Gone Bloggin' fer Cancer

Day 13: 39.3 miles

2004-09-30T17:44:00.000Z

Torquay, Teign Valley, Torquay.
Wow thats 1000... well actually its over 1000, but I'm not one to brag!
Pretty hard going today after yesterday, my legs were knackered. Pretty satisfied with hitting the 1000 mile mark though, I'll never shudder at the thought of a quick treck down the shops again!
I'll put up the photos of Buttmans escalator injuries tomorrow (always good for a laugh!) along with some of the more recent photos that I couldn't get on while I was travelling.

Day 12: 36.8 Miles

2004-09-28T16:36:00.000Z

Plymouth, Totness, Torquay.
The ferry was two hours late into port, but the weather was OK so it was nice to spend a little time on deck. I was sorely tempted to get into the car with Dad and Derek (dads mate who came to get him) but I thought that would be bad karma... plus there was no space ;)
The ride today was by far as difficult as any we did in Spain. OK, in Spain you have bloody grrt mountains, but the roads are reasonable in that they tend to snake up the mountain fairly gradually. One day we spent most of the day going up and were rewarded with a 10k free ride the other side. By contrast the roads around here are up and down like a Devon whores draws on Payday. Real steep incline, real steep decline (repeat as necessary)
Still, I got a nice surprise when I got home and did the Maths. I have now done 972.67 miles, I thought it was around 900. So to celebrate my dad and I are going to ride to Teign Valley for lunch tomorrow. That will take me over the 1000, and we get to finish what we started together..... ahhhhhhh.

Day 11: Booze houndin

2004-09-27T16:23:00.000Z

In true holiday manner, the weather chose today to break. What a gorgeous day.
We wiled away a few hours trapsing round the local boozariums looking for the best deals on Brandy. There are two particularly fine Spanish brandies "Carlos I" and "Cardinal Mendoza". The crossing was extreemly smooth, though pretty sullen on my behalf. You know what its like, you have a great holiday, di lots of cool stuff then get back and its like nothing changed. They did have Bombay Saphire on the Ferry though, so thats ok then!

Day 10: 12.31 miles

2004-09-26T21:02:00.000Z

Had a great potter around today. Also managed to feed my growing sordid fish addiction. Spain is a beautiful country, fantastic scenery, super friendly people & great food. Wish I had listened to Biv & Maria talk more so I was better with the lingo!

Day 9: Were off!

2004-09-26T11:32:00.000Z

Well we are here in Santandare. Theres a ferry back to Plymouth tomorrow, and if theres space we´re on it! I haven´t done 1000 miles yet so I´m goin to finish up by cycling from Plymouth to Bristol when we get back. That gives you roughly till Thursday to finish writing those cheques to us for Cancer Research! Dads OK though as he did over 500km in Ferrara following the waterways with cousin Ori. So hís conscience is clear! I´m pretty sad its all over really, I´m even sadder that we had to finish in Spain like this, but the cycling here just wasn´t any fun, in fact it was just downright dangerous. Maybe it would have been better in another part of Spain. I have a lot of photos to put up but this internet cafe only has ´98 so I cant get them off my camera. See you back in Blighty!

Newsflash: Buttman in Escalator horror

2004-09-25T10:42:00.000Z

Actually I laughed so hard I was nearly sick through my nose. We were going up to the platform in Bilbao to catch the train to Santandare. I went to the top of the escalator with my bike then suddenly hear this massive crash. Dad is at the bottom of the escalator with his bike being pulled away from him and him still rooted in the same place at the bottom holding on. He managed to stay like that for a good few seconds with the bike bumping up the escalator steps and him holding onto it for dear life from the safety of solid ground, before the whole thing just fell in on him and he ended up sat on the escalator with the bike on top of him. Reseigned to the fact there was no graceful way to resolve the situation he just rode the escalator to the top like that, whilst I carried out my duty as a loving son and laughed my ass off whilst frantically searching for my camera.

Day 8: Loads of miles...

