Le Grand Tour

In May 2022, and faced with an array of carbon and titanium framed bikes in his collection, customer Russ Cummings had no hesitation in selecting his Twmpa GR1.0 for his epic 1,000 mile 20-day ride from St Malo, on the channel coast, to Nice, on the Cote d’Azure on the Mediterranean in France. 

This beautiful route is documented in the book France en Velo, written by Hannah Reynolds and John Walsh http://franceenvelo.cc Whilst perfectly doable self-guided, Russ chose to take advantage of the fully-supported benefits provided by tour operator Saddle Skedaddle.   

The scenery changed constantly, through the wine valleys of the Loire, the rolling hills of the Dordogne to the mountains in Provence and the Alps, with a glorious finish along the Promenade des Anglais in Nice.  It was a gastronomic journey too. 

Carrying only a credit card and a rain jacket, and adapted only by switching gravel tyres for Schwalbe G-One Allrounders, the GR1.0 proved to be a wonderful companion, comfortable on long days, easy on the climbs and surefooted on those Alpine descents.   

It was also a great way of making friends – fellow cyclists loved to photograph it and talk about it.  Russ’ French vocabulary struggled with words such as European Ash, lignin matrix and shock absorbing properties, but everyone understood “magnifique”!

Details of this trip can be fond here.