Cycling London to Paris is a bucket list experience for many British cyclists. Some choose to do it under 24h as a sportive challenge and many others decide to enjoy every minute of it and making it a small trip.
This challenge gives you maximum flexibility and can be adapted to suit all tastes, budgets, levels of fitness and bikes. The appeal of this adventure is also that it can be done within just a few days, making it a serious options for all of us with normal jobs, families or other commitments! Whatever your choices end up being, there is a profond sense of satisfaction from reaching Paris by bike just by the power of your legs.
We did it!
After towing with a few ideas on what to do other the Easter bank holiday week-end, we decided we will set off from home, in London to the Eiffel Tower in Paris. I was excited just thinking about it and swiftly started planning the logistics (you will see a bit later that there are quite a few aspects to consider!). I am now sharing the adventure and some tips. I hope you found this article inspiring and that I am looking forward to hearing about your experience of cycling the iconic London to Paris route.
It is always fun at the beginning of the year to set new goals and look at adventures, challenges or goals you would like to complete.
After a 2018 sport season cut short due to injury (a sprained ankle in June that spiralled into tendon inflammation and took months to heal), I am excited to leave the past behind and try new things, as well as doing more of the things are like.
This is what I have in the calendar for now:
Red Bull Neptune Steps, swim obstacle race, Glasgow (Scotland) – March 23rd
I had my eyes set on this event since last year but didn’t sign-up as I realised I needed proper training. The race is a short swim sprint in cold water (you swim in a canal in Scotland on the first week-end of Spring after all). It is only 450m but the catch is that you have to pass a serie of ladders, ropes and climbing walls. Oh and the water will probably be somewhere between 3C and 7C
It is all about cold water training as well as upper body strength, definitely an event to challenge me – I am not even fully sure I can complete it!
Objective: cross the finish line! 🙂 COMPLETED
Cycle London to Paris via Dover, 455km of cycling in 3 days – April 21st-23rd
Living in London and being from France, this one seems like an no brainer. The plan is to cycle via Dover and to pass my home town of Saint-Omer in the north of France.
Day 1: London (UK) – Dover (UK) – Saint-Omer (FR), 200km
Day 2: Saint-Omer – Amiens, 140km
Day 3: Amiens – Paris, 115km
I am excited about making it from Big Ben to the Eiffel Tower just by the power of my legs. The real test is to be able to ride more than 6h day after day but still being able to enjoy it! Needless to say, we are taking the Eurostar back! 😀
Half Ironman – Swim 1.9km, Bike 90km and Run 21km.
My first half ironman completed last year left me with an unachieved taste. Yes, I did finish but I was unable to run and had to walk the full half marathon due to a sprained ankle just 3 weeks before the event.
Total finish time in 2018: 7h24min.
This year’s objective: run the half marathon… and come back with a PB (Personal Best) and maybe even a sub 6h finish!
First Swim Run, Authieman (France) – June 2019
Excited to try out the swimrun discipline with a race on the coast of the English Channel, in the north of France. In total, we will be expected to run a total of 15km and swim 3km but with alternating run-swim-run-swim. You swim in your running shoes and run in your wetsuit. Excited to share this with my sister and enjoy the nice backdrop of the beaches of the north of France!
When it is still dark outside, frost covers the ground and the air temperature is a mere 2C, I get on my bike to reach Tooting Bec Lido. I strip down to my swimming costume and slowly descend the stairs to immerse myself into the cold waters of the unheated outdoor pool. Across the country and even across the globes, there are hundreds of thousands doing the same, in pools, rivers, lakes or in the ocean.
Ice dipping in the forest in Sweden on a glorious winter day.
Who would voluntary swim into waters as cold as 2C/35F when your whole body screams to get out, only to emerge a few minutes later with the biggest smile on their face? Surely they must be nuts?
For our first British getaway week-end since we sold our car, we chose the Isle of Wight delighted by the idea of cycling its 65 miles of coast in a place we could easily reach by public transportation. The weather was definitely on our side, the skies were as blue as the sea and the 3 days spent cycling, hiking and eating ice cream were a delight. Learn more about a week-end destination to put on your list.
