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| Stage 9 - Envermeu to Dieppe |
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| That last hill really s44uch-ed |
| That sign's missing the letters 'ed' |
| First across the line! (well, that's what they told me...) |
| How about doing it again tomorrow? - You can go fly........ |
| Water-tower = top of big hill! |
| Now, if you look at the map on the left you will see this road sweeping left at Ancourt, towards Martin Eglise. It follows a river and takes a fairly even path into Dieppe. That would have been a nice route! But our prescribed route didn't take us that way, did it? Oh. no! We were heading upwards again. Dave spotted it first: 'Isn't that a water tower...??' Oh, dear! - it certainly was, and if you've been reading this journal carefully, you'll already know what that meant... |
| So, we were on our way skywards again. Another long and gruelling climb as we slowly gained upon the water tower (I'd swear it was moving away from us!). I grabbed the lead (no idea why - silly thing to do - self-punishment if you ask me), with Jane snapping at my heels on her extremely lightweight bike. Dave was there too but losing a bit of ground. Then chivalry got the better of me (or it could have been the gradient) and Jane sailed past me and took the climb its distance up to the water tower. She'll stop there, I thought. I was wrong. Over she went and started the descent. I caught her up and we both stopped to wait for Dave to catch us up. Just then the VW Golf on the right pulled up with Sally and Monica inside. What an appropriate number plate it sported, considering our then current circumstances. |
| And then it was downhill all the way into Dieppe, through the town (some fancy map-reading by Jane) and around the harbour, past the Marmites (who by now were well into their 5th, or even possibly 6th round of drinks at a harbourside bar - still, they did cheer us on!), and back outside the hotel for the customary photo opportunity (sorry Kodak, you've had one mention today!). Tired, but with the tiredness banished by the thrill of having completed the course - and by the prospect of the celebratory dinner (I'll leave the telling of that to our extremely capable organisers Helen and Monica, from Seeability. No sooner had we finished our photos (that's Jane, David and me) than Tony and Lee arrived for their's. |
| So, it was now a case of a quick shower for all..... No, that's not right. I managed a shower and change fairly quickly, then Tony followed suit, but Lee? Well he seemed to have a timescale all his own. Helen was getting a bit frantic by this time, as she was waiting to take us to the restaurant, where we had been asked to assemble by 7.45 pm. At that precise time Lee was just climbing into the shower. Time for some quick diplomacy, so I made my way down to meet Helen and to assure her that the others would be down in a couple of minutes. Tony followed about five minutes later and finally Lee at about ten past eight - sorry Helen, but a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do (well, Lee had to, anyway!). But really, it had been a great day and all that remained to say was a big 'THANK YOU' to Seeability for making it that way! |
| Hang on a minute, I hear you say, if that's the end of it what's with all these extra photos? Oh, those old things. Well, while we were in Dieppe they were holding the 13th (that number again!) International Kite Festival. I managed to get a few pics - the one of the owl was taken the Saturday evening after we had finished our cycle ride, while the rest were taken fairly early Sunday morning. There would be literally hundreds of kites when it was in full swing later in the day. So a nice accompaniment to our 100 mile trip, don't you think? I hope it's there again next year - can't wait...! |
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| It looks like applause to me...) |
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| Dieppe at dusk - harbour and town |
| So a round of applause it was (I think...) preceded by an excellent celebratory dinner - amazing that we still had so much energy. Not only for dinner but also to discover the delights of night-time Dieppe. I know it looks all quiet and innocent in the pictures below, just boats nestling inside a harbour and the empty streets of old Dieppe. Not quite. With sound navigating prowess we were directed to a late night watering hole where drinks alcoholic with strange-sounding names did reside. And so did we for a a good few hours more. Only breakfast next morning would reveal the true extent of the previous night's festivities, and the effect it had had - more for some than others.....! |