Posts for the ‘Chamonix to Barcelona’ Category

Chamonix to Barcelona (prep)

Hello People of the internet!  Tis I – the silly who fool who be doing the cycle tours.

After much anticipation about how and where I was going to do the 2nd stage of my cycle tour around Europe, I finally got the bike fixed up (if you didn’t know, it was vandalised in Chamonix) and I’m ready to hit the road again.  Tomorrow I will be cycling the first 100km of a the 955km trip and should end up in Annecy by the day’s end. I’ll be setting off super early to ensure I make it there before dark and ideally I’ll be camping up beside the lake somewhere when I arrive.

I only have 4 days of this magnitude. The others are no more than about 70km in a day and some as short as 34km.

Here’s my itinerary in case any of you were wondering:

Day 1(105km)
Chamonix, Sallanches, Bonneville, La Roche-sur-Foron, Annecy
Day 2(50km)
Annecy (A41), Saint Felix, Chambery
Day 3(110km)
Chambery (D1006) (D520), Voreppe (D1532 / E713), Romans-sur-Isere
Day 4 (68km)
Romans-sur-Isere (N532), Valence (E15) (N7), Montelimar
REST DAY

Day 5 (105km)
Montelimar (N7), Nimes
Day 6 (56km)
Nimes (N113), Montpellier
Day 7 (34km)
Montpellier, Meze
Day 8 (71km)
Meze (D51), Beziers, Narbonne
Day 9 (67km)
Narbonne (D6009), Perpignan
REST DAY

Day 10 (97km)
Perpignan (D617a, D81, D114, D914, N260), Roses
Day 11 (62km)
Roses (GIV-6216, GI-654), Palafrugell
Day 12 (63km)
Palafrugell (C31, C65, C35), Vidreres (A2, N-11), Tordera
Day 13 (67km)
Tordera (N-11), Barcelona

In total I should be cycling for 13 days plus an extra 2 days on top for resting. As tomorrow is the 18th of May at my guess I should arrive on the 1st of June. I’m going to give myself an extra day of rest somewhere in there if I need it as this is more strenuous than the last trip and about 35% further too.

Here’s where you guys come in: Listen carefully as, in the style of le resistance I shall only say this once.

I need your help! I need a little moral support and one extra thing that means a lot to me – I need you to loan someone some money. Not me – and not a lot, just $25 and to someone in the world you think deserves it.

The way to do it is through Kiva.org

You can choose anyone on their system who is looking for a loan and lend them $25 towards it. You and other kind folk will all get your money back as the loan is repaid and when you’ve got $25 back in your account you can lend it again, and again, and again. Also, if you decide you’ve had enough of lending or could do with the money yourself just withdraw the money and pop it back in your bank. It’s that easy and as you get the money back it’s not even like you’re out of pocket.

I set up a this lending team : www.kiva.org/team/a_million_miles_cycled so that when you lend it can be associated with this trip. I am trying to encourage others doing similar long distance trips to join the group and bring along their own clan of lenders. The aim is to try to cycle a million miles between us and raise loads of loan money for those who deserve it.

In return for your loans I will be blogging, taking pictures and videos so you can share in my experiences and will of course be loaning myself.

$25 is the sort of money you would spend on a round at the bar and completely forget about – make this $25 count. Thanks.

Anthony.

Day 1 – Chamonix to Annecy

First off – this title is a little misleading as although I planned to go to Annecy on my first day and see the notoriously beautiful lake, I somehow ended up taking the wrong route and have pointed myself in a more direct line straight towards the planned destination for day 2 – Chamberry.

Well I don’t see this as the worst slip-up and although I miss seeing the lake I will probably find it faster and easier to get to Chamberry, so no complaining here.

Well…. just a little complaining. But I’ll let the videos spell that out for you:

And here’s a few lil pics as well:

Day 2 – Albertville to Grenoble

Well to recap on what happened at the end of yesterday – I took a detour that was more accurate to a direct route between Chamonix and Barcelona. Aiming for Albertville (instead of Annecy) I realised I wasn’t too tired and that Chambery was only 20km or so down the road. So off I went.

Hmm.. lets let this video explain the rest:

And back on the road I get.

I get almost as far as Chambery by the time I find a cycle shop that seems to be open. They’re not of course because nothing in France seems to open before 10am (and then shut for 2-3hrs at lunch after an hour or so – why am I leaving again?) so they make me wait – although the doors are open and I just ask to use a decent pump. Luckily the wait is short.

Turns out Grenoble was actually further than I estimated in this vid but I’ve made it there all the same. I’ve also wasted a silly amount of money buying drinks to plug in my laptop and use “free” WiFi to get this blog posted so – if you haven’t already – go make a Kiva loan to compensate!

I’m now looking for another place slightly out of town to pitch the tent and get my head down. I’m heading towards Voreppe now and then tomorrow I try to get to Romans-sur-Isere. I should be on course for making the time I thought I would so I’ve been lucky despite everything.

Hope you are all well – shout out to my Sheffield posse, London boat crew and the hill billies from Cham. Don’t go changing – I’m gonna be seeing you all before long.

EDIT: Video from the evening I couldn’t post till now;

Out (plus more pics)

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