I cycle inland through the lush green hills across Brittany from the south to the north-east; first following the ‘Canal de Nantes à Brest’ then at Gouarec hiving off onto a hilly cycle path that I more-or-less followed all the way to Morlaix and the Channel Coast at Roscoff.
#47 The Middle Loire Valley
I’d finally arrived at the starting point proper of the Loire Valley section of Euro Velo 6 – “the most famous and prestigious cycle tour route in all of France”. I’d been anticipating it for a long tine and was keen to get an early start. But…
#46 The Canal du Rhône au Rhin
I’d had to interrupt my journey and return to Maastricht because of a broken rear pannier rack on my new bike. Four days later I got the call from Velo bike shop that the replacement rack had arrived so I quickly rushed over to Aachen to have it fitted and returned by train to Karlsruhe…
#45 The Vennbahnweg and the Moselle
The plan was to go back to Karlsruhe where I left off a week ago and continue on to the Loire River on the Eurovelo 6 cycle route all the way to Nantes, but I had some bike mechanical issues and only got as far as Nancy before having to return to Aachen to get…
#44 Up the Middle Rhine
I thought I’d better do a quick trip up the Rhine to get used to my new bike, so I packed a few essentials into 2 Ortlieb rear pannier bags and took off for a week.
#43 West Coast of Tasmania |406 km|
And now for the really good bit – a challenging ride in an environment that is remote and rewarding in its natural beauty – this is what cycle touring is all about.
#42 Tasmania’s Central Highlands |497 km|
After getting both battery chargers fried, I had to hang around in Swansea for new ones to be sent to me and then took off to cross Tasmania from east to west.
#41 South-east Tasmania |601 km|
It was under threatening skies and with a chill wind that I left Hobart at 11am on Tuesday, 2 January, bound for Bruny Island after 5 days in Hobart that were always windy and often wet.
#40 Tasmania’s East Coast |579 km|
There was no longer that lurching tension between wind, wave, swell and propeller, so I knew the good ship Spirit of Tasmania had delivered us safely to Davenport, even though I thought I was still asleep.