John Hayes Walks

GR 1 - Updates to the route description

As far as I can tell everyone who has set off along the GR1 armed with a little blue book containing my description of the route has somehow survived the experience. Feedback suggests that, generally speaking, the sequence of events on the ground follows that described in the guide. The route, however, is 1250kms long, things do change and occasionally my description of the route has left hikers scratching their heads. Most hikers, following the recommendation in the guide, have used the GPS route (many using GPS for the first time) and the only real problems reported are from those attempting the route with just the guide.

The good news is that in a number of places the route has been improved. For much of its length, the GR1 passes through wild countryside and although populated in the recent past, the people who originally used the footpaths and maintained the tracks that make up the route have long departed. Keeping it open and preventing it from becoming overgrown relies on the efforts of local volunteers and the occasional smidgen of public money.

Cycling from Montpellier to Brighton - reflections on a journey

After cycling 1600 kms across France in 19 days the bikes have been cleaned, oiled and hidden. For a few days at least we've seen enough of them.

Maps, and routes on maps, are very attractive things. Earlier in the year when the days were short and the central heating was on full blast, the prospect of cycling on French vélo routes from the Mediterranean to the English Channel seemed like a brilliant idea. Having sampled the vélo routes on previous trips Christine and I felt ready for such an epic journey.

Day 19 Montpellier to Brighton - Brighton

67km - the mad dash to the coast

So we're home in Brighton - our Montpellier to Brighton epic cycle ride has ended a little earlier than planned.

My original intention involved catching the overnight ferry and then cycling from Portsmouth to Brighton in the morning. On Wednesday's there are two ferries from Ouistreham to Portsmouth, one at 2 in the afternoon and the other at 11 in the evening. Getting the 11 o'clock meant a lot of hanging about at Ouistreham which is a really dull place.

Recently Christine has objected to anything that resembles a target, even getting up at a certain time, so it was already well past 9 and we were on the road when I suggested that we might try for the 2 o'clock ferry. Surprisingly despite this being a target she thought it was a great idea. She particularly liked idea of getting to Portsmouth, catching the train back to Brighton and sleeping in our own bed for the first time in nearly 3 weeks - we had a plan and a target.

Day 18 Montpellier to Brighton - Pont d'Ouilly

109km - through the bocage

Guest blog from Christine

Today turned out to be our longest day and one of the wettest.

After a night of rain we were pleased to wake up to clear skies even though it was chilly. We decided to get off early and see how far we could get as the forecast promised more rain.

Buying jambon baguettes for lunch as we left Mayenne we found the disused railway track we went on last year. The route actually involved two different railway tracks with some wiggling and confusing road linking the two. This all gets you steadily, and at civilised gradient, up to the little town of Flers which straddles the watershed between the Loire drainage basin and rivers flowing north to La Manche.

Day 17 Montpellier to Brighton - Mayenne

40 kms - a rest day

After yesterday's battle with the mud, today we pulled in our horns and chose a more modest destination - Mayenne, the next significant town on our route home.

Mayenne is only 40 kms or so away along the river, was never going to take more that a couple of hours to complete, so I had to concede to Christine's suggestion that we actually have a look round Lavel, the town were we stayed last night. To be honest, after our brief visit last year I had concluded that it was a bit of a dump. As it turned out first impressions can be completely wrong and hidden behind the slightly run down river frontage, Laval has a stunning medieval town centre. Lots of a half timbered properties, carefully maintained, are being reused as restaurants, bars and artisan shops which, on a day when it wasn't Monday and when the weather was half decent would have been a great place to spend some time (and money, were it not for the painful constraint of one pannier to get stuff back home: still I managed to buy a pair of shoes - ed).

The other reason we decided on a short day was the weather, it still hasn't fixed itself. It wasn't actually raining, just grey and chilly, but the forecast was for heavy rain later.

Day 16 Montpellier to Brighton - Laval

97kms through the mud

After last night's loss of cycling appetite we were back in the saddle again and heading north to the Channel coast. The weather forecast changed from last night's predicted heavy showers to one of light showers this morning. Although not good it was just enough to tip the balance and we left Angers, without really seeing it, through light drizzle.

Angers is were the River Mayenne joins the Loire and the route follows the Mayenne north to the town of Mayenne. From the mid-16th century, following the construction of a series of locks and weirs, the river has been navigable.

We have already cycled the route from Angers to the Channel, we did it last year, but this year it felt different.