July...flew past and tomorrow the adventure begins!

July 3rd, I don't think I could have been more tired or more disillusioned with work and our increasing staffing crisis and lack of things being done by the people higher up...but this was the start of the summer break, thankfully.

Steve and me had two weeks in the French Alps with Adam and the pregnant Kate, and caught up with friends Mel and Tim.  There was mountain biking done and a variety of injuries from this, I racked up around 250 miles on Ruby which included climbing Col D'Agnel (2744m), Col Du Galibier (2642m), Col D'Izoard twice (2360m) Col du Lautaret twice (2057m) and Col de L'Echelle (1766m).

On return from the Alps I stopped by Steve Coackley of Peak Tours in Glossop to drop off a cleaned, polished and with a lovely new gear cable (merci Phillipe Sports pour votre assistance) Ruby, and also most of my luggage.

I sit here now on this Thursday morning, in what is a pretty cold Aberdeen catching up on this blog.  Tomorrow morning I fly down to Southampton...nice early flight so much coffee will be needed!!
Then it is on to Portsmouth for the ferry at 14:45 to Ouistreham.  The name Ouistreham derives from the word ouistre (oyster) and the saxon word for villiage (ham), it has been a trading point since the middle ages.  See, everyday is a school day when you travel with a teacher!!

I am looking forward to this trip and catching up with old friends from my LEJOG trip.  I am looking forward to meeting new friends, to cycling through beautiful French countryside that is unknown to me, to cycling through Provence and up Mont Ventoux which is familiar to me, to eating local foods and enjoying some vin rouge and to completely turning off from work until the day school starts back on Monday 17th August.

The first day's cycling on Saturday 1st August is Ouistreham/Caen to Bagnoles de L'Orne around 70 miles, hopefully in warm sunny conditions.
Now...where did I put those bike lights that I will need for the abundance of tunnels on our route?