After some trouble with his back from spending most of his recent waking life driving the somewhat uncomfortable Vivaro Van, Al decided to have a mini lie-in, which was cut short by an emergency telephone call from of the Laggards, who had landed himself a date with the pavement some three miles up the road. After rushing out to administer technichal first aid on his ass (and leg and foot!), It was a question of who was enjoying rubbing the cream in most - Tony or Dave. After insepcting the scene of the accident it was confirmed that Dave was two timing Mary (his wife) with a rather good looking French patch of shingles at the side of the D10highway. As they got back on their way the heavens opened up, damping any hot feelings between Dave and the concrete superstructure.
The AA headed into Vesoul to buy some lunch, although with a shortage of bread in the town, we had to shop around and after three attempts and some hairy parking issues, we achieved our goal and were back en route through the torrential downpour, to meet The Laggards and The Aces for elevenses at the top of a rather steep hill in Fontenoy.
Shortly thereafter, it was time for the second part of the day, destination: Poussay. Now, when it comes to Poussay, it's a marathon and not a sprint. Andy and Sam arrived in good time, and we set them a challenge to do a 12 mile lap round the Poussay landing strip, which took them just over 45 minutes - record speed! Of course with the rich French diet we have all been exposed to, they had extra propulsion and were blasting off into the wind at lightspeed!!
Once Gordon and Dave had finally arrived at the entrance to Poussay, and refuelled with lunch, it was time to wish them on their merry way and make our way to the day's destination: Nancy.
During the afternoon, the training and development manager of the AA team - Doctor Melinda Rawlinson - decided that it would be a good idea to set a task for the team in order to raise even more money for the charities.
Once the Nancy boys were all together at the hotel, following another AA call out to Dave's bike just metres from the hotel (we are beginning to think it has a curse cast upon it where by two miles from our destination, something goes wrong) we sat down to another great meal in the hotel (where Al took it upon himself to translate the menu from Franglais into Anglais) in order to discuss Melinda's suggestion. We are currently developing an idea for one of the final legs of the journey, so stay tuned to find out more!!
After we had finished our Creme Brulees, and Gordon had topped up his dangerously low fluid levels after nearly falling asleep in his ravioli, it was time to head up the wooden hill to Bedfordshire and prepare ourselves for another transnational day of cycling - Destination: Luxembourg.
It is becoming more apparent as the Tour de Gripple progresses into week 2, just how important it is to get a full 8 hours' sleep through the night, and the days of drinking wine and beer until one in the morning are now a thing of the past (until, of course, we reach the unchartered territories of Luxembourg and Antwerp, where we have decided already that we must head out and visit these beautiful cities!)
Stay tuned for more blog updates and amusing anecdotes over the next few days as we pursue our journey into BeNeLux. Onwards and upwards!!
p.s. Remember - it's not too late to get donations in to our website - www.justgiving.com/tourdegripple
Smile and have a nice day! :)
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