Stubbington Green Runners

At the end of last year I was discussing with my oldest daughter Natalie the financial problems at the KIDS Centre in Fareham where she works.  KIDS is a centre for children with learning difficulties and is run mainly as a charity based organisation.

Anyway, I tried to think of a way I could help by raising a few pounds, at first Lands End to John O' Groats sounded good fun but I realised that the traffic would be bad so I decided on my two favourite football clubs, Barcelona and Portsmouth.  Wendy's brother and his mate were talked into joining me over a few beers.

So after a winter of cold wet training we flew out to Spain at the end of May expecting hot weather and nice tans, instead the first day of our 800 mile ride over a week we had flooded roads and drain covers lifting as we left Barcelona for Berga in the Pyrenees foothills.  It didn't ease up all day but as we arrived at our lovely hotel in Berga the sun came out, it turned out there was a festival going on in the street outside the hotel, the bumper cars were great fun after a couple of beers but not when they were still going at 6 in the morning 20 metres from our hotel room, I'm not exaggerating.

Day 2 started as the previous day had with torrential rain for the long climb into the mountains, luckily Wendy and the other wives had come with us as car back up to provide food and drinks along the route. Getting out of the service station after a pit stop was tough when you could only see 50m ahead because of the driving rain and a temperature of 5 degrees.   After climbing most of the day we had an 27 mile downhill ride to finish the day, this would have been ok normally but it was still pouring with rain so it made it a bit scary.  Still 170 tough miles done and still in one piece, just.

Day 3 took us from our Tarascon hotel with carpet on the walls to Merville, just north west of Toulouse.  The day was relatively flat and the weather had improved although it could hardly get worse. The road surfaces in this part of France are wonderful and we averaged almost 20 mph for the 94 miles which meant more beer time in the evening.

Day 4 started with torrential rain and strong winds so it was heads down and try and think of better things for the 97 miles to follow.  Pompey just having won the FA Cup did help at times when the going got tough.  The landscape as we got into the Dordogne region was wonderful with plenty of rolling hills and forests, you can see why so many Brits are making their homes there.
The day finished with a stiff climb up to the overnight stop in the town of Gourdon, we were greeted by Wendy, Tania and Anita sat with a beer outside our hotel, they took great delight in the fact that the proprietors were a couple of fruits and did bear and uncanny resemblance to yours truly.  You can imagine how we felt checking in with our lycra on.

Day 5 from Gourdon to Chamboret had to be the toughest, with 117 miles of hills and temperatures reaching 28 degrees.  It was as close to a mutiny as we got as I continually told the other two lads we would stop for a cold Coke in the next village, the villages never arrived and as we made our way through Limoges I was told in no uncertain terms that they were stopping for a drink whether I liked it or not.  We finished at the beautiful Chateau de Corrige were the girls were sat on the front lawn a little worse for wear after our English hostess had uncorked a few bottles of wine,  we joined them and were soon asleep on the grass.

Day 6   119 miles to the town of Saumur on the river Loire, again it was warm and hilly, the roads had too many big lorries on them travelling between the industrial towns of Limoges and Poitiers.  We stayed in another big old country house although the woman did remind Wendy of a character out of the Addams Family, I had to go agree when Christine stood and stared at us all through breakfast.  We were soon on our bikes and out of there before being locked in the cellar and missing Pompey's European Tour.

Day 7 We rode the Loire Valley countryside through the villages of Noyant and Le Lude and through Le Mans towards Alencon.  On the road out town we spotted a lone cyclist in the distance and as had been the case for all of the ride we had to chase them down, fly past them and show them how tough us brits are.  I must admit that at times during the ride this had become a little embarrassing as I had decided early on that it didn't matter if they 5 or 95 with a shopping basket and a French stick we had to kick there butts. Anyway this particular time we bombed after him and halfway up a long climb we managed to get past him giving him some light-hearted banter as we did so, as we got to the top of the hill Steve's gear cable snapped, I didn't understand what the French guy said as he went past but I can hazard a guess.

Day 8 Final day and on to Le Havre through the Normandy countryside.  I Particularly like this part of France, I think it gets overlooked sometimes as people tend to get off the ferries and head south for the sun.  Tania had done us proud with the last B&B just out of town which had a Jacuzzi and swimming pool. The next day we got the ferry back to Portsmouth and were greeted by family and friends outside Fratton Park.  808 miles in total and loved every minute of it, a great ending to a fantastic week.

Thanks to the lads who came with me, we kept each other going and never had a cross word ( almost ).  Special thanks to Wendy for driving the whole way having never driven abroad before, and along with Tania and Anita going on ahead and sorting our food and accommodation. 

To date we have raised close to £2500 for KIDS.  Stubbington Green have been very kind in donating £1000 from the race proceeds.  If you think you could spare a couple of quid please either see me at training or pop a cheque in the post, 9 Portobello Grove, Portchester PO16 8HU

Thanks

ps And next year ?  let's just say I prefer pasta to French food

Click here for photos.