Final Whistle.

Tuesday 17th October 2023. Northern France.

As we are nearing the Eurotunnel it is time to review the epic trip that started at the very end of August. So much has happened. Four years ago Janice and I were at a small town in France listening to the Rugby World Cup semi-final where England beat New Zealand and I said “wouldn’t it be good to travel around France in 2023 to experience the World Cup”! Now it has been our reality.

To review the trip clinically I must split it into three parts….1. Me on my own, 2. Janice joining me and me cycling to Lyon and 3. The route from Lyon to Marseille where we both travelled and cycled for fun.

The Rugby, Cycling and Pootling took place at all the above stages and we have been lucky to have had hot and sunny weather throughout.

Me On My Own.

I set off on 30th August in the motorhome and caught the ferry across to Caen. I headed for the Loire area….tried to fit in some cycling practice despite the blistering heat. I also bagged a few chateaux too.

After visiting Tim in the Limoges area I parked up the van, packed up my panniers and he took me to Bordeaux for the opening weekend of the World Cup. Big thanks to Tim for taking me and my bike into Bordeaux.

I enjoyed the beautiful city of Bordeaux and meeting other rugby fans. I also enjoyed getting on the bike to cycle down to Toulouse.

Toulouse is probably the most ‘rugby mad’ city in France as it is their main sport in the area and they don’t have a major football team. It is also a beautiful town. I had met with several new friends along the way. I didn’t look forward to sleeping in the hostel with the ‘nutty woman’ but these experiences add to the ‘texture’ of the journey!

Janice joining me on the route to Lyon.

Janice and I met up in Carcassonne. She had flown out to Limoges and picked up the motorhome from Tim’s house. Carcassonne is a fabulous walled city.

I continued the cycling down to the Med and across to Van Gogh’s city of Arles.

Avignon (the city of the Popes) is another UNESCO World Heritage site and was particularly beautiful.

The cycling was going well and I pootled as I cycled, stopping at towns and villages along the way to see the castles and sample the pastries! Cycling gives me the best excuse to eat lots of treats and the French are good at treats. We had moved from a ‘Rugby mad’ area to an area that was less Rugby oriented and it was more difficult to find bars that were showing the matches unless France were actually playing.

From Avignon we were heading north up the river Rhône to Lyon.

The places we visited were too numerous to mention them all but we very much liked the smaller towns and villages. Janice did a great job driving the motorhome whilst I cycled.

We worked out the travel routes from the camping site to the Lyon Stadium and watched the All Blacks v Uruguay match. It was a contest for 20 minutes before the New Zealand rout started. Still, it was enjoyable to see such a big event. At the time it was the only match we had tickets for.

The match was just a warm up for the big event of the weekend…..Janice’s birthday….

Route from Lyon to Marseille.

I eased off the cycling from this point and we rode together when we arrived in the van at our destinations. Much of the route was a reverse of the route up the Rhône so if I had cycled it all I would have been retracing my steps for a large part of it.

The villages of Gordes and Roussillion were both postcard pretty.

We had a great visit to Vaison La Romaine….

Then on to Aix en Provence

Our last city was Marseille, which has a bit of a reputation for crime in some of its grotty areas it but we found it to be a very beautiful city centre around its Vieux Port.

We were lucky enough to get some resold match tickets for the England v Fiji game. Going to the England match was a fitting end to the long awaited trip.

I find it terribly difficult to bring the journey to an end but we have achieved all that we set off to do. We have been immersed in the Rugby World Cup matches, I have enjoyed watching the matches with complete strangers in bars and striking up conversations that make you think that many people around the world have similar values….at least the people who watch rugby!

We have enjoyed cycling in the places between the rugby host cities and pootled around the towns, the churches and the chateaux. We have enjoyed the tasty French foods that surpass the flavours of British fare!

Lastly, I have rekindled my love for ‘touring cycling‘ over longer distances as a means of transport. I can’t say that I have done anything extreme as the routes have been flat and were generally short distances but it is a great way of travelling, seeing places and meeting people. I have covered around 1,700km on the bike since arriving in France, so not too bad.

Over the last couple of days we have driven northwards and….for the first time in weeks we have found rain! We need to acclimatise to life back home.

So, we are at an end of this trip. The ref has blown the final whistle. We had plenty of tries and many conversions.

Cheers to all the readers. I hope you have gleaned some amusement from our travels. See you on the next adventure.