Sid and Doris Bonkers and their Epic Journeys
"Everybody is normal until you get to know them"
In which Sid and Doris cross the Thames and The Ridgeway, battle through the Chiltern Hills and muse on punctuation marks. !Yesterday we set off up Portsdown Hill. Are there groundhogs in Berkshire? Today we immediately set off up a steep hill and there were going to be a lot more, on small roads and rough surfaces. We go over…
Read moreIn which the Epic nature of the ride continues on small roads across Hampshire and Berkshire with a stop on The Watercress Line.In a straight line, it is 90 miles from Cosham to Chez Bonkers. It would be very easy to turn this into a simple, joyless delivery ride, taking quicker straighter roads – a direct route through central London…
Read moreIn which Sid and Doris take another ferry and return to England.We finished the laundry in Les Armateurs by drying the cycling shorts with the hotel standard hairdryer, the first time in many years that Sid has found this item at all useful. Even early on we are looking for conveyance of the day. We have cyclist company in the…
Read moreIn which Sid and Doris make for the seaside and stay in the walled town, again.Is this your first visit to St Malo? No, we have sailed the mighty Eric through the huge lock into the Port de Plaisance. Sid and Doris have cycled away from here on the trip to Bilbao. We are old mingers at St Malo. Leaving…
Read moreIn which Sid and Doris have a rest day in Rennes and take a boat trip along the Vilaine River.When we set off for Rennes we decided that night we would see if we were in good shape to carry on. We are a bit tired, we are behind with the blog/diary and Rennes has enough to keep us amused,…
Read moreIn which Doris’ birthday is spent laboriously on the toboggan roads across Brittany The rodents bring the birthday post and Doris is 35 again. Older people might struggle with an epic journey so it is best to stay young. High paws on the trip so far. Today we go through very small farming villages to Rennes, capital of Brittany. Across these…
Read moreIn which Sid and Doris cross the Loire and visit the largest contemporary line of megaliths in the world. Our small road route to Ancenis on the Loire took us across some hills and what might (we hope) be our last gravel track. From the top of the last hill at Saint Florentine Le Vieil we could look across the…
Read moreIn which Sid and Doris stop in Le Cholet to visit the textile and loom museum. When we got into this deserted ‘hotel on the bypass for commercial travellers and empty in August’ Madame asked asked us where we had come from. Neither of us could remember as La Chataigneraie is just another nowheresville. And so is this. See here…
Read moreIn which Sid and Doris outwit French shopkeeping and create a fine new song. Learning from previous French shutness Sid went into a supermarket in Rochefort to buy sandwiches and apple pie. A wise precaution as every shop we passed was shut, with a variety of excuses. At one point we were standing outside a Proxi Marche (closed because…
Read moreIn which Sid and Doris idle away a day walking around the town, seeing the docks and writing. Every afternoon Sid and Doris shower, do laundry, drink, write, eat, plan a route, book a hotel and sleep. One of the best things about our holidays is breaking that routine, fun as it has been. We get up later, lingering over…
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