FRANCE – PORTUGAL sur un vélo tandem (pt. 3/3)

Dernière partie de la série (3 épisodes) retraçant notre voyage entre la France et le Portugal en tandem.

En partenariat avec la mairie de Poitiers, on s’est lancé en Octobre 2022 dans un projet de voyage alternatif pour rejoindre Coimbra, ville jumelée de Poitiers au Portugal.
Après quelques belles galères pour trouver un vélo à Poitiers, nous prenons la route en direction du Sud-Ouest de la France et de l’Espagne. Nous devons rouler près de 100 km par jour pour arriver dans les temps au Portugal… un sacré défi pour notre premier voyage sur un tandem !

Sur la chaîne Tandem les vidéos sortent dès qu’elles sont prêtes ! En plus, on te propose nos anecdotes d’aventure les plus croustillantes au format Short. Abonne-toi pour ne rien rater 🫵

🎼 La tracklist de la vidéo :
– The Traveling Wilburys – The End of the Line
– The Sword – Turned to Dust
– Alpha Wann – Philly Flingo
– 1975 – Happiness
– Aerosmuth – Dream On
– Nepal – Sundance
– Lloyd Cole and the Commotions – Lost Weekend
– Ghost – Square Hammer
– White Town – Your Woman
– Scarlet Pleasure – What a Life

Les pages instagrams des deux galériens :
– https://www.instagram.com/tanguy_citron/
– https://www.instagram.com/natelaemmel/

La page TikTok Tandem :

@tandemxadventures

Adresse mail de contact pro : tandemxadventures@gmail.com

As part of an eco-responsible project between Poitiers and Portugal’s twin city, Coimbra, we started a 1,500 kilometer tandem adventure. After a more than a week on the road… We have 5 days left to arrive on time for the official welcome ceremony in Coimbra. Despite a few small issues…

The weather is nice, we’re having fun on the bike and we’re confident about the success of the project. But things are about to change completely… Today we don’t ride for too long but we go up a little bit towards Salamanca, our last big stop in Spain. Before Portugal…

Huge straight line, we can’t see the end of it… We’re going to take the opportunity to get a little drone shot of this crossing of the desert. Try not to rush into a tree this time Tang please That should do it right? Nathan. Tanguy.

Welcome to part 3, four months (rather 6) after part 2. We had a few technical problems, but we’re back. Yeah, we had a few little technical problems, but here we are again. With a surprise guest for this third part. So that’s Simon, our new traveling companion

We met him on the side of the road. Such a nice guy Simon, and so Simon had left his job to do a mini tour of Europe by bike… Yeah, that’s it. He had left Germany about 3 months before and… yeah so we met him in Portugal

And he ended up doing the rest of the journey with us. We didn’t meet him in Portugal… Ah sh*t… We just arrived in Salamanca… uh little problem we just burst the tire but as it was sunset I I went to do two or three drone shots…

So now I’m coming back and we’re going to see if… we’re going to see if Nathan managed to repair all that. I think… he’s still in trouble… So how is it going? Does it work Nate? Yeah, it’s okay, it should do… Despite exceptional work… I’ll let you judge the situation. It’s not working.

The guy is so nice, because in fact the shop is closing and normally we were supposed to come back tomorrow but then he told us “go ahead, I’ll do it quickly before you go to the bar” so really he’s so cool Big up to the people of Salamanca!

Finally we leave the bike shop, around 9:30 p.m. and as we are in the middle of the city we need to find a place to sleep. We see on Maps that there is a large green space next to the center

< font color="#ffffff">which turns out to be a soccer field, and we decide to go there because we think it can be a good idea. Once there we wait for the stadium to close, about half an hour later we set up camp, we prepare some food

And with Nathan we see that the changing rooms are just at the other end of the pitch so we figure “let’s take a shower”. So we leave Simon with the tents and all the stuff we walk discreetly towards the locker room… and there…

We come face to face with an ULTRA venerated security guard. He turns on his lamp and we shit ourselves because we have a bivouac that is set up at the end of the path with Simon cooking pasta With a massive amount of luck, the guy doesn’t see the tent< /font>

So we manage to stutter something like “we’ll just get our bike and come back” We tell Simon to turn off the stove and not make any noise and we bring the tandem back. Clearly seeing two weird guys with a tandem and headlamps in the middle of his stadium at 11 p.m.

