What a great time we had. Doing the Beastway the night before was probably not a good idea as it was 23.30 by the time we had got across London to the hotel in Surbiton. Only the non-riding organisers were still in the bar and Leon was on his way to bed. Ren and I managed to sneak in a quick 4 pints of Stella before heading to our room.
As it turned out, our first night would be spent sharing a tight double bed with me. After much giggling we fell a sleep in each other's arms.
We awoke only a few hours later and had to get into character. Ren lay in bed while I showered, pampered myself and made the coffee. It really was a one sided relationship so far.
Breckie followed by putting together of bikes. We then left the hotel and headed out of London very slowly trying to all stay together. This was the painful bit, as I just wanted to get going. We had two cycle guides riding with us, a car ahead and a sweeper van behind. The car ahead went on and marked out the route with arrows and then set up the food stations at points along the route. By the time we had stopped for our first food stop in Shere, young Robbie Kiff had got lost .... after racing ahead. He was gone for about 2 hours but met us up again just before lunch.

After lunch we started on the south downs (the north downs were not so bad) which were horrid hills to climb and probably the toughest part of the ride. We eventually got to our last food stop of the day and headed on into Portsmouth.
We ditched the bikes and had a carvery in a hotel pub while we waited to board the ferry. The ferry was a little delayed and by the time we got on it and showered it was about 00.30. We retired to our cabins to be awoken 4 hours later as we got in to the port in Caen.

Ren and I had forgotten our passports and left them in our bags on the van so had to hotfoot it into France. We stopped for a fantastic breakfast at the Pegasus Bridge and then headed off to Verneuil. The first stage of the morning allowed Ren and I to spin out ahead of the pack and it was not long before we were the only two people to be seen in this deserted part of France.
We were at least 20 mins or so ahead of the rest of them at the food station and then Robbie joined us for the second stage of fast riding.

After lunch I decided to sit with another few riders, as there were some that were having a few problems with the distance and needed some encouragement and a tow. The scenery was fantastic and the roads so smooth. We eventually met at out destination and enjoyed a few cold ones before having dinner.
With so little sleep over the last few days we all were in bed by about 01.00 and Ren was in a little gallery upstairs from me, in a little single bed while I spread out in the double.. He was like a child and had to play games on his phone before going to sleep. In the morning was a mainly bread breckie and coffee in bowls. We headed straight into the countryside of France again towards Versailles.

Today both Ren and I rode with the group where we could and helped people along. By the end of the morning the lactic acid was building up and both of us had to eventually spin it off and headed to lunch at a faster pace. Lunch again was a fantastic selection of cold jambon, fromage et du pain. We tried to stay more grouped up in the afternoon as we rode in to busy areas and stopped for a break in Versailles.

Spirits were high as we left for the final ride into Paris, which were then drenched by the sight of the last and most feared hill. My legs only just had enough cadence with the gearing I was running god knows how Ren got up it. At the top you could see the Trifle tower and it was down hill all the way. We were met at the finish line by Lucy and Becky wearing berets and the corks on the champers were popped. The bikes were broken down, I bought Ren a £9 pint of Heineken and we went for dinner and prizes. Leon got the final dumb dumb prize for falling off (whilst stationary) into Robbie, sending him hurtling into a ditch. Robbie and Konrod also won a beer for wearing a shower cap as a bet for the entire ride. We met some really nice people and really enjoyed it.

RV.

p.s. i have just been asked to guide anothe group in September on behalf of Action Challenge with the possibility of guiding from Vietnam to Cambodia next year....