Today was going to be a long, very long day. A cycle of sixty miles. Doesn't sound too bad does it? Well we can tell you it was! As usual a quiet pleasant morning cycle along the canal. The light of the sun on the water turning it a milky green. The trees that line the canal always provide interest.
One in particular caught our eye. Full of holes from woodpeckers. It was hot and despite the heat we made good progress until we left La Reole. The flat cycling we'd become used to was no more. Uphill and uphill. Would it never ends? Apparently not. We were in Bordeaux country.
Mile after mile of grapevines. The sun beat down on us and the vines. The vines loved it. We didn't. The unrelenting hills challenged us too much and we had to result in walking up pushing our heavily laden bikes. At five o'clock we arrived at a very nice large town, but we couldn't stop we still had just over twenty miles to cycle. From here though it should be easy we joined a lovely smooth cycleway that was once a railway line. We'd be flying now. Or perhaps not. The gradients were long and our legs tired. Angela was at breaking point. She's had a bad cold and was flagging. Tired and emotional she dug deep. The campsite was likely to close at seven and sometimes there is a security gate to enter. At a few minutes after seven we arrived. The reception was just closing. We handed in John's passport for I.D. to ensure we'd pay in the morning. We were a two mile round trip from the town. John unloaded his bags and set off in search of pizza, which he returned with half an hour later. How on earth we'd managed the journey against sweltering heat and relentless hills, who knows. But as always we'd had. Not bad for a couple of oldies. Pizza eaten we went straight to bed.
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