By Kevin

Day 3 of big brother Bike Europe, we all woke up in cold and damp Conchil everyone was excited and raring to go (not). However cuddly Clive cheered everyone up with his non-watery porridge (which was actually quite nice, with a lot of sugar). We thought if we woke up early we would leave at the suggested time however us being the Bike Europe team we left 30 minutes late at 8:30am. Hold on there's more, me being the genius of the group, realised I had a puncture seconds before leaving (it wasn't my fault).

We breezed through the first 10 miles averaging speeds faster than the Tour De France Cyclists (we wish) anyway we stooped at champion (supermarket) where we met Clive and John for directions and water top ups. For the few minutes we were there, a casual French guy popped out of his car with the weirdest, most random, most freaky, most eccentric, most strange tattoo on his leg. The man had a tiger on his leg. Who has a tiger tattooed on their leg!?!?! (Silly French!!).

The weather was cool when we started riding again but that lasted until 10am then it started to get warm and warmer and warmer and warmer until it was hilariously hot. At this point we had a steady pace and we all thought the hills or should I say mountains would never appear, how we thought wrong. The hills kept on coming one after the other, they got bigger and bigger more steeper than the last until eventually we stooped for a tea break in St Riquer's, the town had nice café's fastidious old buildings and a memorial statue with a chicken as it's mantle piece (the French are so normal). During our prolonged tea brake Clive decided to take photos of me while I slept (how strange, I think the French got to him). We stayed in the town for a good 45 minutes before actually deciding to leave (we left the town at 11:20am).

The day got hotter and we were pleading for shade, the suntans began to appear on the other three and I thought I got away from the skin colour changing process, how wrong I was. As we got nearer to Amiens we stopped by the side of a roundabout where Clive and John were waiting impatiently, they're such energetic young men.

We eventually got to the campsite where the sun was beaming down with its powerful rays at immense temperatures. The wasps were irritating, the heat was draining but that didn't affect the team's moral due to the fact that the next day was a rest day (yepeee). After much deliberation on where to set up the tents (or where the most shade was) I finally decided on a nice little pitch in the corner of the site, overlooked by the magnificent chateaux walls and ancient, weathered oak trees. The campsite was covered with the Dutch, everywhere we looked Dutch beige caravans. As the afternoon ticked on I began falling asleep, with my head between my knees (don't care what anyone says it was the most relaxing most tranquil position). I would have thought as the afternoon dragged on the heat would cool down, but surprisingly it was 30 Celsius in the shade (really steamy).

Paul, Matthew and I got bored so decided to ride down to the supermarket ( we never get bored of cycling) we tried to speak French to the cashiers there (well I did anyway) and they speak the most twisted fast French its impossible to understand (I never understand slow French either).

When we got back we were all hungry hot and steamy and trying to keep ourselves entertained. Paul was reading his sexual anointment book from sixth form (school is great), Matthew was playing his non noise-making drums and Daniel was lazing about admiring the stonework of the chateaux (how fun). While all the excitement was going on Clive and John (ok then Clive) was preparing the next meal. We all watched him chop, oil and meditate until finally the food was ready. The spaghetti carbonara was surprisingly lip-smacking good and all the cyclists including young John tucked in for second helpings.

We all wanted an early night due to our tired fatigued bodies but the hot chocolate kept us awake for another intense hour of sitting around.

Kevin

Distance- 56 miles
Time- 3:40
Average speed- 15.4 mph
Weather- Hot

Day 4 Rest Day in Bertangles

By John

After only three days of riding day four brought us a rest day, it being Sunday and all, everybody took advantage of the rest day to have a lay in with breakfast not happening until everyone was awake, gone nine o'clock. The breakfast was a great success with the new frying pan being used to fry eggs and suspiciously thin French bacon, though very tasty. Also it being Sunday it was time for Clive to think about making his way back to England. Our team manager showed his planning flair intended to catch the Euro star from Calais, one problem, it doesn't stop there boss. After a quick rethink it was decided that John would drop Clive off at Amiens railway station. The trip in was uneventful with the station being well signposted, until seeing a sign to station took the two of us into a bus only road, whoops, to compound the error the traffic lights at the other end would only change for busses, after waiting for a while for the lights to change we got bored and just went through the red-light when there was no-one looking. On returning to the campsite everyone was relaxing, especially Kevin who was showing how totally relaxed he was by breaking wind very loudly, seemingly at each passing local.It being Sunday of course everywhere was closed, so no where to food for the evening meal, so it was agreed to take a run to MacDonald?s, thereby getting food and hopefully getting online at the same time, there was one problem, after making space the van wouldn't start, one to remember don't leave the fridge running in the van, at least it started first push, and so it was that in the evening the five of us were standing in MacDonald?s feeling self conscious and plucking up courage to order our food, every body managed to order their burgers, and then Kevin decided he would like a milk shake, unsure of the French for milk shake he asked our resident linguist Matthew, who smiling suggested je't aime, much to the amusement of everyone except Kevin and proudly announced je't aime, as everyone else collapsed in fits of laughter, and Kevin and the poor girl behind the counter turned matching shades of pink.Getting online was easier than we thought it would be, access to the internet in MacDonald?s is completely free, Britain take note. After such a day of exciting things the guys eneded the day by making owl noises with varying degrees of sucess late into the night, with some very confused owls out in the woods of the chateau.

John in the driving seat, only of the van though !