‘It’s the stories, the laughs, the tears’: the retired teacher cycling across France delivering letters to loved ones

Vincent Berthelot cycling through France. He estimates that in eight years he has covered 30,000km and delivered more than 300 letters. Photograph: Vincent Berthelot

It started off as an unconventional way to chart an itinerary for a months-long, post-retirement cycling trip, with Vincent Berthelot offering to personally deliver letters across France and see where the whims of the writers would take him.

What swiftly became clear was the transformative power of hand-delivered letters, at times reuniting family members and long-lost friends. Eight years on, his idea has swelled into a movement, with more than 100 people now crossing continents to make offline connections in a virtual world.