A homecoming, on the bike and on foot, to (re)discover France and myself.

France, I found, is a place built for cycling and, happily, for eating, too – a country large enough to give any journey an epic quality, but with a bakery on every corner. Here, it seemed to me as I rode through shady forests and sun-baked vineyards, you could go from beach to mountain, Atlantic to Mediterranean, polder to Pyrenees, and taste the difference every time you stopped for lunch.” – Felicity Cloake, One More Croissant for the Road

So here is my big adventure. The reason I took a break in my professional life. My challenge and my reward. My Tour de France: 6’000 kilometers, cycling and running for 4 months, on the roads and trails of France. Called Mammenn, as a reference to my Breton origins, this project brings together my love for cycling, running and being outdoors, and my wish to (re)discover France.

Covid shook my certainties of a life that seemed to be mapped out. Away from my close family and friends, and after years spent exploring the world, I was yearning for an adventure in the country that I grew up in and that still has a lot to offer me in terms of discoveries. I couldn’t shake this nagging feeling that there must be more to life. I wanted to stop living for the week-ends. And I wanted to go on an exploration journey.

The exploration of my own home country. These last 2 years have changed my vision of travelling and adventuring. Why go far when there is so much to explore in your own backyard? I want to experience the places that are close to my heart in a different way and I want to discover the France I don’t know yet. Cycling and running, environmentally-friendly and slow ways of travelling, will allow me to have a different outlook on a familiar environment and, I hope, provoke encounters and interactions.

Yverdon-Les-Bains
Touring in Switzerland, where I live, a small introduction to travelling on 2 wheels

But also the exploration of myself and my closed ones. Yearning for social connections after 2 years of Covid, I really want to take the opportunity of these 4 months to rebuild link. And I hope to learn more about myself along the way. Spending so much time pushing on the pedals and running on trails will, I hope, provide the opportunity to know myself better, the others and explore my physical and mental limits to keep building who I am.

Côte de Granit Rose, Bretagne

Côte de Granit Rose in Bretagne, essential section of my trip