Stage
9 Bergerac to Condom
The day started well with an excellent breakfast in the
hotel. Over breakfast we discussed the merits of Bergerac and we all agreed
that it was a delightful place to visit. The town had a number of pretty
medieval timber framed buildings and a huge church that was packed for some
festival or other. We had found somewhere to eat and it was like a Wetherspoons
pub but with a superior selection of
food and their Cafe Liegeois (coffee ice cream, vanilla ice cream, chocolate
sauce, Chantilly and whipped cream) was
superb and packed with the necessary calories we needed (that was our excuse).
We wandered around the town and came across this handsome
chap, who is he and what was he famous for?
The nearby river was very picturesque and dusk light made
even more so.
The forecast for the day was rain and it didn’t
disappoint. We set off in the rain with our waterproof jackets and overshoes. A
steady climb out of the town was just what we needed to warm us up and stretch
our muscles. At the top we looked back at the town of Bergerac and despite the
weather the view was still impressive.
We continued on and we stopped a short while later to
answer the call of nature (now called a ‘Matt Stop’ because of the times he has
to go!) and spotted this chain:
The question is; which is the genuine ebay ‘Sram’ chain? (refer to day 1 entry)
Travelling on we cycled into Castelmoron sur Lot and over
the bridge across the river Lot and we had a chance to take in the scenery and
contemplate the ride.
We then pressed and a strange thing happened, from quite
a lumpy start, at about 40 miles the roads straightened out and were completely flat. It was a perfect cycling route and our average speed increased
rapidly. We cycled into the ancient town of Vainne and took the opportunity to
take a team picture.
We have all been impressed by the beauty of the
countryside and how tranquil and peaceful it is. The pace of life seems to be a
lot slower and the people we have met have been friendly and helpful. One of
the places we came across was Calezun. It had a pretty little church and we took this
picture of us sitting on it's steps(Matt insisted).
The journey continued and we found time to take some
video before we met up with Steve for our last stop.
For a last stop we ended up in an industrial estate as the scheduled stop at Lidls was cancelled as it was shut and
Steve had a welcome fresh steaming hot mug of tea waiting for us and some hard to find sandwiches (in France and on a Sunday), crisps and fresh fruit. We left Steve and he caught up with us, taking his video
of us cycling through town.
We were now on our last bit of the route and we took this
picture of the grape vines growing in this region. The question is: why do
vineyards have roses growing at the end of the rows of Vines?
In spite of the rain, a great days cycling with spectacular
views and beautiful countryside. We are all thankful that we are able to carry
out this event to raise money for an amazing cause and thank all of you have
generously donated towards our target of £20,000.
Total mileage to date: 700 miles
Todays average speed 14.3 MPH
It must be good ol' Cyrano de Bergerac, French dramatist and duelist. In fictional works about his life he is well known for having an overly large nose, which people would travel from miles around to see.
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