In 2014 I cycled 5,000 miles across Brazil to visit all 12 of the World Cup football stadiums before the tournament kicked off - it was an amazing way to explore and discover such a diverse country as it prepared to host this huge event: http://smudgersambacycle.org/
When it was over the obvious question became... what's next?
Well, I'd love to see more of Europe and particularly France, and the next European Championships is being held there (10 June to 10 July 2016), so I'm gonna cycle to visit all 10 of the stadiums/cities during May 2016: http://www.uefa.com/uefaeuro-finals/hosts/france/
Here's the basic route map: http://www.scribblemaps.com/maps/view/Le_Tour_des_Stades/SocEntSycle
Wanna join me for some or all of it?
The total distance (starting from London) will be about 1,000 miles, which at a steady pace (ie. touring not racing!) will take about a month, including 1-2 day stops in each host city to look around and visit the stadiums. I plan to camp as much as possible in order to keep costs down, but stay in hostels/B&B's or maybe Couchsurf in the cities.
I appreciate it's probably tricky for people to commit to doing the whole thing, so maybe the Bordeaux to Nice (via Toulouse and Marseille) segment might appeal to come and join me for part of the adventure.
I'll be blogging via the #ChapeauCycle website (not set up yet) and will be aiming to raise lots of money for a couple of charities (not chosen yet), so the more participants the better to spread the word and turn this into a great story that we can get into the media for coverage. Any ideas/suggestions on that front are very welcome.
Allez allez allez!
Cheers, Andy
Contact me here andy4wfc@hotmail.com
More info here https://www.facebook.com/LeTourDesStades