The security guard has some doubts, but he decides not to look any further. And then Simon (who we met the same morning)< /font> finds himself absolutely alone in the middle of the stadium with security guards making rounds around him < font color="#ffffff">and he is lost with his plate of pasta

Anyway we end up being escorted outside the gate and we’re looking for a way to contact Simon again… We called our friend who’s inside < font color="#ffffff">and apparently the guard doesn’t seem to leave… he’s probably spending the night here We’re fucked.

We’re going to have to go back in, sneak inside and take out all our stuff and then we found a shabby spot, it’s worth what it’s worth It’s horrible… Under a bridge… And we’re going to settle down here I think, we don’t have much choice

We were talking yesterday about difficult moments that we never show well that clearly is one of them eh We squat down and move on on the other side under the trees until we reach Simon’s level We arrived but… the fence is too big to get through

We run to get Simon and the things and we scramble away, carrying our tents it’s a struggle but we rush as discreetly as possible… We moved 500m further there< /font> and we landed in a sort of wasteland next to the road so uh… yeah it’s really not great tonight eh

Yeah we’ll have to leave early tomorrow morning anyway and yeah we’re going to eat to comfort ourselves it’s the only pleasure we have left tonight. Yeah so uh… quite a day there. Yeah we started by meeting Simon in the morning then we had new problems with our bike

We infiltrated then got out from a football field and finally we slept under a bridge… But all in all we still made good progress and we’re getting closer to our final objective, in Portugal… Okay, it’s the next morning our German bro is folding his tent behind us there

The night was rather peaceful for me I slept pretty well even though it was super cold so pretty happy about that and uuuuh… yeah we’re packing up there Everything is soaked but we’re going to dry it at noon and we’re off for our last two days in Spain!

We broke our bike (again)… so we’ll have to fix the luggage rack we had to take all the stuff off there What a nightmare… So the problem is that… well the luggage rack is gone it has separated itself from the rest… so we’re going to have to try to attach it with something

To put it back in place We just caught up Simon our German friend who we met on the road who is coming to our help… because basically I don’t know if we can see but… < font color="#ffffff">that’s what’s gone…

And in fact we have a screw that came out that we haven’t found back but there is a mudguard screw which we don’t need so we tried to unscrew the screw from mudguard, remove the mudguard, and screw it back onto the luggage rack… Our bike becomes a kind of cyborg…

So happy we met Simon our traveling companion there… who is riding a bit ahead of us because he was super equipped in terms of bike gear he got his hands dirty for us he really helped with the repairs And… review of the day, another busy day eh…

Marked 100% by mechanical problems this time Absolutely. Damn mosquito. Oh no we should have moved on after the mosquito! And yeah so we make it to a small village Sancti-spiritus We stop at a small gas station and we see a shower outside or at least a kind of garden hose

So we try to activate it but impossible But then… a guy who comes out of nowhere he explains to us that the station belonged to him before that he sold it to a multinational a while ago but he still knows how to activate the shower

And then he opens a kind of trap door in the floor and he activates it the thing in the grass, buried and then the water flows… So we settled for an amazing shower The first in three days. It’s the next day< /font> we’re taking the… It’s the next day

We’re taking breakfast at the gas station where we showered yesterday It’s Simon’s turn to have bike problems Nathan went to wash his hair… in the station We are 230 km away from Portugal it’s going to be very, very hard but we’re really going to do it we have to do it

Even if it means carrying the bag on our back we’ll see what we do but… but yeah the last few days are going to be very difficult… There was a hair dryer brother My hair live again

We’re not going to show it but we’re only 50cm away from the girl at the gas station who’s just behind the window < font color="#ffffff">And we figured it’s once again an embarrassing situation but… This kind of adventure helps a lot. .. to stop considering so much other people’s looks

And uh… we had already done a similar adventure in Italy two years ago here I think we are going beyond our limits again but it’s rather positive it helps breaking some barriers We are trying yet another new strategy we set a cable there to try to balance< /font>

