It is 13 hours and well warm when we get off the train. First find the cycling clothes, wrap bags in the small piece of shade next to the station building. The platform master (?) comes by if we want to take the train? No, we're just arriving. You could almost feel his relief. The last tail of the SNCF stress we will think.
Just into the village for a coke 'avec citron s'il vous plait'. There will be a glass with lemon syrup and a bottle of cola 🤓, but our water bottles are deliciously filled with cold water from the tap.
Now only 90km cycling. If we reach a cruising speed (including breaks) of 10 km/h, we arrive in le Préau at 22.30h. Cheerfully we leave.
The first 10km are flat. The tandem cycles nicely.
Then it starts: first a little up. For the time being, things are going well and we are on schedule. Gradually it gets steeper, we search and find a rhythm that we can keep up for a long time. How nice cycling is! And it is also so beautiful here. However, the speed decreases.
In Nolens we are above we think. There is also a bakery on a square where, in addition to a nice sweet sandwich that we eat right away, they also sell beautiful pizza rolls. They go along for the next stop. And we get another bottle of fresh water.
The word plateau turns out to be deceptive. The road keeps going up and down. The pizza roll soon disappears between the molars.
Around 17.15h we are 40 km further. We begin to feel the legs well and get hungry. We text Paulien: the cake is finished, we are not going to make it anymore, unfortunately. We are going to look for a place to sleep at the campsite in Celle. Then tomorrow but that last 30 km.
