BIARRITZ TO GENEVA
05 SEPTEMBER 2020 – 20 OCTOBER 2020
Pantxika Goyhetche and Fred Lolliot are a french couple who lived in Chester U.K. for the last 7 years. In August 2018 they decided to make their first trip by bicycle from Chester to Hendaye in France using the Eurovelo 1 known as “la Vélodyssée”. As they really enjoyed this first experience they became obsessed to do an around the world trip. Kalimutxoworldtour was born which is the name of their two bicycle, Fred is riding Kali and Pantxika is riding Mutxo and after two years of preparation, they took off on Saturday 05th September 2020 from Ahetze, a small village next to Biarritz in France, for a five years journey to cross as many countries as they can.
1250 km 8530 meters cumulated ascent elevation 7735 meters descent elevation
We’ve left on Saturday 05th of September 2020 at 9.30am from Ahetze, a small village next to Biarritz in France. Our plan is to travel around the world for the next five years. Kali and Mutxo are the names we gave to our bicycles. Fred is riding Kali a SPECIALIZED bike and Pantxika is riding Mutxo a TREK bike. After a last check on the bikes and luggage and saying goodbye to our friends and family, we were finally off to our journey. We’ve spent nearly a month in our mother’s place where, of course, they force feed us, telling us we should eat what they prepared because we won’t get it where we were going. So, we were not in a very sharp condition to start the trip but it would come along the way. We’ve decided to cross France going through the centre as we would take the opportunity to see friends and family members on our way.
We were very lucky as the weather was brilliant. The first region we’ve crossed was “Les Landes” which is flat but full of sand so quite difficult to ride off the road with fully loaded bicycles. After few attempts, and making a progress of two kilometres in one hour as we came across a small sand dune, we decided to stay on tarmac roads as much as possible. Pine trees were everywhere (which after few days it started to be a bit boring) but in the mean-time we were discovering our own country like we’ve never seen it before. All the people we were meeting along the way were really nice and very helpful when needed. This is only our second trip by bicycle, so we have still plenty to learn. After a week of wild camping in forests and fields, and realising the hunting season was starting, we thought it was time to start knocking on doors to ask the people if they could lend us a piece of land to spend the night to feel a bit more secure. It seems pretty easy when you think about it but as soon as we had to do it, it became a bit more stressful. The first person we’ve been to see refused to accommodate us, this didn’t help, but the second one, an old lady which was living alone agreed to let us sleep in her garden while she was watching the Tour de France and as soon as she finished watching it, she kept coming to make sure we were fine. We’ve then realised asking people for help is not so frightening, the worst can happen is to get a no as an answer but in most cases, people will give you a
positive one and the moment we would spend together will become magical.
Then we’ve crossed the Dordogne area. The sceneries were absolutely stunning, plenty of forest and small rivers, cycling paths along the Dordogne river and of course brilliant gastronomy. It started to get a bit hillier day by day but we were getting fitter as well. Until then we couldn’t complain, the weather was still with us and we didn’t have a single drop of rain. We started as well to go in a certain routine regarding how to set the camp every night, how to get things ready every morning and going to a campsite once a week for a proper shower and to get our laundry done.
When we arrived in the Corrèze region, things started to change. The weather was not so great, the elevation started to be harder and we realised we brought to much stuff with us making our bikes were far too heavy. For example, Fred didn’t need to bring twelve harmonicas with him as since the beginning of the trip he didn’t play once. Our first night in the rain was a complete failure. We were not expecting it, but a storm arrived with strong wind and heavy showers and as we thought everything would be fine, we woke up in the middle of the night with the tent completely flooded, our sleeping bags completely wet and trying to get the water out of the tent with one of our pan. Not a great night but nothing wrong with the tent, it was entirely our fault as we didn’t set it up properly another lesson. We had rain for few days and we realised it’s the worst condition when you travel, your clothes and shoes are always wet from the morning until the end of the day. Putting your damp clothes on in the morning is not the best feeling, but never mind this is part of the trip. Hopefully, good things happen as well, as we were cycling on a busy road under the rain, a car overtook us and stopped a bit further. The lady jumped outside and asked us to stop. She offered us to come to her house for the night, a warm shower and a delicious dinner. An offer we couldn’t refuse at all. When you received so much attention it makes you forget all the bad sides of the travel.
Auvergne was absolutely amazing. We’ve cycled on the “plateau des milles vaches” which is well known by cyclists in France and the beauty of the panorama transport you to a real communion with nature. The mountains,
the forests, the lakes, the rivers and the lack of civilisation make you feel you are travelling in a dream world. After three weeks of travelling, we’ve met the first traveler on our way. Georges from Belgium, he was doing a tour of France and he was on his way back home. As we’ve stayed in the same campsite, we’ve spent the night chatting about our travel and left each other’s the next morning. Then we had a four day break in Thiers, the French knife capital, at Fred’s cousins place. We’ve met Lierande63 a knife maker, and he offered two of his creations to bring on our tour, then we did get a visit of the knife museum with a demonstration on how to make a blade, very interesting. We loved our stay in the city and we could have spent more time there as everyone was really nice but we were also impatient to carry on. In the meantime we’ve sent approximately 8 kilograms of unwanted items back home and straight away the bikes felt much lighter.
Our next stop was Lyon where we were meeting a friend we haven’t seen for few years. The ride from Thiers was much easier, it was mainly downhill and flat and it took us about four days to reach the city. On our way we’ve met a cyclist from Switzerland who was travelling on the opposite direction as he was heading to Spain. It was his first long trip so a bit like us he was learning a lot. We stayed probably an hour on the side of the road to exchange tips and then we carried on with our travel. When we arrived in Lyon it was a bit difficult to cycle with so much traffic, hopefully the city is well equipped with cycling routes, so it became more secure and much easier to cycle as we were entering the city centre. We’ve spent only one night there at our friend’s house and it was nice to catch up with him.
The ride towards Geneva was absolutely amazing. We’ve cycled on the Via Rhôna, a cycling route part of the Eurovelo 17. No traffic at all, plenty of cyclist. Every time we were stopping for a little break someone was coming along and it was very pleasant to meet so many people with the same interest. Also, it was easy to find some places to put the tent along the way next to the Rhône river. Before crossing the border, we were planing to go to see another of Fred’s cousins who was living above le Leman lake in the mountain and stay there for a week. The night before arriving to their house, we asked a man if we could put the tent in his garden, he looked quite surprised but accepted. As we were finishing to set up the tent and started to prepare our meal, he came to see if we needed something and to have a small chat. In the morning as we were nearly ready to leave, he invited us to his house for coffee and biscuits, and he offered some jars of homemade jam and also some homemade schnapps to keep us warm on cold days as he said. Once more the encounter was something to remember. On our way to Fred’s cousin, it was the first time we would cycle in the mountains. We didn’t know if we would be able to climb passes and to be honest it was a real struggle. Other cyclist were encouraging us on our way up as they were passing by. But as soon as we reached the top of the first one we new we could do it in the future and it will be easier and easier as the journey will go on. We arrived to our final destination in Habere Lullin, a small ski resort and for us the real trip would start as soon as we will cross the border. Since our departure we’ve traveled in our own country with no language barrier and knowing all the habits. Switzerland will be the second country of our tour and we could feel ourselves a bit anxious as we were arriving in an unknown country.
(To be continued…)