Day One - let's talk travel...

PG:
London to Paris, and Luxembourg to Paris.

One of the team came from Luxembourg - and that's his tale to tell. The rest of us assembled early in the morning in North London, freewheeled down to the Eurostar baggage at St Pancras and dropped our bikes off in time for an 8am train.

After eats and sleeps in our packed carriage we emerged a couple of hours later at Gare du Nord, collected our bikes, turned on the Garmin and cycled down to Gare de Bercy. A different way to see Paris and, on such a sunny day, a joy.


PM:
Leaving Luxembourg was like going to war. The family waving goodbye, and an air of anticipation with hints of nerves about what exactly was ahead. First of all though the sheer pleasure of heading west across the champagne region at 320km/hr possibly the fastest land speed record of a Peregrine. On a practical note, book the space for the bike when buying tickets for the TGV. Then a sprint across Paris (time was tight) to hook up with the peleton.



PG:
The Higginson book had all kind of convoluted suggestions as to how to get a bike down to the start point of Le Puy, some of them involving bus trips. Not for us. We opted to go Paris to Langeac, stay the night and cycle over to Le Puy the following day.



Bikes on the local train was a little fraught as we had 4 pieces on a one-carriage train, plus a local lady with a fine steel specimen to share the space. The smell of the train toilet and antics from the local gaga Gaga-alike aside the scenery was beautiful as we swept past places I knew, like Nonette, and eventually reached Langeac in the late of a sunny afternoon.

BC:
Finally getting off the train and finding our little hotel was a relief. Dropped stuff off and went for little cycle round town in early evening sun (stumbled across boules tournament). Dinner at hotel started outside, (steak) and then moved inside as temperature dropped. First sign the BenC's lack of low sleeve top was going to be a problem. However, our hearts were warmed by the many feasts for the eyes on offer. One of which was an enormous cheese platter we chose after our main, to, no doubt, the ongoing regret of the hotel owner who still is probably rebuilding his cheese stock. The others we didn't have room for, but were content to admire from a distance.