rain, strong coffee and farmers...

day four on the tour with the help for heroes lot...

my surviving memory from today will be my hotel room which is a cross between a prison cell and a student halls room. i think it's the linoleum floors that really set it off. obviously these are added to by the pod bathroom where everything gets wet - including your room and must finish off with the bed made of foam. no - not that expensive memory foam type stuff - just that stuff you see offered 'cut to size' on the side of the road all over the uk.... i am going to exclude the vile colouring of the room -  orange, red and orange - yes that includes the orange linoleum floor, as my room yesterday had plastic curtains so i feel you have to give these budget hotels some leeway....

it does make you laugh when you see these places though and they have the most unrealistic names - mine is the premiere class hotel. when did it get to the point where all the good stuff was refered to with normal names and the utter crap by names declaring the quality (or lack there of!)...

in terms of bike riding today - i have been trying my hardest to get a shot of the cyclists looking like a team - a 'tour de france' fake with them idling their way through idilic french countryside. but it's not that easy!  the riders only stay together in a pack for about 200 yards before and some mornings they set off from different locations - so you can literally be waiting by the side of the road for a nice shot for an hour and it still doesn't happen. i think ten is the most i have in one picture. the worst bit about that being that after waiting all this time the riders spot you and will then be sporting a big smile, waving erratically or just staring at you....none of which really works. oh well.....

......stop press....just got back from my dinner (we ate out as our hotel only has a vending machine) to find french farmers dumping manure and just general piles of shit infront of the gates at the eleclerc at the end of our road - about 200yards from the hotel - nice. there was a copper there but its france - so they were allowed to dump it. obviously not very happy about something....well - theres going to be a few more unhappy peeps in the morning....