Day 2 – Guignicourt

We sleep till 9am and probably could have slept longer but the heat inside the van is starting to get too much. Door thrown open and in floods… more hot air. It looks like it’s going to be a beautiful day.

Today is going to be a day on the tandem, which is probably just as well as I’m so hot and flustered, I need the breeze from being on the bike to cool me down.

27 miles of French countryside is plugged into the Garmin and off we trot. Baguette stuffed with meat and salad safely stowed in the pannier with copious amounts of water and a bottle of sun cream for good measure.

The breeze does its job and I settle into the saddle relatively quickly. One of the first things that strikes me is the quality of the roads. They are perfect compared to ours. Whilst it may seem archaic to us to have electricity cables and pylons overhead I honestly believe this is the reason our roads are a mess. They are constantly digging them up to access cables that 40 years ago were very easily accessible. Some may argue that cables make it unsightly but riding through these villages with cables and pylons, they look a damned sight better than our towns and villages with potholes and several different runs of tarmac snaking their way along our roads. That’s my rant over. We enjoy the smoothness of the roads beneath the wheels of our Gepida and the wide open countryside.

Lots of history in the area mainly to do with the Napoleonic and two Great Wars. Cycling along, there’s the ruins of an Abbey and lots of monuments dotted along the route to stop and have a gander at.

The most impressive touristy thing we saw was the Tour observatoire de Caronne. An impressive wooden structure standing 20m high giving the most impressive views in every direction. Apparently designed and built to avoid the feeling of vertigo as you rise above the tree tops, it still managed to give me squeaky bum time.

27 miles complete and my derrière is feeling it. My legs could go on but my bum has had it.

Back on site and the wind is getting up, it feels like it could bring rain, freshly showered we plonk ourselves outside to enjoy the last of the afternoon sun, the wind blow dried my hair in no time.

This site appears to be a ‘passing through’ site. A good few Brits and lots of European cyclists travelling with only what they can carry. Most stay only one night and move on.

Feeling lazy and despite having shopped yesterday for a few essentials we decide to try the pizza from the on site restaurant. Pre ordered, we collect our pizzas at 6.30pm and sit enjoying wood fired pizzas as good as we’ve had on any site. Steve guzzles the remains of his bottle of French plonk whilst I sit people watching and crocheting.

Jet lag must be kicking in, if there is such a thing when the time zone we are is only 1 hour ahead, or maybe it’s the bike ride and all the fresh air I’m having. I’m definitely jiggered.