Grey and very cold again today. A lap of the villages today... Waddington, Whalley, Wiswell, Pendleton, Worston, Chatburn, West Bradford, Waddington and home. No extra miles today but we are well on track. Our virtual journey would be leaving Vouecourt and another easy day of riding on the canal, gradually gaining height lock by lock. Today we enter Burgundy. Burgundy is renowned for its superb wines, excellent gastronomy and rich architectural heritage. Buildings of note include a large number of medieval and Renaissance homes, churches and monasteries. Many are topped by the region's distinctive, multihued tile roofs. Most of the monasteries belonged either to the Cistercian order or their bitter rivals, at the time, the powerful and wealthy Benedictines directed from Cluny. (We pass through Cluny in a few more days). Chaumont is the capital of ... read more

Another lovely day, but with a very cool easterly wind. Today's route was Four Lane Ends to Whalley, Billington, Dinkley, Ribchester, Longridge and Little Town Dairy for our first cafe 'take out' in months. A sausage sandwich and a hot coffee, in the sunshine, felt like luxury. Then it was a loop of Parsonage Lane to Chipping and home via Chaigley. So our longest trip, for this challenge, with an added 11 miles in the 'bank'. Our virtual journey would be out of La Chaussee sur Marne and head south along the Marne Valley for 12 miles before getting on the Entre Champagne et Bourgogne Canal at Vitre le Francois. This is a summit level canal connecting the Marne and the Saone. Once on the canal path the going is flat with a slight incline at ... read more

Another lovely day for a bike ride. Today's route was through Chatburn and Bolton by Bowland, round the radio mast with an added loop round Higher Bank Farm and back through Sawley and Chatburn. Our virtual route heads south out of Reims and meanders in and out of the vineyards on the slopes of the Montagne de Reims Regional Park endowed with lush forests. (One of the three most important wine growing areas).The Route Touristique du Champagne (600km of roads) runs south of Reims and our route touches on this in Verzy. Just out of Verzy is a forest of a thousand year old twisted beech trees known locally as the ‘Faux de Verzy’. No one knows why the forests near Verzy are home to 800 odd bizarrely malformed beech trees, but their presence has been ... read more

A sunny morning but breezier than expected. Our route was Bashal Eaves, Cow Ark, Chipping, loop of Leagram, Chaigley and home via the Pigeries. Paul had a major mechanical with the derailer and chain three miles from home. At least the weather was good for standing around fixing it. Our virtual route would be from Montigny sur Crecy across rolling hills which are becoming more substantial in size. We are mainly on small D roads which pass through small villages and hamlets. Villages are awarded star/flower ratings for their displays of floral art and many of them are very pretty. As you enter the village there is a sign showing if it's a one, two or three flower village. Marchais is a very small commune which takes its name from the Latin 'mercasius' or marshland. The ... read more

Very, very windy again but dry and quite pleasant in the sun. From home it was through Chatburn to Sawley, then Grindleton, West Bradford, Waddington, Mitton, Whalley and home via Four Lane Ends. Our virtual journey would be out of Caudry across more rolling hills and tiny lanes through crop growing fields heading due south. Also, past many more Cemeteries of war graves including the Ramicourt British Cemetery which contains 118 First World War burials, ten of them unidentified. These Cemeteries are always immaculately neat and tidy, even when they appear to be in the middle of nowhere. Saint-Quentin is a commune in the Aisne department in Hauts-de-France. It is named after Saint Quentin, who is said to have been martyred there in the 3rd century. L'hotel de ville is famous for its peal of 37 ... read more