It’s been confirmed that I need to take the week of the 10th - 17th Aug off work. Due to the fact that I found out last Friday any chance of grabbing a week of with any friends is next to none. I’ve decided that with all these cool sounding trips, I could very well do my own. I’ve also booked a pretty expensive holiday for October so I really want to keep the costs down to a minimum for this trip.

The basic plan is to travel light, unassisted and free-camp in suitable places in the countryside (fields, in the woods, that kind of thing) and try and be as self-sufficient as possible. I’m definitely not lacking in motivation, I’d rather be doing this trip with someone elso but feel that doing it on my own will be a good mental and physical challenge.

I’ve looked at quite a lot at places that are accessible using the Parisian regional train system and settled on a 180-odd km stretch of country from Fontainbleau to Avallon (not sure if this in the place mentioned in King Arthur’s tales!). The country around there looks pretty varied with woodland, some hilly looking bits and a nice spread of small towns and villages. Perfect for someone who is often tired of the big smoke!

The only problem is that I have very little experience of skating on the open road apart from in central Paris. I’m going to be taking all the necessary precautions with reflective day-glo gear and so on but am worried that I won’t know the exact conditions I’ll be skating through until I’m there.

Does anyone know of any websites that may be of use to plan this trip? Any tips on planning my route? What happens if it turns out to be nightmare road conditions-wise? I’m definitely going to invest in a map of the area (as detailed as I can find). I’ve also found that on the website viamichelin.com you can specify your mode of transportation (bike) to get some routes using smaller roads.

Kit-wise I’m pretty well prepared as I got a lot of kit ready for my first trip back in April to Dieppe. The only big difference is that my bivvy bag is pretty bog standard (not a small tent) and I’m a little apprehensive about sleeping rough as my face will be unprotected from elements, animals, etc...

Water is also an issue as I worked out that for a day I may need as much as 6 litres, I’ll probably be able to carry about 3. Anyone got any advice or dealt with any similar problems?

Am I completely crazy? I hope not! This past year I’ve been thinking quite a lot about doing something just like this. I never thought that I’d get the time or the opportunity to make something happen so now that it is becoming a real possibility it feels a little scary.

I’m looking forward to hearing your reactions/thoughts/comments and advice – especially from those who’ve just come back from trips!

Many thanks,

Chris

Hey all,

Still aching slightly from Goodwood, but the trip is on!

I've packed and should be leaving this afternoon, weather depending!



Thanks to Laura for the tip on scaring dogs away - barking back!

Howdi dude,

It sounds like a great trip!

What are you doing for food? Cooking or eating in restaraunts? oooh and make sure you have enough water. Things go downhill very quickly when you get thirsty, it happened to me a couple of times on my trip. I ran out of water in hot conditions and had to wait a long time before i found a place to get more. Dehydration doesnt just ruin one day, ut can put a whole trip in jeopardy because you feel ill the following morning too! (well, I did).

Im sure your bivvy will be fine. As long as there arnt bears.....lol

Dont worry about skating on the road, as long as you wear something bright (Hi Vis is deffinatly prefferable) and a helmet you will be fine! You wont even notice the cars after half a day. Just ask Laura.

Good Luck dude. Have Fun!!!!


Ben

Take a couple of clothes pegs so that when it stops raining, you can change socks, then pin the wet socks to your rucksack straps thereby becoming a long distance washing line.

See if you can find a water bottle with a loop clip which can be attached to the strap of your rucksack. I used this one:



To get vit C, and change the taste of the water, slice a lemon and pop it in the bottle. The bottle is flexible so when you top up with water, you can squeze the bottle (and therefore the lemon). Chop the other half of the lemon in to bits and push them into a 1.5L bottle of water which you keep in your rucksack.

Yup, I was the most car feary skater you ever did see until I threw myself up onto an island alone and had to get on with it. I didn't believe Ben, but it's true. Just be visible, aware, good spirited and wave and thank them - and respect that it's really their race track not yours and all will be well. As for the barking...well, it does work for me -mainly because it's quite a good morale boost to see confused chi hooa hooas.

Since coming back I've loved scaring dogs more than ever, and also I find myself walking on the road because I'm so used to it, and I obviously think I'm above walking on the pavement now. This could end badly.

Day one: Fontainebleau to a field in the middle of nowhere (approx 50km)
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8& ... eb87a&z=10

Alex kindly offered to accompany me for the first few km so we left his car at around 4pm. We skated together down some pretty steep sections and I could feel how much my bag was slowing me down. After around 30mins Alex said goodbye and I was on my own. Things didn’t get off to a good start as I immediately fell over stupidly whilst looking at my map. Both knees were grazed but nothing serious – still it made me realise that I should be careful.

I was determined not to get behind schedule, even with the fairly late start. The problem was that the roads got steadily worse. In the small villages they were ok, but skateable, outside they became rough as you like and made progress painfully slow. Any hills felt very sketchy as the bumpiness of the roads meant that I had very little traction when turning so there wasn’t much choice but to bomb them, foot braking when my teeth started chattering.



