Day 1 - London to Paris to La Rochelle | Cycling in France

05.15 Start

We were up very early, feeling groggy from a late night of packing and preparation. We left the house later than expectedand got the bus. When we arrived at St Pancras it was absolute chaos! Queues out the door and just one poor man trying to keep things calm and moving. By the time we got through to the departure lounge it was already time to board. I fell asleep on the train almost immediately and left Drummer Pie listening to music all the way to Paris!

We arrived in Paris to no sign of our bikes, and no train guards to question! After many minutes faffing a crowd of other velo travellers assembled. Eventually after some strained conversation with a porter it was established that the baggage reception had them at the other side of the station. This was BLOODY MILES away from the platform/metro/taxis!

Our original plan was to quickly grab the bikes from the platform and then take the metro to Gare Montparnasse. It became immediately apparent that this would be very tricky, and I was really struggling to carry everything! We were also starting to run out of time to make our connection. We approached the taxi rank, the first taxi we asked gave us a quote of 80 euros, crazy money! I felt really silly for not researching this cost beforehand. Before having a total panic we approached another driver, who had a slightly smaller car and he estimated it costing 15-20 euros, phew! He swiftly packed everything into his car (it was cosy) and we had a great chat in broken english/french, about the welsh rugby team and cycling in Paris. The taxi driver dropped us right by the escalators for the station, and wished us good luck, little did we know we would need it!

Then things got really stressful. There appeared to be no luggage trolleys in the station so we were again carrying everything, and by this time it felt like my arms might fall off! There were also so many people getting on our train, and everyone had loads of luggage- silly us didn't realise that travelling on the 1st August in France was a bad idea (te first day of the French summer vacations)

At this point I was standing on the platform getting more and more panicked as Drummer Pie tried to get the luggage on- and find a guard for some help- all the luggage racks were packed full. I was stuck on the platform with the bikes watching the clock in a mess of anxiety, when the guard finally came along and told us just to get on and sort the luggage out on board, we got on with seconds to spare! Once we were onboard the stress continued, and after much luggage tetris finally we got the bikes in place, having to store our bags across several racks!

Once all of the luggage was in place we headed to the dining carriage for an overpriced sandwich and cold drink. If felt like a huge relief to finally be on the last bit of the journey!

Arriving at La Rochelle felt like a massive achievement, and although we had to put our bikes back together and find a campsite, the holiday mood hit us! The bikes had survived the journey perfectly and reassembled them on the station platform.

The next stop was tourist information, which thankfully was very close and easy to find. I didn't really know what to expect of La Rochelle, it is a beautiful town and it felt great to be by the sea! Outside tourist information we bumped in to some Brits also on bikes, and they reassured us that the municipal campsite was not only close but nice, and pretty cheap, wahoo! They were correct, it was another 5 minute cycle and was only 15.60 euros for the night.

We had an enormous pitch and our tiny tent looked hilarious in comparison! This is when we realised that we had forgotten the hat for our tent (that covers the ventilation mesh at the top) and also that the lightweight pegs that we bought especially didn't actually fit through the anchor points for the tent - whoops! I hastily constructed another hat out of a bit of the mattress bag and some gaffa tape, and attached it with clothes pegs, perfectly fine! Then we weighed down the tent with our luggage and headed back in to town for some dinner and a well deserved beer.

After a wander around the beautiful walled town we found a bar- it was full of Brits! La Rochelle seems to be a very popular british holiday destination, and after a pretty darn expensive beer we asked for some restaurant recommendations from the ladies on the next table. They recommended a strip of restaurants all know for Moules Frites on the opposite side of the harbour, we headed over and we were not disappointed! There was even a bargain set menu! Drummer Pie tried mussels for the first time and they were a big hit.

Feeling full and tired we popped to a shop for some (more) beer and loo roll- an essential in french campsites- and slowly cycled back to camp. After enjoying Leffe in a can we and drifted off with every intention of an early morning start the next day...

Cycling in France!! The night before...

After a long summer break it's now time to tell the story of our short holiday cycle touring in France!

