An Olympian effort: my struggle to cycle from London to Paris

The 250-mile Avenue Verte cycle route opened in time for the 2012 London Olympics. One side of the Channel is a smooth ride, the other is not fit for purpose – but that could all change thanks to the vision of one man

I’m bashing my way through thick foliage atop a long-disused railway embankment somewhere outside Sevenoaks, using my bicycle as a battering ram against the brambles and nettles. My guide has disappeared ahead into the wilderness. Beside and beyond us are fields and views, but I can’t see them. I’m being asked to imagine, though, what this route could be, given the chance. I’m following a man who has hoped for two decades to reroute the English portion of what he believes could be a “yellow brick road” for cycling, linking London and Paris.

The existing route, the Avenue Verte (AV) was inaugurated ahead of the London 2012 Olympics, forging a symbolic and physical connection between the two capital cities. However, while the French portion was lavished with new, smoothly surfaced greenways, a lack of funding and political will meant on the English side a make-do-and-mend spirit has, until now, prevailed. Now that it’s Paris’s turn to hold the Olympic flame, thoughts have returned to this unfinished route.