2004-09-25T10:37:00.000Z

This is getting Silly. In France the lorries and cars were really considerate they would slow down or give you a wide berth. Here they seem to delight in getting as close as they can. With that and the general state of the roads and weather we decided to jump on a train to Santandare (or final destination) Bilbao just seemed really industrialised so no big whoop missing out on that.

Day 7: 30.79 miles

2004-09-24T08:27:00.000Z

Debe, Lekeito, Gernika-Lumo. Whose idea was it to put the Pyranees right next to the coast? Mountainous so our avg is down to 7mph. Really tough going and rain to boot! Its really not a lot of fun whith the bloody lorries playing chicken :(

Day 6: 28.3 Hectic miles

2004-09-23T14:55:00.000Z

Biarritz, San Sebastian, Debe. bloody hell! The road we were following turned into a nightmare, soon as we got into Spain. Mountainous & trucks really making it hard. They dont leave space like in France. Eventually got train to Debe & small roads.

Day 5: chillin in Biarritz

2004-09-22T20:33:00.000Z

Having a break today before heading to Spain tomorrow. It is very nice here, managed to find some reasonable digs too. They have a great beach with a constant 5ft swell (Pretty clean too!) caught some sun, looked at boobies, ate fish. Great day!

Day 4: 74.69 miles

2004-09-22T20:20:00.000Z

Mimizan Plage, St Girons, Biarritz. Pretty overcast today. We gave up the cycle tracks for a while to make up some ground. Day 2 we saw a sign for Bordeaux 70km when we had done 120km! Got here about an hour before the rain. Nice timing!

..Woop! Woop! Sound o da police.

2004-09-20T19:30:00.000Z

by which time we were off our bikes anyway and looking at him in like he was mad. Finally he just smiled and waved us off, so dad thanked him again (still in English) and we left him looking dis-believing and highly confused on the street corner.

Woop! Woop! Sound o da police.

2004-09-20T19:23:00.000Z

Dads turn to get a ticking off today. We were going up a one way st and a policeman stopped and chastised dad. Dad looked at him dead pan & said "Thank you". This completly disarmed him and forced him to make the international sign for no entry....

Day 3: 53.52 miles

2004-09-20T19:20:00.000Z

Arcachon, Biscarrosse, Mimazon-Plage. Another beautiful day. still mostly cycle track but back on the road a while too. Its getting more hilly now and I think it will carry on the closer we get to Spain. Its pretty cold in the mornings. South & Sun!

Miracle or Coincidence?....

2004-09-19T20:59:00.000Z

That means that not only did I dial Gayes' number, and type the word "Hi", but also sent it....... WITH MY ASS! Now I'm not a religious man but....... or perhaps its evolved and become sentient? Maybe we'll never know, and maybe thats best.

Miracle or Coincidence?

2004-09-19T20:35:00.000Z

You decide! Yesterday my bum bag slipped down causing me to sit on my phone. It made strange noises. Last night Gaye called me to ask why I had text her land line. There was a message with an automated voice reading out the message "Hi"and my number.

Day 2: 28.68 miles

2004-09-19T20:26:00.000Z

Lacanau-Ocean, Le Cape Ferret, Arcachon. Lovely easy day meandering through forests following the coast.Still on cycle track. Stormy night but cleared by 10am & turned into a corker. Got harassed by rampant horse flies this morning. More Seafood!

Day 1 ( stage 3): 49.84 miles

2004-09-18T16:42:00.000Z

Bordeaux to Lacanau-Ocean.

Day 1 ( stage 3): 49.84 miles

2004-09-18T16:36:00.000Z

What a great day! There is 600k of cycle track through forests & around lakes near Bordeaux. A lot of it in the direction we want to go. We got bloody lost on the way out of Bordeaux due to roadworks and added 10 miles to the trip though. Sunny too!

Bordeaux

2004-09-17T21:06:00.000Z

It took us 28.5 hours to get here but boy was it worth it! Bordeaux is FANTASTIC. So clean, packed with fountains & statues. It really reminds me of Bath & Bristol as it is all sandstone. Lacanau tomorrow then south to Biarritz (wot wot) and Spain.

