Sponsor Ciaran Doran at : https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/ciarandoranbeforethetour
My childhood memory of Abbeville was our first night in France, ever, car and caravan and 8 of us in all. We set up camp, had dinner and then headed into the town at about 8pm to find it deadly quiet – shutters were closed, cars off the road and it was like walking through a cemetery. My memory of it, though, is as a sweet little place and today it is still sweet but no longer little.
Setting off from the hotel in the rain was a surprise even though the weather the previous day was dull and overcast. It rained on and off for most of the day, often very heavily, and while this may have made me feel quite at home with Irish style weather it was the wind that created the tough environment. When I cycle in the rain I have a grin from ear to ear but the wind makes it tough going. We had a block headwind all the way along the coast and the toughness took its toll on our energy levels. Cycling into a headwind is fine but doing it all day long in the knowledge you have several days in the saddle is quite intense.
Arriving in Dieppe was good as we all knew there were a couple of category 4 climbs out of Dieppe and then along the coast to lunch. Energy levels were already being drained but the climb followed by a hard hitting headwind each time drained us even more.
We stopped on the outskirts of Le Havre and took one last breather before racing down the hill into the city rush hour traffic jams. At one point I stopped alongside a police car who asked what we were doing. When I told them they just looked at each other strangely and wound the window up – did they think we were mad?
The finish line was designed to kill any short break away that the professionals may have put in as it was up a 7% climb before a 1km sprint finish. I attacked the climb agressively not realising that my family were on the hill about to cheer me on – nice to be at the front when that happened, but it naturally didn’t last for long. My son Aidan not only cheered me but ran alongside, up the hill, and caught up with the whole group and ran alongside for quite some time. The whole team were very impressed at his stamina but when the last rider caught me I had to leave the runner behind and get on with the sprint to the finish.
Thank you family. We had some drinks in the hotel bar and a walk to the motorhome that was their home for the week and some time together; that was very nice.
Tomorrow we’re hoping for sunshine as we leave Normandy and cycle into Brittany – neither are known for their stunning weather but the countryside is magnificent.
Sponsor Ciaran Doran at : https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/ciarandoranbeforethetour