Well it seems like this trip is flying by now. The first 10 days to get to La Rochelle seemed like an eternity, but since then I’m clocking the miles and have whizzed through the rest of France.
Last night I literally had no sleep until about 4am maybe even later, It was the hottest room I think I had ever tried to get asleep in. I know this might make a few of you go eewwww, but I was actually sweating whilst just laying there. So didn’t have the best nights kip, thought id make up for it with a good breakfast and a chilled day in the saddle.
I had to set off and travel back a mile in the wrong direction as I was staying on a duel carriageway and cycling back in the opposite direction until there was no central reservation wasn’t really an option. Once I had spun round I wanted to ease into a nice steady ride. The weather had other ideas. I had a very very strong tail wind. Before I even knew it I was in Narbonne which was 32 miles away from where I started. I was averaging 18.8 mph for the first 32 miles, I was chuffed. It needs to be said that for the last couple of days the D6113 has been such an amazing road to cycle on, I was purring for most of this morning without pedaling that much. Great stuff.We all know though that it was never going to continue, today was definitely a day of 2 halves! That awesome tail wind that pushed me all the way to half way, then became one of the hardest winds that I have ever had to cycle into. It was coming right at me from my right hand side, and I was having to almost steer into the wind so that I didn’t get pushed over. At one point it came at me from the front, and I swear that if I had stopped pedaling then I would have been pushed backwards!
I then came across this hill that I know had the weather conditions been different I would have pushed my top speed record. But going down the hill I had my brakes on the whole way and was fighting to keep control of the handlebars!
With about the usual 8 miles to go I switched to using sat nav, and again it took me off the D road I was on and took me down some dirt track next to it, which ran parallel to the road I was just on for about 2 miles. Stupid I know. Then it decided to take me down a dead end where you used to be able to cross over the motorway. Anyway I managed to ride round the obstruction and it got me here safe and sound.
Its just strange how the sat nav will try to get me off a D road at the earliest point that I have just spent the last 65 miles on!For all the road kill followers out there, I didn’t think Id be updating this as quick as I am. I thought my collection was pretty big as it stands. I saw a snake today!
Not that far into my journey today, maybe around the 20 mile mark I had to stop. I was coming into a place called Legiznan, when all of a sudden I rode into a wasp! Now most of you don’t know but I hate wasps, and it decided to get stuck in my straps of my helmet, so yep I got a little sting as I flicked it off me. As I pulled over I cleaned my face up and was squeezing the whole side of my cheek, anywhere I thought the sting would be. People driving past must have thought I was a weirdo or something. I’m also thinking of maybe getting my saddle turned into a little seat for home, maybe guests can come round and try sitting on it for at least 4 or 5 hours a day, see how it feels!
I thought today was going to be more scenic, but I guess I’m not as close to the mountains as I first thought. I did take a pic of what was directly on my right for most of the journey, very high hills. This is what google directions originally wanted me to take to get to Perpignan. As you can see from the pic of the route today, I made sure that I went via Narbonne to avoid this hills. That’s why I’ve chosen to show you today’s route with a terrain view.Also had to take a photo of this Convoi Exceptional, it was like the width of 2 lanes! I sneaked past on the inside which gave me like a clear road for the next 2 miles, sweet!
Today’s journey was 73.77 miles, riding time of 4:40:15, max speed 29.8 mph, avg speed 15.79 mph, 4814 calories, 3.15 litres so far.
I Just Felt Like Cycling 