It’s 645 before TMAAT actually surfaces and gets on with the business of breakfast. For me that constitutes the most amazing nights sleep in a tent ever (if you haven’t yet got a face-mask you are failing to live your best life and oooh the silkiness is just to die for!) 

All joking apart it really was a relatively good nights sleep but that does of course beg the question “relative to what” and it is a really pretty campsite right on the banks of the river Mayenne. 

We break camp (I know, I’ve gone all Bear Grylls again and so soon!) and head off into the French countryside just after 815. A short while later we pull over so Marc can do his live (yes really, live) interview for BBC Hereford and Worcester (where apparently he is a local hero?). I have to say he absolutely smashes it and anything that helps promote what we are doing and raises awareness of Prostate Cancer is well worth the short delay to our day. 

A few miles later (it’s actually a lot of miles but I have no clue how many) we make another stop at another supermarket for another load of food #eatridesleeprepeat 

We push on and keep tapping out the miles trying to hit our second breakfast mileage. As many of you will know normal rules (and road signs) don’t apply to TMAAT unless of course they are a pre-cursor to no road at all which makes it a bit trixy. We somewhat sheepishly get off and wheel our bikes the 20 or so yards through the building works. 

We are now pretty keen on stopping and getting some food inside us although we do decide against culling the local wildlife (not least because it’s not vegetarian in the strictest sense of the word)

Its definitely time for second breakfast but we decide (having pretty much maxed out on beans and there is only so much a human can tolerate) to go all posh and actually sit down at a proper cafe and have cofffee, the largest croissant ever and our first selfie resplendent in our Prostate Cancer Uk regalia.

Just for the record I told Marc that jeans and cowboy boots were probably not a good idea on a bike ……thankfully I have a shed load of “there there” cream and it’s basically just a nasty flesh wound. 

We press on and drop down into the pretty town of Chateau Gontier and some time after, almost in total sync, Marc and I both say “Escape to the Chateau must be around here somewhere” …a quick check of the map confirms that our route has taken us within just a few miles but we are already way past it….massive fail on my part!

Todays roads are everything we could possibly hope for, quiet, rolling, almost traffic free and beautiful …and we haven’t even mentioned the weather yet have we (not very British of us is it?) which has been positively balmy / hot and today is no exception…..perfect roads, perfect weather all i need is the perfect cycle partner and it will be like I have won the lottery (joke of course…he’s “alright”….and even though we have ickle Dan its not the same we miss you Big Dan). A little later we cross the Loire and then up and out the other side of the valley through the vineyards.

Quite some time later we make a final supermarche stop about three miles from the campsite and we roll in just after 5pm….time for a mini celebration and important of course to spread your worldly goods across the widest possible area!

It’s been another tough but rewarding day. Marc said I even nearly cracked a smile at one point! I do think I have finally got my head into the right space…..the fact is that doing what we are doing just hurts, all the time, a lot and as soon as you can accept that it is just a little easier to cope with….it’s no less painful but it’s a means to an end.

That end is of course Morocco and our £5k fundraising target for Prostate Cancer Uk and I do want to say a massive massive thank you to everyone that has donated so far….it truly means so much to us. We do still have a long long way to go though both in miles and in fundraising. If you are reading this now you can do your part by either donating, even if you already have, or maybe by running your own event or activity or simply by sharing our story with someone else. Thanks in advance….we so appreciate it.