Day four........ Ready for more

What a difference a day maaaakes... I hope that's a song, because I've been singing it.

Started the day with the decision on whether or not to make a push for my original campsite, or find an alternative. I decided to have a go and if I didn't make it I'd rough camp. I recalculated my route, having detoured, (that's French that is), last night to find a hotel and it came to 196km...eek. I didn't have breakfast at the hotel as I wanted to get away quickly and I'm also struggling to eat first thing, just makes me feel ill, so I nicked a couple of croissants as I left and set off.

The conditions were perfect. It was overcast to keep the sun away, but didn't rain, there was a slight tail wind and as I may have mentioned, the French roads are excellent. I just got my head down and pedalled till I had 150km left, in just under 2 hours, averaging around 14mph and felt really good. So I had a quick break, threw the croissants down my neck and fired on. I stopped once more between then and hitting the halfway point. This always gives me a boost as I then have less to do, than I've done already. So without going into all the details of every stop, (and me almost getting caught having a wee by the road), I did the whole journey in 9 hours, about an hour of which was breaks. That is around an average of 15mph, not Tour de France speeds, but not bad for a cart horse.

Just as I got to the campsite my phone started ringing, I saw that it was an Andover number and answered it... It was Tim Eagles, with some much needed words of wisdom, having gone through similar things last year on his John O' Groats to Lands End cycle. It was very much appreciated and good to talk to someone that knew what I'd gone through yesterday.

The campsite is great, good showers, a laundrette and some decent food, (from a dodgy looking bloke in a van, who only stops smoking to cook). I'm next to a lovely Dutch couple, Matt and Hanika, who gave me a beer and I've been chatting with. So I'm all dry, I'm well fed and I will smell nice when I leave tomorrow...

Allors