After 8 days of breaking camp and moving on, although I didn't always do lots of miles, I treated myself to a day off in Paimpont. It's a small town in the middle of the Paimpont Forest which is associated with Arthurian legend. Lots of places to visit, such as Merlin's Tomb but my tired legs only made it as far as the local bar which was showing Le Tour all afternoon. At last, a French bar with Le Tour on instead of horse racing. Yep, amazingly gambling on the horses seems more important in most places that the biggest big race in the world. Unfortunately my lack of planning ahead meant I had to do 25km on my rest day in search of fuel for my stove and some extra food. I found the food ... read more

Well, after what seems like absolutely ages in the planning and probably a fair bit of procrastinating and faffing, I am finally ready for the off. The original plan was to get going by early June, now, the 24th is the eventual date, still, better late than never and hopefully this means that I'll have everything I need, ha, fat chance. After being made redundant earlier this year, and always liking the idea of cycle touring I thought I'd take the opportunity to give it a go. With no job to rush back to I've decided to head off over into Europe rather than stick to the UK for my first taste of the touring life. It would probabaly be easier to stick to the UK but if I enjoy this trip then the UK can ... read more