Cycling 110km around the Isle of wight
Start and Finish: Ventnor, but as it is a loop you can start from pretty much anywhere around the island. many people start from Cowes.
For the last day of 2017 I have gathered a pictures of my best 2017 memories! Small or big, in the water, on snow or in a pub, it is nice to remember that even though it has been a busy year, there has been plenty of things to be grateful for!
From left to right:
River swim in Glencoe, Scotland (Red Squirel camping)
The end of an intense and beautiful journey, like hundreds of thousands skiers before us.
In June 2016 I started my journey to complete a Swedish classic. Nine months later, on a dark morning of February, I was on the starting line of Vasaloppet, a 90km journey where thousands of participants aim to reach Mora from Sälen on nordic skis in one of the most famous classic skiing race in the world. In this article I am sharing my journey to completing Vasaloppet, from beginner to {spoiler alert!} crossing the finish line, along with tips I picked on the way.
Skiing the 90km of Vasaloppet is considered an integral part of being a Swede. It is usually said that either you have completed Vasaloppet, either you are training for it or you think about doing it one day. Since its the first edition in 1922, 550.000 skiers have taken the journey from Salen to Mora, along a 90km trail. located in the middle of Sweden. Cross country skiing is usually regarded as one of the most intense endurance sport and powering yourself on skis for 90km is quite a challenge.
The Dart 10k is an open water swim in the Dart river in South Devon (United Kingdom). It is usually hosted in the beginning of September and gathers more than a thousand of swimmers of all ages and abilities, who aim to reach the village of Dittisham starting from the town of Totnes.
As I walk towards the start line of my 10k swim in the river Dart on an early morning of September, I think about the dozen of messages of encouragement I woke up to that morning: from colleagues, triathletes, family and friends… If many people run a marathon, not so many have swam one, elevating those who would even consider signing up to the status of super humans. I look around but the only thing I see is a bench of weirdos in highly unsexy rubber one pieces, ready to dip in a muddy cold water on a Sunday afternoon while the smart ones of this world have not even finish their first cup of coffee (or tea).
1600 swimmers took part in the 2017 Dart 10k. Here: the start in Totnes
I have always liked long distance trails. I like the idea of going from A to B by the simple power of your legs. The idea of hiking part of the South Downs Way came as I was looking for ideas of activities with mum, who was visited me for a few days. But I didn’t want to spend hours in transportation. I wanted an epic week-end adventure just a stone thrown from London, mixing sea and countryside. I had heard about the Seven Sisters hike so I decided we should tackle the last part of this national trail. We went up steep climbs, avoided cows, had fun on bales of hay, embraced Sussex views and ended up with our toes in the English channel – all under beautiful summer skies.
The north panorama from Firle Beacon, highest point of the hike
It started with a misunderstanding. I had been talking for a few months about going for a week-end to explore the Lake District area, in the UK. Imagine my surprise when unwrapping the paper of my birthday present I discovered a guide of the best hikes in Peak District instead. But it didn’t really matter, I didn’t return the guidebook and instead we book a week-end to celebrate spring and the return of the outdoors season on this maybe less hyped destination. And guess what? Peak District didn’t disappoint me.
For this week-end we choose two hikes that we believe will offer the most dramatic landscapes, they also happen to be among the most popular. But outside of the week-end, you will have the hills for yourself!
Hill walking on Kinder Low plateau (Peak District, UK)
The French riviera is probably known mostly around the world for its glamour, beauty and amazing coast line. For me, a girl from the north of France, used to grey skies and dark seas, The Cote d’Azur (Azur coast) name could not be more suitable for this place. It doesn’t matter if you are strolling by the expensive yachts in Monaco or just found the perfect local picnic spot on the rocks, wherever you go, the deep tones of the sea and the blue skies are an amazing background for your explorations.
In this 7 days itinerary, I am sharing my favorite places in this area. Are you ready for a week of blue sea, luxury, picturesque villages and the fresh air of the sea?
A week where you will always keep nuances of blue in sight!
