3rd May
We departed Hadlow after loading up around 4pm – typical Friday journey on M25 and A3. Loaded on to the boat around 8pm and settled down to a couple of well earned pints. Good meal with a nice bottle of red and then to bed to rest up for the start.
4th May
Early start – breakfast on the boat at 6.15am then disembarked and drove to Le Vivier Sur Mer for start of the ride.
In the saddle for leg 1 were Chris, Nick, Lyn and Mike. Great flat riding hugging the shoreline for a good distance with Le Mont St Michel as our guide in the distance. At Beauvoir we detoured from the route to get a closer look at Le Mont St Michel. The French are certainly milking this tourist attraction. After dodging a pay barrier and having our first interaction with the Gendarmerie (who suggested we should pay rather than dodge the barrier) our progress was halted at the tourist bus stop where we were told that bikes had to be parked and we needed to walk or talk a bus. That was the end of the Le Mont St Michel road for us so we took a few quick pictures and returned to our route.
Our coffee stop was at St Brice en Cogles – we were well ready for it after a fast 55kms.
In the saddle for Leg 2 were Chris, Neil, Lyn and Nick – another fast 54 kilometres with nothing more than a few rolling hills to Vitre which is a lovely town with many historic buildings. How about this for a useless piece of information:
‘’Vitre is the 37th French city with the most historic buildings and has 14% of the historic monuments of the Ille-et-Vilaine department’’ – Chris knows!!
Just after Vitre we had a lovely picnic in the sun – that horrible winter seemed a long way away.
In the saddle for the final leg were Chris, Nick, Neil and Mike for another fast 49kms to our hotel for the 1st night at Chateau-Gontier. The highlight of the leg was Neil and Nick chasing down and passing a lone cyclist. Top effort guys but it must have been painful as he tailed you for the next 10kms!
Great 1st day - 158 kilometres in fast time. We had the traditional beer (s) post ride to discuss and celebrate the days ride then a fantastic meal in the hotel
Ready for bed and it’s 9.30pm!
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| The Bilboa team |
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| Loading up in Hadlow |
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| Typical Friday on the M25 |
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| Now that's a tight squeeze |
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| Getting ready for the off at Le Vivier Sur Mer |
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| Ready for the off |
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| Get ready, get set, GO GO GO |
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| Le Mont St Michel |
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| Coffee and buns at St Brice en Cogles |
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| Turning into a lovely cycling day on leg 2 |
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| Where have all the bikers gone! |
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| Wake me up before you go go |
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| Getting us organised on the sat nav for leg 3 |
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| Cheers - goos 1st day |
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| Brian, your Leffe is waiting for you! |
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| Having a picnic in the sun near Vitre |
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