Boats and Bikes!

For day 5, its a push south to Soulac, another nice ride. Good progress made with some interesting sites along the way. See pictures below for more information.

Due to loosing so much time due to the bad weather and high winds at the start of the trip, I decided to use SNCF to get me back to where I needed to be. I have cycled through Aquitaine before and its frankly boring as its flat and all you can see is trees. South of Arcachon, the roads on previous trips have been rough, so giving it a miss is a good idea for this ride.

Tomorrow, some major climbing over the Pyrenees where I will enter Spain.

Le Map

The transporter bridge just south of Rochefort. People and bikes only. For quite a few years I passed over the modern bridge further west without knowing that the big metal structure was not some disused lifting bridge. Last year when I was crossing the new bridge, I spotted the dangling platform and added this to my route. See Site officiel du Pont Transbordeur – Anglais (pont-transbordeur.fr) for more information.

I live in Gosport and nice to see signposts so I know how far I am from my house. This is in Royan where my town is more important than London!  (Royan is a Twin Town!)

Here is the Ferry to Le Verdon. Bikes go free (unlike on the Gosport Ferry!.
Phare de Corduan and Soulac Plage.

Not to much to report on the SNCF leg down to Bordeaux and Bayonne. But I need to give  big shout out to SNCF for the way they carry bikes.

Bayonne is a really nice place to chill. Plenty of river side bars.

Nice weather and a small tail wind. This is the first day on the road for this trip where I really enjoyed the riding. Roads were nice and quiet.

Always pleasing to see some green energy 🙂

Pit stop just to the East of Lucon. Nice brunch consisting of Panini and Coffee.

An here is La Rochelle. First time I have stopped here on a bike tour, but have been here during family holidays last century.

In Nantes this morning, its overcast with frequent rain showers. My destination is St Cecile which is off route but a couple of days ago, I had a ping inviting me to stop over. from an old Merlin friend.

This ride is for fun, so I am not wanting to cycle 5o+ miles into a strong head wind and rain, so SNCF was used for part of the ride and I finished off  with some light drizzle for the first 20 mins.

Great evening reuniting and talking old shop over beer, wine, whiskey and a meal in the local eating place.

Le Map

Pictures

Bit At

At the end of the train trip from Nantes. Grey squall coming through,  so took shelter for 10 mins before heading off.

Komoot does not get the plan right all of time. I do not appreciate being routed across puncture terrain!

The evening cleared up nicely in St Cecile. Forecast good for tomorrow.

I am heading off piste from my normal route. I have an invite to stay with Tarik, an old Merlin friend. With a strong headwind today, I have broken the journey into two by stopping in Nantes this evening.

Grey, windy and very overcast. Slight drizzle at time but no deluge!

On a different bike this year. Had a mechanical failure on my touring (& old commuting) bike. Not enough time to get new shifters, so last minute switch to carbon. The ergonomics need some adjustment as its not feeling as comfortable as the Alez Elite.

 
And here is todays map!

Nice to be on the road again for the latest tour. Storm Ernesto arrived just as I was setting off. Although the worst of the weather was “oop norf” in the UK, its still gave me a nasty head wind. Fitness levels are not where they should be, so rather than burning out on day 1, I diverted to Rennes and then got the train to Redon where I had a hotel booked. Weather forecast for tomorrow is wet and windy !

Cycling infrastructure in France grows every year I pass through. We need more of this in the UK. On this route, pedestrians and cyclist are separated.

I am not on a sponsor ride but will be riding as much as I can. If the weather is bad, I will occasionally use the train as a fast forward. Here the trains are really set out well, but a reservation for bikes are mandatory. The booking system is a little confusing as on previous occasions, I have been able to book a ticket and reservation via the SNCF app. But for the moment, SNCF wants cyclist to book a reservation for the bike on a completely different website!

Today, I am giving you two maps to look at. The stop button was pushed at the point I decided to divert for a “rail assist”.

Its a “Wrap” tour complete for 2023. Click the black button to the right to see te full route —–>>>>

For those that have been waiting for me to arrive, donations are still open via Just Giving. I am supporting the Royal United Hospital in Bath and also Save the Children UK. Both organizations doing such amazing work at home in the UK with SCUK also supporting international aid efforts.

A quick word on sponsorship. The overall cost to do this challenge was around £3,000. I am self financing as this is something I wanted to do as I get close to 60 (in December!). Some organized charity events use some sponsorship money to subsidize the riders. I can assure everyone that this is not the case here and 100% + Gift Aid will go to SCUK and RUHX.I am covering all  my own costs. So please do give generously 🙂

Back to the ride. The final day as always is one of mix feelings. Yes its great to reach a destination and complete a challenge, but it comes with a side order of sadness for two reasons. Firstly, I am doing this ride in memory of my late father Colin Hawkins. he always followed my previous adventures and I spent a lot of time during the ride thinking of the great  times we had together.