The story starts the night before as we dropped off our bikes at St Pancras station after work. The next day we would take the Eurostar to Paris, change trains, and carry on to La Rochelle on the west coast.

The Eurostar bike policy is quite frankly bonkers! (more on this another time - I can rant on this for some time!) But for now the essentials, for packaged bikes under 120 x 90cm you pay £10 extra to send them as excess baggage with their baggage company Euro Depart. If you want to put them on built it costs £25, not guaranteed on the same train, or £30 on the same train- provided you drop it off at least an hour before and book in advance.

We decided to try and keep it cheap and went for the £10 option. We knew that this would involve some sort of box or bag, which we would either have to carry or dump when we got to France, so I set about the internet research! After reading many other blog posts and scouring online bike shops we found the CTC clear bike bags on wiggle.com at £12 each. We liked the idea that the bags were see through, so baggage handlers may be convinced to take a little more care when they could see our precious cargo inside. However £12 for essentially a large plastic sack seemed a little pricey, so I started looking in to alternatives and found mattress bags! We ordered two double mattress covers from the local bed shop at £10 for two, with the idea that we would use them to bag our bikes for travel, and carry them as extra waterproof sheeting/groundsheets.

When packing our bikes we took both wheels off, and the pedals, and turned the handlebars around. We also covered any delicate bits with plastic bottles (cut to size) ie the derailleur, forks and bottom of the chain ring. Then we covered the bikes and bags in 'fragile' tape, and dropped them off hoping that they would arrive safely in Paris!

Preparing for cycle touring.. In France!

Im not sure if I have mentioned it before, but this summer DrummerPie and I are planning to do some cycle touring in the south of France.

We are very lucky to have friends with a fabulous house near Agen, so the plan is to end up there after 8 days of cycling and camping. We will meet a bunch of friends there for a relaxing cheese, wine and sunbathing marathon.

After extensive research/discussions/googling we decided that the best way to get to the south of France and back, was via Eurostar and train. (Getting bikes on these services is a total nightmare BTW- but maybe another post on this in the future!)

We are going to start our adventure in La Rochelle, cycle down the coast, skip north of Bordeaux, and finally cycle east along towards Agen. Over the last few months we have been collecting equiptment, and we now have a full cycle camping kit ready to go! 

Today we had the pleasure of pootling around London picking up some final bits, including some essential maps for the journey. I also decided after our last long ride that I would most certainly need a new saddle for my blue bike, and after trying my pal Lucy's Tokyo Bike I decided to get a Tokyo saddle. It's a beautiful brown saddle and has loads of padding, but I like that it isn't too wide, I hope it will be super comfortable! I will be sure to review it afterwards. 

I also picked up 'The man who cycled the Americas' by Mark Beaumont. A few years ago I read his book 'The man who cycled the World', and I can honestly say it was one of the best adventure stories I have ever read. I am forever boring my cycling friends with anecdotes about the book!  

I am super excited to read this new book, especially as I loved watching the BBC coverage of his journey a few years ago. I am hoping that this will give me some serious motivation when we are eating up the miles in France this summer. 

I am planning to keep a diary of our little adventure, and maybe even do a bit of vlogging too, but before that I will be trying to keep you updated with all of our preparations! 

Cycle Surgery Womens Cycling Evening at Waterloo

Last night I had the pleasure of attending an exclusive Womens Cycling evening at Cycle Surgery on Waterloo bridge. I attended a similar event last year at the Southwark store and it was so friendly and informative I didn't want to miss going again! I dragged some cycling friends along, and we made a night of it.

We were greeted at the door with some fizzy wine (or fruit juice!) and tasty cupcakes, and given a wicked goodie bag. In the bag was a Nuun water bottle and electrolyte tablet, some tasty chocolate from Divine, and an awesome multitool from Leyzne- so handy!! There was also a copy of Womens Cycling magazine, and a catalogues and some leaflets.

Tasty cakes! There was also a running event no at the same time.

