Day two 2nd June 2013

Stage 2 – Dunkirk to Abbeville

Bonjour mes amis

The day started in the fashion we were hoping for, with the sun streaming in the hotel windows. The outlook was looking fair. Result. The efforts of the first day had obviously taken their toll as pretty much everyone had slept in. Foz was a tad grumpy as he had had to put up with snoring Matt in the same room. Several thumps with a pillow seemed to have little effect on Matt. His only response was ‘Don’t do that I can’t get to sleep !!’. Hah – he was having heaps of sleep while poor Foz was getting zip. Ear defenders had made absolutely no difference to the decibel topping ‘Vesuvius Matt’. Now we know what poor Sam has had to put up with over the years !!.

Formation Cycling

Pete and Steve – when roused from their deep slumber at 08:00 hours- made some lame excuse about the fact their alarm was just about to go off.

A hearty breakfast was consumed, the van reloaded to make it more user friendly on a daily basis and day 2 was underway. We eventually set off at 10:24. The sun was out so the sunny lotion had its first outing and the trio set off through the quiet streets of Dunkirk. Before long a rural landscape beckoned, with a camouflaged vista of greens, browns and yellows. Neat rows of plough furrows left their signature in some of the fields whilst others were left for pasture or flourishing rape seed. The blades of the large air turbines spun lazily, their faces pointing to the north east.

Matt showing us the steps for the Oki-coki

The first thirty miles were pan flat and everyone was exclaiming how easy the day was. Top tip – read your route profile and memorise as the next fity were a lot more lumpy and undulating. We didn’t surpass the 25% gradient of day one, but were met with plenty of 7 – 12% sections which kept the ride ‘interesting’ The big plus was the fresh sea breeze was mostly on our right shoulder or behind us most of the day. The roads in the main were absolutely fantastic with many as smooth as a bottle of Remy Martin brandy. Pedalling on many sections was effortless and without the blight of potholes made the ride a lot more pleasant for the deriere.

Our first stop was at the Carrefour supermarket in St. Omer. Being a Sunday it was closed but as usual Steve had done us proud and sourced some sandwiches and fruit. The second stop was at the Carrefour in Hesdin. A fantastic descent into the latter was a good way to finish the second section. We learnt through the day that you may get some ‘free miles’ (a good descent) but there is always a payback. For every descent, there is always a cheeky ascent that gets the quads working hard.

Matt has a new hobby – spotting water towers. He is contemplating a masters on the variance of water towers in France. Pete decided that today was a good day to help – as often as possible – to assist the French farmers in watering their many and varied crops.

One word of warning. Anyone attempting this route on a weekday may have to take care. The D300 and the D928 are fast roads in places. Being a Sunday, there weren’t many HGVs about. Things may not have been as pleasant had they been.

We arrived at our destination pretty much to schedule. Ride time 5 hours 42 minutes. 82.7 miles covered. Average speed 14.5 mph. Adjustment made to one rear derailleur. (Despite what you may have read yesterday, the reason the chain broke is because Foz has been putting in some training miles and the anticipation of starting the epic rally obviously caused a power surge that managed to rip the brand new chain apart. Lesson learnt).

Please help us support Great Ormond Street

Day One 1st June 2013

Well, the 1600 mile journey to Gibraltar to raise money for Great Ormond Street has begun. We set off from Twickenham early this morning with the van packed expertly by Steve. Johanna (Peter’s wife) followed us to Great Ormond Street with Peter and the third bike as we couldn’t fit them all in the back of the van. We parked close by the hospital and set the bikes up ready for the 84 mile ride to Euro Tunnel in Folkestone. We mounted our trusted steeds, ready to break records and raise more money for a great cause. We set off and Foz broke the first record, the shortest distance travelled on a bike before it broke a chain (1.2cm). It was a brand new SRAM chain (bought off ebay!). 

With a quick pit stop and a new chain (another ebay special) we pedalled to the main entrance to Great Ormond Street and took this picture:

Due to the unforeseen maintenance issue, we set off 45 minutes late through the streets of London cycling past the wonderful sights of this great capital such as Trafalgar Square, The Houses of Parliament etc.

During the journey we had a few ‘Garmin surprises’ with a few detours across parks and other unusual back roads when hit the lovely Kent countryside. The ‘Garmin Surprise’ will become a recurring theme as make our progress to Gibraltar. We then settled into a reasonable pace and stopped at Otford for light refreshments.

 

We again set off through the back lanes and took in the stunning scenery which must rate as the best in the world. By cutting the time spent at our planned stops, we managed to arrive at the Chunnel on time and in good spirits and fairly fresh.Booked into the Euro Tunnel and went to the refreshment facility which was pretty grotty and not value for money.

We arrived in France and went straight to the hotel Le Transat Bleu, booked in and later on went for an Italian meal with Italian wine.

As a foot note, we must thank Graham from M & G motors for the free loan of the van and Bob Gould for arranging it, without it the trip may have not happened.

The Fozball team

Ps Apologies for the late publication of this exciting blog, this was due to technical difficulties......

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