Lyon: No matter who we ask...

2004-09-17T10:27:00.000Z

...or how willing & helpful the staff are, we cant seem to get the right info for bikes on trains. I just had to argue in bad French to get our bikes on a train we waited 6 hours for, because it takes bikes! 5hrs to Toulouse now. sleep! Night Night

Cow Wars... cont

2004-09-16T08:36:00.000Z

sound cruel? Apparently not, cows are'nt exactly the most aggressive animals in the world so more often than not they just scowl at eachother till one backs down. Occasionally they might butt or push the other if they are really angry. Madness :)

Cow Wars

2004-09-16T08:26:00.000Z

I really thought I had misunderstood. But its true. There is an arena in Aoste dedicated to battling cows. Basically they take the leaders of herds of semi-wild cows and stick 'em in this arena to ave it out with eachother whilst spectators drink!

Aoste

2004-09-15T18:08:00.000Z

We are in Aoste, in the Alps near the french border. Definately one of the most beautiful parts of europe (pics to follow). The view from my bedroom over the valley is breathtaking. Were staying with relatives until tomorrow when we head for France.

Get out the bloody way...

2004-09-14T08:41:00.000Z

Were at Ferrara station, the train arrives, and the bike carriage is at the other end of the train. The guard yells "HURRY UP". So we mount up and barrel it down the platform scattering cool Italians in Gucci suits like pigeons. Laughed my ass off!

Holding out the hat.....

2004-09-11T15:38:00.000Z

Right. Some of you know, some of you don't, but my mum had Cancer a while back. Luckily she kicked the living crap out of it with a lot of drugs and a positive attitude ;)
We probably should have organized this before we left, but we thought it might be nice if we got something more out of this trip, than great tans, and a six pack (well nearly!)
Consequently we are going to hold out our virtual hat and ask for sponsorship or donations which we will pass on to Cancer Research on our return. We'll have cycled over 1000 miles by the time we get back. We'll publish the total when we get back and I can sit down for long enough to do it.

If you would like to make a donation, however small, then please send it

REMOVED

If any of you can pass the address of this site on, it would be much appreciated. You never know it gets picked up by the internet community and we raise a packet! *grin*

All I can promise in return is a big "THANK YOU" from the both of us and a warm feeling in your trousers!

And they're off..... nearly

2004-09-11T15:21:00.000Z

Yup.. Tuesday. We've finally gotten to the stage where we are starting to look like Vietnamese pot bellied pigs with the amount we have been fed up! We can't possibly take any more captain... she's gonna blow. Tuesday morning we are off to Aoste (by Train) to visit some more relatives, shame its a bit early for snowboarding really! Thursday we are hitting the Road big time, direction Angouleme. Maria is there with her parents until the end of the month so we thought we would go and annoy the hell out of her relatives now that we have done ours. Thats about 600k (400miles) so that little jaunt should take us over the magic 1000 miles.... whoooohooooo.

Let the train take the strain...

2004-09-10T15:29:00.000Z

Just back from a fantastic couple of days in Angouleme, France, visiting Maria and her family (Hi guys). I couldn't put anything on the blog about it before now as it was a surprise for Maria. I caught the train down, only to be greeted by the news that terrorists were targeting Italy and they were concentrating on the trains... Luckily the most unpleasant thing I encountered on the journey home was a slightly pungent Russian woman, held together entirely by makeup, who sat in the same carriage as me. Maria came to Paris to see me off and we spent a day there being ultra-tourists. Mind you the Eiffel Tower is pretty fantastic.

I'll name that tune in....

2004-09-05T19:00:00.000Z

After such great weather, I can now tell what road-kill lies ahead just by the smell. I can tell if its a hedgehog, water rat or bird.... although I cant tell what kind of bird it is.... yet. 32Â° - 35Â° is pretty normal at the moment.

Good luck 1/2 Marathoners!

2004-09-03T14:31:00.000Z

Just a quick good luck message to all you guys doing the 1/2 marathon.... its tomorrow isn't it?
Anyway H, Shag, Bod & Scraps good luck!
H.. You better run your ass off, if you are still taking my place!

