Well, we made it!

Firstly just to explain why there haven't been many updates today which will set the background for the rest of this post.

Also forgive spelling mistakes/poor grammar, I'm physically and mentally tired

We left Calais this morning at about 11.00 local time after having a really good sleep and a pretty below average breakfast (although the sausages were quite good). All of our backsides were killing when we hit the road. As I said in an earlier post, Calais actually looks like a really nice town and behind our hotel there seemed to be a town market which Neal and I wished we had had more time to explore the town and particularly the market.

We headed out of Calais and the sun was already very warm. The countryside was nice and made for fair cycling. I don't know what caused it considering the conditions but it seemed that we were making really slow progress. We stopped at a "Shoppi" and bought some really ripe bananas, some delicious french Jaffa cakes (remember those from our honeymoon Han? Don't tell me I don't look after you!!) and some water.

I'm really glad I bought the second water bottle as I was handing it to the others at various stages, it was some hot hard going.

By the time I posted about the "double chevron" we had only gone some 20ish miles and the time was really escaping us. The terrain had changed to more hilly conditions as we approached some forest between Alincthun and Desvres. Every time we looked at the map it seemed we weren't eating up any miles at all and it was really dis-spirting. We had been averaging under 10 mph.

The original plan was to stop in Montreuil for lunch, but the more the time got on (it was 4pm by the time we reached Desvres) the more obvious it became that we simply wouldn't have time.

We left Desvres and were headed to Montreuil, it was there that I started to feel the same pain I had been having that caused me to have physio, just as we hit this HUGE long and steep hill! I started to have some huge doubts about whether I'd be able to complete the route/trip and wondered what I'd do. I managed to reach the top by changing my footing.

By this time (in fact quite a while before) the weather had changed to be much more cloudy/overcast. I fell quite a way behind as we cycled through this valley with me knee giving me some serious gyp. That went away thankfully and I managed to catch up, as the roads were reasonable (the surface plays SUCH a big part in your speed) and quite flat Spen and I tool the lead and were determined to pick up the pace. The road to Montrieul more or less remained level and we made some good progress and started to bump up our overall average speed. However it did seem that we'd never get there.

Cycling is such an interesting mental battle. Every stretch of road brings it's own challenges. So although our next town seemed to be moving away from us, I got a big psychological boost when we hit 40 miles.

We eventually got to Montreuil and stopped in a small grocery shop where we hatched a plan to buy some cheese from there and some bread from the boulangerie. In the end we bottled it as we could ask or see how they'd cut the cheese up in such a way that we could eat it. So we walked out with some bananas, nuts and water!!

In fact the town was a really odd experience all round. We had parked our bikes outside a house from out of which walked a lady with no hand and later as we were eating our very meagre lunch, we started chatting to this guy (who was missing a finger - I'll let you speculate why the only two people we saw there were missing appendages). He was very friendly and very drunk but was also happy to talk to us. He took a parculiar interest in Richard and kept reaching out to touch his bum, DID rub his nipple and could escape without a kiss!

As a result of the poor pace throughout the day, apart from some video shot just outside Calais, we were pretty up against it and had to press on.

I hope the GPS thing is working out alright. I'm not sure what's causing it, I suspect the GPS receiver is hibernating but after what doesn't seem like very long at all, I realise that our progress may not appear in real time which is a shame. I try to dig the phone and GPS out at every stop to allow it to update.

We ate tonight at a chain restaurant called Buffalo Grill, I got the impression that it wasn't Spencer or Rich's first choice at all, but speaking for myself I really wanted to stuff myself, and managed to. Foie gras and snails just wouldn't have cut it.

I don't feel as tired as I did last night in Calais, but it will be hard to sink my bottom onto the saddle as it is every time we stop. Once you've been going 5 or 10 minutes you get used to it.

Tonight I'm sleeping with Neal in a double-bed after a room booking error by Spen. I've already told him I have a headache so don't expect any monkey business.

Good night!