Voilà!

Description from the AF3V website of the Thouet Valley Cycle Path from St Martin to Parthenay (alopogies in advance for any clumsiness of style!)
As the towns are situated on the crests, and as the route often goes away from the river, there are frequent climbs. That makes the route a bit difficult for beginners or well-laden trippers, who should think about short stages.
The route is described in the published brochure in 8 sections. It starts at the edge of the department, at 2 km to the N of the lake “La Ballastière” at St Martin.
The first section between this lake and Thouars, 22 km long, is easy for families as it is perfectly flat. It follows for a long time the River Thouet, on a little sheltered road which, at the entry to Thouars, borders family gardens. After a very steep climb (the only one!), you cross the center of Thouars, go down on foot from the castle and cross the Thouet by the Romanesque bridge from where you get a beautiful view of the town.
The second section from Thouars to St Généroux (18.5 km) presents some climbs but you run alongside the Thouet many times (eg at Missé and before Boué) and you follow a wild 'almost-greenway' of 3 km before St G. In this town, the Romanesque bridge and the church are magnificent.
The third section, from St G to Airvault (11 km) often goes far from the valley onto a plateau (to where it climbs!) but the arrival at Airvault by the meadow of Soulièvres and the crossing of this pretty town pay off.
The 4th section (8.5 km) links Airvault with St Loup, a pretty village with houses with dovecotes.
The 5th section (8.5 km) passes by the Cébron Lake, a nature reserve and agreeable site, then descends to Gourgé where it crosses the Thouet on the Romanesque bridge.
The 6th section from Gourgé to Parthenay (22.6 km) is the most hilly of all, for the route climbs up to Lhoumois, then continues, far from the valley, into the hills. On the other hand, the entry into Parthenay has been made safe by the creation of cycle paths which lead to the crossing of the town which is achieved by means of a beautiful greenway running alongside the Thouet for 4 km, up to the leisure center and the Green Wood campsite. You have to climb into the town by small roads. Note: when you find yourself in the lower town, in the St James quarter, you can cross the Thouet at the old port, in order to join the start of the Parthenay – Bressuire greenway 1 km away.

Le parcours mystère: un petit problème!

Hi folks. Sorry about the delay in the updated spreadsheets. I have met a problem on Day 4. This makes use of a greenway which we would be on from St Martin-de-Sanzay to Parthenay. This is 91 km according to the af3v website and our total for that day comes out at 116 km, the longest day up to that point (I thought initially it was going to be one of our shortest). I have been checking all the distances along the way, using Autoroute Express and, unless the route is extremely tortuous, this package didn't make it anything like this. I sent an email to Luc at af3v and, using Google Maps, he made it about 20 km less (in line with what I thought at first). But he also referred my question to Julien who knows the route well. Julien has just come back to say that the distances given on the website are spot-on and moreover the route is very hilly! Whoops - maybe we won't go on that one after all!
Any thoughts anyone? Any means of checking once again? BTW, Julien has referred me to the website for this greenway. The link is http://www.valleeduthouet.fr/cote-tourisme/le-thouet-a-velo/le-guide-decouverte/ I'd like to hear from anyone who can prove that our route is 20 km shorter than my latest figure! I haven't begun to study these pdf file maps yet myself.

Ride through France 2010

Je verifie que ce blog marche encore. Just checking that the blog still works.

Oui, ca marche! Yes, it does!

Tant mieux! So much the better!

A Trial Run

On Wednesday 6th I went to Bangor (N.Wales) to try out my intended train journeys on 18th May. All went well - trains on time, connections made and ample cycle capacity on all 3 legs. The final leg, Bangor to Holyhead , should not present any problems. The only small irritation was that there was a Race Day at Chester so the train from Crewe to Chester was full and standing. I did manage to get a seat and, after Chester, all was serene. I took the opportunity to check out the route from LanfairP.G. to Caernarfon and was pleased to note that the railway path from Felinheli into Caernarfon has been considerably improved since I last rode it. I have located the (very modern) Travelodge - it is more or less on the harbour side and almost on route 8. I am looking forward to the trip which is now not far away.

Sportive on our Doorstep bah May 17th

Hi guys

Anyone fancy stretching their legs lol. The day before our welsh adventure there is a 100k sportive utilising route 63 to Ashbourne organised by CCGiro starting from of all places Rosliston Forestry Centre. Would you adam and eve it . I am tempted to do the sportive anyway as one more day on the bike can't do any harm. Can it?
Anyway if anyone els is interested check out the following link...let me know if you're tempted..

http://www.wheelsinwheelscc.com/midlandmonster/Map-route.html

Another DragonRide

I went to Llangollen last weekend to see some lovely steam locos on the local heritage railway. To do so involved catching a Birmingham New Street to Holyhead train service as far as Chirk and cycling from there. I was first on the train with my bike at New Street as I was luckily standing on the platform in the right place. I was followed by 4 other cyclists. That we were able to get 5 bikes on a small train supposed to carry only 2 was down to a Conductor with common sense. The owner of the bike stored with mine in the "correct place" explained that he and his friends (all 60 plus years of age) were travelling to Conway to ride from there to Cardiff using bridleways. They were camping and had a support vehicle carrying their tents etc. They are due in Cardiff next Thursday and presumably are currently in Central Wales in very wet conditions. In return I told him we were doing a very similar journey next month but were making it easier for ourselves by using the Sustrans route and B&B/Hostels. I hope they leave us some Dragons.

Train Tickets/Reservations for 18th May to Holyhead

This is the situation (as I understand it) regarding our proposed travel to Holyhead on Monday 18th May:

There are 4 of us involved - Martin is cycling direct to Dolgellau and Phil will possibly join us later in the journey.

Shawn is travelling by road (and has offered to transport one other cycle)

Keith and Clyde have travel reservations for the 10:49 service onward from Crewe and I believe that they may also have cycle reservations. (Can Clyde confirm this, please?)

I have a cycle reservation on the 09:49 Crewe to Bangor and am confident that I can blag my way onto trains for the rest of the journey.

If , for any reason, cycle reservations on the 10:49 Crewe to Holhead are not forthcoming for Keith and Clyde I can see a way of getting to Holyhead on alternate services to arrive there at or about the same time. Details to be revealed if needed.

Peter