Some Family History

2004-09-03T14:01:00.000Z

We went into the country this moring to see the house where my dad grew up during the war. Theres nothing left but a shell now, but it was really interesting (to me) to take a look and listen to some of the war-time stories. The Germans had a massive gun hidden in their garden, under a tree. Apparently they were right gits, they used to steal food from my aunt who was only young at the time.

This is all you can see from outside now. We had to hack our way through trees & bushes to get near.

My Aunt Bruna was born in the upstairs room (whats left of it) in this photo.

This was where they used to hang the recently butchered pigs, and Salamis to cure. It must be strange coming back to a place you grew up in after such a long time.

The canal outside the house. Dad explains what happened to his feet.

"Green Dreams"

All these fields were filled with Hemp. Dad used to play in amongst it. Ironic really, as I regularly dream doing exactly that!

Cokes...

2004-08-31T15:49:00.000Z

The site feed is on. The URL is http://gone-bloggin.blogspot.com/atom.xml

If I've misunderstood maybe you can drop me a line doug.boari@blueyonder.co.uk and explain my gooberism.
cheers mate.
D

The family!

2004-08-31T15:36:00.000Z

Were probably going to be all over the place being frequently stuffed full of fantastic food. I'll only post for the next week or two when something interesting happens.
After that we should be starting another mission, I want to break the 1000 miles barrier before we get back *grin*
Oh and being new to these computer thingys I didn't realise you could set the blog to post without the need to register.
So for any of you lazy gits who couldn't be arsed to register, you can now post.

Day 17:

2004-08-29T15:25:00.000Z

Were in my dads home town of Ferrara. Time for a bit of recovery. I woke up this morning and felt like I had been hit by a rather large truck full of angry hippos.
We have now done a total of 607.05 miles I'm pretty happy with that.

For anyone interested the Borgia family came from here.

The town Pizza
In a few days we are going to cycle the 70km or so the the Beach. I think the plan from then is prety vague, but we have family in Spain (Hi Unc Tom) so we are probably going to go there and cycle in Spain for a while.

The return of Ass-Wrench

2004-08-29T15:22:00.000Z

After a few days absence Ass-Wrench has returned. This time he has brought his close friend Blue-Balls.
In Macon I started to get some feeling back below the waist. At the time I couldn't decide if it was better when I couldn't feel anything or not. Oh how I long for those days.

Don't eat too much dried fruit on a cycling trip

2004-08-28T15:20:00.000Z

nuff said

Day 16: 107.49 miles (169.2km) Stage 2 Complete

2004-08-28T15:05:00.000Z

Cremona, Guastalla, Mirandola, Finale Emiglia, Ferrara
We were supposed to stop in Suzzara tonight, but after lunch, in a moment of beer fueled madness, we decided to scrap that idea and just sprint for home. Seemed like a good idea at the time. It took us 9 hours and 4 minutes (of actual cycling time)
We got yo Mirandola and the road sign said 53k, (bearing in mind we had done over 100k at this point) then we cycled for another hour as it started to get dark and we saw another sigh that said 50k.... You're F***ing joking. The next sign 5 minutes later proclaimed 39k to go. The bottom line is dont trust Italian road signs. The Italians dont use them anyway.
The Scenary is beautiful in Emilia Romagna (this part of Italy). The one thing that is disappointing is that there are bloody electricity pilons everywhere, and its so flat you can see them for miles. I guess the French must use a lot of underground cabling or something.
I did manage to get a piccy of the Dolomites without any though.

Thieving Gits

2004-08-27T15:42:00.000Z

Came out of the restaurant and some bloody thieving git has nicked my spare inner tubes, puncture repair kit and tyre keys. Its the only thing I haven't been taking off the bike as it's really awkward to get on and off.

Day 15: 50.58 miles

2004-08-27T14:58:00.000Z

Pavia, Codogno, Cremona
Again pretty easy going now, its totally flat... bloody windy towards the end of the day again. Hard to please arent I?

