"9 to 5"

(Dolly Parton)




Major down pour in Marmande!



It was good to get back on the road. The second rest day seemed like an indulgence with so many miles and challenges to go. However, the legs felt good. So it was likely to be another ‘day in the office’ just hovering up the miles getting somewhere I needed to get to, although 9 am to 5 pm in fact was 8 to 7! Got to Marmande after heavy drizzle and the heavens opened. I spent some time spinning around the town looking for food and a gas canister. The route to Mont de Marsan meant about 50 miles of tedious forest with no shopping opportunities and I needed to sort this out. As always a cyclist needs food whether to eat during the day or to eat at night. The ride and weather were dreary and squally….and I got dumped on as I ground on. Sadly this was a road that appeared to be a type of cut through for trucks and on a relatively narrow road. I had the joy of these lumbering fellows virtually grazing my hip. After about 85 miles the town came into view and I had to find the municipal camp site. I couldn’t find any signs and the place was heaving so I rang Anna for her to look at a detailed map. In the meanwhile a fête was getting underway and the roads were being shut off and crowds were gathering…maybe not the best time to seek spare space. So after a rush of blood I pushed on not knowing the prospects of finding accommodation or what the terrain was like. However I rolled into St Sever (99.5 miles for the day) and found a site at just after 7pm. A lovely site with a very decent boss who let me use his ‘lean to’ bar area for a place to sort out my things and cook up my dinner out of the rain! (In the photo are the some items belonging to the other people who arrived – see below – however in the morning an eccentric French camper, about to embark on a day’s fishing, sorted out his maggots, whilst talking to himself, amongst the other people’s stuff!)