Day One
Great first day for all with the sun shining rather than beating down on the final ‘magnificent seven’ plus recent addition to the family Harbour & Jones “CiC Joe”. We set off weaving our way thru London traffic heading towards Kent. Although we had a vague idea of what to expect, on what is deemed to be the toughest day, from last year’s riders, Leo & Alan, we were not 100% prepared for the sharp ascent out of Rochester that left most, if not all of us gasping for breath.
From then on we were treated to a never ending surprises; chocolate box villages, hay ploughed meadows, swaying fields of corn & rapeseed, orchards of apples, pears & cherries, assaulted with an array of fabulous country smells; not to mention more than a few nasty hills.
After a much needed pub lunch in Wye, James earned his moniker of “Flycatcher James” & continued to amuse us by catching z’s at every opportune moment. Yellow jersey was definitely worn by Paul, who remained well & truly in the lead, pretty much from the outset.
Bringing up the rear the girls & ‘Drill Sargeant’ Ben, who proved to be “Mr Motivator” helping Kat up the hillier sections as we made our way through tree covered country lanes.
Folkestone viewed from afar on our last snack stop, was a welcome sight as was the adrenalin fuelled downhill from there to Dover & our ferry across to Calais & the next leg of our adventure.
Day 2
Day two dawned bright & a little breezy on Dieppe. With a late start ahead of us we took to the streets, or more precisely the local market. Awash with local produce, from artichokes, calcots, & tomatoes galore, glistening wet fish & wriggling crevettes; we were in foodie heaven, making the most of tasting the bourdin noir, honey cake & jambon on offer. We popped into Church St Jacques, an awe inspiring Renaissance style affair – not to light a candle prior setting out, but to take in the fantastic stained glassed windows, statues & plaques.
By far the best day’s cycling we soon learnt the meaning of ‘undulating hills’ - a phrase coined to cover pretty much all the hills that we tackled across France! Through picturesque classic countryside we huffed & puffed our way up & down rolling hills, across flat plains with swaying corn, poppy scattered barley & beet fields & the sleepiest of sleepy villages.
Probably a good thing most of the villages & towns were not out in their numbers.... Ben was sporting ‘very fetching’ bib shorts that had us all denying the fact he worked for H &J..!
Knowing that this was to be our shortest day, we arrived adrenalin fuelled at our final pit stop at Bellazone & treated ourselves to a beer or two in the sweltering afternoon heat. On the last stretch, Steve headed off looking like he was riding a mini trampoline after an attempt to ‘harden’ the suspension on his bike resulted in most of the air being let out of his air springs – next stop the garage!
A LOT of cross team bonding began with our team & the chaps & lasses riding for Meningitis Trust, over a fantastic evening buffet plus plenty of beer & wine.
Joke of the day – on passing an adventure cum camping ground with tepees & bison “what’s the difference between bison & buffalo?” - “you can’t wash your hands in a bufffalo”....
Day 3
After a seriously early morning wake up call we faced the third & final gruelling day. Early morning mists, described as “well fresh” left us all shivering in our extra layers as we hurtled down the first of many descents following by long (read very long) ascents. The smell of freshly baked baguettes & croissants wafted towards us as we sped our way through sleepy village after sleepy village.
James managed to get a nap in at every pit stop we made & lay blissfully unaware of the furore surrounding the return of the much loved fig rolls at Grisy les Platres. The team stuck together, taking it in turns towards the rear with Kat & we all swapped life stories along the way, from horse riding in Mongolia (Martin) to stateside bartending secrets between Steve & Jules.
Although we were making good time the mere mention of the word ‘undulating’ from tour guide Peter’s lips left us all groaning as we never quite knew just how rolling the hills might turn out to be. Ben took the title of the fastest downhill from reigning champion Paul, hitting a top speed of 38.8 mph just outside Boisemont.
Joe, our fabulous Children in Crisis rep was also photographer du jour & although didn’t quite manage to compose the perfect countryside shot featuring blond cows & round hay bales, he did capture Jules hugging a bale.
We knew we were heading towards civilisation when the location of our final day’s lunch spot at a golf course was likened to Milton Keynes. Following a lunch reminiscent of a ‘trois, six, six, trios’ special with a flourish, we saddled up ready to face the long drag onto Paris, knowing full well we would have to run the gauntlet of French city drivers & traffic. Full stop.
We regrouped at St Germaine & donned our respective tour T Shirts. Buoyed by their training efforts the previous evening (which can be viewed on the Children in Crisis website) Jules & Kat added black heels to their ensemble to ride the triumphant last three miles. We spotted our well wishers at the corner of the Eiffel tower as we rode, what felt like, our lap of glory around the Eiffel Tower. Riding en masse, ringing our bells we were cheered & waved in from friends, family & strangers alike – a fantastic finish to our cycle ride indeed!
