Toulouse: a couple and their three children spent a year cycling through Europe
Laurent and Coralie Juillard and their three young children completed a 25,000 km cycle tour of Europe there. They return this Sunday to Toulouse at 6:30 p.m. on the Place du Capitole where friends and family are waiting for them. Reportage.
Laurent and Coralie Juillard and their three young children crossed Europe for a year, up and down and across from the far south to the far north, from Greece to the Arctic Circle, via Montbéliard. . That is 18 countries crossed. A journey of 25,000 km, equivalent to a trip to India via South Africa. And 230,000 m of ascent.
“A journey to endorse sobriety”
Back to Toulouse, Sunday, July 31, with memories full of the head: “We used two semi-recumbent and solar tandem bikes on each pedal”, details the father, deputy director of development at the ISAE-SUPAERO School in Toulouse, on a sabbatical year. “The bike makes contact easy. It “exposes” us to others and encourages encounters”.
An adventure born from a desire to share with the family a different mode of travel in an educational and ecological approach. “Fifteen years ago, I met my wife in South America on a stopover trip. This memory made us want to relive this experience as a family, valuing encounters, simplicity and becoming aware of the climate emergency. Above all, we would give our three children the tools to become more responsible citizens of a world via the unique experience of a bicycle trip through Europe. An excellent way to appreciate sobriety, in my opinion, essential, despite all the technological advances”.
Always different days where the path is privileged on the destination, “we do not do more than 4 hours of cycling / day, five days a week, at a pace of 20, 25 km / h. Without a specific itinerary, we let ourselves be surprised by taking breaks every 45 minutes. For meals, we cook local products on a stove. Sleeping is done for 25% in bivouac, 25% in camping, 25% at the inhabitant and 25% in apart hotel. It all depends on where we are and the weather.” Without forgetting the lessons missed by Laurent and Coralie.
What is the most memorable trip for this family? “It was all about curiosity and discovery. For children, it is certainly this impression of permanent adventure. For us, each city discovered has been a joy. Like Catagne in Sicily where during a hurricane, we had to take refuge for four days in an inn. An experience conducive to adaptation”.
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