L2P Day 3 Arras - Compiegne

Another great day of cycling. Thus far all the cycling has been great. The fellow cyclists have all been fun too.

The trip has had some negative moments though. The first menace was the awfull curry on the ferry. Earlier on in the trip on day 2 my front wheel just became stuck (and nearly catapulted me from my bike). I loosened and tightened the brake but nothing happened, the wheel would still not move. Some folk commented that my hub must be damaged. I loosened and tightened the wheel skewer but still no change. Was about to cry but forced the wheel round and out flew a piece of grit and wheel turned once again - yay! The sun had burnt my skin but not badly and am not going to really complain as it is quite awesome. 'Young Dave' kindly donated me some sun screen lotion too. The other negative thing of note was the quality of some food in the hotel. Not sure it actually was food, but not to worry - found a suitable place to munch on burgers!

Todays ride was pleasant and very fast. Probably the easiest day and again in mostly sunny weather. Stopped about midway to take a picture of the Somme. At some points we were cruising along at 20-25 mph. This fast pace was mainly down to 'Richard the rabbit' who just liked to bomb it and 'Craig the dog' who liked to chase said rabbit. The rest of us naturally felt compelled to not let them get away too far. The rest of us were Nigel, Alan aka Paul, Dave and on occasions Juliet (a super zoomy girl). We got to the luch stop so early today that we would have had to wait about 1 and half hours before lunch was served. With this in mind, we fuelled up on crisps and the like, missed lunch and cycled away. We had plans of stopping somewhere nice should the chance arrive but nothing was spotted. Nothing was spotted till near the end of the route when, by chance, a nice bar was spotted. A few drinks were consumed here (a few too many perhaps) and some lovely food was prepared for us (salami, crisps and bacon). Following this stop, I just about managed to cycle to the hotel.
The hotel we stayed in was pretty grotty. Small rooms, no lifts and in the middle of nowhere. Not wishing to chance the hotel food, took a trip into town and ate a lovely steak and chips. Drank beer whilst watching football (England vs Algeria) and the rest of the night remains a little blurry.

Cycled a distance of 77.82 miles, with an average speed of 16.6 mph and a maximum speed of 38.6 mph.