nbjtours

Dourdan

80 miles

1788 ft climbed

I am writing this blog outside Fighting Off the pesky mosquitoes at 9.00 with the temperature still at 27 degrees having reached a peak of 37 according to Nick and even the sign outside the pharmacy read 34 degrees. It was a very hot day probably the hottest that we have ever cycled in.

For most of this time we decided that Nick was the strongest and he was happy to take the head of the peloton, especially during the first two legs when there was a distinct head wind. Looks as though he was grimacing a bit though here.

Frankly we were a bit slow again this morning and left the campsite just before 9 going down through Vernon town before following the river then up a small valley onto the plateau between the Seine and the Eure.

This photo up the valley suggests that Dom either has an electric bike or emits electric charge as he accelerates away

Across the plateau we hit the headwind and typical central French countryside

Big straight empty roads and huge fields of wheat, barley and rape etc with the edges filled with the colour of poppies, dandelions or other vergeside flowers.

What was fun was that parts of our route today were the same as our cycle to Le Puy 11 years ago and a couple of sections including a sweeping downhill into the Eure Valley brought back memories as they were most recognisable.

A water and shade stop in the interestingly named Villiers des Desoeuvres ( Town of Disorder) was also reminiscent of our previous trip.

We found a short spell of cycle path along the Eure but the barriers across the path to slow us down were really tight and improved our bike handling skills but became a bit frustrating as it meant a very stop start section from Ivry la Bataille.

So in fact we were pleased to come off the sun drenched cycle route, cross the river and 5 miles later Nigel found a field next to a Church and set up breakfast.

The route was then mostly adjacent to the river through some lovely small towns.

This was Nogent le Roi with some very precarious buildings.

We then went through Maintenon and had a stop to look at the chateau which was the home of Madame de Maintenon 300 years ago.

It was here we saw a fellow cyclist visiting the chateau with her partner.

This Aqueduct over the road at Maintenon was ancient but we were to pressed to see when it was actually built.

We carried on by the river and for the lunch stop Nigel had found a track next to a stream where once again we sat down and enjoyed baguette cheese ham and tomatoes before importantly filling out bottles with more water.

We even managed to stop at the traffic lights like good boys.

The Satnavs don’t seem to recognise one way streets though so we did manage to ignore the no entry signs in at least 3 towns but with the lack of traffic there was not an issue.

Today we had planned each leg as being shorter so left only 24 miles for our final stint.

This was all on road and we had a bonus as the wind that had been blowing from the south in our faces switched to a westerly behind our backs and so pushed us towards our destination.

Nick as ever took the lead although we did see him at a bus stop where he declared he was waiting for the number 7 to take him home.

It remained super hot so that once again Nigel was able to light up the BBQ. So we enjoyed chicken and some of Monica’s special Beetroot and Apple salad.

We even had time to help the lady campers next door who had got their trailer tent caught on the electrical feed.

Despite the heat we all managed to come in together with Peter doing a magnificent job in keeping in peloton before he leaves us tomorrow to take a flight to a meeting in Oslo.

The hot weather is due to break tomorrow and we will be lucky to avoid rain for the rest of the week. Wish us luck.