I am writing this from the RV, which we have affectionately named ‘Rattling Vera’…there are two reasons for this name: (1) Rattling needs little explanation, and anyone with loose fillings is in serious trouble over the next 7 days, and (2) The name Vera is often associated with beige, which this moving apartment has plenty of. The cyclists have safely covered the first 3 time stations, and by the time you read this they are probably around TS5.
Unfortunately the crew have not faired so well…don’t panic, everyone is well and healthy. It’s just that we are not particularly clean. Don’t get me wrong, we were expecting to smell quite a bit during this trip, just not of spaghetti bolognese in the first 2 hours. We erroneously made the decision to cook whilst driving. Here is a tip for you: don’t do this. Whilst Barbara was heroically frying onions, browning meat, and adding what now feels like 473 tins of tomato sauce, Brian was forced to make an emergency stop on the highway. The result: A rather swift and frankly ‘Black Swan’ Barbara was propelled rather abruptly from one side of Vera to the other, one hand clutching thin air, the other an obscenely large pot of spag bol sauce. With the grace of a cat Barbara managed to deftly pour only half of the liquid into the stairwell, with a few splatters onto the crew in the immediate vicinity. All was not lost, we ate a delicious meal, which I personally think was made better by the occasional hair or stone that one happened to pass across.
The following is a selection of photos from the last few days of preparation and the first few stages of the race today. Enjoy!
Tom
Great pics!
Note. Please see reply to David’s posting.
All the best
M & R