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Editorial Challans
Published on
Oct 1, 2024 at 8:52 a.m.
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It’s a successful challenge for this young retiree living in Bois-de-Céné in Vendée! Last June, Patrice Francioni left by bike to reach Hyères, in the Var, his birthplace.
A list of experiences and activities
It was a challenge he promised himself he would achieve. It is the first ofa list of experiences and activities that he had not been able to achieve in his professional life.
He completed this first challenge in just 17 days. To do this, he had to pedal a distance of 1400 kilometers.
80 kilometers per day
During his journey, Patrice Francioni benefited from a good weather but also numerous cycle and green paths.
I first went along the Atlantic coast to Royan where I took the ferry to cross the Garonne estuary, then I followed the Canal du Midi to reach Occitanie and the Mediterranean.
To get to Hyères, he cycled 80 kilometers every day. “That corresponds to 5 or 6 hours of cycling,” he explains. He oriented himself only using a paper map.
Encounters and misadventures
During his journey, Patrice Francioni met a lot of people. “There were notably a lot of foreigners from northern Europe: the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, Germany… Cyclists who hiked with their dogs, walkers also who were heading to Santiago de Compostela. »
He also has a few mishaps such as forgetting his bank card at the start and a fall in the Canal de Midi due to road subsidence.
A return by car
Once he arrived in Hyères, the city of his birth, Patrice Francioni stayed a few days with his family to celebrate his adventure.
His wife having come to pick him up, he returned to Bois-de-Céné by car.
Today, after writing a book for his children and grandchildren, he is surely considering trying the other challenges on his list, such as swimming with dolphins or free falling.
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