I will take the train and ferry to arrive at the start (Saint Malo), cycle for 30 days to arrive in Nice, return on the Nice to Paris overnight train, cycle from Paris to Dieppe, then it is a ferry and a train home. There are some obstacles along the way such as hitting the time slots for bikes on UK trains, avoiding French train strikes and having the strength and endurance to tackle Mont Ventoux in Provence then more climbing before getting to Nice where I meet my wife Mayuri; so I can't be late. The route is 1,000 miles and cuts South-South-East out of Saint Malo then curves East when you hit the Lot valley allowing you to wriggle through the French highlands (the Massif Central) without too much climbing. I'll recycle my kit list from a previous French cycle tour which means 16Kg plus 1Kg for the hefty but well executed guidebook. Though I mention climbing as something to be avoided I actually like hills, just not with 17Kg of kit on a bike built for touring. My target maximum daily distance is 40 miles and this drops to a 35 mile average when taking my single rest day and shorter days into account. That is 30 days to get down to Nice and 4 days for the Paris to Dieppe leg.
I have talked about cycling, France and the French in earlier blogs so I will endeavour not to repeat myself. In place of the cycling in France theme my aim is to talk about 'hope' as hinted at by the blog title and we'll just have to see where that goes. There will of course be lots of photos and updates on my journey posted each night.
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You will have heard of Pandora's box and that it comes from Greek Mythology. The box was actually a large storage jar of the kind you might imagine the ancient Greeks having and Pandora was given the 'box' by one of the gods as part of a broader punishment on the relatively newly created mankind. It was an odd gift from the start as she was under strict instructions never to open it. Never, ever, under any circumstances. It goes without saying that with those instructions she did eventually open the box and out flew the evils of the world. Quickly realising her mistake she slammed the lid shut but only managed to contain one last remaining evil. That evil was hope. Given my travel plans I will be hoping everything goes well on a daily basis and that should give me time to ponder the mysterious world of hope, and especially, why hope was in Pandora's box of evils?
