It was miracle enough that no one’s dreams seemed to have been haunted or scarred by the day from hell that was Day 2, but what seemed even more miraculous was what greeted us as we threw back the curtains on Day 3, there was sunshine in Abbeville! Thank the good Lord for he hath smiled upon us this day and hath not charged the heavens to shitteth down and the wind to bloweth like a flatulent arse in our faces! Today we will go to Beauvais!
Bridge Over The Somme
Setting out on Day 3 was a joy, and feeling a tad invincible after what we had endured the previous day we knocked off ten miles in no time at all crossing The Somme and even pausing for photographs (most probably below) as if it were some sort of Busman’s holiday.
Being a couple of days in we now had leg muscles on leg muscles and were able to notch up a good pace to Hallencourt which was our first stop of the day. Neal at this point was struggling with a knee injury that had ruled him out of training for the two weeks before we set off so he took this stop as an opportunity to purchase some freeze spray before continuing. We were to meet ‘The Frog’ at Heucourt about another 5 miles on and as we emerged the other side of Allery Neal’s knee was not faring well and reluctantly he was left with no alternative but to sit the rest of the day out and rest up in ‘The Frog’.
Monty's Bost Knee
A little crestfallen to have lost one of our number we carried on determined to break the back of the day’s miles by lunch. This meant a slightly later stop than usual at around 3pm at Sarcus. Once again we were welcomed with cries of encouragement and of course the obligatory cheese and ham baguettes that we now insisted on. Following lunch we made short work of the rest of the day that had remained sunny and dry and sooner than we thought we passed a sign saying Beauvais 16km, this was amazing as we were under the impression at this point that it was still a great deal further and it spurred us on again until we were on the treacherously busy and narrow main road towards Beauvais with the town scape coming into view. We arrived in glorious sunshine and with plenty of time to pick our spot for dinner. What else could it be but an 800g steak and a series of beers to celebrate one more day to go.
