Firstly I set off in search for some breaky and snacks for along the way. picked up a few croissants and a pan au chocolat. One thing I did however forget to mention yesterday was that the tyre pressure in my rear tyre had dropped a lot when I went to get back on the bike after the ferry ride. This was again the case this morning when I woke up. I took the decision to go for it and see what happens. By the time I went down the first hill it had gone flat again, so I pulled over and set about changing tubes, went with the fixed one from yesterday and it popped again soon as I put air back into it. About 30 minutes later I decided to try and give my spare tyre a go. This did exactly the same thing, popped the tube when I started pumping. So anyway I eventually get things sorted after about an hour or so mucking about with it all. Although the longer this went on I had doubts I would make it the whole way to Dieppe before sunset! I even thought about getting a taxi back into Boulogne to go to a bike shop and get help. After a few more miles the pressure dropped again. I pulled over yet again. After sitting there looking at 3 tubes and all my gear scattered everywhere I didn’t know what to do. I phoned home to speak to Tony (serviced my bike) he thought it might be how i was putting the tyre back on the rim. By the way before I phoned him, I was almost brought to tears, thoughts racing my head that I wouldn’t be able to even finish the whole thing!
I am pleased to tell you all that after the final time on this stop and pumping the bad boy up, it got me through the next 84 miles all the way to Dieppe. Phew! Pic of the new lime green tyre is below!
The journey today was meant to be only 80 miles by my route planner, but sat nav said 98 to start with, so a hard day in the saddle, then I decided to go as the crow flies at the end to knock 7 miles off the trip, I really don’t understand this sat nav!
So today I have encountered my first french cockerel singing away, I rode past a circus in some small town, didn’t take pictures as I only had getting to Dieppe on my mind! My chain came off once today, I got overtaken by three guys on road bikes up a hill that made me look like I was going at snails pace, they didn’t know what day I had already gone through. Then met a man and his three kids, I overtook these ones though, they were from Belgium. I stopped off at Baie de Somme for some lunch, really needed a good 15 minute sit down. Bought some stores to replace all that I had drunk and ate during the day, these two kids were standing outside the supermarket eyeing up the set of wheels! They tried to get some response out of me, but saying my French is bad is an understatement! This man pulled up on his bike beside me as I was getting ready to set off, he asked where I was from, and then went “Beckham”, like that’s all the English he knew. Then he came back out the shop with two cans of beer and a sandwich. He gave me the sarnie and told me to eat it after my ride. Top man!
Well I’m off to sleep now, got to be up early and get myself over to the sports shop to see if I can pick up a few more tubes.
Today’s journey was 92.87 miles, riding time of 7:31:50, max speed 30.7 mph, avg speed 12.3, 5191 calories, 5.15 litres.
I Just Felt Like Cycling 