Day 2

Having been the wearer of the ‘Maillot Jaune’ (yellow jersey) for the first day, it was down to me - Ian “Bomber” Harris - to submit a report for the second day of the tour.

The previous evening’s started badly when Andrew Reed wandered down for dinner minus his trousers – clearly some perverse ploy to impress Lucy and Rebecca, our brilliant ‘roadies’ – however he redeemed himself by offering me a squirt of his chamois cream the following morning, and that helped to dull the pain, not only of the chafing, but also of being summarily put in my place by Gruppenführer Hawes, who, taking a dim view of my exploits the previous day, insisted that I adopt the role of ‘tail-end Charlie’ thus blunting my normal instincts to lead from the front.

Neil had discovered that it is much easier to go uphill when you have pumped up your tyres to within an inch of their lives, and the rest of the ‘peleton’ (Alan, Eddie and Reedy) obediently fell in line behind the Gruppenführer for the 130km ride from St Omer to Peronne. We had a brief panic when we thought Eddie had dropped his fags, and another when Lucy got her car stuck in the mud at the lunch-break, but we arrived in Peronne in one piece, although Reedy and Eddie were playing the ‘I think I have hurt my knee’ card at dinner. Several neurofen (washed down with Armagnac) later, we retired to prepare for the ‘big push’ to Fismes.

Big thanks to Bill for not getting lost - stay tuned for a report on Day 3……….