Days 5-9 - Adventures in South West France

Hi everyone, just to echo Rory below, very sorry that the blog has not been updated for so long, but internet has been scarce...


We're currently on day 9, a rest day in Hossinger, a trendy surfers town near Biaritzz where we are being exceptionally looked after by rory's godfather Chris and his family. The day has been spent tending to our bikes and getting some rest (read playing cricket) before we venture on to Spain tomorrow.

Mood in the camp is high, and confidence up after some excellent cycling over the last few days. Being over a week in and into southern france there is a real feeling that progress has been made...There is however also a slight feeling of trepidation amongst the troops, akin to an army who know that so all they've done so far is march to the battle, the real fighting begins when we encounter the fierce heat and mountains of Spain. This is our Hastings...

The last few days cyling havce been very good, covering 79 on day 5, 89 on day 6, exactly 100 on day 7 and 93 on day 8. Before you are too impressed I should mention that the terrain has been somewhat flat, and by soemwhat flat i mean the last 200 miles has made the slight gradient from Marshall's out of Cambridge seem like a Himalayan foothill, and the rolling hills of Brittany seem like Everest itself. It's also been somewhat mild, which has gone down in different ways with different members of the team. Those commited tanners amongst us (Messrs. Dean & Gimson) it has been somewhat of a travesty, but it has almost certainly saved Doble £20 on another pot of sunclay to plaster his delicate skin from the rays.

Other than the Boulangerie's of western France, which as Rory has stated have increased revenue by 10% on the journey, the quality of the road also deserves a mention. Quite simply they are flat and quick, this is like batting at the WACA on a hot day witht he ball coming quickly onto the bat and any touch enough to send the ball flying to the boundary. Despite these conditions we've managed to get ourselves in the odd spot of bother... Doble's over-active pompus gland has shown no sign of delfating despite the constant medical attention of the rest of the team, and despite eating enough to feed most continetns for a week Ed has suffered one dizzying sugar low which forced the team into accepting an early lunch whilst he replenished his stocks, we've alos had a couple of falls, mostly due to being clipped into pedals, and once in my case due to cornering too quickly... the other main focus of the last few days has been an attempt from myself to make the team more 'efficient' in taking stops... but despite my best attempts it seems none of us can multi-task and we are consigned to never leaving until half an hour after someone says lets get on our bikes... at least i can say I tried.

Finally I should also mention that our morning puffy eyes are on the decrease and the team are starting to sleep well in the tents kindly provided by Marshall's, and the bikes from Ben Hayward are also standing up well to the test, if occaisonly in need of a bit of tlc from their riders.

Anyway, I must go to grease my bike and go to the bakers, but thanks for reading and we'll try to update soon - thanks for all the texts and everything from home, it's great to hear from you when faced with another 60 miles of the day...

GD