Tuesday, May 20th, 2014
Route Map and Garmin Ride Statistics
We stayed at the Hotel Moderne right opposite the railway station, and while it was probably only "modern" when it was built some time ago, it was comfortable enough. At least there were no trains flying through every hour and the only noise was the occasional car in the quiet side street.
On the road, Tony W had a few problems with his Garmin and fell behind. The rest of us waited just outside an old farm building complex which looked like it had been converted to apartments.
The sun was still shining, and coming into a small village we saw that vehicle access was restricted by police and a one way traffic light system. There must have been a funeral, judging by the number of people dressed in black or in robes. The person must have been important, and we guessed it might have been the mayor.
Somewhere further on, Trevor took this photo of me riding. He has no problem pulling his (expensive) camera out of his pocket and taking one handed pictures while still riding his bike. I always stop to take pictures because I'm more risk averse :-)
According to the route instructions, there weren't supposed to be any significant hills to climb, so we surprised to come across this one which eventually got to 12% for the last few hundred meters.
This is Tony W managing to get to the top without stopping.
And this is Tony D, who didn't. He had a problem with his gear cable the previous day, and twas pleased he had his gears back. Perhaps he didn't get all of them?
We were all rewarded at the top of the climb with our first view of the Seine. Some even thought they saw Paris in the distance, but being 90km away still I think they were hallucinating.
There was a nice descent from the top of the hill, and then we crossed to Seine and saw a few old canal boats moored on the bank.
Beside the river was the first large town of the day, so we had our coffee stop with a few other riders, including John from Bike Adventures, and Irish David who John had been given responsibility for accompanying. David had gotten himself seriously lost the previous day.
Unfortunately, by this time of the morning the clouds were starting to roll in and we suspected that the forecast rain was on it's way.
An hour or so later it started to drizzle, so for the first time in several weeks of cycling we put our spray jackets on. In fact, it was the first day that any of had even carried the jackets.
Another hour later, and having spent that time cycling in steady light rain, we arrived at the designated lunch stop. There were already some of our coleagues there and because we were wet we ate outside. Unfortunately, this meant enduring the rest of the diners coming outside for a cigarette! The rain continued, and a few of us started to get a bit cold.
Trevor even thought we were starting to look miserable, so he took this photo.
But...the rain eased, and by the time we got out of town it actually stopped. This was great because we still had another 40km to go, and this would take an hour and a half. 15km from the end some even removed their jackets!
The hotel Epi is in a kind of business park on the outskirts of Epernon. It's quite comfortable, but there were few dining options apart from the hotel restaurant itself. Most of us at there, and had another chaotic time ordering. Note to self - eat with smaller groups next time (joking).
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