Day 6, conitnue...

So there we were in St Ettiene, following a magnificent descent off the mountain, averaging around 30mph the whole way down...confidence is a great performance booster. We stopped at the first bar we saw (of course). The locals, sipping their Pernod and water and dragging on their Gauloises, surveyed us carefully: "vous etes veloistes?". Well, yes, we don't usually do the Lycra thing in a bar and the matching shirts really should be a giveaway, and no we are not gay. So we settled into a much needed beer, and then the dreaded text arrived from Charles: " you are 30 kms from your destination. Go to Saint Saumeur maintenant". This was a blow; the light was fading, we were knackered and the van wasn't even going to where we were. Very reluctantly we got back on the bikes and started a slow uphill out of town, cursing everyone and everything. After a mile or so the climb stopped, we found the Nice sign, and went for it. Nice? It was bloody marvellous: an A class road with not a single car, a wide sweeping boulevard of a road, and would you believe 29kms DOWNHILL! Just like the rest of the gang before us, we nailed it in 45 mins. We stopped at the first bar (again), had another beer, and then got a call from Paul, who was 200 metres up the road. So, off to another bar, where Paul, Brucie and Duncan were relaxing. Charles arrived shortly with the bad news: it was another 30kms to the hotel, and the van had a maximum of 20kms of juice, and there were no petrol stations open this side of Paris. We weren't this side of Paris, so what to do?