Cycling – Page 2

2024 Cycling

Great cycling trips and days out including Coast to Coast in France along the Canal du Midi!

Total distance covered in 2024 was = 2240 km (1392 miles) since collected my new 800W Giant Explorer electric bicycle in May. This has a fantatic range – mile for mile much better than my 2019 500W Giant Explorer.

Some great trips to France and some wonderful days out in Sussex. I also managed to combine cycling with trips to Lyme Regis which were wonderful in the beautiful autumn days. These trips don’t include the Monday morning bike rides with John’s group here in Lewes. Unfortunately I didn’t have my Garmin for the first four months of the year so I don’t know what distances I covered in this period.

Canal du Midi – Coast to Coast Cycle trip

Johm, Martin, Jon & Vic at the beging of the Coast to Coast cycle trip at Royan, at the mouth of the river Gironde

The Coast To Coast cycling distance was 631 km (392 miles)

Click HERE for photos

Date	Title	Distance	Miles
20/05/2024 08:50	France Day 9 2024 Coast to Coast – – Capestang	43.25
19/05/2024 09:48	France Day 8 2024 Coast to Coast – Carcassonne	79.13
18/05/2024 10:30	France Day 7 2024 Coast to Coast – Castelnaudary	42.28
17/05/2024 09:49	France Day 6 2024 Coast to Coast – Gratentour	78.88
16/05/2024 09:53	France Day 5 2024 Coast to Coast – LamagistÃ¨re	84.74
15/05/2024 10:14	France Day 4 2024 Coast to Coast – Marmande	86.25
14/05/2024 09:24	France Day 3 2024 Coast to Coast – Bordeaux	103.95
13/05/2024 11:41	France Day 2 2024 Coast to Coast – Arcins	35.19
12/05/2024 11:35	France Day 1 2024 Coast to Coast – Royan	76.42
10/05/2024 08:20	Lewes to Portsmouth	95.44
	Sub Total	725.53	450.82
	Excluding Sussex	630.09	391.52
	Pont du Gare Stn to Remolins and the Pont du Gard return	45	27.96
	Total cycling in France	675.09	419.48
	Total cycling Vic & Jon	770.53	478.78

Last of the Summer Wine Trip with John & Vic

Click HERE for photos

Vic & John at Quiberville-sur-Mer in Normandy

Date	Title	Distance	Miles
29/09/2024 10:25	Saint-Valery-en-Caux Cycling	39.95
28/09/2024 10:07	NeufchÃ¢tel-en-Bray Cycling	74.29
27/09/2024 14:56	Dieppe Cycling	38.3
	Sub Total	152.54	94.78

France with Adrian, William & Edward – July 2024

Click HERE for photos

Edward, Adrian & William on the quayside opposite the *Restaurant Le Cap*, on the Rue du Port, Barneville-Carteret on the west coast of the Cherbourg peninsula, France

Date	Title	Distance	Miles
27/07/2024 11:02	Bayeux Cycling	71.39
25/07/2024 10:53	Saint-Lo Cycling	53.46
24/07/2024 11:17	Barneville-Carteret Cycling	72.77
23/07/2024 10:35	Cherbourg-en-Cotentin Cycling	59.27
	Total	256.89	159.62

Autumn Cycling 2024

Date	Title	Distance	Miles
15/12/2024 11:04	Lewes Cycling	53.89
28/11/2024 10:53	Lewes Cycling	47.01
25/11/2024 09:30	Lewes Cycling	34.84
17/11/2024 10:33	Lewes to Exceat Cycling	52.43
11/11/2024 09:32	Lewes Cycling	42.85
02/11/2024 10:07	Lewes to Uckfield Cycling	56.53
22/10/2024 10:41	Lewes to Cuckmere Haven	53.53
17/10/2024 14:09	Winchester Chichester	58.51
19/09/2024 10:42	Lyme Regis to Wareham	74.86
17/09/2024 10:55	Weymouth to Lyme Regis Cycling	50.58
	Total	525.03	326.24

Cycling in Spain – Pyrenees and Picos de Europa!

