The blinds were pulled back this morning with trepidation of RAIN which was forecast. Well it was certainly grey and there had been a little rain overnight but it was now dry. We left our hotel early at 7am as we needed to get a ferry from Royan to Le Verdon Sur Mer at 7.45. So a different breakfast on board the boat – various croissants, buns and coffee.
Today was always going to be a long day so it was good that we got away from Le Verdon-Sur-Mer at 8.30am. Also, Nick gave us words of encouragement that it was going to be flat and we would be hugging the coast all day so we would have splendid views of the sea. In the saddle for leg 1 were Chris, Mike, Nick and Lyn with Neil sourcing lunch supplies. A VERY FLAT uninteresting ride (and we never saw the sea once! We’ve never experienced such straight roads and it got to a point where there was excitement among the team when we came across a roundabout and the excitement reached fever pitch when we approached a roundabout! How flat – 233ft climbed!
Random thoughts and comments during 65kms of straight flat roads driving the team to hallucination:
· Mike claims that Dungerness is classified as a desert, in fact the only desert in Europe – can this really be true or has he lost the plot
· Car drivers are persistently reminded to keep their distance from the car in front whereas cyclists spend their lives trying to get to within an inch of the rider in front – how odd.
How long was leg 1? Well it depends on whether you are talking to Nick or Neil. Nick thought our coffee stop was at Hourtin and Neil gave Nick maps for our stop to be in Carcans. Result = Neil was ‘’billy no mates’’ and had coffee on his own in Carcans – oh dear!
In the saddle for leg 2 were Chris, Mike, Neil and Lyn with Nick sourcing a picnic spot for lunch. Another flat, fairly featureless 64kms from Carcons to Bigonos – again we never saw the sea once!. Even the Sat Navs got fed up and led us to 5 miles of off road riding (not to be recommended on road bikes). It certainly livened up proceedings and probably led to the first puncture of the tour (Lyn). Another good picnic lunch at Bigonos set us up nicely for the final leg to our final destination for the day – Parentis-En-Born.
In the saddle for day 3 were Chris, Lyn, Neil and Nick. This was by far the most interesting leg of the day – undulating riding, a stop off to view Dune-De-Pyla (the largest sand dune in Europe), sighting of a family of beavers and some really good LE PELETON riding to get us to the hotel before it was dark. The final leg will also remembered for Nick’s grand detour as he led Lyn off in completely the wrong direction for an 11km detour. Directional sense is not a strength!
A really good team effort today, particularly given the total distance of 185km and lots of flat, featureless terrain. Another top effort. Needless to say we reminded Nick a few times that we never saw the sea once in the whole day!
We finished at 7pm and went straight to the bar for a couple of celebratory beers and had an excellent dinner at out hotel for the night and a couple of nice bottles of red wine. Another good day.
Breakfast on the ferry from Royan |
Le Peleton |
On the ferry from Royan to Le Verdon Sur Mer |
Ferry approaching Le Verdon Sur Mer |
Coffee at Hourtin - wrong place leaving Neil at Carcans |
Just to remove any misconception that the Hadlow bikers stay in 5* hotels on these tours! |
Dune de Pyla - you could build a few sandcastles with that. Largest sandune in Europe |
The English translations in our hotel rooms made us smile |
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