Another day another night in a damn tent! Not such a good night this time and whilst I did sleep a bit I tossed and turned right the way through. It was not helped by the panic I felt around 3am when i instinctively reached for my phone to check the time.  I was “thumbing” at it desperately to get it to wake up what for felt like an eternity and when it didn’t the thoughts that went through my head, in this order, were “Oh my God I have gone blind” to “oh damn I must have forgot to charge it” followed quite some seconds later by “oh, I have still got my eye mask on!”

A few, far too few, hours later the loudest ever chorus of birds wake us both up….this campsite shall hence forth be known as “Dawn chorus”. Until this trip I can’t remember the last time I heard a cuckoo….now they are absolutely everywhere and they will not bloody shut up!!

Btw…whilst I remember important to say that later in the day Marc suggested that I put the eye mask on whilst I am riding and we could maybe practise a bit of blind led cycling with him in front of me ringing his bell….if only for health and safety reasons, which I am sure you respect and understand, I politely decline!

So we are up and about early again and we breakfast on what we now consider to be the staple of TMAAT champions …..porridge and banana. It’s just after 8am and we are off. Shortly afterwards we climb up to what I think is technically our first “col” albeit a relatively paltry 214m. Let me tell you though if you have cycled 270 miles and you are carrying around 19kg of luggage it does not feel paltry! 

And now dear reader a trigger warning - if you are adversely affected by straight roads (very straight!), wildflower meadows, beautiful countryside, water towers, tree lined country lanes, wind turbines, pretty little villages, fabulous weather, many many churches and gurning selfies then you should very much look away now. 

We stop for second breakfast around 11am and 30 miles in but today is the day we treat ourself not at the side of the road, as you might by now expect, but in a small tabac in the middle of nowhere…..grande cafe au lait and a couple of pain (Dan) au chocolat….merci beaucoup , I dont mind if do.

A short while later, whilst we pause to take a phone call, two guys also clearly planning to travel a distance (it’s the panniers….dead give away!) speed past. A few miles later we catch them up and pause for a chat. Because we are men the opening gambit is “so, how far are you going?” to which their reply is “Santander, but obviously not today, how about you?” I mean Santander is pretty impressive by any stretch but without any hesitation I say “Morocco and we are going their today!” Actually thats what is said in my head but you get the general gist….the actual conversation was far more British but I can dream can’t I?

The Garmin has really done us proud today. The first two days it has performed it’s now customary nonsense taking us round in circles, down dead end roads and up gravel paths which only goats might consider to be the “right way” but today the roads and the scenery really are just extraordinary…..this part of France, well it be mostly …..v v empty and v v pretty. 

As we approach the 60 mile mark for the day our attention turns to lunch. The disadvantage of Garmin taking us the very pretty way means we don’t easily stumble across anything to eat. When we pass what looks like another open tabac we pause again and grab something to eat (I know…twice in one day, we are truly living the life!!). It’s a great choice, the staff are super friendly, interested in what we are up to and the food is great, and much needed. 

Unfortunately the Garmin still reverts to type on occasion and manhandling our ridiculously heavy bikes over what was essentially an Indiana Jones style bridge is perhaps best described as very much “sub optimal”.

So with a planned 30 miles to go we head off towards our destination for the night of Surgeres. Fuelled by all our food the first 20 miles are manageable but i am not ashamed to admit that I am absolutely hanging for the last 10. I am literally done in and this is the most exhausted and most sore I have felt since we left Trafalgar Square all that time ago. It becomes a mental game of managing all the bits that hurt and trying to move them around by adjusting my body position…. and yes you are 100% right, moving around on a bike is not at all easy on a bike. At last we roll into our campsite and I am quite literally spent.

Just before I sign off I want to say a big “Happy Birthday” and “Thank you” to Alex Wood who is the creative genius behind our logo and the art work for all of our adventures. Thanks so much and we hope you have a great day. If you would like to see more of his work please check out www.Alexanderjameswood.com.

Given this has turned out to be the day of posh TMAAT I am writing this just before taking the short walk into town and throwing even more food at my face…..quite frankly I think we have earnt it! I might ordinarily lead on from that to say “and we have earnt your donation too” but honestly…I am just too tired.

Bon nuit!