Right after one of the really bad sections, I came to the village of Bazzoches and came across a really smooth section. I took some photos half way down an amazing hill whilst the sun was about to set. Got some dinner in a tiny restaurant – the owner even gave me some plasters for my knees too! Afterward I then set off to find a place to set up camp – easier said than done.

I didn’t want to camp too much out in the open as I knew that essentially I would be trespassing. Also, due to the high chance of being caught I didn’t want to trample any crops so finally found a secluded area in the corner of a field next to a small wood.



Day 2: Field in the middle of nowhere to Perrigny (approx 74km)
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8& ... 83026&z=10

Needless to say that I slept badly. At around 8am I was woken by some barking right next to my tent. For a second I wondered what to do as images so trying to fend off dogs and pack up my gear filled my head. I then thought that the dog’s owner might be around. Things went a little like this:

Me: Bonjour Monsieur (tentatively, pulse-rate doing about 1000bpm)
=> Laura – I forgot to woof back!
Dog: Woof, woof

- Silence –

Dog: Woof, woof, woof
Me: Bonjour Monsieur
Person: I’m not a Monsieur!

Me: Bonjour Madame (Unzipping tent franticly and poking head outside). I’m really sorry for being in your field!
Person (turns out to be a sweet old woman): Don’t worry, I don’t mind, it’s not my field it’s my neighbour’s…did you sleep well?



After that I explained my rather novel form of transport and what I was doing which she found very amusing. I was a lot more relaxed afterwards and packed up my kit and left around 9.30.

The roads during the morning were pretty good (or I was getting used to them) and I made good progress through some really very scenic countryside. The villages were tiny but still I managed to find a nice shop that made me the biggest sandwich ever. I decided to push on before lunch and finally stopped in a valley around Les Blins for a long rest. It was ever so calm and peaceful.

After lunch was more difficult, the rough surfaces were starting to take their toll on my front bearings as well as my knees. I’m really glad that my board’s got a little give in it as I’m sure it helped ease the pain. As I was going through a small village after a particularly long stretch of exposed road with the sun beating down a man walked out pushing a lawn mower. I stopped and asked the way and he offered me a drink and to fill up my water bottles. He was wearing the best footwear I’ve seen in a while – cowskin covered clogs!

Just outside Senan there was the biggest uphill section that I’ve come across on my longboard. It just seemed to go on for ever, the downhill section was good but by then the roads where getting busier as I was nearing Auxerre with around 20km to go. The roads were still as bumpy but the downhill sections were getting ever-steeper. With the added traffic not only was I getting nervous but I could see that the drivers were too of me being on their roads. I found that heavy traffic plus bad road conditions very nerve-wracking, especially at the end of a long day.

My trainers weren’t coping too well with the footbraking. The good (?) news was that the smoother parts of the road were melting in the heat of the sun and actually helped to slow me down during the steeper sections.

Finally got to the town of Perigny, about 3km from Auxerre and decided to not try to go any further by board. The downhill sections were still steep and traffic was ridiculously busy and I was knackered. I waited for about 30mins for a bus that never came before getting a lift from a friendly couple. They quickly drove me around the centre of the town before dropping me off at the campsite at 8.00 near to the road I start from on my final day.

Finally getting a shower was amazing and after some food I slept like a baby!


Day 3: Auxerre to Cravant (approx 20km)
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8& ... d98f5&z=12

Decided to swap around my wheels in order to try and get some more rolling speed out of my bearings. It seemed to work – but as I left the campsite along yet more rough roads my whole body was aching. The scenery was really picturesque and I passed many people on cycling holidays which made a nice change from seeing just cars.

A really nice cycle path started after about 2km at the village of Vaux – it made such a difference to both the speeds I was able to achieve and to my morale. The cycle path followed a river all the way to the tiny village of Cravant and it was fun to be in such a relaxing setting. I got stopped by a Kiwi guy who was on a canal boat trip and we exchanged stories of our journeys.



My Grandmother spent many childhood years in Cravant as her family rented a house in the village. After a brief phone call I found it and took some pictures. The road I needed to take went right through centre of the village and I set out along it. Although on my map this road was marked as one of the smallest (so in theory one of the least busy roads), I was passed by a good few HGV’s going at quite high speeds.

With 30km to go until Avallon I decided to cut my trip short. I was feeling pretty tired and the thought of spending a few extra hours on rough roads with heavy traffic wizzing by me was not appealing. I wanted to remember the trip for the right reasons and decided to head back to Cravant to rest a little before catching the train back to Paris. I paddled a bit in a stream to cool off my feet (lovely!) and grabbed a souvenir bottle of wine and a sandwich from a restaurant opposite the station.

On the train journey back I was a little bit disappointed with my decision to cut my journey short but at the same time I felt good about what I’d achieved.

