Oh dear!

oh dear
Originally uploaded by darenpackham

What ever you do, don't give this man champagne.

Happy Birthday Chris

To the Brighton Races

So, after the half marathon I rushed back into Brighton because I had been invited to my friend Chris 40th birthday party at Brighton Races. Instead of being sensible, drinking lots of water and taking it easy after a morning of running, I sat in the baking sunshine with friends and drank champagne.

Classic Sussex Sunday

I got up early and drove over to collect Dai and to meet Cliff because we had decided on Thursday last week, to take part in the Seaford, half marathon. It is always good to prepare properly for running a half marathon so we had given ourselves a good couple of days.....
The beauty of the route had me distracted for a while but 13 miles is a long way to run and even the stunning countryside and quite a good 'carrot'( running girl with a good pace and a nice bottom, usually in tight running shorts) were not really quite enough. I made it though, in 2 hours and 12 minutes. I made regular stops to take a photographs and rest a bit in order to share a journal of our beautiful but slightly over energetic morning.

If you click on the icons on the Google map, you should get pictures! My good friend, Dai is an E learning expert, so all of my techno advancements are due to his input.

Seaford Half Marathon

EU Grant goes to Daren Packham

Culture
Originally uploaded by darenpackham

At first this was an open and shut case. I opened the fridge, saw the mould and shut it again quickly.

I am sure there must be an award for creating this much culture. At least a nice EU grant.

If my American visitor was looking for UK culture, all she had to do was stand up on tip toes and look in the top shelf of my fridge.

Are you 2 going my way?

are you 2 going my way?
Originally uploaded by darenpackham

Some familiar faces in the welcome commitee. Welcome to England, Debbs from Savannah who had been spending time at chez Daren after trip touring in Europe.

On the road

DSC04182
Originally uploaded by darenpackham

Then we all went to the pub. Cliff wearing his winter shorts today.

The welcome commitee

the welcome commitee
Originally uploaded by darenpackham

I arrived back in the mother land in the afternoon of a windy and rainy Bank holiday Monday. The ferry arrives just outside Brighton, in Newhaven and very conveniently my good friend Cliff, lives just a 2 minute cycle ride up the road. The pub was however, shut... what an outrage..! It was due to the fact that the pub cricket team was playing away, so we had a cup of tea at cliffs instead and then went to the pub..

The end

The end
Originally uploaded by darenpackham

This is the end of an amazing journey. 1st in line for the ferry home.

I made it!!!

made it
Originally uploaded by darenpackham

This is me just outside of Dieppe. Another rainy day and another 160km (100miles), day in the saddle, nearly all of them in the rain.. My spirits were high as I reached Dieppe because I knew that the last few kms were down hill and that I had promised myself a nice hotel with a bath.
The trip took just 8 days and was a total of 1150 kms or 720 miles. I used one small tub of vasaline and ate inordinate amounts of bread and cheese. The bike got no punctures and nothing broke at all.

Great Storm of Friday

yellow, cone, bike and me
Originally uploaded by darenpackham

Today it not only rained it f***ing pissed it down and I damn near got struck by lightening in the deal.

It was actually a beautifull sunny day for most of the day and the heat was exhausting. I was looking at the clouds way out on the horizon thinking, in a sailor kind of way, that, "hmm.. those there clouds looks to me like they might be trouble later."
After lunch I prepaird all my stuff for rain even though it was still properly sunny . Put thigs into zip lock bags and stuff like that.

As the afternoon progressed it got darker and then very calm and then the wind started. I stopped to put on my rain gear, quite smug with my earlier forecast and how prepared I was but I certainly wasn't prepared ffor what came next!

1cm diameter hailstones battered me, then rain so dense that I had to pull off the road. Then cam the thunder and lightening! Holy shit. One strike of lightening hit the ground so close to me that I got a static electric, shock through the brake lever on my bike. I started to pedal off again hoping that I would not actually get hit by the crazy lightening storm that was going on all around me.

Healthy lunch

Healthy lunch
Originally uploaded by darenpackham

You will see that I switched from bagettes in favour of a more easily transported round loaf. Also you will see that lunch now included pain killers.

1st prize for Builders Butt goes to.... Me

Burnt crack
Originally uploaded by darenpackham

Un known to me I showed a impressive bit of arse cleavage to the whole of the Cote Du Rhone region.
My padded shorts had slipped down and my tee shirt had ridden up leaving a 2" gap of skin showing to the world. How did I know? Sun Burn!
Great! Now I had arse chaffe and a painful strip of sun burn that was ironically the colour of Vin rouge de Cote du Rhone.

I lost my Bagette!

bagette
Originally uploaded by darenpackham

On day 3 of the ride there was a wonderful moment! I was starting to develop a routine. A stop at around 1030 ish in the morning for a coffee and a french tart (or pastry) and to pick up water and supplies for a yummie lunch later on.

After buying all this stuff I then had to stash it all on and in the back ! The delicios but unwieldly nature of a french bagette means that there is no way that it will fit into your regular cycle bags. A clever system of securing it accross the back of my two bags meant that although open to the world it could still be transported in one piece plus, it made me feel a bit french too.

So I set off. Happily checking my friendly GPS compass for a northerly heading and once happy that I was on course for the mother land, all I had to do was somehow zone out, from the arse pain and enjoy the scenery.

After some distance along the road, an excited French man in a puegeot car, slowed down next to me and was enthusiastically waving a bagette at me out of his car window. Looking around somewhat bemused, I noticed that my bagette had indeed gone! and this item being waved at me in a slightly intimidating way was actually my lunch...
While moving along at some speed, my estranged french stick was returned to me in an olympic style batton exchange with the french guy leaning out of his car window. At the completion of the exchange there was a little cheer and some laughing. Now however, I had a new problem! negotiating the slowing down and then unclipping from my peddals all with the unwieldly loaf in one hand.

Then lengths a man will go to save his lunch.

Crap things about cycling through France

1)Ball and Arse chaffe
2)"I didn't notice this hill on the map!"
3)boy oh boy my arse hurts!
4)Rain days aren't much fun either.
5) Did I mention that your bum gets a bit sore too?

Some Great things about cycling through France

Poppy fields
Originally uploaded by darenpackham

1) At this wonderful pace you see and smell everything along the way. The wild flowers, fruit orchards and vin yards are all so beautiful at this time of year.
2) A morning stop for coffee and pan au chocolate in a village square
3) Lunches of french bread cheese and a can of beer
4)An afternoon nap by a river or under a tree