French Divide - Depart

Bray Dunes is right by the Belgian border, and that is the way we headed to buy not one, but two bottom brackets next morning.

Steve had all the tools needed to fit them which we did as quickly as we could. We'd hoped to have left Bray Dunes the day before.

Breakfast on the beach shortly after.

Around 1pm we started along the French Divide route with a working bike.

The sun was out, and we were happy at last to be on our way South.

This wasn't the first time that we'd visited this part of France, but it was the first time that Tom was old enough to start to appreciate part of the history of the area.

Tour de France - Prologue.

We did a talk at a Scout and Guide jamboree in Bromsgrove on the 1st of August. Next day, we rode from  there to Dover, as it was going to be easier doing that than trying to get the tandem down there via any other economical way.

We used Cycle Streets to plan a route. Day 1 was to be a long ride to London, in fact it would be the furthest Tom had ever ridden in a day. Day 2 was planned to be an easier day to Dover.

We left Bromsgrove early and the route followed quiet roads with the odd bridleway and disused railway to add a bit of interest.

It turned out to be a rather long day, 221 kilometres long.

This is Tom on Vauxhall Bridge in London around 11pm not far from Andy's who was kindly putting us up for the night.

Day 2 and we were pointed the right way out of town by Andy.

Maybe we were tired from the previous day, but we stopped a lot more often than we would normally do, here, for "refreshments".

In spite of us both putting in the effort, the tandem felt so slow.

We stopped for supper in Canterbury, Dover would have to wait until tomorrow.

On our way out of Canterbury we finally noticed why we'd been struggling all day.

One of the cranks was really stiff to turn. It seemed like one of the bottom bracket bearings had collapsed.

Here is Tom next day demonstrating how hard it was to turn the cranks.

We rode on to Dover to get a bottom bracket from a bike shop. Google listed an independent shop that was no more, and Halfords didn't even know what an HT2 bottom bracket was, even though they stocked a tool to fit one.

So rather than waste any more time in the UK, we decided to head to France with a view to getting it sorted over there.

By the time we arrived in France there was only time to visit a couple of shops, neither of which yielded a bottom bracket.

We headed for the campsite in Bray Dunes with a view to going bottom bracket shopping again the next day.

There we met up with Jean and Steve, two of the French Divide riders, with whom we had a very pleasant evening.
 

Tour de France - Intro.

Our summer adventure which now complete, we have titled "Minipips Tour de France". Like most Tours, we started in another country before making our way round a good chunk of France.

It was a composite adventure made up of a core, a new bikepacking route in France called the French Divide, a ride to get there from Bromsgrove in the UK, and a ride back along the Atlantic coast of France to get a ferry home.

In total it took 27 days to complete. We rode every day and covered distances from as little as 61kms to as much as 221kms.

Our total distance covered was over 3200kms or 2000 miles. We averaged 119 kms or 74 miles a day.

Like all of the best adventures, things didn't always go to plan, and the going could sometimes be described as tough. There were no tears though, and there was lots and lots of laughter.


Links to the individual posts are in order below.

Tour de France - Prologue.

French Divide - Depart

French Divide - To Reims

French Divide - To Toulon sur Arroux

French Divide - The Auvergne.

Tour de France - Heading South West

Tour de France - Heading North.
Tour de France - Gear and some Cautionary words.

Not the Tour Divide, but the French Divide.

Today sees the start of the Tour Divide race. Our original plan was to be there, but for mostly school type reasons we couldn't make that. The plan B was to ride it on our own this summer, but due to other commitments, we were looking quite tight for time. So the decision was made to postpone our big trip until next year.

It's easy to have a bit of a downer when things don't go according to plan. We have been training, and are pretty fit. So we were looking hard for something big to do instead.

Our original plan was to go up to Scotland and to finish up the Highland Trail 550. Then I came across something new.

The French Divide.

 

"Just like the Great Divide, but in France. Connecting the northern french-belgian border and the southern french-spanish border. A bike trip mixing cyclo-cross and mountain biking roads following a part of the route of Saint-Jacques de Compostelle and without any assistance."

