France en velo, 10 years later

An overdue rediscovery of France by bicycle

Cycling the traffic-free new Voie Verte

It’s July, which means the annual #monthofbirthday adventure is in full swing. (If you missed last year’s post, the short version is this: why settle for just one birthday when you can dedicate a whole month to celebrating the sheer amazingness of being alive?)

Requisite southern France sunflower shot

In recent years, I’ve stayed put in the UK for this tradition—usually involving wet, midge-filled camping extravaganzas. This year, I decided to return to my roots and chase more sensible weather. So here we are: southern France, at last!

This is also our first big trip in the new van!

We’re now on Day 10 of our journey—four of those days spent driving from our home in the northwest Highlands through the length of the UK and France, with a few key social stops along the way (check out Instagram for those).

There’s a lot I could share from the road, but today I want to focus on something close to my heart: cycling.

Monica 2015! Upon arriving at Mardi’s place in Nerac after many weeks on the road. Photo by Mardi

This July marks 10 years since I cycled across France from Cherbourg into Spain. It was one of those formative life moments—solo, self-supported, and still one of my proudest achievements. I wrote about it back then:

• Cycling holiday in France & Spain

• What to eat on a bicycle tour

So it felt fitting to serendipitously find ourselves at a bit of a cycling hot spot (though really all of rural France is outstanding cycling country). Meet Camping Le Mouliat, a peaceful riverside site just outside Moncrabeau.

We arrived by van, bikes in tow, and discovered it sits right on the brand-new Voie Verte—a smooth, fully paved cycleway that runs along a former railway line and links Feugarolles, Vianne, Lavardac, Nérac, Le Fréchou, and Moncrabeau.

We stayed for four nights and used the cycleway daily to ride into Nérac, a town with personal history for me—back in 2012, I met my great friend

Mardi Michels

in this part of France, with Nérac often featuring on the agenda (and where Mardi now owns the sweetest holiday accommodation). (See My Food Story from Gascony—especially the section on “rad peeps.” Mardi is the raddest of the peeps.)

Mardi and I in 2025 at La Vert Galant

France really is an amazing place to cycle. Quiet backroads, well-kept trails, excellent produce (and cheese!) at every stop—it just works.

That’s it for now—a little postcard from the road, ten years and a thousand memories later. (With more memories being made with Mark, for whom this is all new!)