81 miles
The day started off bright as we left Dieppe but the rain soon appeared and with it the punctures. We were now in Picardy and on more flat areas but still some shocking hills, one being up a dual carriageway shortly after one of our Naafi breaks. The side of the road was littered with people waiting to have tyres fixed and the backup vans were doing sterling service in the pouring rain. I suffered another puncture, though fortunately I was right by the backup van at the time.
We did stop at Grandcourt, a small cemetery predominantly for Scottish and Canadian soldiers. As we stopped the sun came out and the beautifully tended graves were striking in white against the lush countryside. Apparently the site was a field hospital which had to be evacuated and moved. Therefore all of the graves are named as the soldiers were identified when they were admitted. After, we had some fairly steep gradients to climb and just before lunch there was an especially steep hill, which had most riders pushing themselves to their limits.
After lunch we carried on pedalling into a head wind and the rain. I went on to recce a chocolat stop in a roadside café, utilitarian enough to allow us to drip and perspire all over the table. Then onwards, by now entirely soaked through, though I had plastic bags over my socks to stop the wind-chill getting to my toes. I also had fun ‘draughting’ behind and then in front of the fittest of the Headley Court team, a sailor who had lost his leg below the knee. Mind you, I gave him 25 odd years! Then we arrived in Amiens. This is a large industrial town, so much so that as we entered we were greeted by the organisers and told we still had six miles before we reached our hotel. The evening meal was chicken.