackers right on the beach. Ten minutes later we were in the sea. Oh how glorious it was too. Once we’d cooled off we set our tents up and went to get lunch from the shop. We even invested in a joint snorkel and mask too. For several days I’d been craving cornflakes with cold milk so for lunch we had cornflakes and cold milk. For bowls we cut the bottom out of two Evian water bottles. The cheapest lunch we’d had in a long time. The rest of the afternoon we spent sunning ourselves on the beach, swimming in the sea and snorkelling on the reefs.

Day 16

Rest day

20 miles sightseeing

Hot and sunny maximum 36 degrees Celsius

It was actually quite a relief to wake up right next to the sea with no real agenda. We enjoyed the remainder of our cornflakes with another litre of fresh milk for breakfast and then set off with no panniers or bags for some sightseeing. Anyone who has ever ridden a bike with panniers knows how bizarre it feels when the bike is freed from the burden of the bags. It takes a bit of getting used to especially when pedalling out of the seat. We took our morning coffee as usual in a café with a view and were reminded of our location on the Cote D’Azur by the bill of 7.20 Euros. Yes, nearly seven pounds..! We then spent some time cycling round the harbour streets of Saint Raphael and Frejus, both of which have the most beautiful, bustling harbours full of all the shops and boats of the rich and famous. We also managed to find a bike shop and the owner was kind enough to free off our pedals. We’d tried the previous evening, but having been baked in the sun for two weeks they were stuck solid.  We wouldn’t be allowed to fly with the pedals sticking out and our only other plan was to buy a 15mm spanner, albeit we didn’t know where exactly from.

The afternoon was spent swimming in the sea and relaxing

Day 17

Le Dramont to Nice

48 miles               

Hot and sunny after a cool start – Maximum 35 degrees Celsius

We set off early from our site along the coast rode to Nice. What an absolutely spectacular ride this was. It was 40 miles from our site to the official finish in Nice then a further 5 miles back to a hotel Grahams wife had booked near the airport, plus a few miles more exploring. The ride along the coast was absolutely stunning. If I lived there I’d ride it every day. Glorious little coves, whitewashed Mediterranean villas, small towns, big towns, villages, fishing ports, smooth tarmac and just a few hills. It had it all. Even the ride in from Airport to the finish by the Office Du Tourisme along the dedicated cycle route was fantastic.

Having already celebrated reaching the Mediterranean previously the arrival at the official finish was satisfying, albeit a bit of an anti-climax. We took the usual photos and headed back along the cycle route along the shore to our hotel via the Airport, just to see where we needed to go the next day. Graham’s wife had booked the Hotel Budget Ibis on Rue De Grenoble. We had a twin room for 69 Euros, which was quite reasonable for Nice and for its proximity to the airport. I watched the bikes whilst Graham went to check us in.  On the way up the road to the Hotel we saw lots of signs stating “Route Barree”, on investigating we found that the Women’s World Cup Play Offs were being played at the Etihad Stadium, which was a couple miles further on. Whilst Graham was checking in I had a look to see how much tickets were and was surprised to find we could get tickets for £6.50 each. By the time Graham came out I’d booked two seats to watch the England V Sweden play offs.  A very fitting end to the holiday.

We spent the next couple of hours visiting Lidl to get our final baguette and tub of coleslaw. Graham couldn’t face another pot of cous cous. We also bought a huge sports holdall each to put all our stuff in to go on the plane the next day and two rolls of sellotape to seal our bike bags. We walked to the stadium in the blazing heat and found we’d actually booked really good seats way up in the stadium behind the goal, most importantly they were in the shade. I don’t know a lot about football but the atmosphere was fantastic with 20,000 spectators and the match itself was fairly exciting too.

Day 18

2.5 miles to airport

Easy Jet Nice to Luton

30 Degrees Celsius on departure – 18 Degrees on arrival in Luton

This was the first morning there has been no real need to wake early and cycle off somewhere. Given how hard the bed was in the hotel, I think I’d have slept better in my tent anyway. We set off in good time for Nice Airport, as we were unsure what to expect. We had a ride past the airport yesterday, but didn’t seem to find the entrance. We decided the lane marked “Kiss and Goodbye” was probably the drop off one so we chose that one. We then had to slip under the barrier at the same time as a car. As Graham found out after just missing being swiped by the barrier, there’s only enough time to get one bike through with one car..!

To be honest this was the only bit of the whole trip that I had any worries about. My fears were not realised though. We found a corner by the Easyjet baggage drop off in which to sort our bikes out. We took the pedals off, lowered the seats, turned the handlebars 90 degrees and let the air out of the tyres. We then slid the bikes in to the plastic bike bags we’d carried in the bottom of our panniers from home and sellotaped the ends up. We then joined the baggage drop queue. After depositing our luggage we were directed to the oversize baggage drop with our bikes. It was all over with in ten minutes without a single problem. We were then left to go through to departures and enjoy one of the cheapest cups of coffee I’d had in France in a fortnight.

On arrival at Luton Airport our bikes were brought out from a door alongside the conveyor that our luggage appeared on, and we made our way out to the bus transfer, where we caught a bus to the long stay car park, where our respective wives were waiting to meet us. It all ended rather unceremoniously by hastily placing my bike and bags in the back of our car whilst double parked next to the bus stop.

Summary

The guide we followed is an excellent detailed guide and a good route, but given the time I’d follow the three week itinerary.

France has become eye wateringly expensive to visit. Even the campsite owners and restauranteurs we spoke to said they were being crippled by taxes of up to 66% and felt prices were putting customers off. All said bookings were down. We only saw one or two Brits in two weeks.

French roads are of a very high standard, even the country lanes. The majority have ultra-smooth tarmac. Conversely, a few roads in the mountains seemed to be made of glue and it was hard to get any speed up, Pot holes on any road were few and far between.

It is not really possible to tour long distances and see everything there is to see. I think we achieved a reasonable compromise between sight-seeing and touring; however, at times we were both frustrated by the lack of time and the need to keep moving in order to get to a campsite by afternoon to avoid the heat. Given more normal temperatures we would have taken more time for sightseeing and ridden later in the day reaching sites by tea time rather than just after lunch.

There are a lot more campsites in France than in the UK. They range in price from 4 Euros per person in the North to nearly 20 Euros in the south. The further south you go the less grass there is until by the time you reach the Mediterranean coast you find yourself camping on dust.

Flying with a bike using a ten pound bike bag was a lot less hassle than I thought it was going to be and I’d certainly do it again.