Cycle Touring Ho!

First things first, Saint Tropez is overcrowded and boring. Celebs have no taste these days.

Anyway, the last few days I’ve made my way through epic thunderstorms, rain and yesterday a horrible headwind towards Lyon. But today it’s finally sunny! The lack of good weather has also made for a lack of good scenery, and so I don’t have any nice pictures of the rolling hills, picturesque villages or beautiful French countryside. I did however (for once) get a good multi-frame shot of the lightning…

I do not advise anybody to stand under a telephone line in a thunderstorm. But despite the lack of good weather, I did meet some interesting cycle tourers…

This is Manguel, he is Spanish, and cycled from Marseille to Italy and is now on his way back.

I like him because even though he admits to taking too much stuff, he proves that you need nothing more than motivation to go on a cycle tour. Travelling with just an old bike, school bags and old shopping bags, he camped the whole way and just washed in the sea! Also, loving his sandals!

Shortly afterward I bumped into Atrem, from Kazakhstan. He was cycling with his friend from Finland (who was having a shower at this point) from Milan to Barcelona. Staying in hostels and occasionally sleeping on the beach he said – a nice trip, but made all the more special because his friend on the back is blind.

The next day I was stuck behind this cyclist…

After some lorries had passed I said ‘bonjour’ in the hope of conjuring up some sort of conversation. But, instead of replying, he simply stopped, leaned over on his bike and started picking grass from the side of the road before eating it in front of me. No doubt he was crazy then. I can only imagine the antenna and shiny foil is for establishing communications with aliens.

Lastly, today I met Chris. A total legend. He is cycling from his hometown near Stuttgart, Germany to somewhere in Morocco. He is carrying a trailer on the back of his bike, also camping, staying in hostels and has no time limit. He didn’t have his trailer with him today because he was on his way to the mechanic’s to get a part of his bike fixed.

So I think, with very little effort, anyone can go on a bike tour, it’s only as hard as you make it! We all don’t have much money, but we all have big smiles on our faces! (some whilst eating grass)