Well what a difference a day makes. I have enjoyed everything about today, I knew that I only had 40 miles to ride so I decided to have a little lay in, go to the supermarket and the sports shop and pick up some supplies, as you can see from the pic, I’m taking no chances now and I picked up 4 more spare tubes and another spare folding tyre!

I have been a little concerned with my left hand though, last night it felt numb all down the side of my little finger, and hasn’t improved any today. Hoping that longer rest off the bike today and tonight might help me out. Apart from that and a slightly tight left hamstring, all is well.

I decided to not even bother with the sat nav today, had it on to record my stats, but seeing as it was only 2 or 3 main roads from Dieppe to Rouen I thought ill try and navigate using what I had printed out as a back up originally. This worked out fine and I only switched sat nav on to guide me to the hotel for the last 2 miles.

For the majority of today’s ride I’ve had the B.o.B song Aeroplanes stuck in my head! Just couldn’t get it out, so glad to have made it to the hotel and get some other music on. Actually I’ve now got it stuck in my head again!

Also rode past this cool place that had Bison’s, they had a load of tutu’s up and a little restaurant up in the hills, worth a pic anyway.

When I arrived in Rouen as you can see below, there’s some funky art work placed across a bridge. Don’t know what its for but thought it was worth a snap. Also I decided to film the last few miles on my phone and have uploaded the video below swell.

Also I would like to thank the Frenchman from yesterday that bought me the sarnie, it was soo nice I went out and bought another for lunch today!

A few things i haven’t mentioned yet so far on my ride, I’ve seen a fair few different types of road kill, don’t worry I haven’t taken snaps, but by road kill I mean fully intact still, so a fresh hit. So far on my list I have a Squirrel, a Seagull, a Rabbit and a Rat. Wonder what else the French countryside has to offer.

Another thing I find quite strange is just how far the cars and lorries move out the way when over taking a bike! Today this one car was fully on the other side of the road. But then yesterday I did get a couple of idiots go past me at a stupid speed and ridiculously close!

One other thing I have been doing since I started this bike ride, think I started it in the hills on my way to Dover, If I see an animal then I make the noise of it out loud. Like today I made a whole herd of cows look up and move away from the fence, might not sound like the highlight of your day, but when its just you and a bike you’ll think of all sorts to keep you company.

Oh and I dropped a jelly bean today! First one dropped! 😦

Today’s journey was 41.33 miles, riding time of 3:23:49, max speed 29.9 mph, avg speed 12.1, 2331 calories, 2.65 litres so far.

Now going to rest up for a bit, pop out and find a supermarket, get some dinner inside me, and might even watch a film later. Early start tomorrow…

Timelapse into Rouen

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.

After yesterdays horror show and the poorest weather I think ive ever been riding in. I couldn’t have asked for much more than what today brought. Didn’t get a drop of rain on me all day. And as im typing this on the ferry the sun is beating in through the windows and looking like all might not be zoo bad after all.

Even Mr Sat Nav was feeling better today, worked first time. And then even after I took a wrong turn and it had to recalculate my route it still got me back on track. However I have noticed that it doesn’t like making me go down main roads. something I may have to figure out tomorrow. But it took me the most random route ever today. For mile after mile at some points I didn’t see a soul. And what I thought was only meant to be a 60 mile ride ended up being a 75 mile ride. Hopefully things will change in Francais.

I was an hour into my days ride when the inevitable happened! Puncture! Oh how us cyclists hate that word. I had purchased all the right kit before I left, even invested in some tyres that have kevlar in them (the stuff police stab vests are made from). Yet I guess my bike and back tyre didn’t like the piece of metal I ran over, didn’t see it till last minute as had my eyes fixed on a castle in a valley. This was my first ever puncture on this bike and first repair I have fixed since school days! I did start to panic a little bit thinking if I would even make the ferry or not. Then a man out on his own bike ride stopped and offered me some help. I said to him not to worry and that i was ok. 20 minutes later I was back on the road again. Although the tyre did seem to feel a little flat as I went over some bumps boarding the ferry.

Now when riding a bike there are set rules, I have learnt what my first two golden rules are and at a price.

– Rule 1, Never, and I say never, stop on a hill!
– Rule 2, Always listen to rule 1, and don’t be silly (like I did) and stop again further up the hill!

Now after 4 hours and 45 minutes riding and 62 miles in the saddle I came across the killer of all hills! You know when a hill is hard work when your in your lowest gear searching for another one even lower! I managed to keep a controlled fast pace of 3 mph! Even the handful of jelly beans didn’t seem to help.

Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think the nicest sound id hear today would be that of a seagull! It gave me the reassurance I needed that I would in fact make it to the ferry on time!

As you can see from the pics, dinner was a feast of carbs!

Today’s journey was 82.75 miles, riding time of 6 hours 30 mins, max speed 31.8 mph, avg speed 12.85 mph, 5167 calories, 4.8 litres of aqua.

Off to bed as soon as I’ve had a cold bath and a hot shower.

Sorry for the delay, couldn’t get a connection last night.

As most of you know the weather wasn’t the best today. Not ideal to start a 5 week bike ride to the south of Spain! I got soaked within the first 20 minutes of being out on the road. Anyway, ill take getting wet for the first few days for some nicer weather when I get to France and Spain.

Everything was running pretty smoothly, I had a good nights sleep, good breakfast inside me and I was ready for the days ride. Met the local press outside Avis house in Bracknell. Had photos taken and also little interview for the paper. Then the problem started, had real trouble getting my sat nav to work. It didn’t want to navigate me anywhere. Lucky enough I knew the way to get myself going. Ended up meeting a friend of mine, Nav (at least one Nav was working today) outside his work in Chiswick. Just a little stop before i set off again and went past Buckingham Palace and Big Ben.

Arrived at my destination this afternoon, been out for dinner and got some snacks for tonight.

Today’s journey was 51.1 miles, I was riding for 3 hours 33 minutes, max speed was 27.3 mph, avg speed 13.8 (slow because the self navigation), 3000 calories burned and 3.8 litres of water drunk!

Hopefully Mr Sat Nav will want to play ball tomorrow and get me all the way to Dover in time to make my ferry!

Well its the night before I set off, spent the weekend getting together all the last bits and pieces that i needed for the trip. Haven’t had much sleep over the weekend, been stressing out and getting nervous. Now I’ve packed up all my stuff and I’m staying over at my Aunt and Uncles which is 2 miles away from where I start at Avis house in Bracknell. So a nice little warm up.

Here you can see all my gear laid out on the table, and then again it all packed up and sitting on the bike ready to go!

Officially pre set of weigh in happened this evening, I came in at bang on 84kg! (wonder what the odds are of me coming back anywhere near that weight). Joint weight of me and bike with equipment was 111kg.

Signing off for the night now and trying to get a good nights sleep, next time you’ll here from me will be when I arrive in Bexley tomorrow afternoon.