The Écrivélo Files

Journeys Through War-Torn Europe by Bike.

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 1 – Lyon to Létra

Lyon to Letra The big day has finally arrived. With the bike loaded I took a train into a Lyon. It's Tuesday morning; the city is busy. I cycled the short distance across presqu'île, along the banks of the Rhône, Parc de la Tête d'Or, Université Claude Bernard - Lyon[...]
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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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Recce of the Start

Strava Route Photos from the stage Lancaster WA118-ZN-Y Admiral Prune belonging to Squadron 106 departed at 6:30 pm on February 4, 1943, from the RAF Syerston near Nottingham, England. It was part of a mission of 188 aircraft including 77 Lancasters en route to Turnin to bomb industrial. The last[...]
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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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