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A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving.
Lao Tzu

Beaune to Barcelona by bike

Since I was enjoying the recumbent so much I decided that cycling to Spain would be a good idea. I didn't have time to cycle all the way from England and so started at Beaune, just south of Dijon, in France. For two reasons: It was just over 1000km so I could do it in two weeks, and European Bike Express could take me and the bike there.

Date of event: 7/5/2009

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10.00, Le Puy en Velay looked very nice but I didn't fancy staying and flashed on through. Actually, that's not quite true it took me an age to find the voie verte that I knew went out of here heading to Solignac.

 

11.31 As you can see from the timings it took me over an hour to get on this. No one seemed to know where it was, it wasn't signposted and it was starting to get hot.

Unfortunately the ground, though not rough, was rocky enough to mean that I had to keep my eyes on the surface to avoid the larger stones. It was also a bit like riding through jelly, a bit tiring.

Nonetheless, it was a pretty route, slow because of the surface but at least it was flat.

 

12.00, the green way was about 30km long and was dotted with very long tunnels along its length. I started to look forward to the tunnels, they were cool.

 

Cool they were but also very, very long - once in you couldn't see either end, and, though lit, there were gaps in the light so you had 10m or so of pitch black to take your chances with in between each light. The ground was gravel and stones, with puddles so it made for an interesting ride.

 

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Le Puy en Velay
10.00, Le Puy en Velay looked very nice but I didn't fancy staying and flashed on through. Actually, that's not quite true it took me an age to find the voie verte that I knew went out of here heading to Solignac.
53

Le Puy en Velay

Voie Verte to Solignac
11.31 As you can see from the timings it took me over an hour to get on this. No one seemed to know where it was, it wasn't signposted and it was starting to get hot.<p>Unfortunately the ground, though not rough, was rocky enough to mean that I had to keep my eyes on the surface to avoid the larger stones. It was also a bit like riding through jelly, a bit tiring.<p>Nonetheless, it was a pretty route, slow because of the surface but at least it was flat.
54

Voie Verte to Solignac

Tunnels
12.00, the green way was about 30km long and was dotted with very long tunnels along its length. I started to look forward to the tunnels, they were cool.
55

Tunnels

Long tunnels
Cool they were but also very, very long - once in you couldn't see either end, and, though lit, there were gaps in the light so you had 10m or so of pitch black to take your chances with in between each light. The ground was gravel and stones, with puddles so it made for an interesting ride.
56

Long tunnels