Day 11

With our longest day behind us, we had our quickest day today. Perhaps we’re all a little fitter and stronger (we should be) but the biggest factor was a strong, at times VERY strong, tail wind, accompanying gently winding, largely traffic free roads and cycle paths. The downside to the very strong tail wind that helped to propel along almost effortlessly, was that it was sometimes a cross wind as we weaved our way along the route and at times it threatened to unseat each of us – thankfully without success. The route was beautiful with long stretches along the Rhone and through alternating fields of lavender and sunflowers.

A varied day for the group as John and Steve attempted record breaking speeds arriving in Avignon in time for Steve to meet with his son. Meanwhile, John headed back in the van to cycle the last 20 miles again with the slower of the faster groups! Meanwhile, a brief detour to a vineyard was a highlight for some of the group, adding a few additional but enjoyable miles.

The majority of the team dined out together and there was much laughter and fun as we sit next to each other chatting like ‘old friends,’ despite most of us having only met each other the previous week. This comfortable companionship is evident as we each cycled fluidly between different groups, throughout the day.

Our quickest / shortest day to date, we started cycling at 7.30am and arrived in Avignon just after 4pm having cycled 102km. Despite our best intentions of seeing something of the beautiful city of Avignon, we ran out of time and we know there will be no time tomorrow before we set off.

Another challenging but successful day had by all.