Hélène et Thomas Chassaing fr / en

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Business Model!

Posted by Hélène et Thomas, 2025-01-15

Our loot brought back from the United Kingdom and Ireland. France - January 14, 2025.

Every time, when we are on the roads by bike, people offer us all sorts of things. Most often it is food like snacks for lunch, or cheese, fruits and vegetables, generous slices of cake, honey or homemade jams… Sometimes they are objects, pictures, books, cups or medals like last year in Portugal (see post of January 1, 2024). We always gladly accept these vernacular gifts except of course when they are too bulky or too heavy.

When we return, they decorate our office or we store them in dedicated boxes. In addition to the reports, they are for us travel souvenirs that provide information, like postage stamps, on the country we have just traveled and the people we have met.



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Best wishes for 2025!

Posted by Hélène et Thomas, 2025-01-01

Billie in her domain enjoys the last rays of sunshine of the day. Department of Tarn, Occitanie region. France – December 28, 2024.

As often, since this blog existed, we present our best wishes to you with an illustration of a photo of Billie.

We always like to go on a reporting trip but coming back is also a pleasure. See family and friends, turn on the stereo and our good old stove (thanks again Claudius and Reinotte!), start preparing delicious meals; no longer having to worry about being dry or where we will sleep at night is very nice.

Finding the almost 24-hour company of our feline neighbor also delights us. We were told that she had been very discreet since our departure in May 2024. It was only around ten days before our return that Billie reappeared in the area. Would it have highly developed antennas to capture our progress on the roads or simply has it understood our mode of operation (departure in spring and return at the first frost, just before Christmas)?



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Smooth Arrival!

Posted by Hélène et Thomas, 2024-12-15

Hélène in front of the Water Mirror of the Place Royale or Place Nationale in Montauban. Department of Tarn-et-Garonne, Occitanie Region. France – December 13, 2024

In the rain, arrival in Albi, on the Pont Neuf. In the background, the Pont-Vieux (under construction) on the Tarn and the Sainte-Cécile Cathedral. Albi. Department of Tarn, Occitanie Region. France – December 14, 2024.

Hello,

We finally arrived home on Saturday, December 14, at dusk.

The crossing of the country in its middle, from north to south, went well, through the departments of Calvados, Orne, Sarthe, Maine-et-Loire, Deux-Sèvres, Vienne, Charente, Dordogne, Lot-et-Garonne, Tarn-et-Garonne and Tarn.



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From Le Mans

Posted by Hélène et Thomas, 2024-12-01

The statue of Greta Thunberg. In the “Joy Carter Garden” (former Vice-Chancellor) of the University of Winchester, a university known for its projects on sustainability and social justice issues. The bronze sculpture called “Make a difference” is by Christine Charlesworth. Winchester. Hampshire, England. United Kingdom – 22 November 2024.

Hello,

We landed in France at 6am, near Caen, in Ouistreham to be exact. The crossing in the deserted lounges of the ship Normandie of the Brittany Ferries company went rather well (the Miss was seasick from the start, which made her vomit, then we were able to fall asleep) on seats almost identical to those on planes.



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From Merthyr Tydfil

Posted by Hélène et Thomas, 2024-11-15

- "Terraced Houses". Typical row houses built for coal and iron miners. Abercynon. County of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales. United Kingdom - November 14, 2024.

- Cyfarthfa Castle. Merthyr Tydfil's tourist guide, “Iron Capital of the World”, tells us that it was “built for ‘the smithy master’ William Crawshay II, who was one of the most influential men in Wales at the time.” “It overlooked his extremely prosperous ironworks, which were the largest in the world”. Merthyr Tydfil. County of Merthyr Tydfil, Wales. United Kingdom - November 14, 2024.

Bore da,

This is a little note that we are going to dash off because we have very little time to devote to scribbling. The days are increasingly short (night falls just after 5pm) and then we are often with hosts, WarmShowers or others; Tonight we are in the company of a charming Iranian engineer whom we met in front of his home with whom we prefer to spend time.



