Byways through Time

Announcing the launch of a new website, http://www.bywaysthroughtime.com which I will use to publish cycle touring projects. My first publication is 14 Days Through Brittany, a description of my ride through this beautiful duchy. The site contains high-level information, links to useful resources such as the Collection of gpx route files on OutdoorActive, a StoryMap

Cycle Touring Festival presentation

If anybody missed my presentation on my ride around Brittany as part of the cycle touring festival, then the recording of the video can be found at https://youtu.be/4YDXqGkSUQQ

Cycle Touring Festival

The next virtual Cycle Touring Festival is coming at the end of this month and I will be talking about my tour around Brittany last summer. Zoom in and hear about the sights, sounds and food of Brittany, France’s Celtic homeland. There is a programme of other talks over 10 days. See https://cycletouringfestival.co.uk/whatson/ for more

The Severn Ride Day 2

So the day started well in the pretty town of Welshpool. The rain of the previous day had fled to the south and been replaced with a clear blue sky. Envigorated, the group set off to cross the Severn and head north under the shadow of Long Mountain. After a short stretch on the A-road

The Severn Ride Day 1

So the idea was to follow the River Severn as closely as possible from source to sea by bike. Well the source of the Severn is on the slopes of Plymlimon, a mid-Wales mountain and about 4 miles from the nearest road, and hence not easily reachable by touring bike. Instead we settled for that

14 Days in Brittany Day 14: Dinan to St. Malo

So the last day of my Breton journey, and I had a short ride to St. Malo to complete, giving me plenty of time to investigate the town. I started by retracing my route back to Lehon, where I stopped to have a look around the Abbey. The main church was set in quiet cloisters

14 Days in Brittany Day 13: Rennes to Dinan

So another day, another river turned into a canal – the French seem to have developed their waterways differently to the British. Whilst we built canals from end-to-end which therefore were to a standard minimum gauge to minimize costs, the French instead canalised their rivers. Just put in a lock every few kilometers to control

14 Days in Brittany Day 12: Redon to Rennes

So today I finally left the Nantes-Brest canal behind and instead headed off up the valley of the River Villaine to Rennes, a long day of some 90km. However, having spent a lot of time cycling alongside waterways, I decided to head off to explore the megaliths around Saint Just. The distance was the same,

14 Days in Brittany Day 11: Blain to Redon

A beautiful sunny morning. The air was still, the canal a mirror, and just the birds and I to enjoy it. Buzzards glided over the water, clutching their hard-earned breakfast; herons perched attentively waiting for their’s to swim past; thrushes and blackbirds trilled in the hedgerows; a flotilla of swans glided past; somnolent mallards and

14 Days in Brittany Day 10: Nantes to Blain

Today was the day that I started heading north again, back towards the Channel. I was also going to rejoin my old friend, the Nantes-Brest canal. The first thing that I had to do was get out of Nantes safely. Strangely their cycle lanes are in the centre of the road so you’re having to