Distance 107 km
Time 4:48
Climb 182
Weather Sunny
After yesterdays exertions of various types today proved to be easy going. It was my second recovery day so I had a lie in and a long breakfast.
My first recovery day proved to be a bit too easy so I planned on doing a few more km this time but keep my heart rate nice and low. Rochefort, a large town 100km to the south, looked the ideal point to aim at so I set off with the intention of stopping there.
Over breakfast I decided to trust to luck and assume the need to buy some lip balm yesterday meant the sun was out to stay. So I decided to swap the lenses on my sunglasses from clear to dark. This proved to be the hardest thing I did all day as it took the best part of 30 minutes to wrestle the lenses into postion. I very sincerely hoped it was going to stay sunny for the rest of the trip...
As a similar mark of faith in the French weather I also dispensed with my arm warmers for the first time in my trip.
The route was flat as a pancake, perfect for an easy ride. While stopping for a quick call of nature a group of 5 French cyclists passed by. They were not going too quickly so it was quite easy for me to catch up with them and I passed a few pleasantries, then they waved adieu and put on a sprint. I don't think they were the fittest group of cyclists in the world as this breif period of speed petered out very quickly and I could quite easily have caught up with them again. However they had a distinct lack of road sense, weaving all over road and causing more than one car to take a late change of direction to avoid them.
I did not want to overtake them as this may have involved getting into a competition with them to stay ahead and I did not want to break my recovery day rule. So I stayed a safe distance behind, marvelling at their utter disregard for every rule of road safety.
Still this experience proved beneficial when we came to a rue barree. I was very happy to see the French contingent move aside the barriers blocking the road an cycle on. This probably explained why French workmen were used to seeing cyclists. The road barreed was long and straight and we did have a brief moment of excitement when a couple of motor bikes whizzed by, taking the opportunity of the deserted tarmac to see how far and fast they could pull a wheelie.
In following the group I actually missed my turning and ended up on a main N road. However proved to be a lucky missed turn of events as the road went straight to Rochefort and the wind was blowing straight behind me. So I motored along at over 20mph without my heart much getting over 110 bpm.
My luck continued in Rochefort. Being a big town I had not bothered to book a hotel in advance. I cycled around and stopped outside a hotel. The owner popped out and asked if I wanted to store my bike. This is the first time this has happened, so I said oui and he showed me a garage round the back. I then checked in and found the hotel (La Fayette) to be a real find. It was a basic hotel but just very well renovated with lots of real wood and small touches that made it a million miles away from being an Ibis despite costing less per night. It was also a non-smoking hotel. It had no restaurant but this was no problem as it was right in the centre of town with lots of restaurants nearby.
So very strongly recommended, details here.
http://www.hotel-lafayette-rochefort.fr/home.php
I had ample time to look round Rochefort before having an evening meal. It turned out to be a nice town, having a long naval history, interesting to see from the French side of view (as most of it their sea history has been one of rivalry to England).
Alongside the river was a park and pretty buildings, which surprisingly turned out to be a factory to make rope.
http://www.corderie-royale.com/13_visitez_anglais/pop_up/corderie_royale.html
All in all a perfect day. I rounded it off in style by heading off to an Italian restaurant and having a pizza followed by a pasta, not caring a jot that my lack of exertions of the day hardly merited such a repas.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment