In February 2016 I organised a ride with a simple idea behind it: gather a group of friends, cycle from the London Eye to the Eiffel Tower, and come home by train. It wasn’t an official event, with no support vehicle or closed roads. It was just a handful of people pedalling through southern England and northern France, sharing smiles, stories, wine, cheese, cake and, hopefully, some sunshine.

The plan was about 190 miles over three days. We left London on a Friday morning for a long day to Newhaven, then took the overnight ferry to Dieppe, arriving at 4am. Saturday meant 74 miles through Normandy and a night of camping at Le Moulin de la Noue, and Sunday was the final stretch into Paris. Not all of it went to plan: one bike wasn’t road-ready, one rucksack was far too heavy, a pub lunch for eight took an age, and an unmarked speed bump on a steep downhill took two of us out and left me with some serious road rash. We only just made it to the ferry on time. But a group ride like this is made of exactly those moments, and we kept going.

The reward was worth it. On Sunday we rolled into Paris on a quiet day, cycled up the Champs-Élysées towards the Arc de Triomphe and on to the Eiffel Tower, then boarded the Eurostar home. It was cold, at times muddy and slower than planned, but we got there.