The Chain Gang Cycle Tours

Click, Click, Click

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Back in the Eighties there was a fabulous animated version of The Wind In The Willows, featuring David Jason as Toad. I bought quite a few sets as gifts for children and adults, I thought they were hilarious. I’ve no idea where any of them are now, and as they were all on VHS I couldn’t play them anyway. But one episode I remember particularly involved Toad of Toad Hall getting into photography.

“Click, click, click”, he said. “Photography is just the latest thing, the ONLY thing!” Obviously it all went horribly wrong, but that was Toad’s role in life - discover a fad, throw money at it, screw it up, get caught by the Weasels and rescued by Badger.

But it does illustrate a common prejudice about photography. Until I started the Chain Gang I was very much part of the ‘point and click’ school of photography. As a bricklayer might say to a painter, if you can pee, you can take photos.

But trying to find photos to use on our website or in our brochure is next to impossible. We have access to the archives of the National Tourist Offices of both France and Italy, as well as web-based photograph libraries and our own photos. But no matter what you do, when we’re cycling we don’t look cool. Rain jackets are a no no, and I try to avoid the appearance of too many hills. I don’t like clouds, and it’s nice to imagine we might have pictures of cool and pretty people always looking manicured in the sunshine enjoying themselves. But you try, it just never, ever works out.

But I’m from the Toad school of click, click, click. Some people know what they’re doing, people like Paul Lawrence and Simon Moss, and the King brothers, Toby and Ben. Another one is Peter Wesolowski, a cycling nut and an all round good bloke, although we did have the occasional ‘discussion’ on the difference between tax (me) and essential services (Pete). He thinks they’re the same thing.

Pete brought along a little compact camera - although the way he wields it and sets his shots up you suspect he has some serious kit back home. We’d be cycling along, and there’d be Pete lying in a ditch trying to get an angle. But his pictures are just much better than mine. So I’ve set up an album on our Flickr site so that you can enjoy his photographs too.

For some of them, you had to be there. For example, Sasha leading the group out - some people who were there will think Pete’s used Photoshop for that one! And people smiling cycling up a hill? But that’s why Pete’s better than me. I hope you enjoy them - I’ve included a few examples at low-resolution here, but for the real deal have a look at Peter’s album on the Chain Gang Flickr page.

Thanks Peter.

Click here to see a gallery of these photos, and more from The Chain Gang on the Chain Gang Flickr page

Why Is Cycling In Provence Great?

There’s an old saying which says that a picture is worth a thousand words. So here are 10,000 words on why you should go to Provence.

Throughout July there are fields and fields of beautiful sunflowers. Just as the TV crews go for the obligatory ‘Riding Past Sunflowers’ shots in the Tour de France, everyone has to have a photo of themselves in a field of sunflowers.

 
Then of course there’s the lavender. Same as the sunflowers, you didn’t really go to Provence unless you can show a picture of you smelling the lavender.

 

 

Then there are the astonishing Roman sites, such as the Triumphal Arch in Orange

 

and the famous aqueduct at Pont du Gard.

 

Provence has gorgeous food, perhaps the best of any region of France,

 

and as well as the sunflowers, the vineyards and the olive trees, Provence is the main fruit-producing region of France. That means lots of chances to scrump cherries, apricots, figs. There’s always something available from nature’s table in Provence!

Provence is beautiful. The unwary should note that beautiful views usually means hills or mountains are involved somewhere, and the culprits in Provence are the Alpilles and the Lubéron. But it’s worth cycling up hills to get views like this.

And in the Lubéron you can see why Peter Mayle raved about the region in ‘A Year In Provence’.

 

I’ve missed out the Roman theatre in Orange, and the ruined Roman town of Glanum. I’ve also missed out the grandiose Palais des Papes in Avignon and the stunning ochre-coloured cliffs surrounding Rousillon, but as a final thought, Provence was where Van Gogh lived. It’s where he painted his sunflowers and his lavender and his olive trees. It’s where he lived, and it’s where he went mad – Van Gogh’s asylum just outside St Rémy de Provence is fascinating and beautiful. Just one of hundreds of reasons to visit Provence.

And of course this all looks so much better by bike.  There.  I make that 10,000 words, with a few extras!

Click here to see a gallery of these photos, and more from The Chain Gang on the Chain Gang Flickr page