ACCR DAY 11

The day started with heavy rain which continued throughout the day. We checked the forecast for tomorrow and it is looking better so we decided to take a tourist day. Time was spent looking around the town taking photos and doing what most other visitors to the area were doing. Look at the photo and you can see John taking pictures in the pouring rain under his newly acquired umbrella. We have now left ourselves just two days for the final push to the border. This is not made any easier as the guy at the bike shop who repaired Johns wheel told him that the wheel really needs a total rebuild or a replacement. We will just have to keep our fingers crossed that it keeps on rolling. We shall soon be at the mountains- we hope.

ACCR DAY 10

After the heat of yesterday we had a thunderstorm during the night which cleared the air a bit. I never heard the storm as i slept right through it. The day was cooler and slightly overcast and finished with rain just as we arrived at tonights camp site about 2mls from the village of St Emilion. We allowed ourselves a shorter day cycling just 57mls. During the first 39mls Jason and I dropped John on the hills which to be fair were long and tortuous. We stopped at a hotel bar for a coffee where Dave joined us and todays picture shows Dave talking John in and giving him instructions from the map whilst Jason enjoys the rest. John joined us at the car and had a coffee also but as we had gained 45mins on John we set off again and then waited for him at Libourne. When John arrived at the site i noticed that his back wheel was wobbling badly and upon checking we saw that he has broken another spoke. He must have hit a rough section of road hard and not had time to take the weight off of his saddle. Tomorrow our day will start with a trip to a bike shop for another repair.

ACCR DAY 9

Short posting tonight as we are all exhausted. Today it hit the high nineties. Jason and i managed 75mls and John did 65mls. John was offered a lift to the next meeting place with Dave by an English couple as they thought that he looked so tired They even invited him into their house and gave him a cold drink. We passed through Cognac today and are now camped at a place about 20mls south of there. Its called Barbezieux St Hilaire. Today was about as close to self inflicted torture as you can get and i would like to remind everyone that Jason and I are not members of the brotherhood but are putting ourselves through this for their charity. I must say that at the moment i am surprised that more brothers have not supported us! After all we could have done this for a more inclusive charity but we are not we are doing this for your charity. So if you are one of the fraternity sitting on your wallet give it an airing and donate to YOUR charity. I know times are hard but then so is this- bloody hard!!

ACCR DAY 8

Today was a hot day 35c hot! As well as the smell of wild flowers was the added aroma of molten tar and a similar noise to cycling in the wet except it was wet tar instead of the rain that we have come to expect on this trip.We had a shorter day on the road today in order to give us some camp time. This allowed us to complete little tasks such as clothes washing etc. We are staying at a really nice camp site at a little village called La Garette not far from Niort. It really is a pretty little place and it is one of those places that you feel really lucky to have stumbled across. Washing and other chores done we thought that we would check out the local restaurants ( see photo). We obviously made a good choice as it was the best meal out so far. It is still 31c as i write this at 22.19 so we could be in for a very warm night- too warm for the sleeping bag !

ACCR DAY 7

After yesterdays bad weather we woke today to a bright sunny morning and a barometric reading of 1019m.bars. It looked like we were on for 2 good days cycling. Todays photo shows Dave John and Jason at one of todays quick feed stops. Shortly after this shot was taken we lost John for about 3hrs. Dave made contact with him at the 71mls mark and swept him up with the broom wagon as he felt that John had done enough and was starting to show signs of fatigue. Tonight we are camping just outside of Chantonnay which is north east of La Rochelle. The roads are a lot less busy than the UK and the drivers give us plenty of room which just does not happen back home. Lorry drivers often give a beep of the horn to warn us to prepare for a strong draft just before they pass us. The scenery is often simply stunning and as we cycle along we can smell the various wild flowers and other plants. Today has been cycling at its very best. We hope that tomorrow will be more of the same.

ACCR DAY 6

After 20 or more years it died! The Saunders Galaxy tent that i loaned John for the trip gave up the ghost during last nights torrential rain. John woke up floating on his thermarest thinking he was on a boating trip along the Loire. There we all were waiting for Inter sport to open so John could buy a new tent. This is the second tent we have had to replace on this trip. It has to be said that the weather is atrocious. Its more like March than June. This is proving to be a real set back for the team. We decided today to stay put for 24hrs as we cannot face getting soaked to the skin on the bikes for yet another day. We realise we are losing valuable time but that is the way it has to be. Everyone we speak to is telling us that the weather is due to improve from tomorrow onwards. We are now banking on that!

ACCR DAY 5

Some heavy discussion first thing this morning about the weather which had been torrential rain for most of the night - do we wait for better weather or push on- final decision was to push on and if the rain was too bad we would stop and look for a camp site. As it turned out Jason and i did half of todays ride in heavy rain. Totally soaked to the skin we arrived at Chateau Briant where Dave had booked us into the municipal site. The sun came out and it was hot enough to dry out most of our wet clothes while we checked our bikes over (see photo). John managed to complete 39 miles today which was good considering his recent injury. However in doing so he suffered a broken spoke but we managed to get it repaired in the town for only 2e. We ate a meal al fresco this evening before turning in for a well earned nights sleep. Oh and before i forget Dave had to buy a new tent yesterday because his was leaking badly.