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From Llanberis

Posted by Hélène et Thomas, 2024-11-01

Hélène at the entrance to the village we were directed to by Iwan, our host of the evening before, and shopping in a store that displays the village name, "the village with the longest name". Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwlllantysiliogoogoch Wales. UK - October 29, 2024.

Borada!

This is how one says hello in Welsh.

On October 27, we climbed aboard the Ferry James Joyce (from the company Irish Ferries) sailing to Holyhead, Wales.

Our stay in Ireland took place without too many pitfalls but without many imperishable memories.

It is true that we are starting to be a little blunt after a few months of travel. Fortunately, the weather (apart from two days of storm) was not too awful. Which, by the way, made liers of all the people who predicted the worst for the month of October whether in Ireland or Wales. So you can say: always listen to "the locals" but not too much!



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From Belfast

Posted by Hélène et Thomas, 2024-10-15

Helen on the coastal path, the "National 1" cycle route. Between Alnwick and Craster. Northumberland County. United Kingdom – October 1, 2024.

Helen in the Scottish moor. After Duns and towards Edinburgh. Scotland. United Kingdom – October 3, 2024.

Awright Mate,

Yep, finally after two busy days discovering Edinburgh, we did go to Glasgow again.

The idea, as we said in the previous post, was to skip this step in order to save time since we had already reported on it in the past.

However, we could not bring ourselves to do it completely. It must also be said that a contracture that occurred in Edinburgh in Thomas' right leg strongly pushed us to do it.



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From Newcastle upon Tyne

Posted by Hélène et Thomas, 2024-10-01

- A smile in the sun. “Telecommuting": saving photos from the camera's memory cards on an external hard drive. In a farmyard. Thormanby. North Yorkshire, England. United Kingdom - September 19, 2024.

- Grumpy in the shade. Breakfast in 6-degree weather, according to Garmin GPS. Newcastle upon Tyne. County Tyne and Wear, England. United Kingdom - September 29, 2024.

Hello,

It was only on Saturday September 28 that we finally reached Newcastle upon Tyne. We didn't manage to make up for the month's delay at the very start of the trip in France. The delay was due to the tragic, or almost tragic, dissolution of the National Assembly (decided by E-Macron) immediately followed by early elections (see post from that time).



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From Bradford

Posted by Hélène et Thomas, 2024-09-15

- Mannequin of a miner in the National Coal Mining Museum of England. Wakefield, County of West Yorkshire, England. United Kingdom - 14 September 2024.

- Spider sculpture on the Gripple company building in the Steel City. Sheffield. County of South Yorkshire, England. United Kingdom - 11 September 2024.

Hey guys !

Unlike the previous note, we're not going to go into too much detail (for lack of time) and instead write you a sort of postcard.

This fortnight, we documented the industrial heritage of Liverpool, Manchester and Sheffield. The latter, which is more sporty than the other two, really appealed to us (perhaps because of its proximity to the Peak District?). We were even told that this was the birthplace of the ‘Go Outdoors’ shop that everyone recommends to us when we're looking to equip ourselves and renew our worn-out equipment.



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From Stoke-on-Trent

Posted by Hélène et Thomas, 2024-09-01

- First puncture to mark the 3rd month and 4,000 kilometers since we left home. In front of the Coalbrookdale Iron Museum (one of the Ironbridge Gorge Museums). In the town of the world's first metal bridge. Telford. Shropshire County, England. United Kingdom - August 22, 2024.

- Hélène in front of the Derby Silk Mill, considered the world's first modern mill and now the Manufacturing Museum. Derby Valley Mills. Derby. Derbyshire County, England. United Kingdom - August 26, 2024.

Hello, folks!

Over the last few days we've left the highly urbanized areas of Birmingham and Derby for a while, and that was good for us.