Biddenham's Tour de France
It wasn't until we stepped off the ferry into the chilly night air of
Northern France that the sinking feeling of what was ahead hit us. We
had both done plenty of cycling before, but only in that moment did we
appreciate how far Paris really is from London when all you've got is
a bike and some dodgy Nutri-Grain bars. But it's all part of the fun of
a charity bike ride, and it was all laughs again after we'd tanked up
on Lucozade and our dashing lycra cycle gear had dried out from the rain
in England the day before.
A hundred miles and fifteen hours later we rolled into our first destination, a French town called Creil, fresh as a daisy (honestly) and ready for a nice cold shower before collapsing into a thin, hard mattress at the local hostel. Cycling through France that day had been pretty interesting, our first major incident coming under the hot midday sun when, of course, we ran out of water. Now, our route took us through the quieter areas - mainly nice little villages - but when I say quiet, I mean, seeing one person an hour was cause for excitement. So with the local Costcutter a good 13 miles back the other way, and the village stream looking increasingly appealing, we thankfully came across an incredibly nice French farmer who emerged from her house clutching two large bottles of mineral water, despite our embarrassingly poor French. As well as the locals though, a definite perk of a charity ride through France is the bakeries, and cycling all day gave us a pretty good excuse to sample plenty of delicious baked goods. The low point of those hundred miles undoubtedly came in a city called Beauvais; famous for its cathedral but, as we now know, definitely one to stay away from if you're on a bike. It had me and Macky squinting at our map for hours until another friendly, though this time slightly eccentric, French man pointed us in the right direction.
We reached Paris the next day and it was a great feeling - we were halfway in our ride and, more importantly, we had a whole day to enjoy life in Paris. Soon enough though, with the tour Eiffel fading into the distance and the rain now falling heavily into our faces, we departed from Paris on our fully laden bikes. One highlight of the return-journey came when, after trundling along for half an hour or so on a lovely quiet back road in France, a piercing siren loomed into earshot and a very serious looking man on a motorbike drew level and gestured to us to pull over (into a ditch, I might add), before carrying on past us. Confused, we looked over our shoulders to the sight of a large, looming convoy escorting an oversize truck that stuck out the edges of the country road. We duly obliged and went ditchward to make way for the truck. Not until 20 minutes later did we see another vehicle! The ride back was pretty tough, but with only two punctures the entire time, we reached London really happy with how the week-long ride had gone. We raised a lot of money for some great causes and a huge thank you to our friends and teachers in generously sponsoring us for the ride. It was worth every mile, even if their lasting legacy is a desire on our part to never see another Nutri-Grain bar again.
Adam
Heffill