Day 3 began as it went on, across open ground and into that annoying headwind, with only occasional respite when it turned into across wind! The wind turbines were spinning happily today - not good for us though...
High point was a tractor-trailer that pulled out in front of us just as we started up (yet another) hill. It was loaded down with produce bins and 'flat out' proved just right for our peleton to tuck in behind it to slip-stream up behind it. The faster guys tucked in behind as it trundled along a short flat into the town of Ham.
Bone shaker valley was next. The normally smooth roads turned ugly. Wind (again) but I enjoyed switching the front suspension back on on my mountain bike and took the lead as the titanium/carbon fibre and alloy boys nearly shook themselves to bits.
A quick email catch up at lunch break showed I had received a couple of donations that day. This really helped morale as Andrew H filled us with dread about the hilly sections ahead of us. We decided to name the next 5kms stretch as 'S**t Hill'. It lived up to it's billing with that flipping head wind adding that extra bit of spice.
Up hill and down dale followed for the rest of the day with some beautiful scenery and some hair-raising decents (plus some gravelly bends to keep us on our toes) followed inexorably by the steep climb you just knew would follow.
After our modest accomodation to date, heaven was our overnight at Chateau Courcelle. Those lovely people from Bollinger came to join us for dinner and brought some very yummy wine with them. High point was the '97 RD.
Last day, it's raining and there's still to make a donation!