Secondly its all over for a year. For me the fun is doing the tour, not getting to the destination. The best part is at the point when I get on the ferry to France. The whole adventure in front of me.  Where in Spain do I go next year? Yes I am coming back, but its a non-fundraising tour for 2024!

Final map below followed by pictures. Video content will be added when I get back to the UK.

Early start and up there on the hill is the hotel I have just left behind. It can be a bit expensive but managed to secure a great deal using some points via Hotels.com.

This is a view down the Valley towards Malaga. There is a little climbing but the ride is mostly downhill over 55KM.

Total distance for the ride was 1333 Miles or 2145KM  (I prefer KM as its a bigger number!)

Now, behind the castle on the hill is the town of Ahlora! It was a climb to get up to the town and a super steep drop to leave. The combination of broken cobbles and potholes meant it was safer to walk the bike down the hill than ride it.
Two picture taken by random tourist RUHX and SCUK gear 🙂  Permissions granted to both charities to share these images 🙂

A cool beer is the only way to round of a a good ride in hot climates. (Note – during most days when it was not raining, temperatures would peak at 35 degrees Celsius

Today is one of the highlights of the tour. The ride out of Puente Genil is nice and from there it just gets better.

To be honest, I could have easily made it to Malaga today, but El Choro is so amazing, so an overnight stop was definitely needed!

Tomorrow is the final leg. Just a short ride down to Malaga.

After the climb out from Puente Genil, I can see more hills ahead. I did ask the locals to remove the hills to make the ride easy a few years back, but as you can see from the work in the middle, they have not really made much progress!

Started picking up signs for Malaga. A92 is the most direct route, but as you can see, there is a sign to say cyclists will not be welcomed!

Few hill later. A stunning view!

8KM from El Chorro. Views just get better.

And finally, a view from the hotel!

A short spin of just under 50 miles. Still plenty of climbing to be had.

Meanwhile the story in Morocco is unfolding after a major earthquake near the Atlas Mountains. I am in contact with team members at Save the Children to see what support I can provide remotely.

Back to the cycling, a further two days before I reach Malaga. Tomorrow’s run takes me to one of my favorite places “El Chorro”

Sunday morning peleton. I spotted quite a few clubs out on the road this morning. Those hills in the background were climbed a little later by me 🙂
Stopped at this hostel for coffee. Based on the sign to the right, it appears that I am on the Camio De Santiago again.

Spain has loads of these small hostels in villages. Very good value for money. 

And with this being Andalucía,  its proper olive country!

Today the “Flope” was in my favour. Still some climbing needed in places but generally a quick pace down the N Road until my route took me through a nice park area.

The north part of Cordoba where I am staying is very much like Beverly Hills in LA! Some massive mansions. Had a good deal on the hotel and given the 4 star status food and beer surprising cheap.

From here I need to take the most direct route to Malaga. Overnight I lost a bit of sleep due to pain in my back and ankle. Think this is Covid related arthritis from a few months back. Things under control now as I managed to top up on paracetamol!

So from Cordoba, two short legs to Malaga. I have three days on the beach. Ideally I wanted to take in a few extra places, like Ronda, but that can wait until a future trip!

Hotel in the middle of nowhere! It is run by a very friendly wife/husband team. Bar, restaurant and a pool. Great value for money. Hope to call in again on a future tour!
About 8 KM into the ride – another castle!  The village had a pharmacy so I was able to get pain under control again!

There are time when you need to ignore the tech. As you can see, I am on a nice smooth road. Mr Gamin is telling me to leave the road and use the gravel track to the right. This is despite the fact I am set up for road cycling and not mountain biking!
An old rail track was parallel to my route. Possibly used to carry coal to Cordoba and the main lines? Maybe an opportunity to create a new cycle track here?

A shorter ride today as I have just over 200 miles to run and over a week left to do it in. Tomorrow is a rest day and have booked two nights in a rural place with a pool, bar and restaurant.

Regarding places to stay, I will post some links soon listing all the places I stayed at.

The ride passed through some interesting places along the way.

So here we are – Andalucia, my final region. As with over borders, the road surface went from brand new to very poor (but not as bad as the track yesterday).

Over the past 10 years I have cycled through many parts of Spain and this is the first pit I have seen. Like most countries, Spain is moving from fossil fuels and you are more likely to see a wind farm than one of these. There were a number of pits all now disused.

Just down the road from the pit is this disused factory. I am sure there is some interesting history to learn here.

On the map towards the end of my trip for the day, there is a lake (in blue). This is the reality. Its dry and have been dry for some time. As I crossed the viaduct, I could see a cafe/bar/play park which must have closed when the lake dried out.