Between the two bags so that the luggage rack no longer touches the wheel That doesn’t look bad what you did there Tang Here we’re going to see if after fixing all our luggage it still holds we’re going to cross our fingers to do as much km as we can like that

It’s been 2km since we left well we stopped because we chains dropped but it doesn’t matter… it happens all the time The bag shifts like crazy, so far it holds we have to drive very straight, we have to be sooo careful… every time we bounce on the road

And yeah eh we have to hold on as long as possible like that what do we have left. .. 230 km… Despite the steering which is exceptional we still get some serious shocks on the bike it moves in all directions we’re freaking out… We’re freaking out that it breaks

We’re in Pinhel, in a small town in Portugal and uh… the guy at the bar was so cool he let us eat inside we feel so privileged to be able to sit in front of the Classico like that to just do nothing for 1h30 except eating and regaining strength but……

So Tang, what hassle was still missing on this journey? Well only the rain was missing and ultimately uh… that’s the last thing we needed on this trip And here it is eh! So we’ve been stuck since this afternoon We’ll try to get up early tomorrow normally it will still be raining

Leaving early in the rain to try to make as many km as possible Wait, come on, we’re going to announce the plan anyway because if it works it’s incredible So here we are in a bar right now and we thought we’re going to try to count on the kindness of Portuguese people

So we’re going to buy two/three beers, talk to the bartenders and ask them if it’s possible to find a sheltered place to sleep Because leaving in the rain is already complicated but leaving in the rain with everything wet… yeah… we’ll see… So there the gentleman we met at the bar

Who is so nice offered to bring us to the fire station after buying us some shots So we’re going to meet the firefighters… We have just arrived in front of the fire station the bro went inside

We are waiting for him to come out to tell us if we can stay here or not the tension is at its peak… Yeah so the brother from the bar is so nice that right away everyone is laughing and they agree to host us so incredible

Frankly just too good, so we have beds for that evening we have a whole apartment for ourselves, the place is incredible and above all a kitchen, real toilets it’s really a great luxury for us, it’s the best night of the trip Here’s what it looks like So that’s the real problem

I think we can see clearly there that the luggage rack is broken because the screw here went off and in fact all that there… in fact all of that is attached to absolutely nothing apart from the left side we tried to put some kind of threads

But yeah actually it shakes… well it’s completely.. . It’s going to collapse! No but the balance seen from behind is terrible really it’s terrible A little embarrassing the next morning because everyone who welcomed us the day before and who was so nice< /font> they’re no longer here

So the lady we’re saying goodbye to actually has no idea who we are and she doesn’t even know that we slept at their place But we would like to say once again a huge THANK YOU to the firefighters of Pinhel who saved us especially Luis Castelo I hope we pronounce his name correctly

He was the one who welcomed us and really showed us around and he was so cool so frankly it was such a pleasure thanks again We’re back on dirt roads but at least we’re in the vineyards and the lemon trees

We’re in the South and it feels good, the weather should be nice today You got some music or not? would be great for the descent there Nah, it’s more the bike that… if you knew how much I want to smash it… This speaker is so rubbish…. Speed up speed up! Stress level: 18/20

We derailed on the climb in the worst possible place… so we’re pushing it now It’s… terrible… This is what it looks like… 100km!! The 100km mark has passed!!! Let’s go for a first shi-fu-mi to celebrate!! Nathan just took a loaf of bread there but I think it weighs something like 400g

Will you pass it back to me? Are we all good? We have 87 km left Nate… 87 km do you know what that means? New shi-fu-mi. Are you ready? And that makes it 2-0… Yeah well… Plus we just sent an email to…

I mean we just called the guy who rented us the bike he said “no, but guys, it is new, it’s brand new!” It was very, very new yeah… Front pedals, it’s finished. Oh man! First Coimbra panel!! Let’s gooooo!! In all this misfortune… Good news!! Just when we’ve broken the pedals for good

Yeah, it’s still bad eh… It’s… yeah… Fortunately there’s more descent in the end Good thing our bike is brand new too The bike is new, that’s for sure Wait with the sign, it’s incredible!! So the chain is completely scraping on the ground Yeah when te chains drop now they drop for good

