The end of another Tour de France. Good crack, good company, good food and some interesting and beautiful scenery (as well as lots of Tarmac). Jon made the interesting observation that DH & JPS have now cycled over 3000 miles over the past few years on these tours. Let's hope they will let us Brits back in again next year. Big thanks to Jon & Al for doing all the planning, booking and navigating on this trip and generally looking after me :-) Cheers D. T...

School Report for Boys Cycling Tour Spain/France 2016 Alan (APL): Alan is a bright cheerful and popular boy. Alan likes these trips and is a veteran of the longer form of rides. Alan has a tendency sometimes to be too silly, and sometimes his jokes can be misunderstood by the other boys. I am sure Alan will continue with cycle rides in France, although he has past history of lone cycling and he now has new friends and may prefer them to his old school friends. ...

We woke to a gloomy morning in Vannes, took our time over breakfast before going down to the bat cave to claim our bikes. David and Jon decided to carry out DIY bike activities, including the comprehensive valet, MOT and full service option. And this work paid off as we had our first "mechanical" of the trip, Jon's chain came off. It took 15 minutes to unpack and find his surgical instruments and 15 seconds to put his chain on. Guess how long it took to re-pack? ...

Yesterday's blog got a little silly, Alan hacked into the night, Jon responded (oh dear) David and I happy in our ignorance. We have cycled today from our hotel in a busy industrial estate in Nantes sixty odd miles to Vannes, having lunch (meal deal "formules") on the way, just over the Brittany border. Just waiting to walk out for evening grub, praying that there are no more fashion faux pas's, some chance. AB. I apologise for any distress caused to my travelli...

I used the word grind yesterday to describe our cycling, today's word would be flying. Helped (for a rare change) by that same pesky wind we flew through our 66 miles here to Nantes. Or to be more accurate to our hotel in an industrial park on the outskirts of the city. We are well into our routines now, cycling, R&R stops, evening activities we are creatures of habit. There are variations on our routine, for example we (Alan) talk to people. Alan also attrac...