The town square in cremona

Finished The Divine Invasion today. Excellent book although a lot of scripture is quoted in it. I'm not sure if it was real scripture or not, but it was a strage mix of Sci-Fi and Dogma.

Its official mullits for girls are in. I'm lost for words.

Day 14: 46.53 miles

2004-08-26T14:56:00.000Z

Casale Monferri, Mede, Pavia
Plain sailing today. Its a lot flatter now, we averaged 13 miles an hour. Course now its flat, its windy!

I'm secretly starting to worry. I've seen a number of young ladies with MULLITS surely not. Perhaps its a local phenominon.... although knowing how crazes spread in Italy I have my doubts. More study required.

Day 13: 50.37 miles

2004-08-25T14:43:00.000Z

Torino, Chivasso, Casale Monferro

Bit hectic getting out of Torino, but a lot less hilly than I expected...
On the way out I realised that they had been expecting us all along.

Cue Rocky Music.

It actualy seemed really flat straight out of Torino... funny as I thought Torino was still on the edge of the Alps. Just as I was starting to get cocky we hit the biggest hill we had seen yet... about 4.5km of 10% We had done longer but not so steep. Arrrrrgh! The bloody thing nearly killed me. Course dad took the piss (again)
When we got to Casale Monferro we met Psychopathic Tourist Information guy. We walked into the office to look for a hotel, and I have never seen a look of pure venim like it. I really thought he was about to get out a bowie knife, skin us alive, and hang us up in the basement with all the other Foreign Infidels in the basement for when he fancied a snack. Maybe it was Dads cycling shorts.

Smack goes the weasel

2004-08-25T14:29:00.000Z

Torino is a funny place. It has won the 2006 winter olympics, so everywhere is under construction with massive lit signs and fountains proclaiming the Olympics in 2 years.
One night after a meal we went to the park right in the centre of town to get an icecream and take a photo of the big fountain & 2006 sculpture there. We walked round a tree and there are about 4 or 5 girls jacking up... (as opposed to jacking off ;-) ) that means injecting heroin for the older generation!!
Such a strange sight because on the one hand you have families and old people walking around the park for an evening stroll, and on the other hand smack heads, blatantly using in public. Its not even like its a big park just a fountain with a path around it....
I think that the thing that bugged me most was that some of the girls were really cute.
Heres the photo I managed to get... it didn't come out to well unfortunatly but its a beautiful monument in the flesh.

Just accross the road written on a massive marble pillar I saw this:

A literal translation is "The disgrace of the century is to be an Italian in Italy"

Thank you...

2004-08-24T15:00:00.000Z

For all the Comments, Emails and Texts of encouragement everyone. They are much appreciated.

Day 12: Preparing for the push

2004-08-24T14:43:00.000Z

After the beautifully serene day yesterday crossing the Alpes, its time to start getting ready to hit the road again. To be honest Im ready for it. I quite fancy getting on the way again. We have about 450k to go to Ferrara (my dads home town)

We spent the morning in book shops as I finished the 2 books I bought with me and was starting to pull my hair out with nothing to read. Oh if anyone likes psychological thriller type books, I can highly recommend James Patterson. I bought 3 books to keep me going for a while, George Orwell, 1984; Ian Banks, Whit; and a Philip K Dick book called "The Divine Invasion". All of which I have been meaning to read for a while and never quite gotten round to.

We also bought a map... kinda handy really. Time to plan the route, but loosly we will be following the PO river. I think that from Torino the going is gonna be quite flat, which is a bit disappointing really as I thought Torino was still quite high up. Not so... never mind its still a way to go!
Nothing died in my proximity today, I saw no evil rabbits, and the closest I have come to the Police recently was turning down a one way street the wrong way on my bike, straight into a Police van.