But on the other hand… 89km!! ALLEEEEEEEEEEEEEZ!! Come on…. Nah but what hell 80 kilometers to go… And it’s a 3-0 for Nathan!!! But I’m getting smashed, it’s terrible… There we are in the middle of nowhere in Portugal we see absolutely nothing we have just derailed so the chain hits the ground

So Nathan can no longer pedal, so I pedal alone… I put this on top there… We made a chain knot It’s really hardcore all the way All that to derail in 2 minutes again… We’re 58km away Nathan!! 4-1 damn I’m getting destroyed so much…

Well the chain fell for the gazillionth time… tied yet another knot… It’s time to go to bed… We’ll finish on foot and see you tomorrow, to finish, I hope, the adventure We just arrived next to a football stadium we settled down, it’s quite peaceful what a long day that was…

We finished setting up the tents. And we’re going to eat, there’s Nathan preparing the food at the back On the menu this evening bulgur vegan bolognese sauce it seems to me and arrabiata sauce Thank you Nathan It’s 8 a.m., we just got up. And normally we arrive in Coimbra today!!!

Little mechanical check-up before leaving< /font> This is the front chain. It fell and made knots. We’ll have to put it back. The rear brake broke yesterday at the end of the day so we’re going to rely solely on the front brake And finally… the luggage rack… in such an unstable balance…

As the bike bags held up yesterday the way we attached them with the cables we decided to leave them on the bike and we’re going to put our stuff directly in instead Hopefully it holds up again today! We have three hours left to ride to Coimbra Three hours baby

Three hours to hold on as best as we can< /font> Here we go!! It’s 6-4!! We end up with a 6-4, it’s not that bad, well done Okay, what should we say in the last facecam? So that’s it. Here we are 15 days of cycling, 15 days of struggle Actually it’s not bad

Plus it’s recording So here we are. It was intense, but… in reality it was an incredible adventure At the end there was so much hassle that for the nerves it was complicated… It was too much. Frankly, it was too much.

I remember that the last 3 days when we had one mechanical struggle after another and we just wanted to arrive and we see that we can no longer do as many km as we wanted It was really complicated It becomes funny in hindsight Fortunately. Fortunately it makes our friends laugh

And yeah we had a lot of fun making this video in any case We were lucky, yeah, to be able to do this project with the tcity of Poitiers so really nice to have been able to do that A word for the end would be “travel by bike” guys

Because frankly it’s so good “Travel on a tandem even” With a good tandem though ! Important. And a good partner. Because for me it was really painful Not bad… Well done Nathan. Your fitness level out of 10? Mmmmmhh…. Two and a half.

And It has nothing to do with the fatigue of the trip, eh Ready for the ceremony in 5 minutes? Not even. .. We go to the welcome ceremony with the town hall It was a little rough yesterday… but it’s going to be cool. Here it is!

We had to patch it up as best we could… It’s DIY… They were there marveling at the tandem, “it’s magnificent” and we showed them the sh*t we did there’s NOTHING left holding up on this bike, it’s terrible It’s terrible… On the other hand, what a welcome!! Too nice really!! The people of Portugal…

The Portuguese ultimately we call that Super nice really it was… it was a treat We are right at the top of the city, at the University of Coimbra We managed to bring back the tandem so project accomplished! Unfortunately we won’t have an aerial plan because< /font> the drone is having mechanical problems

So instead uh… a video of Simon riding a bike naked. 10 minutes walk straight down that street The moment of truth approaches… Oh the tension! Okay… We got in the firt bus smoothly. font> Like clockwork We still have a bus behind A connection to leave Portugal We’ll see, eh!!

The worst has just happened. We got turned away at Viseu station So what we’re going to do is we’re going to try to find uh. .. something to wrap the bike in plastic to hope it passes as cabin luggage…< /font> So what are we buying here?

A huge roll of plastic to roll up our magnificent tandem I feel like the fuck*r is 4 times bigger like that ‘m thinking, worst case scenario, I’ll take out the Swiss knife and say “en la calle te mato” It’s huge huh…