It was difficult to get out of the sleeping bag this morning? so cold! Nonetheless we were all up and eating our porridge by 6.15am. Once we were all ready to leave it was 7.30am, we really should be quicker than that, I was hoping we would be leaving by 7am but everything seems to take ages, especially when we are cold.

The first hurdle of the day, literally, was the campsite gate. They had some kind of unnecessary electric gate with a flashing orange light on the top - it must be to keep the gangsters safe at night - but for all the fancyness we still couldn't work out how to open it. Another visitor saw us hunting round for a button so he just watched us for ages before saying it doesn't get unlocked until 8am. Thanks.

So we all climb carefully over the fence barefoot (its difficult enough walking in these cycling shoes) and pass the bikes over. By now its 7.45am but at least we can say its not completely our fault for being late.

Out on the bikes it takes a good few miles before we get warmed up properly, particularly on 'fresh' mornings like this. We did about 5 miles before we stopped to stretch. We lent all the bikes up against a large gate for a closed looking farm and starting stretching. Unfortunately the gate wasn't as sturdy as it looked and all the leaning against it made enough noise to wake the farm guard-dog which alerted the farmer who wasn't best pleased we had chosen his gate of all places to stop. He came over and said lots of stuff really fast in French and we all just nodded and said ?Pardon?. Time to move on.

The terrain was starting to get quite hilly now and we could see clouds below us in the valleys. There was one stretch of road that was really stunning. We climbed a long hill into the cloud cover and then down the other side it looked like we were descending a mountain with the barriers looming out of the mist. Very cool.

After climbing a seemingly never ending mountain we stopped in some shade for a rest and some Torq. Just as I got the radio out of my pocket to get in touch with the support van we spot a white van in the distance coming towards us. Pretty good timing and it meant we could polish off Judith's tasty date cake. After a quick break we carried on, it was starting to get properly hot now and we just wanted to get to the campsite and have a shower.

The rest of the route was hill after hill after hill. The good thing is they are getting easier, I can already feel myself getting fitter. Matthew had collected his camera from the van at the previous stop and was no taking pictures of anything and everything. He also developed some bizarre ticks where he would be riding along quite normally and all of a sudden an arm would shoot out with the camera and take a picture. Most of the time he missed what he was attempting to capture but he did manage a couple of good shots - see Photo Gallery.

Finally we get the word from John that he has found a campsite near Villeneaux-le-grande just outside a little village called Fountaine sous Mont? (we never could remember the bit after Mont?, ill check the map when I get the chance). The news obviously cheers Paul and Kevin as they decide to ride holding hands for a bit and yes I did see you nearly crash into each other!

The campsite is still being built but the important things are there; showers, toilets (sans toilet seats) and some kind of green stuff that's nearly grass - more like nettle cuttings. By now its very hot and there is limited shade so we all crowd under a shrub on the blue mats to do our recovery stretches.

It's 12.30pm now and we have been expecting to be overtaken by John's friend Jules on his motorbike all day - still no sign though, he'll probably be here soon?

Kevin, Matthew and Paul decide to make the most of the good weather and set up a washing line. This meeting of minds was a marvel to watch as they first tried tying the washing line to a large bush at one end and what can only be described as some twigs at the other. Not only did they choose the least sturdy twigs on the site they also used a bungee cord so when the twigs did finally collapse the washing would be catapulted across the field. Good work lads. They loaded the washing line with the wet kit and when it was sagging so much it was all on the floor they realised perhaps the twigs didn't provide the best support. It was at this point that they noticed the large tree next to them and figured that would be better than the twigs they had used previously. John and I had watched this whole episode from afar and found it very entertaining.

Myself, John and Matthew drove into Villeneaux to get some food for dinner. Nice little town with a brilliant descent into the main square will be good to ride through at 7am tomorrow.

When we return to the campsite we find Paul and Kevin have been doing a little bit of 'borrowing'. Our pitch now has its very own garden furniture, one table and four chairs, there are five of us though and it isn't long before the 'borrowers' return avec chair number 5.

John cooks us another feast, this time its some kind of spicy sausage based dish with a special name that I've forgotten. I don't think the rice al dente was intentional but it was still very tasty.

After dinner I baffled Kevin with my magical playing cards. I have a special gift that allows me to psychically identify a card as long as its from my pack and I can clearly see the back. Once they had realised what I was doing everyone else spent a good 20 minutes trying to read the cards too but to no avail.

As the sun went down the midges started to invade and it was time to take cover. Jules finally turned up at about 10:00pm, we could have cycled it quicker!

The last bit of entertainment for the day was listening to Kevin screaming about there being a lizard in the tent. Paul was having none of it and told him to go to sleep or words to that effect!

Daniel

Distance: 56.84 miles
Time: 03:30:00
Average Speed: 16.17 mph
Weather: Cold in the morning, hot in the afternoon