Wednesday 18th July
The morning of the ride had arrived. After a very hearty english breakfast, I filled up the bidons, packed up my kit and loaded it onto the van, before wheeling my bike to the start. There was a chill to the air and the skies were overcast, threatening rain. A few photos and video takes and we were off.
Out through the back entrance a quick descent and the first climb to test the legs. Myself, Mike, Mark and Rob quickly formed as a group as we sped towards the first water stop. We encountered many cars and white vans on the rat run that were the narrow lanes of Surrey before we arrived at the first stop at Stone Street just as Hannah and Alan were starting to set up. We were that quick that Hannah had been unable to put the Christian Aid flag up and Mark and Rob sped past missing the stop.
After a quick loo stop and refill of the bottles, Mike and I set off towards the lunch stop. I dropped Mike slightly but we rejoined on Heath Road of all places and headed towards lunch. We were that in the groove that we missed the lunch stop and ended up near Leeds Castle, a six mile addition to the route. When we arrived at Chart Sutton for lunch, most of the team had arrived. I lovely feast of quiche, bread, salami, ham and cheese prepared by Rosemary and Harvey was laid on for us. This was a quick refuel as Mark and Rob had been waiting for a while having missed the first water stop.
The third section of the day served as warm up to the final section and the climbs that lay ahead. We managed to keep as a group through most of the rolling countryside and arrived at the final water stop with Dave in tow. Here we met a friendly chap who had recently done the Hot Chillee L2P and he kindly donated £20 to the cause. He also warned us of the climbs to come.
Sure enough, as we rolled out of Wye we were hit with a long tempo hill climb that just seemed to wind on and on. Whereas this was a steady climb, the next 3 we met were brutally short and steep and one just after a giant puddle that had to be negotiated by walking on sand bags! These climbs were killers and not helped by mud on the road and tired legs.
The climbs over and done with, it was a nice fast descent into Dover, where we arrived just before 2pm. Meeting up with Rosemary and Marvin we left our bikes and had a sit down and pint of coke at the pub, before heading off for some chips and curry sauce from the chippy. 4pm and everyone had arrived. We geared up and rolled in convoy to the port for our 6:30pm ferry. Stood in lane 215 the wind and rain picked up and it was a very cold wait for the ferry, that didn't leave til after 7:30pm!
A bite to eat and a well deserved beer and we soon arrived in Calais. We grouped behind the van and rolled to the Campagnile hotel. After collecting our room key, I quickly gave Felicity a quick clean to clear all the mud, gravel and oil that she had picked up before getting sorted out and having a quick beer with Mike and Mark.
Lights out at 1am, ready to be up for breakfast at 7am the next day!
