Dieppe to Vigeois by Bike

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This is a diary of a 720km bike journey from Dieppe on the north coast of France to a small village called Vigeois, which is south of Limoges, or about two thirds of the way to the south of France. It took 9 days of cycling to reach my destination. I was accompanied for the first four days by my daughter Polly and her boyfriend Chris.

Briefly, the background and reasons behind this particular choice of itinerary were as follows.

My mother and father (a French teacher) used to spend their summer holidays in Vigeois for about ten years from the mid 1960s until my father’s untimely death, in Vigeois, in August 1975. My father was buried in Vigeois and the village holds a special significance for our family, as he made many friends there. In fact he produced a book, a reader for secondary school students of French, which was a compilation of interviews he carried out with local tradespeople in the village.

I inherited a set of Michelin 1:200,000 maps which bear my father’s annotations and arrows showing the routes he took in his Morris 1100 from Dieppe to Vigeois. The route varied a little from year to year, but generally he chose the scenic options and avoided the busiest roads and large towns.

As I enjoy cycle touring, the thought occurred to me to re-create my father’s journey through France by bike. The roads he chose 40 years ago are still minor routes with very little traffic, and ideally suited to cycling. The growth in traffic over the years has almost entirely been absorbed by the motorway network.

I decided to embark on this journey between 14 and 22 September 2008. This meant 9 days cycling at 80km per day on average. Leaving a day or so for bad weather contingency, I planned to return by train to the UK on Monday 25 September (although in the event, the contingency was not needed so I returned a day earlier).

As the plan took shape, we considered how we would lodge and eat en route. We chose to take lightweight camping equipment and aim to find campsites along the way, as this would be more flexible than relying on hotels. However we would not take cooking equipment, preferring instead to find cafes for breakfast and decent restaurants for dinner.

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Comments

[richard]

Vigeois/GJPC
Interesting route and I'm afraid not used by me so far since I'm so keen to get down there quickly. Stumbled across your blog through Google whilst seeking to purchase your father's book. Former pupil and teacher at IGS (1963-86). Recently bought house in Monpazier, Dordogne and visited Vigeois very briefly earlier this year, unsuccessfully looking for trace of your father. Would be interested in communicating further.