Day 12 – Rare Road Kill!

Well I had myself a really nice relaxing morning, little lay in, and got up and ready in my own time no rush and set off on my way just after 10:30.

After 10 miles or so I came to a place called Rochefort, it had this really nice bridge that had lots of people running and cycling over. I had to take a picture as I’ve got one sad mate that likes bridges, not naming names (Navin) this one was for you.

As I mentioned a couple of days ago about the rule of keeping your mouth shut so bugs cant fly in, well also a lot of bugs and flying insects have flown into me hitting my cheeks and my arms and chest. Today I had a Bee fly directly into my sunglasses! made a massive noise and I doubt he would’ve been fit for Saturday.

I got a rare add to the list of road kill today, as horrible as it sounds, I’m almost looking for different species now as I’ve set myself the challenge. Now as you know the rules are that it has to be intact and fresh. Today I saw a Fox, and also which after a lengthy google search I can confirm a Racoon!

Now I always have it in my head that’ll stop for some lunch or food after a couple of hours riding. I set the sat nav screen up so I just see map view, and my odometer I have set on the time. This way you don’t get to see how many miles it is to go, as I found out in the first few days that can hurt looking down and seeing 50 miles still to go. So about 1 o’clock I flicked through the menu to see how far I had to go and I had coasted to 16 miles to go without even pushing it. So instead of taking it easy like I said I would today as it was such a short journey, I saw my average miles per hour was pretty good and better than what I had achieved back on day 1. So I opted not to stop but to push on and get here in quick time. Setting a new PB for the trip so far with 14.47 mph average speed.

When I arrived in Saintes I thought I would go for a little walk, big mistake! What I thought would be a little walk turned into being about 5 miles! Not the sort of thing I really wanted after a bike ride and long few days ahead of me. Remind me never to do that again. But i did get to see a couple of Cathedrals and a nice river. Also had what I assume was a local wedding drive by me, there must have been a convoy of about 20-30 cars all beeping there horns following the newly weds down the street. I was gutted not to get a little video, well guess what, 5 minutes later they came back up the same street so I filmed away for you all to see.

Had to get a snap of me with this Avis people carrier, first one I’ve seen on my travels!

I know your all probe thinking why is there a picture of a toe! Well I was walking back from the supermarket and stubbed it on this rock, grazed all the top and even showing signs of a bit of claret! Hopefully nothing that’s going to effect my nice ride into Bordeaux tomorrow.

Today’s journey was 40.93 miles, riding time of 2:49:44, max speed 26 mph, avg speed 14.47 mph, 2372 calories, 3 litres so far.

Wedding Drive By