Axe Valley Pedlars enjoy Brittany trip

An all female group of Axe Valley Pedallers has just returned from an exciting trip to Brittany, writes Anne Roberts.

The group; Anne Roberts, Nathalie Caulier, Pamela Plant and Zoe Baillie - managed over a hundred miles of cycling and still found ample time for sunbathing on the stunning white beaches, plus sightseeing and all the usual gustatory delights that France has to offer.

It was interesting to compare the experience of cycling in Brittany and Devon, in terms of both the practical cycling and the female cyclist’s experience.

The French are very cycling friendly, seeing it as a national sport, and we saw many groups of cyclists forming ‘pelotons’ and travelling at speed – an interesting experience when being overtaken and greeted with ‘bonjour’ by every member of the group.

The road surfaces were a pleasure to cycle on in comparison with our roads, which have to be ridden with great care and attention to uneven surfaces and potholes. The French also have more cycle lanes, the best one being a stretch of almost a carriage-width, creating a three lane road, making riding in a group much easier – a hard thing to achieve in Devon lanes.

In terms of women cyclists, we appear to have the advantage in Britain, in that we saw very few over there - maybe one or two at the most and our party of four attracted a lot of friendly attention from the male cyclists.

In contrast, Axe Valley Pedallers’ road cycling groups are generally quite equally balanced male/female, perhaps because it is a social cycling club; a good achievement in view of the current national drive to encourage more women to take up cycling.

The group stayed in Nathalie’s beautiful French house near Guisseny, a delightful village about 25 miles west of Roscoff.

For details of all rides see Axevalleypedallers.org.uk