
We’ve made it to England! London no longer feels so far away.
But if I thought Day 2 of our adventure along the Avenue Verte was challenging, Day 4 had it beat.
Continue reading “Day 4 on the Avenue Verte: What it’s like from Newhaven to Crawley”This was a tough day: 61 miles and nearly 3,000 feet of climbing.

We’ve made it to England! London no longer feels so far away.
But if I thought Day 2 of our adventure along the Avenue Verte was challenging, Day 4 had it beat.
Continue reading “Day 4 on the Avenue Verte: What it’s like from Newhaven to Crawley”The final 55 miles in France, weighed down by a large can of cassoulet.

It’s our last day on the Avenue Verte in France. We have 55 miles to bicycle from Gournay-en-Bray to Dieppe, there’s a climb with a 7% grade, we’re now carrying a heavy can of cassoulet au confit du canard for someone in England, and we need to make the 6 p.m. ferry across the English Channel.
Can we do it without stressing?
Continue reading “Avenue Verte Day 3: We reach Dieppe and take the ferry to England”
The Avenue Verte turned decidedly rural on our second day as we continued our bicycle ride from Paris to London.
Continue reading “Day 2 on the Avenue Verte: 65 hilly miles to Gournay-en-Bray”A bike route from Note Dame in Paris to the London Eye? Of course I had to ride it.

A bicycle route from Paris to London? From the Seine to the Thames and connecting Notre Dame and the London Eye? That’s like waving a red flag in front of a bull — of course I had to do it.
Continue reading “Avenue Verte: Day 1 of bicycling from Paris to London”We based ourselves in Strasbourg and bicycled through cute half-timbered towns.

Time to base ourselves in Strasbourg for a few days and do some biking.
Continue reading “EuroVelo 5 in Alsace: A bike ride through the vineyards”Going by bike is the perfect pace for experiencing the D-Day beaches.

I have two three pieces of advice for anyone thinking of going to Normandy and the D-Day beaches.
I headed to Green Lane Park at the northern end of the Perkiomen Trail for a bikepacking adventure with the Bicycle Club of Philadelphia.

So you’re dreaming of a bike trip that lasts many days, weeks or even months … perhaps out west, perhaps Europe, or maybe just closer to home. And to keep costs down and flexibility high, you think camping is the way to go.
A word of advice: Test it out with a simple bike overnight.
Continue reading “I tested out bikepacking with an overnight trip. It rained. Here’s what I learned”My new way to organize bike rides I want to do.

This isn’t about one bike ride. Instead, it’s a way I’ve found to organize my To Be Ridden wish list (a riff off To Be Read, for all you bookworms).
With a bingo sheet.
Continue reading “A bike bingo game built on a personal wish list of rides”More stunning scenery on our bike ride along the Pt’t Train du Nord.

We’re biking Canada’s P’tit Train du Nord: a 120-mile bike path in the summer, snow mobile or cross-country path (depending on the section) in the winter.
Continue reading “P’tit Train du Nord day 2: On to Mont Tremblant”35 miles on the P’tit Train du Nord from Mont Laurier to Nominingue.

The P’tit Train du Nord once transported skiers and others into the Laurentian mountains north of Montreal. Now it’s a popular 200-km (120-mile) rail trail between Mont Laurier and St. Jerome, plus a 32-km addition into the Montreal suburbs, and part of Quebec’s fabulous Route Verte network of bike paths.
Continue reading “P’tit Train du Nord day 1: First poutine, then a 4-course gourmet dinner”