Day 11: Lots o miles

2004-08-23T14:31:00.000Z

Macon, Modane, Bardonechia, Torino.
We had a hell of a time trying to get any infomation about getting our bikes accross the Alpes on the train. It seemed like we could get to Modane on local trains which would take our bikes, but then we would have to take the TGV which meant packing up our bikes.... We dont have the tools or inclination for that. Anyway I went to the Italian train site and it looked like there were a lot of local trains going from Modane to Torino which was perfect. We called the train helpline and the woman told us "If its on the internet it must be right, but I cant confirm" What a bloody waste of time! Eventually we decided just to go to Modane and try and get on a train. If anyone complained we were going to kick up a massive fuss Italian Stylee and tell them that the train helpline had told us it was OK! At least we would have had some use out of them!
As it happens they were really helpful in Modane and they took our bikes on a bus accross the Frejiu tunnel then to a train station the other side. I couldnt believe how friendly and helpful they were. All I could think about is when we got back from Snowboarding and the moody bastard bus driver in Birmingham wouldnt even let us put out snowboards on the bus even though it was practically empty... what a difference.
Spent the evening pigging out!

Does any one else think this Rabbit is evil?

2004-08-22T16:47:00.000Z

Day 10: Resting in Macon. A very upsetting start to the day.

2004-08-22T16:40:00.000Z

Phew finally a day off.
We got up early and had breakfast by the river... coffee & croissants, perfect. Then we set back for the hotel and decided to call an Italian relative from a phone box on the way.
Dad picks up the phone and we hear this massive "BANG". This young girl starts screaming..... and so does her dog.
This poor thing has really taken a hit. There was no-one else around so I went to her, and she asked me to stay with the dog while she went to get someone. So I'm stroking this poor beast ( no description but it was a real mess ), trying to comfort it as its dying, then the woman who was driving the car came up and was all upset too, saying there was nothing she could do and so on and so forth.
Thankfully the girls boyfriend came, and we were able to slink away. Theres no way the poor thing made it. We were both pretty upset, its hard not to be, especially if its someones pet.

Better thoughts..... Macon is a beautiful city.
Its been a slog (Well for me any way, dad just takes it in his stride) but the rest is well deserved.
We may be here for a day or two while we work out how to get over the Alpes. The Cable Car we were going to take from Chamonix is closed until Mid September for works qnd all the other roads are Motorway or tunnels we cant go in on bikes.

I've updated the blog with a lot of photoes en route, so if you are bored refresh your browser and take a peek back through. You can see larger versions of the pîccys by clicking on them. I've been in this bloody internet Cafe for nearly 3 hours now so I think its time to hit a Bar for a Coffee on the river bank. I hope the bloody weather gets better though.... its cold out there!
TTFN
Gab & Doug

Day 9: 32.5 Miles

2004-08-21T16:30:00.000Z

St Bonnet de Jeux, Cluny, Macon.

I was in a far better mood today (thank God) I obviously needed the sleep. Still Harder going as we got towards Macon. I think that my muscles have had it for now and a rest is in order. Still we decided to stay in Macon for a couple of days.
When we got to Cluny we picked up the "Route Touristique" it is a beautiful purpose made cycle track that runs along side the road. Fantastic.... We really enjoyed that.
Time to decide what to do about them bloody Mountains we can see in the distance.

The French obviously made a spelling mistake here so we helped out with some black tape. Do they know nothing?

This tunnel was on the cycle route. Just for cyclists. I wish they took care of cyclists as well of that in Blighty. There would be a lot more of them.

A Token Chateau Nr Macon

Day 8: 51.46 miles

2004-08-20T16:20:00.000Z

St Honore les Bains, Toulons S Arroux, Perrecy les Forges, St Bonnet de Jeux.

I was in a bloody foul mood all day today. I think the lack of proper sleep and all the excercise I had done no preparation for finally for to me. I was pretty much left to myself all day which is the best thing if I'm being a moody git. About 3km from St Bonnet the arse fell out of the sky. A real freezing cold downpour. We raced to St Bonnet over some really mountainous country, and when we finally stopped I pulled a Whitey. Its not the first whity I've ever pulled (eh guys?) but it was the first from excercise. When we got to the hotel dad suggested single rooms, bless him.

A new friend en route.

