London to Monte Carlo – Day 6 – Montbrison to Grenoble – 98 miles Emma and Laura provided the Wear the Fox Hat boys (or champagne boys as they are now known) with today’s offering of champagne, it seemed only right seeing as we have benefited from them every morning so far! After leaving the hotel today, it was onwards and upwards with the start of the larger climbs (!). Laura’s new word of the week is Topography (which she thought was a made up word when Emma mentioned it!), which was very apt for this section of the tour and so here it is in a sentence; The topography has changed dramatically from rolling hills to the majestic mountains of the alps. As we passed through the beautiful villages, the houses were notably more alpine looking and we’ve even seen snow, it’s very exciting! As the riders ascended their first climb, the temperature rose but everybody made it to the top and onto first break. However, rear gunner Brookes and his little band of warriors (Sheira and Mick) decided to take advantage of a lovely café at the top of the first hill, motorbike Simon selflessly joined them. The whole morning session was one of two halves; beautiful scenery mixed with the industrial outskirts of towns but the highlight was crossing the Loire river once again with the sheer power and immenseness of it there for all to see. Baguettes were made to order today as the boys zoomed into the lunch stop; Howard, Simon M, Warren and Daniel, closely followed by Andy Clark all helped to put up our marquee up and then sat in the shade chilling out with their baguettes and fresh fruit. At the lunch stop, we were joined by Richard Adams’ parents who are following us on tour and delivered the boys champagne for tomorrow. The other riders were not too far back and everyone eventually joined together at lunch to talk about the mornings’ beautiful vistas. Today the temperatures reached a new high of 31 degrees and everybody got hot and sweaty! The tan lines are now quite spectacular, ones to note would be Kasia, Daniel and Ross. The views on the road down into Grenoble were spectacular and to top it off the hotel had a pool. . .winner! Everyone was in by 6.30, with most cooling their limbs in the pool. Dinner was served for everyone at 7.30 in the hotel which was really nice as we are now a real team; we even had a group rendition of “high on a hill like a lonely goat herd” much to the annoyance of the American tourists. Everyone went to bed reasonably early, contemplating over the Alps which were to follow in the morning and the option of 21 bends to Alp d’Huez (not forgetting the 21 down too!).
Posted on: Fri, 14 Jun 2013 06:24:58 +0000
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