Undulation versus Tsunami

And so we roll into day two.  Alarm goes off at 7am and we are greeted with gorgeous sunshine across the marina.  Spirits high, we make it down to breakfast, pack up the van and head off on day twos cycle just 15 minutes later than anticipated!

The route today, we are told, is best described as 'undulating'. Now if you look up the meaning of 'to undulate' in the English dictionary the definition is 'to have a wavy surface'.  I think its safe to say these 'waves' would have been any professional surfer's dream.  Tsunami comes to mind!!!!!

With just over 19 miles before our first 'pit stop' the group are riding well.  Its a straight forward little route through and out of Calais before hitting a open stretch of road.  George immediately took advantage and zoomed off out front, promptly followed by Matt.  The rest of us took a slightly less urgent approach, cruising through the French countryside.  With the sun shining,  this was beginning to turn into a beautiful ride.

Sunshine on Day Two

Now, a trip like this will always have its slight hiccups, and with a group like ours its near on impossible to run completely smoothly.  First pit stop reached, the group set off on the next 20 miler before lunch.  10 miles in, we cycle past Shaun who's videoing us all coming up hill and I quickly ask him if he knows where Matt is.

"He's way up ahead." says Shaun.
"Are you sure?" I say

Needless to say, Matt had missed a turning and was somewhere else entirely.  After a few phone calls, seven additional miles and 45 minutes later Matt rejoined the group just in time for lunch!

Shaun of Bespoke Tours with food !!

After a lunch of french bread, cheese, ham etc we happily set off to complete the last 27 miles (or so we were told).  At this point the group split, with George, Matt, Nigel and Keiron taking the lead, the rest hanging back ... and this is where we hit some serious "undulation".  One hill in particular felt like it would never end, winding round and round, up and up and UP! And then, just to put a smile on everyone's face, it started to rain! Typical!

The last part of the ride can only be described as a long slog.  Turns out we cycled a little further than originally planned, but we all arrived safely to our hotel just outside the city of Arras and now its time for dinner.

One last comical moment to leave you with has to be at the hotel when Antonio's bag made it off the bus but then disappeared.  We spent ten minutes trying to locate it, only to find Tony had stored it away in his room.  Cheeky monkey!

Photos coming later ...

Lisa