The main focus of the evening for me was the brilliant talk and demonstration by Nancy, she covered various issues, including how to fix punctures, cleaning your bike and clothing advice. I cannot stress enough how great she was at explaining everything in a non patronising and fun way! She certainly made me and my friends feel like we were prepared to tackle bike maintenance on our own, and even recommended some good products to help us. Nancy and others were also on hand afterwards to answer questions and give specific advice.

Although this was partly a sales event, there was no pressure to buy anything, but if you were feeling spendy then there were discounts on many products to help you out, in some cases 50% off! I picked up some new brake pads (boring!) and my friends stocked up on tyre levers, inners tubes and pumps. 

If you are new to city cycling, thinking about getting a new bike, or even if you have been cycling around London for a while, I would really recommend these events. It's great to get a reminder on bike maintenance and to meet other female cyclists to share your tips and tricks with.

There are more events coming up across the city over the summer, well worth dropping in on...

Victoria 26th June

Covent Garden 3rd July

Holborn 23rd July

Southwark Bridge 5th August

You can reserve you place at the event online, which is super easy, just follow this link for more info... http://www.cyclesurgery.com/womens-events/content/fcp-content

Let me know if you get the chance to go, how was it? Did you learn something? Would you recommend it to others? 

Happy summer cycling!

Secure saddle!

A little while ago DrummerPie bought himself a snazzy new saddle. Although it is apparantly very comfy, it is a bit of a thief magnet, so we came up with a plan to keep it safe. Although we have extra extender cables for locking up, it can be a bit of a faff to carry extras, so we thought we would try something else.

We used recycled bike bits to make the lock, a length of bike chain and an old inner tube.

Use a chain breaker to get the chain the right length, it should wrap through the saddle rails, and under through the frame. Take a length of innertube and thread the chain through it. This will act as protection against the chain rusting, and stop it scratching the frame. Thread it through, and seal up the innertube with a bit of electrical tape.

We hope that this will keep it safe out on the mean streets, hopefully it will act as an extra deterrent! Do you have any trick for locking your saddle? Or do you just use a cheap one like me?

Goodordering Handlebar Bag review!

I hope you enjoy this video, I really loved trying out this bag- and if you are a fan of handlebar bags then you should certainly give this a go!

Aldi Specialbuys!

Aldi have slowly been building a reputation for good quality, and very reasonably priced cycling gear. They have now released the summer range, and I picked up a few bits to try out. 

Fingerless padded gloves (£3.49)

I'm not normally a fan of pink, but I have small hands and had to get the womens version. Although there was another colourway (black) they did not have the same level of gel padding. The gloves are comfy, and it's great to have the velcro strap across the wrist to keep them tight. I'm not sure how long they will last, but for £3.49 I will be pleased of they last the summer! 

Arm warmers (£6.99)

I always thought that these were a bit of a gimmic, but having done some longer rides recently I can see the advantage of travelling light and just adding sleeves to keep the wind off. Perhaps they will come in handy in France this summer- probably great for stopping sunburn! 

Cycling shorts (£7.99)

This was another purchase made with France in mind. I think we will be cycling for about 10 days solid, so I am going to need more than one pair of shorts. For this price I can't see a reason not to try them out! I am normally a size 14 (potentially a 14.5 at the moment!), so I went for a medium and they fit fine, although the waist is quite small so there was some wriggling around to get them on! They rise up high on the waist, and are quite long, making them very comfortable. There is that plastic sticky stuff on the legs to keep them from riding up. The padding is not particularly thick, and the stitching is minimal, I am hopeful that they will be comfortable! 

Although the Aldi gear might not be the highest quality, I think that their range is exciting and there is plenty to try out. I like to experiment things like arm warmers from this range so I can decide whether to buy again a similar product with a higher spec, or if I even need them at all! 

I do also HATE the pink, and it makes me sad that womens cycling gear does always seem to be pink. Why can't it just be in black? Or blue, or green, or anything else!!

Saying that, I have also found that the other cycling bits I have bought before from Aldi have been brilliant- especially my BLACK winter gloves!