Cycling in France - a Wayfarers trip in 2022?

A Group riders meeting-up with the former East Sussex CTC at Horsted Keynes last week may have chatted to Andy Cackett about his group's annual cycling trip to France - the Semaine Federale. Andy has kindly emailed me 

Hello Ged

It was very good to meet up with you and your fellow cyclists and enjoy the delights of a very sunny Horstead Keynes. I hope that your ride back was not too arduous in the heat. Although there wasn’t over-much intermingling, my little group all said that they enjoyed it and in our new smaller format, we shall probably be visiting the Green Man sometime again on our weekly rides. They catered very well and the food was good and I hadn’t previously noticed the old CTC sign but glad to note that they still obviously welcome cyclists. Without getting too political about it I now see that Cycling UK have been forced to drop the much loved cycle tour business, they say due to Covid but my feeling is that they cannot get the tour leaders due to bureaucracy and health and safety issues (perhaps?) so that the Tourists part of CTC has now gone together with the cyclist bit! Call me cynical…but enough of this.

 

You mentioned an interest in the Semaine Federale, the festival of cycling that moves around France every year and provides an amazing week of well-marked on road and off road cycle routes ranging  (for the road routes) from between 30 Km and 200+ km with food stations set up en route as they say. Although the routes are well marked they also provide a set of maps with each day’s ride colour coded to match the route marking arrows together with a load of publicity and advertising for local attractions ranging from wine and cheese tasting to chateaux to visit etc. It is all incredibly well organised and there is what they call the ‘Permanance’ which is the focal point of the event usually in a huge exhibition or sports hall where there is a good range of shops, cycle stuff, merchandise, food stuffs galore and where they also provide breakfast and the biggest evening meal I have ever seen (in numbers attending that is – but the food and wine is usually pretty good also!). All great fun. Accommodation is in a variety of places ranging from boarding school dormitories (which we normally go for) through home stay (usually B + B but if people get on with their hosts there is often an evening meal thrown in) to the largest camping site imaginable. It really is a great week of cycling related fun and whilst there may be crowds on the road morning and evening which can be a bit daunting everybody gets well strung out during the day such that it is a great way to enjoy the French countryside. Local cafes and bars do a roaring trade!

 

There is not much currently on the web pages at the moment (Cosfic 2022 or just Semaine Federale 2022 will find information) but the dates are 31^st July until 7^th August. The location is Loudeac almost bang-slap in the middle of Brittany on the N 164 west of Rennes. Things start happening for bookings in early January and if any of your members are interested I will keep you posted on developments. I think that I may still have some of the previous route maps etc so that (if I can find them) I could let you have a look at some time.

 

We usually take about six to eight people and go by car stopping overnight en route if need be and often stop off in Dieppe on our way back to visit L’Hotel de la Plage but now that it is under new management this may change.

 

Do let me know if you or any of your group are interested and also if you are down our way again possibly visiting the fountain at Cowden as I live just across the Sussex border so am often venturing into Kent.

 

With kind regards

Andy about the trip, which you may be interested in.

As outlined in the email, the week-long event takes place next year in July in Brittany. (I checked the website, but as yet it's a bit short of information).

This type of event may appeal to those wanting an alternative to the Dieppe Raid - or for Francophiles, an additional trip!

Let me know me if you're interested, and as Andy suggests, there may be chance to meet-up again later this year at the Fountain Pub in Cowden, (we visited in 2012, 2014, and 2018), to take it further.