Cycling part of the Camino de Santiago in Spain starting from Bayonne in SW France and the final part through the Picos Europa. A 400 miles cycle ride with over 26,000 ft (7958 m) of ascent (phew!). A great adventure and some major challenges! Both the journey through the Pyrenees and the journey through the Picos de Europa. were fantastic!

Cycling the Camino de Santiago through the Basque Country, Navarra, La Rioja, Castilla y Leon and Cantabria

Vic Ient’s diary blog – October 2023 Photo collection click HERE

I have recently returned from cycling part of the Camino de Santiago in Spain starting from Bayonne in SW France and the final part through the Picos Europa. A 400 miles cycle ride with over 26,000 ft (7958 m) of ascent (phew!). Great adventure and some major challenges!

2025 Update! – Cycling UK, the UK’s national cycling charity, in its Feb/Mar 2025 edition published a 4 page spread about the trip. Click the image above to read the article and see the photos of the trip.

Update! My cycling companion, Jonathan has made a short video of the trip:

In 2019, my friend Jonathan and I cycled about 300 miles of the Camino Francaise from, Frómista, just west of Burgos to Santiago de Compostella. This year, 2023, was the first time after COVID we had the opportunity of completing the first section of the Camino de Santiago, from Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port to Frómista, where our 2019 journey started. This time we were joined by our friend John Clark.

A welcome stop for lunch in a town on the Camino de Santiago

Cycling in Spain 2023 – fiestas

During our cycle ride along the Camino de Santiago we were lucky on two occasions, one at Logroño, and the other in Reinosa, to have arrived during major fiestas. They were both associated with the week-long fiesta of San Mateo (St Matthew).

In Rioja and Cantabria

Travel notes by Vic Ient – September 2023

To read more and see photos about our amazing cycle ride CLICK HERE

Cycling in Spain – The Camino Santiago!

At the beginning of our journey along the Camino Frances

My colleague, Jonathan Gilburt and I have just returned from an amazing 600-mile cycle ride along the Camino Santiago in Spain! Over 16 days I cycled over 550 miles (885Km). Jonathan took an extra day and cycled close on 600 miles. See maps below

2020 Update! My cycling companion, Jonathan has made a short video of the trip:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYWTsGD3NJ0

The video (13 mins) kick off on a lovely sunny day in Plymouth where we spent the day , mainly in the 19th C dockyard before getting the ferry to Santander, Spain The maps below sketch out our cycle ride along the Camino Frances and then the Camino del Norte. It is a great record of the trip, – many thanks Jonathan!

What was amazing was the amount of ascent covered on the journey. The total ascent in my 16 days of cycling was over 41,500 ft. (12, 670 mtrs). Or, put it another way, it was like going up Ben Nevis (from sea level) 10 times in those 16 days, – one and a half times the height of Everest! I must admit I had some help though. At the age of 73 I thought I deserved some ‘power plus’. I had an electric bike, but Jonathan deserves full credit as he powered the whole of the journey under his own steam! Well, he’s 16 years younger than me so I’m very happy with my achievement. For both of us it was tough going in many places. On the level we were equal, – the electric bike cuts out at 15 miles an hour. Much of the time on the first part of the journey I was only on pedal power.

My cycling companion, Jonathan Gilburt and me in the mountains as we enter the region of Galicia

As many will know getting to Spain with your cycle isn’t easy. There are restrictions on the Eurostar and on the TGV. We wanted to go by ferry to Bilbao, but Brittany ferries said they don’t take bicycles, so we decided on Santander. From Santander we took the train south to join the ‘Camino Frances’ just west of Burgos. We then spent 7 days cycling through some beautiful striking and mountainous countryside to Santiago de Compostela. Having rested for a day we took the train north to Corunna and then cycled to Ferrol, another major Spanish seaport. We then took a short journey on the narrow gauge FEVE railway where we joined the north coast of Spain at a small fishing port with a beautiful beach, Covas. We then took 9 days to cycle the ‘Camino del Norte’ back to Santander. A wonderful journey by some truly beautiful beaches and craggy cliffs, – much like Cornwall. We went inland to and skirted beneath the beautiful range of mountains which run along the north coast of Spain, – the Picos de Europa before returning to Santander for the ferry journey home.