EuroCycle 2012: France

6 - 18 July 2012

• Buzancy - Guignicourt: 83km
• Guignicourt - Pierrefonds: 104km
• Pierrefonds - Hénonville: 100km
• Hénonville - Les Andelys: 61km
• Les Andelys - St-Georges-du-Vievre: 77km
• St-Georges-du-Vievre - Villers-sur-Mer: 54km
• Villers-sur-Mer - Arromanches: 68km
• Arromanches - Grandcamp-Maisy: 58km
• Grandcamp-Maisy - Quinéville: 54km
• Quinéville - Barfleur: 25km
• Rest day in Barfleur
• Barfleur - Cherbourg: 30km

For an area with such a bloody past, I often found north-eastern France to be eerily quiet. As I cycled near to sites of World War One battles, I went through dozens of quiet villages with shuttered windows and shops closed for most of the day. I progressed from the war cemeteries in the north-east

through the wheat fields north of Paris

to the coast. There I found many more war memorials as well as pretty seaside towns.

As I made my way west along the coast, visiting the D-Day beaches, I realised that I was ahead of schedule to make my ferry to Rosslare so I could afford to slow down and relax. And there is no better place to do just that. The last days of my cycling holiday around Europe were spent reading (I was very pleased with my newly-purchased Kindle which was perfect for this trip), eating delicious food, and contemplating the sun setting on my three-year adventure.