Day 7: 57.5 Miles

2004-08-19T16:02:00.001Z

Donzy, Premery, Chatillon en Bazois, St Honore les Bains
Good day today. Started out hard but got a second wind after lunch. Definatly in the foot hills now.... getting hiller each day;

Lunch Time

The scenary is changing.

Day 6: 41.4 Miles

2004-08-18T15:57:00.000Z

Gien, Cousne Cours sur Loir, Donzy.
Better start to the day weatherwise, as yesterday through the forest or Orleans it rained for the 1st few hours. Hard going though cycling into the wind. A thunder storm followed us and just as we got to the hotel the sky really opened up on us. Had a fantastic dinner in the hotel.

Day 5: 52.8 miles

2004-08-17T20:23:00.000Z

This was ANOTHER nuclear power station. The Loir seems to breed them. No Police this time. Quick job in and out!

Pa in Gien.

Me chillin by the Loir!

Artenay, Neuville aux Bois, Chauteauneuf sur Loir, Gien. Apart from the police a great day. We have been following the Loir River for a while and it is beautiful, it really is. You can see how so many Brits end up here. What a pace of life.

Bonjour Mr Gendarme!

2004-08-17T18:12:00.000Z

Edit: This is the photo I managed to save. Unfortunatly its shit compared to the one I lost, that was taken from the sunflower field

Today was interesting!
We were cycling towards Gien and I saw the most fantastic photo op. A field of dying sunflowers with four massive stacks of a Nuclear power station in the background. We stopped so that I could do my David Baily. The last photo I took was probably the best photo I have ever taken. Anyway I'm just walking back to my bike and the bloody Gendarmes ( Police ) swoop down on us and start shouting questions at me, telling me its illegal to take photoes of the power station. So I tell them I'm only taking a photo of the field of Sunflowers. I tried my cheekiest "I'm only on holiday and not a Terrorist" face, but in response she held up both arms, crossed at the wrist. This as I understand it, is the international sign for "You're nicked sunny"

Then she asked me for the film, so I had to explain in pigoen French that its a digital camera. Anyawy the long and short of it is that I had to show them I was deleting the photoes. I managed to save one, but that last one was the photo.......... Oh well at least we're not in the clink with a bloke called Claude trying to grab my Baguette!

While I'm at an internet Cafe a few Hello's from my dad and I.

Cheers to the Baldor gang for the MP3 player.... Techno keeps me sane.
Hi to Emma, Brunel Aves very own "eye in the sky"
Hi to Sheila the street photographer (David Baily), Bob & Betty.

Right we're off to stuff ourselves to replenish our reserves.

Day 4: Nada, zero, zip, nothing

2004-08-17T17:32:00.000Z

Day off today. After yesterdays slog I felt I needed a breather.... or at least my legs did. Bloody hell my dad is in far better condition than I am..... He's nearly double my age! Obviously I treat my body as a temple(?) so I don't know what I'm doing wrong *grin*
We had a nice swim in the afternoon, followed by a massive feed up and an early night.... just what the doctor ordered.

Day 3: 65.8 miles or 107.3km

2004-08-15T21:26:00.000Z

What a day! Bloody knackered. Cant be arsed with all the road names as I can only add 255 letters at a time using my phone. Started in Dreux and got to Artenay. Didnt plan to go this far but EVERYTHING was closed en route. Ghost towns. I love it!

Texas Chainsaw Massacre cont..

2004-08-15T21:05:00.000Z

.. the first thing I thought of was to wrap a pillow around my head and jump out of the window. The second was to wrap the pillow round my dads head and jump out the window. Finally I settled for something with less repercussions and bought earplugs.

Texas Chainsaw Massacre

2004-08-15T20:58:00.000Z

If you took a very ordinary chainsaw and used it on a non essential part of an opera singer, then put the whole thing next to your ear, you would have something not unlike my dads snoring. A lot goes through your head at 4am with that going on......

