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| Tour de Rêves route day six Etusson to Secondigny |
We fell asleep listening to the rain, so it was a lovely
surprise to wake up to blue skies and sunshine. Things were looking up for our
last day, until I looked closely at the time on my ipad while lounging in bed
with a cup of tea. We had set our alarm for 7.30, planned to meet the others
for breakfast at 8.00 but my ipad seemed to be telling me it was 8.40. I was
confused, until I realised we had used Adrian’s UK phone for the alarm, which
was still set on UK time and we were suddenly in a flap and officially late for
breakfast.
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| Ready to leave (in the sunshine) |
It wasn’t a good start for me. I ended up finishing my
lemon and ginger tea with breakfast and stupidly declining a coffee. I had
often been slower than the others during the week, but that was nothing
compared to my snail-like progress this morning for the 22kms into Bressuire
without caffeine. It is a mistake I will not be repeating. They all did a lot
of stopping and waiting for me to catch up and I could tell Adrian was getting
quite worried.
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| In the local paper again |
Happily, with caffeine in my system once more and pepped
up by a surprise visit from a local journalist who was waiting in Bressuire to
interview us (we were beginning to feel like celebrities), the rest of the day
was much easier for me.
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| Along the voie verte to Moncoutant |
It was an easy, flat run to Moncoutant along the old
railway line and thanks to the family who were waiting for us (to make a
donation), we were pointed in the direction of a restaurant for our final meal
together. There was certainly a lot to talk about over lunch and we all agreed
that despite the physical effort involved and uncomfortable weather, we’d all
had fun and having spent so much time in each others company it would seem
rather strange saying goodbye later in the day. Things could have been so much
different. We were not close friends when we dreamt up this challenge; in fact
we had never actually met face to face until our first planning meeting. Over
the course of a year we managed about three or four bike rides together, but
none of those rides were over 40km, although we had got to know each other quite well via
the countless emails back and forth attempting to organise the event. It had
been hard work, but we unanimously agreed it had been worth it and that we’d do
it again.
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| Not more rain! |
The weather might have been against us, but the support
we received during the week had certainly made up for it. Just to ensure we
knew who was boss, the rain reappeared shortly after lunch and was so heavy we
had to take shelter under the trees, but we all decided that whatever the
weather we would arrive in Secondigny with smiles on our faces and wearing our
team jerseys (without rain jackets) with pride.
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| Feeling like champions |
It was a great feeling to cycle back into Secondigny and
rather emotional to be greeted by so many relieved family members and friendly
faces; many of them our cycling friends who had completed various stages with
us during the week. Sarah and I were presented with flowers by the mairie of
Secondigny and there were hugs and smiles all around. Despite being soggy from
top to toe, it was a fantastic finale to an amazing adventure. In six days we
had completed a 437km figure of eight circuit around the Deux-Sèvres, exploring
our department following cycle routes and quiet back roads, meeting some
amazing people and having great fun along the way. We really can’t thank
everyone who helped and supported us in so many ways enough. THANK YOU.
The Tour de Rêves - a charity bike ride around the Deux-Sèvres department in France, undertaken by four mad friends, supported by many others, all with the aim of raising money for Rêves a charity making dreams come true for seriously ill children.
To read the other posts about our six day adventure click the links below.
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