We then went through the undulating south east of England,
where we conquered an 'enormous' hill up to Dover Castle. This
was our first night, and a luxury which was not repeated again
on the trip, where we exchanged English castles for French
campsites. We relaxed with a nice swim in the Channel that
evening, and a huge meal was laid on for us. Perfect.
After poor treatment at the hands of the ferry company, we had
to take a later ferry, but this did not deter us and as we sped out
of Calais we could watch the spectacle of immigrants escaping
the police - which was entertaining.
FOREIGN FIELDS
The north of France passed in a slightly boring blur, but we made
good progress because it was so flat, reaching 30mph on the flat
for an hour at one point.
With only a few mishaps (like Zach snapping his chain and missing
40 miles), we reached the Loire valley, following the river until we
reached the hills. We climbed over seven hundred metres into the
Rhône-Alps, but luckily then had a half hour of straight descent,
going at around 40mph, and this was a great part of the trip.
Crossing the Rhône led to some hairpin ascents and descents, and
one day we ended up cycling a hefty 100 miles. Luckily, by this
point in the trip, we'd built up our stamina and distance wasn't a
problem.
As the mileage decreased in the last few days of the trip, the heat
picked up, which meant the French public was treated to the sight
of eight specimens of pure English beef cycling topless through
the South of France, building up a beauty of a tan. Zach and Henry
'Naked' Dufosee took this to another level, and cycled our shortest
day (still four hours in the saddle) in speedos to raise even more
money for SSAFA.
LA MER
We hit the coast at the end of our penultimate day and enjoyed
an afternoon banting around the pool at the campsite, eventually
scaring off enough of the locals to play some 'Woodard vs. the
rest' water polo. The last day was by far the most epic of the trip.
We were very briefly able to enjoy the stunning scenery of the
Côte d'Azure, but were then sucked into an endless procession
of coastal and very touristy cities: Frèjus, Cannes, Antibes, Nice.
Unfortunately, Duff's chain had decided to give up on the
penultimate stage, and despite Dan the mechanic's best efforts
it exploded quite spectacularly at several points during the last
day, meaning Duff had to tragically spend the last 20 miles in the
back of the wagon. A detour in Nice meant the day ended up
being 20 miles longer than expected, but this did nothing to limit
the euphoria as we rolled into Casino Square from the wrong
direction - as ever, mixing things up and sampling the F1 track
ahead of schedule.
A night of thanks and celebration followed, with the glamour and
riches of Monaco naturally complementing our bodies riddled
with 13 days' worth of saddle grime. Huge thanks must go to
the Brigadier (Charlie Stickland) and Tom Keeling, our support
drivers, without whom the trip would not have been as enjoyable
or as successful as it was.
And with £15,000 raised at time of writing, it makes every hill,
hairpin bend and near-miss worthwhile.
The support vehicle in camp
Near Evreux
Harvey Walsh, Provence
The team reaches the Côte d'Azure
If you would like to donate to the charity supported by the
boys, please go to www.ssafa.org.uk.
Trips
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