This post recounts the second day of my English Channel to the Mediterranean cycle tour in France with Peak Tours in June 2025. Read Day 1, Ouistreham to Bagnoles de l’Orne.

Today was our first long day in the saddle: nearly 80 miles. Unlike yesterday, most of the climbing was in the morning. Fortunately, I was still fresh, and climbing reasonably well. I still had a slight twinge in my leg from the Bryan Chapman audax last weekend, but that disappeared without me noticing over the next day or so.

It was a pleasure weaving through French villages that were as quiet as you’d expect on a Sunday morning. (I’ve always been puzzled by the absence of people in these small communities.) They were characterised by distinctive churches – typically very different from those in Britain – and often handsome stone buildings. Our first brew stop was opposite a large church in the village of Saint-Cyr-sur-Pail.

The landscape was one of soft, rolling hills – we’d see a great change as the tour unfolded, and we reached the volcanic, mountainous land of the Auvergne. The climbing meant a slow average speed, but the compensation was a gorgeous lakeside location for lunch at La Plage (the beach) at Sille-en-Gillaume. I grabbed a coffee from the bar, and took my lunch to eat on a picnic table overlooking families enjoying their Sunday swim in this lovely lake, and chatted with the others.

A few miles after lunch, we spotted these elegant gates to a classic French chateau, Sorches. We speculated how much it would cost to buy – more than we could afford! At this point I read my son Owen’s lovely Father’s Day text message, which really touched me.

Just before the afternoon brew stop, we were a few hundred yards down the road leading west from Vallon-sur-Gee when we realised we’d gone the wrong way. (These navigational glitches were a feature of the early days of the tour.) Later, we had an irritating one way system to negotiate in the larger town of Noyen-sur-Sarthe – it might have been quicker to walk our bikes along the one way street to regain the route. But, as promised, this afternoon was much faster than the morning’s cycling, and indeed my day’s average speed was a bit quicker than yesterday’s shorter route.

It was a delight to cross the double bridge over the river at Malicorne-sur-Sarthe, and pause to enjoy the sight of the river with its weir and wooded banks. It was tempting to join a few others from our group who were enjoying a drink at a bar overlooking the bridge, but as we were just six miles from our destination we pressed on.

The entry to La Flèche was a bit of a shock, with traffic, roadworks, and a wait to cross oncoming cars to enter the town centre. La Flèche is on the Loir river, and at first I assumed this was the Loire, which we would cross the next day.

It took a few minutes to find our hotel, the splendid Le Gentlemen. I enjoyed our brief stay, and especially the group dinner at a restaurant that opened for us. At the end of the meal, the lovely owner asked if I wanted a coffee. It was only after she followed me out of the restaurant as I left that I realised I needed to pay for the beverage!

Read Day 3: La Flèche to Loches

The day’s stats

79.83 miles, 4,442 feet climbing, 5 hrs 58 mins cycling, average speed 13.4mph.

The day’s highlights video