Day 2 ( 14 August ) : 51 miles

2004-08-14T17:06:00.000Z

Left Brionne on the D130 to La Riviera Thiboville. D23 Beaumont. D32 Couches en couches. D140 Damville. D50 Nonancourt. N12 to Dreux. Fantastic day, ate lunch in a field. The roads are so empty, sometimes dont see a car for miles. Arse ok so far ;)

Day 1: 50.2 miles

2004-08-14T16:35:00.000Z

after leaving the port crossed Pont de Tancarville. N178 to St Samson. D39 to Pont Audmer (lunch & downpour). Then the D130 to Brionne where we spent the night. The going was pretty flat but it was really REALLY wet and windy. Still a great day :)

Train track 1 GPS 0

2004-08-14T16:19:00.000Z

Less than a mile off the ferry, I slipped crossing a wet train track, fell off my bike and smashed up my GPS. Nick Jones (Baldor) warned me about the tracks at Le Havre but I was busy squinting against the force 5 wind & rain that finally showed up.

Anchors away

2004-08-14T16:06:00.000Z

When we got on the ferry the captain announced that we would encounter force 5 or 6 winds. Obviously I drank the appropriate amount of booze to compensate. Dad got loaded on travel sickness pills. It turned out to be a really smoothe trip. Go figure!

The Butt-Mobiles

2004-08-12T15:48:00.000Z

Preparation is the key.

Buttman & Ass-wrench: The Dyslexic Duo

2004-08-12T15:47:00.000Z

Wherever there is the threat of piles.....
Wherever someone cries "Hemmeroids".....
we'll be there.

Bikes are loaded, time to head off to Portsmouth... the 22:45 ferry to Le Havre... Hope the bloody weather holds out. The sky really opened up on us as we left Torbay... Hmmm If I believed in Omens.... :)

Welcome Home

2004-08-10T20:09:00.000Z

So heres my new home. Went to meet some crazy dude who sells ex-army kit, to buy Bivi bags. Honest to god this dude lives with his mum and has a garage full of army gear..... sheesh, I bet if I slipped him a fiver he'd have stingers out the back "Now this is the very best in home defense". Most of the time we'll probably be in a B&B but for the odd night under the stars, these'll see us right.
Wheres ma M16 Billy Bob? We got us a deer ta kill.

If you don't open your eyes, your head won't hurt...

2004-08-09T09:15:00.000Z

Ouch... what a weekend!

Friday night was the usual kind of works do. Every one drank sherry, and we discussed politics in a calm and rational manner. I certainly didn't end up at Daves house gone 5. Thanks to everyone who came it was a blinder... in more than one sense. Whose bloody Idea was the pernod? I hate the stuff, but funnily enough didn't turn it down.

Saturday was just as bad... I was hanging from Friday night but we went out and ended up in the Croft. Again thanks to everyone who came, I know I was pretty slack until I got the Captain in me.... ahhhh Mr Morgan you do treat me right!

So its Monday now... I still have a shit load of stuff to do, the Ferry is on Thursday night and I'm sat at my computer. Think its time I got a wiggle on.

7 Days and Counting

2004-08-05T14:42:00.000Z

7 Days to go,
7 Days to go,
Eeeee Ayyyyy Adeo,
Theres 7 Days to go. Hey!

Bought the Ferry ticket today, so thats it we're commited. We're officially off @ 22:45 on 12 August. I expect to have piles by 21:00 14th August, but hopefully I'll be too busy worrying about my sunburn to care.
Still got a lot to do, but I'm nothing if not a last minute packer.
Extreme packing... its great. I find it most stimulating if you do it the night before you are about to leave AFTER the shops have shut, just for that extra kick.

New Toy!

2004-08-04T14:40:00.000Z

Right then. Being as I'm going to be on the road I thought I would test an update from my mobile. The only problem is I'm crap at text messages... I take ages and it really annoys me when simple words like "crap" arn't in the dictionary.

This blogging lark is alright isn't it?

2004-08-04T14:23:00.000Z

Just set up my blog.
All seemed pretty straightforward, even for a goober like me. Thought I had better test the technology before I go off on my Cycling trip accross europe.... not that I doubt the technology.... more my ability to use it really.

Right lets see how this looks then shall we?