Consult-HR Team take Eiffel Tower by storm!!......

It's now Monday morning and the team are now up and about, legs somewhat tired, and mentally we are very pleased not to be getting back on the bikes again today.

So lets rewind 24 hours.

We woke Sunday morning knowing we had an easy ride along the banks of the Seine and that we would be conquering the Tour D'Eiffel by lunchtime......... well how wrong we were.

Paris decided to steel Chigago's mantle of being The Windy City for the day and we battled for around 5 hours head long in to the wind to complete the 37 miles up and down hills - so much for an easy ride in to the capital.

However, the glimpses of the Eiffel Tower meant we were getting ever closer and the energy bars and Jelly Babies gave us a little extra boost to make it to the end. And so we arrived under the tower, the journey complete. Over 12 hours in the saddle and over 155 miles completed. A fantastic experience and all for a fantastic charity.

Now the challenge is over and all we have to do today is make it back to the ferry and on to Alresford - by car, thank goodness!

.....And on the third day we rode again........

And my god did we ride! A gigantic 52 miles across the beautful French countryside in sunshine all the way. We started at the hotel in Gourney en Bray this morning looking forward to a slow warm up....little did we know.

Beautiful weather yes.....lovely countryside and obliging locals who were very kind to cyclists....yes.....but we didn't anticipate the hills. Oh the hills. 5 miles into the ride we commenced a slow but sure climb up onto the plateau. And then some more yummy hills. Oh...I forgot to mention a headwind which meant we regularly had to change places and slipstream each other. Today was like heaven and hell all rolled into one...but what a great ride!

We completed the ride 25 miles outside Paris at about 5 pm this evening ready for a 25 mile Victory Parade up the Seine Valley into Paris and up to the Eiffel Tower tomorrow.

La Belle France? - Not in this weather!!!

We where greeted at Dieppe by big rain storms but by the time we got cycling these abated somewhat and we had a great ride along the Avenue Verte which is an old railway track converted to a cycle way. Beautiful scenary plus we got buzzed by a red kite.

Lunch was at Neufchatel en Bray, a lovely village where we had the classic dejeuner in a small Brasserie.

During lunch we watched the rain clouds clearing only to see them come back as we started on the afternoon ride. This was a far tougher ride in cold windy and very wet conditions. Being overtaken by a Norbert Detressangle truck was like riding in a car wash!

We are now esconced in Gournay en Bray and after a hot bath and dry clothes feel ready to go and replace the calories we have burned today (possibly with the odd verre du vin).

Not sure what the weather is tomorrow but we are dried out and ready for the challenge!!

Team Consult-HR leave for Paris

Here we are!! Team Consult-HR about to leave our Alresford HQ for Portsmouth and the overnight ferry to France. Weather conditions look perfect for cycling, sunny with a cool air temperature.

Thanks to everyone who has donated we're closing in on £2,000 and hope to get to our target of £3,000 by the time we get back. Remember, if you donate, everything goes to Rainbow Trust because Consult picks up all the bills for this trip.
Speak to you soon from sunny (hopefully!!) France.

Bill, Sheila, Simon and Alan

Alana says go for it Grandad and Sheila!!!!!

And I'll make you a nice cup of tea when you get back!!! xxx

Team Mascots

The Route

The Adventure commences on 2nd October 2008

Day One - Winchester (Consult HQ) to Portsmouth

Day Two - Dieppe to Gourney en Bray

Day Three - Gourney en Bray to La Chesnay

Day Four - La Chesnay to Eiffel Tower