London to the Loire Valley

J4 M20 with even less planning than last time. The camping gear strapped to the bike with the addition of a small gas stove between us for tea / coffee. We bought a single ticket unsure of our route back. Whilst discussing a likely route over breakfast on the ferry we filled our pockets with sachets of sugar to save space and looked vaguely at a circuit taking in some of the west coast, Brittany and Normandy.

The first days ride was planned, motorway south avoiding Paris, to get some miles covered to allow more time for the more deserted roads later in the week. Leaving the motorway network at Evreux we pulled onto the D51 looking for a campsite and rode through Damville before coming across one in Verneuil. A typically charming rural French town just big enough to support a restaurant and a bar.

Leaving Verneuil we simply headed south on a series of D roads which took us generally in the right direction through the Parc do Perche. WE spent a good part of the day enjoying the minor roads and when we checked the map, seemed to have travelled not very far. We started concentrating and following signs first for Vendome and them Blois where we crossed the Loire and turned left following the D751 towards Tours. Finding a campsite beside the main road at Amboise we pitched our tents and rode into Tours for an evening out.

The following day saw us following the lane immediately beside the Loire river itself. Most of the traffic stuck to the main road and our main hazards were the countless French cyclists following the well surfaced and often single track lane. Steve had suggested a cycling holiday (the type with pedals) when we'd seen hoards of them in Andorra. The steep climbs, plummeting temperatures, heavy traffic and thoughts of my lungs exploding had meant that that idea had been temporarily filed in the bin. Now, the sunshine, traffic free, well surfaced flat road with villages every few miles offering liquid refreshment allowed my mind to revisit the idea. The followed the river until time dictated that we jump on the parallel motorway to hit the coast at St Nazaire before it got too late. Finding the city traffic in French summer heat almost unbearable we passed quickly on slightly further up the coast before finding a campsite not a million miles from the beach at le Pouliguen. We could have been on the French Rivera.

Stunning beaches, thousands of tourists and night life. As we stumbled back to the campsite in the early hours we realised that there, the party had only just got going ! As the sun rose the following day, it looked pretty much as I imagine Beirut looks.

D roads all the way through Rennes to Mont St Michael we'd decided that after the night before, we'd both had enough and took some time out to walk out to the mount and fort.

Onwards to Bayeux and to the Normandy beaches. With stops every few miles to look at the countless museums, memorials and fortifications which commemorate the D-day landings progress once again slowed. I say slowed, I glimpsed the sign saying Pegasus Bridge, famous from the film A Bridge too Far as we crossed the river Orne at Ouistreham at speed too fast to stop for another photo. It was shortly after this I noticed that the handling on my bike was deteriorating. Closer inspection had me pulling out half a pedal cycle sprocket from my back tyre. A puncture in small town France on a Sunday morning was not going to get fixed. Local recce conducted and with a campsite half a mile away the bike was nursed there and after a few phone calls to my brother back home -fluent French speaker and internet guru- we set off to enjoy the day. Cabourg about 70 miles south of Brighton and a sunny day, it has the same lure.

The next morning I phoned my brother for the bad news. Having spoken with every bike shop in an 80 mile radius that would answer their phone he'd been told 'Non', 'Maybe next week when the mechanic was back' and 'Our workshop is closed for the holidays - august'. European breakdown recovery couldn't even arrange for a mobile tyre fitter. The only consolation was that we were on the return leg.

The French recovery agent arrived quickly, but went via his own car workshop so that he could nip home for lunch leaving me kicking my heels outside his now closed for lunch garage for an hour. We made the ferry port just in time for loading. Steve was waiting for me at the port entrance, tickets already purchased and the bike was unloaded near the front of the queue. I rang the European assistance number again to confirm that I'd made the ferry and was offered help pushing it on board but nursed it up the loading ramp at a crawl.

Back in Portsmouth as I came off the boat, there was the next recovery truck waiting at the bottom of the ramp, all set to drive on board to find me once the rest of the vessel had disembarked. It was nice to know that the system worked and well worth the expense. A puncture, that would have been easily fixed in the UK, had ended the touring holiday had turned into a headache because it was August and in France.

The Route; Calais A16 Abbeville A28 Rouen Evreux D51 Damville Verneuil D roads south Vendome Blois D751 Amboise Tours D7 D947 D952 D751 A11 Nantes N165/171 St Nazaire Le Pouliguen (Beirut) D774 Herbignac D114 Redon D177/171 Rennes D175 /976 le Mont St Michael A84/ D999 St Lo D572 Bayeux Arromanches - coast road- Ouistreham cabourg Le Harve Portsmouth.