Day 7

Hello all,

First of all, we all apologise that we have not had time to post on this blog for a while, this is the second time in a week that we have had internet though so I hope you understand.

So anyway, I shall start with days 3 and 4 - On day 3 we stayed in a nice campsite called les cochards. It followed a day of hard cycling, and what felt like pretty much unbearable heat. By the afternoon, having had a wonderful lunch cooked up by skipper and K'naan, (pasta avec creamy tomato sauce, plus ham and other delights, - roadside shade) We were beginning to feel extremely tired, as we were warned days 3 and 4 were the hardest. Therefore in temperatures of around 35degrees, we were swimming in swear facing a 'relentless beating heat' so hot we were forced to stop on the road and knock on someones door, asking for water. Tracker Rogers Junior, got a bout of sunstroke, braving the conditions and complaining no end about everything, he ploughed on to the campsite.
day 4, a long days cycling ended us in the popular campsite resort with a swimming pool and other resources. upon arrival to the pool it became apparent that there seemed to be a 'french' lycra only rule. Members of the backup crew appalled. Yet JCR ensured us as he swanned down to the pool in his 'skimps' that 'skimpies' 'were coming into fashion.' However the lads beg to differ. None the less it was a refreshing dip. Knaan Nelson (tom) had convinced himself that the waterproof outer layer of his tent was unnecessary, to the contrary, we ran into the camps first thunderstorm. All hell broke loose.. Freyne began to move like a headless chicken in his boxers, despairing at this un-forcasted downpour. Morning came only too soon as the crew awoke to more rain, however, humphrey came up with a good plan of eating 'daily snacks' for brekky and then stopping along the road for pan au choc and some more food. Indeed after a few kilometres, and endless moaning, especially from White about how little fuel he was running on, we found a 'Super U' and got some food inside us. The day went well from then onwards with a refreshing swim at lunch time..

Jour cinq: mood was high, camp was good and nothing so far had gone wrong. Beers and rugby in the lake was the order of the rest morning.

let us now take you through day 6: we feel it only appropriate to portray the contrasting sides of the day, naturally the 'view from the cockpit' and the 'riders'
Rider:..... Day 6 did not begin brilliantly, though we couldn't really complain as nothing had really gone wrong yet. HOWEVER, it seemed our luck changed by lunch time as the brilliant route plotted by Barns began to lead us to the hills. The sudden change of mood was, as one would expect, not a good one. Archie who had been so dynamic all morning, taking the piss and joking about - came to an abrupt stop. As we powered up the first few hills ( at 10 mph) we came to the real high ones. By this time it was abut 2 O'clock, and we were al beginning to feel a bit hungry.. (little did we know the next tine we would eat would be at 9:15) On top of this, at 1 O'clock, we entered a thunderstorm. With lightning flashing on the hills around us, and incredibly hard raining pouring down, we seeked refuge in a small village called "curtil sur baffiere', By the time we had reached the village it was 3 o'clock, and it had come to our attention that there was no sign of the landrover, despite claims they were on the same road as us. As it finally transpired, the land rover happened to be on a different D17 at a different village called mont about 100 miles away. As spirits were fairly low at this point, we were glad to find a small lorry drivers hostel close, which turned out to be the most depressing and dingy place we had ever seen. The proper bed, however, was very much welcomed.

Today we decided to make up for lost time and managed to power our way from curtil, past Macon and Lyon to a town called Serriere. unfortunately, navigator Nelson took us straight through the heart of Lyon which was pleasant but very time consuming. Again Barney's map proved successful as we follow the Rhone valley downhill along the river. We arrived at this campsite in the hills next to the river at 9:30 after almost 14 hours on the road. So all in all a very successful day. Whitey and Kells have taken on the task of navigation on day 8 to give Arch and Barns a break so hopefully all will go smoothly.

Hopefully more updates to follow...