Back on the bike after lunch, but I was a bit slow to tag along with some of the others and too quick for the rest who were still lunching. That meant I ended up cycling on my own for the next 32 km/20 mile stretch to the second water stop for the day. Which seemed a whole lot longer than it should have been, and definitely was not fun.
I stopped for a few photo opportunities along the way. One house I passed had a large drive and lots of figurines on the window sills and patio, plus fountain, seats and planters. Another stop at the Cafe du Centre, labelled "Chez Isabelle", was ferme. In fact, this was quite a feature of the three days before we reached Paris. We all had expectations of being able to stop at little Cafes for coffee and pastries but most of the towns we passed through seemed deserted and Cafes were non-existent or closed.
There was one large "undulation" of 130 metres across a kilometre, and then the terrain flattened out, or indeed seemed to be a bit more down hill. There was a right hand turn across a set of railway tracks and I had to wait for the crossing gates to lift before continuing on. Heading to the water stop a sign to the right said "Arras 10 km" but the orange arrows were pointing left; by my rough calculations we still had more than 30 kilometres to travel on our route and it was a real downer to know that there was more than an hour to go before stopping. Apparently the right hand turn led to the motor way, a less than ideal route for us amateurs to be taking. This didn't stop a few people from attempting to take the short cut.
Water stop was just a lay-by with a fenced off sports field. Jack had overtaken me well before I reached the stop and he was there along with a few others who I'd seen in the distance but just couldn't keep up with. Karen arrived shortly after, having covered the route on her own as well. John the Builder was grumping around as his knees hurt and he just wanted the day to be over with. The rest of us seemed quite happy with our progress and were keen to get to Arras and end the day.
Karen, Jack and I headed off for the final leg into Arras. We'd been told that the orange arrows would disappear just before we reached the town and I don't think one of us quite remembered exactly which direction we were supposed to take when we arrived.
The road in was more urban, with a few twists and turns in towns as we closed in on the outskirts of Arras. At one point my legs started feeling tired and I moaned something to Karen about not being able to keep up. Employing all of her experience as a fitness trainer, she just ignored me and I'm sure that she started to peddle faster. I just did my best to try and keep up.
Arras is a big town and we continued to follow the signs for the centre. At one point we were concerned about the direction we were taking, so Karen stopped some of the locals to check exactly which way we needed to go to find the train station. They pointed us along the street we were on, so we just kept on keeping on. Ian and Barry caught up with us at a set of lights not far from our hotel. I nearly managed to run a red light, but Barry's voice kept me from taking on the traffic crossing from our left.
At the hotel, right in the centre of Arras by the main square and train station, we found our way up to the balcony and parked up our bikes. Jenny from DA helped me sort out a room and then it was off for a shower and change and ready to relax in the late afternoon sunshine. I found Cat enjoying a beer and introduced myself to Nathan and sat down with them to enjoy a large Stella. And another one. Then we decided to move on and found Matt, Alex and assorted others sitting at another bar. This forced us to stop for a couple more Stella's.
Dinner was in the hotel next to ours, so we all headed over to for a lovely risotto and more beer. At dinner on my table I met Stewart, born a Pom but talks Kiwi, along with Holly, and Vicki who were travelling together and we were sat with Angus, Cat and Nathan and had a great evening chatting away. I recall Vivienne and blond haired Nicky arriving well into dinner to a huge round of applause - I hope that helped lift their spirits after what sounded like a really tough day. Then back to the hotel and Matt made me drink another pint of Stella as the fitter ones kept up a tough pace.
Bed and lots of water were quite welcome, but I woke at 3 in the morning unable to breathe properly and my throat was really sore. Lemsip, more water, lay in bed to watch TV, more water as I realised that I did need to re-hydrate after cycling all day, more water, more water. Dodgy French/Canadian Sci-Horror called "Splice" about a scientist couple who genetically engineer a monster. Finally fell asleep around half four in the morning. That was the second day, it was was really very good.
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