From Tours to Munich, a French fan’s bike trip

You had to be excited, but Michelle, the 64-year-old retiree, was. To enjoy his new life, his happiness is to ride his bike and travel the roads. This Tuesday, he was in Munich, Marienplatz, the famous square in the heart of the city, having left Tours twenty days ago.

“I had my place for the France-Germany match, and as I vowed to go by bike, with electric assistance, on the Eurovélo route (which departs from Brittany to the Black Sea), from my hometown of Lannion, in Brittany, I said to myself: I am going to Munich by bike. I went to Tours. Last year, so I left Tours this year. At a rate of one hundred kilometers a day, I reached Munich in twenty days (counting back from Lannion, editor’s note), “explains Michel, glad I’ve already covered about 2,000 of the 5,000 km of this long route across Europe.

“Fine for driving…on a pedestrian street in Munich”

“No hassles, good weather, a little rain sometimes at night, but in my tent everything went fine. I passed Mulhouse and Basel, then went to Germany. I passed between the drops at the border. I preferred the road on the French side, along Scenic canals,” he says. His ride didn’t cost him much other than pedal strokes, and he still treated himself to a pizza or two along the way. He still had to pay a fine of 15 euros in Munich for driving… on a pedestrian street. “I didn’t notice that…they were a bit harsh,” laughs Michel.

Back to France by train

On Tuesday evening, he will be at the stadium alongside the French fans to experience the France-Germany match intensely. He will then join Budapest in the other two first-round matches of the Blues. “I will go there with friends, but by train this time, and to go back to France, it will be by train too. I will have round enough like that.”