Name: Guilhem Gandriaut
Residence: France
Year of birth: 1996
Bike: Omnium CXC V3
Riding period: 17th april to 26th june
Most favourite part:
All of it! (except the flat and boring fields of Germany maybe…) Seriously, what I loved most was seeing the landscapes change, from the deserts of the south to the arctic tundra of the north.
Random thoughts:
I was (and still am) really shocked by the fact that in EVERY country I crossed, there were either extreme droughts or abnormal heatwaves, or both… The good news is that I never got wet in the rain (unlike other riders who left a little after me), except for 1,5 hours in the south of France, but that’s all I got for two month…
Since the trail starts in the most South-West point of Europe, I thought it would be cool to finish exactly at the most North-East point of Europe, which is Vardø island (rideable by a tunnel). It’s about 100 km longer, but who cares after more than 7500 km ! The funny part is that you have a military area on the east side of the island where you can’t go, so the most North-East part of Europe accessible by bike is actually the supermarket parking lot of the island… But the rest of the island and all the rides to get there are very wild and beautiful !
Was my first ultra-distance bikepacking experience (I just did a 5 days trip on road before) and I will never make fun again about the peanut butter hype : this stuff is a life saver, periode.
Like every trip, the hardest part is getting started. That’s why I didn’t think too much, just bought a few bags, straps them on my bike and left for Portugal. I started with a black cotton t-shirt and one beach shorts, with zero experience in bikepacking, and for me it was perfect because after a couple of days, I knew exactly what to buy, and I could keep my set-up pretty light and low-tech. It’s wild but it’s still in Europe, so you have everything you need (“just have to be willing to cycle further than intended” like Ben Cannel said :). Also my phone was stolen 300 m before I came back home, in France. I lost all my pictures and a part of my data. I don’t have any photos other than those below and those on my instagram account. I traveled light but I also came back light
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/guilhemlabuche/
Guilhelm’s trip in pictures
