I woke up early and wrote my blog at Dan and Claire's with Rex for company which generally mean't a lot of nudging with a cold wet nose followed by some tail chasing until he fell over.
After some strong black coffee, croissant and pain au chocolate and goodbyes I set up to the head of the valley for the final 65. Paris still seemed a long way off as i pedalled through the pretty villages of the Pay de Bray with half timbered houses and streams running through villages and gardens. It was slighlty overcast but not too cold perfect cycling weather.
As went from village to village the hills started to flatten out and the french plains returned. I soon bumped into a group of 4 cyclists (all retired by the looks of them) and i joined their peleton. It is amazing what it does for you pace as we cycled at a good 19/20 mph for about 40 minutes before our paths diverged and we wished each other "bonne route".
I droppped down into the pretty town of Gisors abouut 25 miles in and then climbed out of the town and slowly up on the Vexin. The Vexin is a large flat plain north of Paris. The road across the Vexin was almost dead straight for about 20 miles or so and some of the traffic was pretty fast. I am sure all the followers of my blog willl have realised by now that i was unable to find anywhere to stop for lunch so i carried on with my faithfull Milka bar keeping me going.
At the southern edge of the Vexin, about 26 miles from Paris, I climbed a hill an on the horizon i could see tall buildings and noticed that one was the Eiffel Tower. It was an amazing sight and quite unexpected - taken by surprise i was quite emotional - the end was in sight.
Suddenly it all felt so achievable and the lack of food was replaced by adrenalin. I was now going to drop down into the Paris suburbs and outer towns. Once into Pontoise it was very busy roads with lots of cars, buses and lorries and traffic lights. I was not used to any of these. Ipod off, eyes open and wits about me!!
My route, so carefully planned was getting pretty hairy -especially the lorries an then the road i was on became a slip road down to what looked like an autoroute. Just and the end of the sliproad was the end of motorway sign - it didnot amke any difference to how they drove. After a while it got even worse and i thought i'd better send my GPS location to the office every 10 minutes in case something happened.
My route quickly took me off the main road at La Frette sur Seine. All was well and then there was an awful noise and the pedals stopped. For some reason the rear chain set was a mess and all tangled up. After 5 minutes of trying to fix it I started to panic. I couldn't fail now 10 or so miles from the end....I called Nick from Bike and Run and a bit of logic was applied. Soon enough the pedals were turning again but I was a bit nervous of changing gear. Whilst fixing the bike i noticed a big gash in the rear tyre. I decided to take the last part of the journey very gently to preserve the tyre.
I was soon across the Seine at Asniere Sur Seine. I had just cycled through a tunnel and was going very slowly when the van beside me turned right to get into an office building. I managed to use the side of the van to push myself way fromm him, unclip my feet and jump clear of the bike. No damage to me or bike but he has learned a few new english words. I cannot believe that i had so much drama in the final hour of my trip! I was going to be really careful.
I rolled up to a junction and up the street ahead of me I could see the Arc de Triomphe. When i saw up i mean up. Trust me to choose the only up hill road. Arriving at the Place d'etoile was surreal. No great excitement but a sense of achievement and completion. I am not sure everyone thought I would do this when the idea came to me in May. A quick snap of the Arc on my phone and some MMS to family, friends and Lucy.
I found a German tourist to take the all important evidence photo! I completely forgot to put on my CFT T-shirt - how stupid i was - lack of food i think.
I made my way to my hotel - covered in bike oil again - checked in and had a bath. After a little shopping I treated myself to fillet steak, chips and haricot vert and some wine. I think I had earned.
Adventure over - now I need a new plan.
R
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