My Rocky Camp Pitch

I thought I'd show you the rocks and gravel I've attempted to pitch my tent on. You can see why I couldn't get my tent pegs in and why my lovely campsite neighbours have hammered nails in to keep the tent up. And you can see why I was concerned my self-inflating sleeping mat would puncture (still am concerned but it survived last night).

What an EXTRAORDINARY night's sleep! 10 blissful hours. I'm up now & already can't wait to sleep again tonight. Then I think I'll be caught up. That enormous pizza, salad and 2 glasses of wine (yes, TWO glasses!) last night must have helped.

And yes there was a storm last night! There was a gentle pitter-patter of rain on the tent which soon became heavier and then the thunder and lightening got to work. I'm not sure why I feel ridiculously happy when that happens! I laid there happily listening to it for a while and then fell back into a deep sleep amidst it all.

So I'm just having brekkie and contemplating my day head climbing the iconic Mont Ventoux. I'm slightly alarmed at how tired my legs are after just 32 miles yesterday! Although my lovely bike rolls along beautifully, it does take considerable extra effort carrying all this weight. I'm leaving the tent behind in Bedoin whilst I climb so will only have a few bits. (The club are now laughing knowing that a "few bits" means most of my wardrobe, plenty of food, etc!)

They say to set off by 7am at the latest because of the heat. That was never going to happen after 2 nights of virtually no sleep. It's warm but not searing heat. And I coped in 44 degrees whilst pedalling at Dad's in Spain in July. It's still v cloudy at the moment. It will probably be a delightfully sweaty day as it's still quite oppressive despite the storm last night.

A few thank yous before I get my bum in gear for the day:

Poggle, great to hear from you on the blog :-)) Hope you and KC had a lovely time together.

Mum, have a lovely hols.

Sis, spooky that you saw the same film on Fri! You turn 40 this week!!

Bri, thanks for the song quote - makes lots of sense for the physical and mental journey :-)

Mary, please get the sun back for when I visit Geneva!

Loz, yes to 20th but hopefully 19th in Chamonix for nice dinner first :-)

Charlie, I'll use the accounting conversation next time I need to - great idea!

Tony, Ade, wonderful texts, making me laugh, thank you for keeping me up to date :-))
And can one of you give Alison a (gentle) slap for asking "am I nearly there yet?!" when we hadn't even reached Dover and had nearly another 20 hours to go on the bus!!

And to everyone in the club, Teresa is keeping me up to date with her Scottish cycle tour and is having a fantastic time. She's especially happy that her new handlebar bag doubles as an in-tent table!

Bye for now!

Andi xx

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