After last year's failed attempt at bikepacking towards Paris, my little brother and I decided to try again this year. We upgraded our gear and prepared a lot better in general. Last year, I had to cycle on a small mountain bike with a fully loaded sailing backpack that basically held all our stuff. We gave up once we arrived in Brussels.
Having a new bike and proper bags made this trip a lot easier. We reached the Belgian border early during the second day. This took us three full days the year prior. Once we reached France our easy days were over, but I am glad that I didn't have to climb all those hills with a sailing backpack on me again.
Once again I learned a lot of lessons during this trip. There are still some upgrades required. Turns out that you miss a lot of turns when you use your phone as your navigation system and then connect it to a bluetooth speaker. I'll get a Garmin next year.
We originally planned to cycle towards Mont Saint Michel, which would have been another 350km from Paris. Unfortunately, my brother had five flat tires throughout the trip which did not contribute positively towards the overall mood during the trip. Adding this to the already existing friction due to our 7 year age gap made us decide to call it quits in Paris.
Overall the trip was really nice. We cycled a total of 613km in 7 days time and took two rest days to explore a town called Saint Quentin and Paris. Our longest day was actually in France. We cycled 116km that day. Considering all the steep climbs this was something to be really proud of. I'm excited for my next trip!
by Ropehair