Cognac - Angouleme TT (sort of…)
After a hard few days, we took the opportunity to sleep in a bit and lounge around in the morning at the campsite. Sean provided the entertainment for the holiday makers by heading to the pool complete with his float vest for a spot of ‘pool running’ which is a sight to behold to those unfamiliar with the concept. Jon got to work on the legs which was welcomed after the last couple of days of hard work. All in all, a refreshing break for a few hours.
Again, we completed the ‘time trial’ by taking a ride of equivalent 55km length out over the local roads in the general area. We decided there was no point in an exact replication of the route as we wanted to come back to the campsite for a shower before the road transfer up for our final ride. Pete joined us for the session which started out as a gentle spin through very pleasant vineyard terrain of the Charente region. About halfway through the outbound leg, we encountered Pascal, a rather handy local club cyclist who joined us for a ride along and chat in combo French / English. Without realising, the pace seemed to hot up until by the return leg, which Pascal joined us for also even though it was not on his route, we may as well have been competing in a time trial as we were pretty well going as fast as our tired out legs would bear. Nonetheless, it was a nice ride and after getting back and taking a quick shower, it was clear we had overstayed our welcome at the campsite, so we hit the road north in readiness for completing the final 146 km run to the finish.
We’ve decided that after our rather protracted trip out pf London, a city with which we had at least a rough idea of the layout, riding through the suburbs of Paris to the centre is crazy. So, we’re going to do almost all of the 146 km in the countryside to the south of Paris and then put the bikes on the van, to be driven into the city and then do a couple of laps of the Champs Elysees. That will bring the 3550 km saga to and end and the champagne corks will be popped…