Into the wild...Part I

Hey all,

Greetings from Paris!  It's 12 days into the cycle so time for a little update...

The wheels finally began spinning on Tuesday, 2nd November - a day late due to the intensity of the goodbye session in Geneva :)

The first 3 days were tough going as Switwerland and France threw a string of mountains at me. What I hadn't given much thought to before I set off (as I said "2041kms. 1 idiot") was that with fully loaded panniers on the bike, it would feel like I was climbing all these moutains while also giving someone a lift at the same time. Seemingly Sean's premonition of me "grimacing through pain whilst paddling my little heart out over a hillock in Belgium" was coming true. When I finally did reach the summits of these mighty hillocks though, the views were fantastic. Hopefully some of the photos below (more on Facebook) give you an idea of what I mean.

After 3 days of stunning views that left me feeling like I'd been beaten over the head with a rainbow, I was looking forward to the flat plains of middle France. Before heading North however, I decided to dump a lot of the extra crap that I was carrying with me on the trek. The new 600+ page Keith Richards autobiography/brick was the first thing to go (why Ashe, why?). Towels, shoes, pants, t-shirts, my emergency can of baked beans...were all chucked. Finally, like a white Nelson Mandella, I was 'free at last' to put some distance behind me.

With the weight off my bike and the land a LOT easier going I was able to clock up century-plus days and make great time. Tarare, Vichy, Moulins, Nevers, Briare, Orleans, Etampes...all flew by as I pushed on hard to Paris. The scenery in middle France is very like Ireland (but just imagine boulangeries instead of pubs) so it made for a really enjoyable trek. At the risk of jinxing it, the weather has also been unexpectedly kind to me (apart from yesterday when I learnt that my 'waterproof' jacket is actually just a sponge with a zip).

Anyway, Part II of the trek is Paris to Cardiff so I'll be starting my cycle to Le Havre in the next day or two and will update the blog again before I hit Ireland.

A

p.s.  The battery in my camera died yesterday, but hopefully I'll be able to charge it and put up some new photos in the next few days...