Buckingham’s Swan Wheelers Visit Mouvaux, 7th – 8th June 2025

Buckingham’s Swan Wheelers Visit Mouvaux

Buckingham’s cycling club, Swan Wheelers, is celebrating its tenth anniversary this year. Back in 2016, when the club was only a year old, we had the pleasure of welcoming cyclists from our French twin town to Buckingham. This June, it was finally our turn to return the visit, and we were delighted to spend the weekend of 6–8 June in Mouvaux.

Seven of us made the trip and were given a wonderfully warm welcome by Rallye Cyclo Mouvaux.

The weekend began on Saturday with a breakfast of croissants and coffee at their clubhouse, a perfect way to meet everyone before setting off. Two routes were on offer, 45 km and 150 km, both taking us across the border into Belgium. The longer route included climbs over several of the local monts that rise from the otherwise flat landscape, including Cassel, where we stopped for lunch in a traditional Flemish tavern.

On Sunday we all joined together for a 70 km ride to Ypres (Ieper) in Belgium. We cycled through the Menin Gate, stopped for coffee beside the rebuilt Cloth Hall, and passed numerous memorials and cemeteries along the way, a moving experience, especially given that our own débarquement on French soil had been on 6 June.

The weather was kind to us, and we returned to an amazing champagne lunch at the clubhouse, generously sponsored by Mouvaux’s Twinning Association.

The visit was a great success, wonderful rides, delicious food, and new friendships formed.

We were all struck by the impressive cycling infrastructure: a clubhouse within the local leisure centre, beautifully smooth tarmac even on country lanes, and well-marked cycle paths through the towns.

It was lovely to see so many local cyclists out and about, including several groups of children on Sunday.

We did have a little rain on Saturday, and unfortunately one of the Mouvaux riders had a fall. We send our very best wishes for a speedy recovery and are glad to hear he’s on the mend.

Our thanks go to Rallye Cyclo Mouvaux and the twinning associations for their wonderful hospitality. We’re already looking forward to welcoming our friends from Mouvaux to Buckingham and to planning more cycling adventures with our twin towns in the future!

James Tebboth