The Écrivélo Files

Journeys Through War-Torn Europe by Bike.

It’s 79 Years Ago Today

79th Anniversary and Worthy of a Quick Reminder. FO Gribben RAF and FL Griffiths RCAF Crew of DZ 534 rescued from English Channel.jpg (L'équipage du DZ 534 sauvé de la Manche) SOURCE: © United Kingdom National Archives It's 79 years since the Mosquito Crashed in the Forêt de Brou. Overnight[...]
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Day 16 – Knipton to Woodhall Spa

...and finally to Woodhall Spa. The site of the old RAF Woodhall Spa, where on 26 July 1944 9 Mosquito Pathfinders took off. Cycling wise - today was an easy run up from Knipton to Woodhall Spa. I had intended to travel via RAF Syerston, which had been the base[...]
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Day 13 – Central London to Ampthill

Via the home of the Mosquito de Havilland Aircraft Museum At Last leaving London on the home stretch to Lincoln. I left Westminster and cycled the short distance to Kings Cross Station to RV with my daughter Katie to continue for the next two days. It's so much easier with[...]
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Day 11 – Folkestone to Rochester

FOLKESTONE TO ROCHESTER Detling Kent I thought today would be an easy ride north. I was wrong. I rode north from Folkestone latching onto the Pilgrims Way. The surface of this route was really hard going and the rain - the first in 54 days I was told - was[...]
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Day 9 – English Channel to Tournehem-sur-la-Hem

ENGLISH CHANNEL TO TOURNEHEM-SUR-LA-HEM I was not surprised to find that the wind that had blown directly in my face all the way down the Canal de Somme continued today. Christie was the observer in a recognisance mission over Belguim when on 11th May 1940 he was shot down. His[...]
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DAY 8 COURCELLES-SOUS-THOIX, PICARDY TO ENGLISH CHANNEL

COURCELLES-SOUS-THOIX, PICARDY TO ENGLISH CHANNEL Today marks my first day of my second week in the saddle – none of this ‘having a day off’ like in the Tour de France.Today I pass by Poix in Picardy – A place of great significance for FO Christie. The very man who[...]
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Day 2 – Létra to Cluny

LÉTRA TO CLUNY Martin, Vincent and Bernard Time to leave the comfort of my own bed! The significance of yesterday's finishing line and today's starting point was very poignant for me. The Commonwealth War Graves is Létra mark the point where the journey of the crew of Mosquito DZ 636[...]
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??‍♂️ ?? 1 MONTH TO GO ????‍♂️

With only 1 month to go until I start, I thought this would be a good time to remind you how you can help raise the profile of Bomber Command for future generations. I will start on 10th July and arrive in Lincoln on 26th July - 74 years to[...]
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Lyon to Lincoln the Route

The Route DistanceElevationDurationMoney Raising TargetDistance 1,610 km (1000 miles) Elevation 12,944m elevation gain (425,000 ft) -  equivalent to one and a half times up Everest Duration 96 hours - estimated moving time Money Raising Target 2000 euros Use this link to donate directly to the IBCC Tweet to @@ecrivelo!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+'://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js';fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document, 'script',[...]
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Air Force Records: A Guide for Family Historians

If you are new to searching old records like me, then this is an excellent book . One of the first things I did when researching the Mosquito in the Forest was to buy the service records of the crew. Without this book I think it is fair to say[...]
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