The Route and the Nightmares

Well we are well into the last week of preparation now and all mostly looking forward to Saturday arriving so that we can get on with our adventure. I say mostly as for some of us the with the departure looming the sleepless nights have started.  The worries of whether we have remembered everything we will need or wondering if the route we have planned will lead us on the motorways or up vertical inclines are persistent. I can hear the moans from the peloton at the sight of another hill and imagine a mass of riders climbing off their bikes and ripping their numbers off as they abandon the race ride. Paul's tales of herding his family to the start only to find his bags unpacked and his arrival at the start delayed by hours make us chuckle as we compare our latest nightmare.

Thankfully Jeff Cleminson came to the rescue this week when it appeared every route through Liguria in Italy involved nothing but climbs of >25%. We are mostly confident now that it was a data issue and cannot possibly be true... I stand to be corrected though. 

Some of us are under no illusion that it will be an easy ride. Harder I believe than our ride to Gibraltar but dare I say it will be more beautiful. I am so looking forward to returning to Tuscany where when I last visited I was 16. That was a LONG time ago!  

So the Wiggle parcels are arriving thick and fast at the office and routes are being printed and GPX files loaded to our computers. We are almost ready to go. 

The route we are taking from London to Dover on Saturday should be a good one. Chris Vaughan and I have now ridden the whole length of it and are confident we will lull everyone into a false sense of security with our gentle roads winding first past some distracting icons of the London Skyline and then through leafy lanes and pretty Kent villages to eventually drop us down into Dover. Hopefully in time for our ferry at 18.15hrs. We must arrive at 17.15 though so there is some degree of pressure. 

Leaving St Paul's we will ride over London Bridge and along the south side of the river passing views of the Tower of London and London Bridge before passing the Cutty Sark and Greenwich as well as the Millennium Dome. Then onwards though industrial London, taking much of the route of the Tour de France 2007 though at somewhat gentler speeds. Then we pass the Queen Elizabeth bridge and over the M25 signifying that we have left London and our next capital city shall hopefully be Rome. Onwards along the north Kent coast past Gravesend and Rochester, Gillingham and Sittingbourne to Faversham. Here we turn south east towards Dover and stop for lunch at the White Lion in Selling. Then we appear to leave most signs of civilisation and meander quiet lanes through Kent orchards and fields to Dover Castle. 

Chris Vaughan, Denise Peet and Gina Chapman after our test ride.

That's when we know we are almost at the end of Day 1 and will be shortly watching the white cliffs disappear and looking forward to our second country, France. 

There is a lot to plan for a ride of this length and this many people and we have had some great help to organise it. Gina rode with us last weekend to test ride the route. A relative novice to road biking she only bought her bike less than a year ago but has taken to it like a duck to water. Denise pictured will join us in Italy. Chris of course because he is Chris will be there from the start. 

I must also put out a big shout for Birdie Bikes in Hampton who have serviced almost everyone's bikes in time, delivering them back to the office and giving us a large box of spares to take along on a sale and return basis. They are a true Local Bike Shop and always happy to help. Thanks Birdie. 

So from France our route then takes us to Cambrai and past a war cemetery where my great grandfather is remembered so I am hoping to make a stop and pay our respects. Then on East of Paris to Epernay where I think it would be rude not to sample the local wines and perhaps store some in the Landy for the finish. Onwards to Clairvaux (middle of nowhere from what I can see) before arriving in Burgundy country at Beaune. From there we stop in Bellegarde Sur Valserine 30km from Geneva and pick up John Pugh (JP). The foothills of the alps will be rising in the distance as we ride on to Lake Annecy and meet the family Cleminson & Leigh and John Fullagar. With the 'Sound of Music' blaring from the handlebars we shall sing our way along to the beginning of our climb up to Beaufort and Bourg St Maurice before stopping in Seez for a rest day. Seez sits a few kilometres into the climb of the Petit St Grand Bernard. Historic as its where Lance Armstrong got dropped by a select few in the 2009 Tour de France, the most important of whom was Sir Bradley Wiggins. What an inspiration as we begin the 30km climb to the border with Italy. Then its downhill into the Aosta valley and onwards to Pont St Martin. The next day we emerge into the Po valley but not for long before we arrive at Gavi (Hopefully a nice dry white for tea will await). Then the hills really start. Not the long slow climbs of the Alps but the energy sapping persistent up and down of Italian Countryside. Climbing through Liguria to the coast east of Genoa. Stopping in Borghetto Di Vara before continuing along parallel with the coast south of La Spezia. The ancient town of Lucca is the next stop then onwards through Tuscany collecting Mark Hudson from his sun lounger for the day on our way south to Monticiano south of Siena. Then we continue south down the 'boot' of Italy to our last stop before Rome in Bolsena on the shores of a volcanic lake. Saturday 31st August we will hopefully ride into Rome 1238 miles later and finish on the Steps of St Peter's Basilica. 

 

Here is a summary of each day's data.

 

 

Date                      Total Ascent (M)   Total distance (miles)           Start Town                    End Town

17th August        1421                          91.2                                       London                              Calais

18th August        1543                          95.5                                       Calais                                 Cambrai

19th August        1848                          101.3                                     Cambrai                             Epernay

20th August        1337                           87.8                                       Epernay                             Clairvaux

21st August        2015                            92.1                                      Clairvaux                            Beaune

22nd August       2657                           104.1                                     Beaune                              Bellegarde-sur-Valserine

23rd August        4260                           89.9                                       Bellegarde                         Seez

24th August        REST DAY                                                                  Seez

25th August        3260                            85.7                                      Seez                                    Pont-Saint-Martin

26th August        1953                            108                                       Pont-Saint-Martin            Gavi

27th August        4581                            82.2                                      Gavi                                     Borghetto di Vara

28th August        1173                            53.8                                      Borghetto di Vara             Lucca

29th August        1980                            90.2                                      Lucca                                   Monticiano

30th August        2945                           79.9                                       Monticiano                        Bolsena

 

31st August     1860                    75.9                               Bolsena                       Rome