Thoughts/feelings post trip
My legs are still aching from the trip and it’s a mixed bag of feelings. I’m really happy to have done this journey because I’ve wanted to try the solo, unsupported thing for a while now. I’m pretty happy with my performance even though I was unable to reach my planned destination.

The trip was a steep learning curve as I there were many ‘firsts’ for me:
- 1st time free camping
- 1st time longboarding with a heavy bag
- 1st time longboarding on such rubbish roads, not unlike skating on the surface of a cheese-grater
- 1st time skating more than 4 hours in a day
- 1st time relying on meeting people to fill up water bottles

What I missed the most about the trip was not being able to share it properly with any friends. I believe that in coming back from his trip Rob Thompson also felt similarly. It’s true that I really missed being around people. For me this was a useful thing to find out as I’ve sometimes wanted to travel on my own more extensively but now know that I’d enjoy it more if I were able to share it with someone else.

I’m not comparing my short trip to Rob’s epic, life-changing journey but I found it interesting that afterwards I was able to relate to some of the things I’ve read on a more practical level. I found that solo skating was harder on morale and having someone else along would mean sharing the weight of equipment whilst also sharing the highs and the lows.

I also underestimated the impact on both equipment and body rough roads could have. This trip has really brought newfound respect for all the distance trips that have been done recently and over the last few years. This also brought new questions to mind:

- How did Keith manage a 100km a day for many consecutive days?
- How did Laura and Ben cope with the respective challenges they faced on their trips and how would I cope in similar situations?
- How different would the trip have been had I been supported?

I’m looking forward to the next trip although at present I’m not sure when it’ll be. Hopefully get some people over to France? I’d really love to do a similar sort of trip again on one of the longer greenways in the south of France with some friends. The greenway around Bordeaux looks ace…

The rest of the pictures from the trip are here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=1 ... 5a38567355

That was a wonderful post Christopher, really nice to read here in Plymouth on a muggy afternoon.

It looks like you passed a lot of beautiful and serene landscapes, and that being in them on your skateboard blissed you out. It also sounds like a lot of hard work, and seeing those photos of the roads certainly bought back some memories for me from my own trip!

I wonder, I had the same revelations and thought processes in Scotland: "...how did they do this by themselves? how lonely is lonely meant to be? how fast could i be going if i wasn't wearing this pack or looking round every five seconds for traffic?" - do you think these thoughts flash through everybody's mind at some stage, regardless of the length of journey? Do you think, then, that on a bigger trip, it's just the carrying round of those realisations for longer, the bearing/dealing/freedom from them that makes the trip 'epic', as much as the landscape being travelled through?

With the doggy incident I'm sorry you didn't get to try out the 'woah woah' approach, but I'm glad you thought of it on my behalf!

For what it's worth, I think you just get into a rhythm, a daily pattern. I got annoyed if I was on the road later than 12 due to whatever holdups, I was happy if I started early, before my body had a chance to argue with me, and I did silly hills with a pack on that I'd never previously have taken. I also had to scale down my expectations because of that pack, did you have to do the same?

Do you think you'll do more trips like this?

About the trips through France, right now my plan is to skate from Holland to at least France, solo (next summer). But solo wouldn't mean I don't want any company for some part of the journey

Also, are all the roads that bad in France? I plan to travel to the south via the coast.

Thanks Laura for all the positive vibes about both the trip and the write-up!

It's true that the same thoughts probably do go through everybody's mind at some point during trips. What i found strange was how at times everything felt and seemed easy then a couple of hours later the same conditions would feel awful. I think that at this point when you need to remember what you're doing, why your doing it and also that you've been wanting to do it for a while. It's the self-management aspect (perhaps heightened by not having anyone to bounce off) that I'd under-estimated.

I think that the more trips like this you do, the more you learn to ensure that your expectations of the them are realistic. In hindsight i shouldn't have pushed so hard on the second day. I felt that I learn't a lot about myself for this trip although it was for such a short time.

I think that rhythm is important too, i was annoyed at leaving after 10.30am on the third day!

I'd still really be up for another similar trip but I'd take into account what I've learn't this time around. The strange thing is that the things i loved (the freedom in being 100% self-reliant, the isolation, being on the road) were also at times the things i loathed. It just really depended on my state of mind at the time.

Have you got a separate post for next year's trip? I've seen a similar one on the Lush forum...

I'd love to accompany you for part of your journey if it is possible! I'd highly recommend this map of greenways: http://www.af3v.org/CarteAF3V/carte-detaillee.html and using them as much as possible to help you on your way. You're lucky as there are plenty of greenways that go along the coast.

I think that there are some guides available here: http://www.cartovelo.fr/cycling-guides- ... 34_21.html although the annoying thing is that they seem to be divided up into regions (France is a huge country though!).

I found that the roads really varied but were probably more than 70% difficult/tiring to skate on...perhaps that's just me though as here in Paris we're spoilt with the most silky pavements!

Keep me posted if you have any questions - but it'll probably be clearer for everyone if they are in a new topic.