84th Semaine Fédérale – 23rd to 30th July 2023
Pont-à-Mousson, France,
The Semaine Fédérale is a delightful week of “cyclotourism” organised by the impressive FFCT (Fédération Française de Cyclotourisme). This year will be the event’s 84th anniversary, with the first Semaine Fédérale being run in 1927.
The Semaine Fédérale visits a different part of France every year. This year it will be held in Pont-à-Mousson in Eastern France.
Pont-à-Mousson is nestled midway between Metz and Nancy, around about 100km from the French border with Luxembourg and Germany. It is a small town with around 15,000 inhabitants, which is going to be boosted by an additional 10,000 cyclists when the Semaine Fédérale hits town in July.
The town has a very pleasant centre, a rich industrial history and is famed for supplying France with all its man-hole cover needs! The surrounding countryside is noted for its quiet roads and rolling landscapes (oh err!), as well as numerous historical, cultural and gastronomical attractions.
The organisers set out four to five different rides each day. These range in distance from 40km to over 150km. The rides can be started whenever you want and they are all “arrowed’ so you rarely need GPS or a map. Each day the routes are changed to take you to a different area and to see different attractions. Certain towns are designated as Host Towns, where you can get snacks and drinks as well as being entertained by music and dance.
The Willesden CC tend to camp on the the Semaine Fédérale’s central camp site. Though these have everything you require such as loos, plenty of free hot showers and basic washing facilities. These are well run, clean and with little queuing, however they are quite spartan. That said the WCC have been going since 2009, so it can’t be that bad!
If you would like to know more, then please get in contact with me via willesdencyclingclub@yahoo.co.uk.
I look forward to telling you more about this very French and most welcoming event.
John Davies
