Le Tour à Harbury - French friends cycle all 450 miles from Paris

And now members of the Harbury side of a twinning group that links the village with Samois-sur-Seine - just south of the French capital - are determined to return the favour next year.

Seven men and four women from the French side of the group pedalled the 280 miles from Paris to Newhaven in East Sussex, where they were joined by Andrew Patrick, John Hancock, Richard Marshall-Hardy and Peter Rollason from Harbury, who cycled alongside their twinning counterparts the remaining 170 miles up to south Warwickshire.

And once in Harbury, there was no rest for the weary, as the cyclists were joined by a coachload of fellow French twinning group members and more than 50 Harbury members for an action-packed weekend. Among the activities organised was a walking tour to Chesterton, an open gardens and pub games afternoon, a giant ‘safari supper’ around the village, a trip to Oxford and a hog roast and ceilidh at the village hall.

Mr Patrick, a former French teacher who has been involved in the group since it formed in 1998, said: “We could not have done it better. The weather was pretty awful on the first day, but it got better.

“It was the French members’ idea to do the cycle, partly due to the fact that I had once cycled across France.

“They wanted to cycle all the way from Paris to Harbury - and they jolly well did it.”

Hailing the visit as “an excellent week”, Mr Patrick said that it would be the Harbury side’s turn to visit Samois-sur-Seine in 2014, adding: “The four of us who cycled from Newhaven this time are determined to cycle all the way.”