Day 4 - A New Dawn

Day 3 - Alternative endings 

There were two endings to day three. One with Barry leaving the team, heading to Paris to complete his cycle to work. The second is the rest of the team and how they finished.

It was with deep hearts, that we said goodbye to Barry, or "Red 1" as we know him. As we said our farewells and man hugs, there must have been a gust of wind, as everyone had issues with their eyes, and he was gone.

In the blazing sun over the River Seine, we were almost at the end of the route for that day at Maule. With plenty of time to spare, it was decided that we would take the sting out of day 4, by riding the first two climbs, which accounted for the first 10 miles. 

We crossed the main road into a disaster; our first puncture!   However, in an operation the McLaren F1 team would have been proud of , the slickness of the team and crew working in perfect harmony meant it was fixed in no time. 

Before we could get going three vehicles pulled up in quick secession asking for directions. We must by now look like the locals!  The occupants required directions but as they did not speak English.  With the expertise of the support crew, the vehicles left as quickly as they arrived.  Safe in the knowledge that the team was Welsh ("Pays de Galles") but no wiser as to how to get to their destination. 

Red 1 is gone, long live Red 1 

We continued to the end of day three route and then had to stop briefly to load the day four route in Gary's Garmin. With a new navigatior required to make sure more unnecessary hills will be climbed Gary was now Red 1. In the blistering heat we climbed 400 ft and continued towards the second climb, through quaint villages as we had the previous days, passing Chateau’s as we went.

Our final town Fortin, had a long climb up to it but the grand finale of classic cobbled streets was well worth it.  Barry would have loved it. 

We were collected by the support team and conveyed to our bed for the evening.

Day4 - A New Dawn. 

Another early alarm call 5.45, breakfast and in the van for six o’clock, to take us the point we finished on the day before.  A rare treat for Mike as we had stopped somewhere that served tea. 

Today was Monday, lots of traffic we thought, so we started early to avoid the rush hour and congestion on the edge of Paris. 

The customary bike checks completed and we were off.   Gary doing a fine job on the front, the traffic was light, no sign of the rush hour as we flew up the first incline of the day.  We were changing gear to go faster, not climb slower, the wind was on our back and we were flying. 

Looking up as the road climbed skywards we noted that at the top of each hill, a telecommunications tower appeared. As the day went on, these large man made structures continued on our route, so when we looked to start a climb we looked for the structures, it gave us a reference for the height of the climb we were about to undertake. 

We entered the village of Orphin, and in doing so going over cobbles Richard snapped a spoke on the rear wheel, a quick call to the support team and all was fixed within ten minutes. 

The Garmin route then took us down a track, which led into trees, possible on a mountain bike but not our road bikes. Suddenly we heard gunshots to our right, in the wood! 

As the team looked for cover, Steve shouted "Don't panic Captain Mannering" prompting lots of laughter and after a quick u turn we were soon back on the smooth tarmac. 

A long sweeping decent, led us out of the forest and into the Market Garden of France.  With large fields filled with wheat, barley , rape seed and then Steve spotted sweet peas in the pod. He jumped quickly off his bike and was picking the pea pods.  Munching on them like strawberries the team were quickly on the scene doing the same; foraging in France.

We pushed on, the road being so smooth we managed as a team over 20 mph across the open fields, much to the annoyance of Mike.
The towns and villages again were stunning, but quickly passed through.

It was soon time for dinner and to meet with the van however this was proving tricky. The Route programmed into the Garmin has been trying to send us down cycle paths only fit for horses or tractors, so detours were the order of the day.  The van is trying to follow the same route and was struggling more than us to go down some of the paths which resulted in the question of would we choose the same detour or not?  We must bring a 4x4 next time. 

Finally we met for lunch after 90 miles, and found a lovely looking cafe only to be told, they've stopped serving lunch. I've never seen so many teddies coming out of the pram. It was a scene that resembled a fork lift accident in Toys r us.  

Sensibg the rapid mood change and drop in the temperate, a short time later the waiter came out and said we could have pizza. Which was gratefully received and whilst we waited we rounded the Teddies up and reloaded the prams. 

The heat is on 
The sun was up now and really hot, suncream applied and back on it, and what a lovely ride it was.  Through forest roads again, trees for miles offering shelter from the sun and a scenic view. We were suffering by this point, so heads down and crunching the miles unit we finally stopped for the day and onto the hotel. 

Keen to sample some further local quisine after our kebabs on day three we found a lovely burger restaurant.