Day Seven
Portnarlier 2 Seyssel

Today we traveled through the Jura mountains and tackled our first mountain climb. Most of the day was damp and wet but the scenery and our spirit pulled us through. 

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The morning started with some early rain and the normal Charlie mechanical (puncture this time!) which delayed our planned early start. It was the last day of riding for "Champagne Charlie" and "ManGo" as they had flights in the evening booked from Geneva back to London. 

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Coffee stops have been sparse on this trip so far, mainly as they haven't been many open on route, but today we were in luck. Unfortunately in this small french hamlet I don't think 11 customers had turned up all month so our order took an  eternity. ​

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We encountered another delay as we came across a closed road but in true cyclist fashion we ignored all the signs, barriers and maintenance lorries and continued up the very steep road. Finally the workman halted our progress after 2.5k so we had to return down the hill and take a loop adding more miles.....

 

Another stunning lunch was provided by the team at a village well sourced by Jakob and then we headed towards the focus of the day the 12.4km Col de la Croix de la Serra 1,049m. The race was on! The whole team rode strongly with Charlie taking the summit finish, Ollie winning the heavy weight battle and Dominik the over 35 category (by a long way but that was not the distance!)

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The feature of the rest of the day were the exciting descents into the valleys with the weather making the roads either moist or soaking wet making things really tricky. We managed to cover them safely and arrived at the river Rhone town of Seyssel soaked but on time for Man and Charlie to catch their taxi. 

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​Chapeau Award:  Ollie has performed admirably all week carrying his large frame up and down hills, mountains and has sometimes been spotted with his clothes on. His brakes are not as good as many of the riders so we pray that he keeps stopping on time before clattering in to us! - Chapeau.​

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​DOTD: A tough day as we get more and more tired but no one excelled themselves in this department.....

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​​Beer of the Day:  I have given up......

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​​​​Cheese and Wine Update: Some nice local red and whites for dinner - we are staying on a great riverside hotel which would be a top place to saty if we were not so tired and it stopped raining!

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​Arse Report (sponsored by Natural Little Bee Chamois Balm):

We are all coping well as I think the derriere is getting used to wax and pain. ONlY 3 more days to hold out.

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​Weather Watch:

Rain in the morning but hopefully will clear up as the hotel tomorrow definitely does have a swimming pool!​

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Dog of the day:

It wasn't very happy when I tried to take a picture of it sleeping - thankfully it was on a chain. We did see deer on the road today but taking a picture wasn't possible at 50kph.​

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Thank you for all your support - we have been riding for a week and the end is in sight. Your donations and kind words will keep us going....

 

Until tomorrow from the pool bar!