2100 Kilometres, with 27000 metres of climbing. 70% of gravel, with 30% on road.

Advertised highlights include the Belgian Kemmelberg, from the spring classic Gant Wevelgem. The Arenburg and other Paris Roubaix cobbles and the Tourmalet which is a favourite on the Tour de France.

Other highlights will include pastries from the Boulangerie most mornings, and the occasional bottle of Vin Rouge, and unlike the Tour Divide, there will be no bears to worry about.

More info on the route can be found on their French Divide site, or on their facebook page.

 

South Lakeland #Jennride

Rich Munro came up with an excellent idea. Get some people together who were friends of Jenn, and go for a big bike ride in the Lakes.

We assembled in Staveley on Saturday morning along with around 100 others. The route was 100 miles, and it was clear by the luggage carried, or not that there those who were not going to stop, and those that were making a weekend of it. We were with the latter group.

Above,Tom and two of our fellow Team JMC members Phil and Jacqui Simcock.

On couldn't have asked for better weather, though we could have done without the pinch flat going down the Garburn Pass. Off course I shouldn't have been riding so fast.

Unusually for a long ride, we weren't in any rush. It was great riding along and chatting with others, and we stopped more than once for a cafe stop.

At this old quarry along with some others we tried to see how far in we could ride without getting wet feet. The answer not very far.

Just below those hills in the distance would be our next stop.

At the Old Dungeon Ghyll along with a number of the other Barebones forum members we had a drink and our supper. Then rode on as far as Hawkshead for a nightcap before heading up into Grizedale Forest for the night.

The forecast was for a cold night. We were toasty warm in our Alpkit Ordos tent though.

Once again, another cracking day.

 

We weren't smiling a few minutes later when we got another puncture, shortly followed by another. Thankfully as we were about to put in our last tube, Tony turned up with a puncture repair kit. We were good to go again, but all the time wasted with punctures meant that we'd be in for a long day if we completed the rest of the route. So we did the right thing. We sat in a cafe for a couple of hours chatting with some fellow riders, then caught the ferry  across Lake Windemere before riding the last few miles back to Staveley.

Great to catch up with old friends, and to make some new ones too.

Same again next year please Rich!

Dirty Reiver 200

200 Kilometres of gravel roads in Kielder forest is the challenge that the Dirty Reiver offers. I had an entry, Tom didn't though as he wasn't old enough to enter. He wanted to ride the route (which was all open to the public) anyway as preparation for the Tour Divide, so he tagged along with me.

Tom had borrowed a Sonder Camino Ti Force from Alpkit to ride. Here he is on its inaugural sortie a few days before.

We awoke on the morning of the ride to be greeted by snow falling. We wrapped up warm. After a short briefing, there was a roll out to the timed start. The weather had thankfully improved and soon the sky was blue.

As you can see from the pictures, the surfaces we rode on were mostly gravelled roads. Though there was a small amount of tarmac and also some short technical sections.

It was on one of the more technical descents ( a bit like Pen y Ghent lane) that one of Tom's teeth fell out.

Thankfully it was one of his baby teeth and not one that he'd need a dentist to replace.

Above Tom and a couple of riders we saw loads of, as they kept on getting punctures.

We rode in the company of other riders most of the day.

Big skies, oh and what is that in the distance?

That'll be a blizzard then. For 15 minutes the snow fell. We'd wrapped up warm, and other than not being able to see, it didn't bother us.

As quickly as the snow arrived, it went.

It did threaten to return again, and briefly it did at the final checkpoint.

From there only 50 Kms to go, though there were still plenty of hills to climb.

We were doing alright for time, so on the last section, we stopped a few times to take in the views.

We finished in the dark some 14 hours after we started. It was a tough day out. Though I am glad to say that miles we have been doing lately meant we weren't too sore after.

I'd recommend the event. It's a great route, and the organisation was excellent.

Tom's Film, an Alpkit Mountain Journal short.

Dom Bush of Land and Sky media shot a short film about Tom for Alpkit. Please follow the link below to watch it.

https://www.alpkit.com/screen-room