A shorter run today, just 63.7 miles and 2425 feet of climbing. Some had hit the tiles in Abbeville and were feeling worse for wear. The difference today over other days was the temperature. It started off warm and got warmer! That’s not good if you are trying to recover from a night on the beer.

We soon left Abbeville behind and got into some wonderful French countryside with a number of very challenging climbs. The group immediately split and only came together for lunch.

A very paysanne resteraunt called Sat Outside the Crossroads. A truly international range of cuisine was available including Tarasamalata, Crisps and couscous!  Very cheap as well. The floor was a little dangerous for walking on wearing cleats but we skated round in seconds. Lunch was in fact sat outside a supermarket in the shade!

After our stop we continued on through some lovely French villages and along a valley floor that funnelled the headwind very nicely. So well in fact it made the headwind stronger than the previous day but at least it was a respite from the heat.

I think by today we were all exhausted and it turned into a long day in the saddle. John stopped off to entertain the road workers with a quiz “Guess the capacity of the engine” but then got so detached from the group that he got lost in Beauvais.

Eventually we all ended up in the hotel bar, sharing our days stories and talking about one day to go. Excitement was building. We were still six and a Directeur Sportive and we only had one day left!

Our meal was taken in the best restaurant yet. A simple Italian but the desserts were to die for. More bamnter included Steve stopping for a comfort break under a sign for Pissy and Brad riding around the Carrefour Car Park with Je t’aime blaring out of his saddlebag.

But that night we spent little time asleep, not because of the trepidation but the fact that Algeria had won the Africa Cup of Nations and every Algerian in the country had decided to drop in to Beauvais to celebrate. Celebrations seemed to centre around trying to kill yourself by hanging off a car.

I have to say that the hotel was one of the best, John’s room had twin corner baths, Mark had a fully stocked bar and Rick was happy to have a palatial sized upper floor room to himself.

So what we didn’t realise was what a horror story the final day would be!