In early September Pam and I set out on a two week motorhome expedition through Normandy to South Brittany. It was homeward bound, at a very nice Aires de Camping at Mont St. Michel that we had our first encounter – the chap on the adjoining camping pitch had spotted our bikes on the van rack and introduced himself as Bill Rushton of the Tunstall Wheelers.
I would say he was in his late sixties but had obviously been at a very high level of cycle sport talking about training with the likes of Les West (ex Holdsworth pro and 4th in World R.R. Championships) and Phil Griffiths (five times B.B.A.R. in the 70’s). He knew the Evesham Wheelers – his son had won our Open 10 mile Time Trial about 20 years ago! We had to cut short our conversation and abandon to our vehicles due to being bitten to death by mosquitoes. We were then going our separate ways and wouldn’t be seeing each other again – I urged him to check out our website if he wants up to date news of the club.
Our next encounter was at a campsite in St. Valery En Caux on the Normandy Coast. It was getting on towards tea time when Pam and I spotted this puffing, sweating guy pushing his bike up the steep incline to the site where he proceeded to knock frantically at the campsite reception door. We were just about to go into town and stopped to inform him that the office was closed for the evening.
He replied in English but as it turned out he was Irish. Patrick (an unemployed French teacher) had come from County Cork arriving in Fishguard catching the train the Harwich and the ferry to the Hook of Holland. He was attempting a tour from Holland to Roscoff.
However, he only had freebee tourist map of France and consequently had cycled all the way on Route Nationale roads. Every other word was the F word where he was berating the headwind, the boring roads and campsites that didn’t allow tents plus the fact that the sinks on French campsites never had plugs and the toilets never any paper!! I looked at his bike (Pam is convinced I am a bike snob) – it was a Raleigh mountain bike – I have seen better bikes at the tip).
The front tyre was a knobbly and the rear a slick – the rear wheel was new as the original had collapsed at the start of his tour in Holland. The chain was on the outer ring as it was the only one the changer would run on. His luggage consisted of a set of panniers with a tent on top and various bags festooned to the top tube and handlebars. I didn’t spot a bike bottle but it did sport four cans of larger in the panniers. I wouldn’t say that preparation was his strong point.
We pointed him in the direction of the tent area and promised him the loan of a sink plug so that he could wash some clothes.
After we had come back from the town I popped up to the camping field to see how he was getting on and take up the sink plug – there he was sat outside his tent in semi-darkness, cigarette in mouth and lager in hand. I suggested some alternative routes for his onward journey which would shelter him from the F****** headwind – we know that he left the site at 3 p.m. the next afternoon (oversleeping or waiting for his washing to dry?!). Quite a character.
Our next encounter was totally the opposite – different sort of cyclists altogether. We met Mary and Pete in a restaurant over a lunchtime. We had noticed some smart bikes parked in the square outside. I asked them in English how far they had ridden - luckily they were American and were able to understand. They had ridden 35 miles from Dieppe and were looking for a campsite - we recommended the site we were on and over a bottle of wine we got to know them better.
They lived in Illinois but as Pete had just taken early retirement they decided to sell up their home and set off for a European tour. They had flown in to London, done some touring on the East Coast (Suffolk and Essex), but having looked at the Sustrans literature decided not to do the South Coast because they couldn’t find a way around London.
They crossed the Channel at Harwich and had ridden down from Holland via Belgium. They were delighted at the villages and hamlets along the way having had the sense to obtain local cycle route maps from Tourist Information. They were camping and using ‘Logis’ when the weather was poor. Their intention is to stay until March 2008 – we recommended that they get as far South as possible before the winter time.
Their equipment was immaculate – Pete’s bike had been specially built (he is 6’4”) to carry all the luggage – it had also had some patent frame joints enabling the bike frame to come apart (when required) for packing in a bikecase. When packed with all the luggage I couldn’t lift the bike, but Pete assured me it handled well with a disc brake on the front and a large calliper on the rear.
His partner Mary had a Lemond carbon composite bike and only carried a small pack.
At the end of their tour they intend returning to America but not to Illinois – they plan to move to Colorado.
The last of our cycling encounters was with a couple we met at the Pegasus Bridge Memorial outside Caen. Brian Griggs and his wife had cycled with their tandem from Chichester down to Portsmouth and were spending a week touring the ‘D’; Day beaches area.
They too knew The Wheelers and had ridden our Audax event years ago and of course knew our President Neville Chanin. They looked very fit for their age – a good advert for cycling.
So an end to our holiday in France – but a holiday enlivened by some memorable encounters with some interesting cycling personalities.