The 2019 Tour is to be a double celebration with an added twist.
The route is to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Tonbridge-Le Puy en Velay twinning and is also eleven years since the team from Hadlow cycled for the first time from Tonbridge to Le Puy. Some of the route is similar, but this time we have chosen to enter Le Puy over the mountains rather than follow the Loire all the way in .
Arrival at Le Puy after 8 days on the bike will be followed by two rest days whilst we watch a team of Tonbridge runners take part in the Grand Trail de St Jacques running race in the town before celebrations in the town hall on the Sunday.
Having got to Le Puy we are then going to cycle on for another 4 days via hopefully a summit of Mount Ventoux all the way to the Mediterranean Sea at Saintes Maries de la Mer.

| Date | Start | End | Distance | Elevation |
| Fri 31 May | Tonbridge | Dieppe | 46 miles | 2615 ft |
| Sat 1 June | Dieppe | Vernon | 86 miles | 2215 ft |
| Sun 2 June | Vernon | Dourdan | 75 miles | 1634 ft |
| Mon 3 June | Dourdan | Sully sur Loire | 74 miles | 1430 ft |
| Tues 4 June | Sully sur Loire | Nevers | 90 miles | 932 ft |
| Wed 5 June | Nevers | Vichy | 85 miles | 1890 ft |
| Thur 6 June | Vichy | Issoire (via Puy de Dome) | 82 miles | 4846 ft |
| Fri 7 June | Issoire | Le Puy-en-Velay | 73 miles | 5125 ft |
| Sat 8 June | Rest Day | Watch Trail Race | 0 miles | |
| Sun 9 June | Rest Day | Town Hall Reception | 0 miles | |
| Mon 10 June | Le Puy | Aubenas | 74 miles | 6204 ft |
| Tues 11 June | Aubenas | Vaison-la-Romaine | 80 miles | 3950 ft |
| Wed 12 June | Vaison | L’Isle sur-la-Sorgue ( via Mt Ventoux) | 74 miles | 6841 ft |
| Thu 13 June | L’Isle sur-la- Sorgue | Saintes Maries de la Mer | 76 miles (Total 915 mls) | 1063 ft 38745 ft |
With less than two months to go before the 31 May start to the next tour our bespoke tour jerseys arrived today.
They celebrate the 50 years of twinning and match the running vests that our brave dozen will be wearing when they take on the daunting Grand Trail de St Jacques the day after we should arrive in Le Puy.
Note the new for 2019 NBJ Tours logo incorporating the Hadlow Tower and and flying Cuckoo to remind us of previous adventures. My thanks go to Julian Scott for his work on putting the logo together.
As ever once we get our tour underway after being flagged off from Tonbridge Castle by the mayor I hope to keep daily updates running on the journey as we cycle down through France to Le Puy and then after the celebrations on to the Mediterranean.
Getting closer, got to keep up that training.

The machine hits the road again all the best Neil. Safe out and safe back.
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Good luck Neil. Perhaps meet up for breakfast before you go?
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