For this is what it was today. Somehow we had been lulled into a false sense of security that 70 miles today would be less of a challenge than the past two days. How wrong we were.

Sadly we didn’t get the police escort out of town that John and Katie Mackinnon enjoyed on the way in yesterday – but we did get the lovely RAF boys who we met at breakfast flying overhead as we bade farewell to St Dizier.

We had been aiming for a coffee break around 23 miles in but sadly there was no cafe to be found on the road to Epernay. And the sky grew ever darker and the wind ever stronger. So it was decided to try and crack through to Epernay as fast as possible. Very soon it was pouring with rain and we found ourselves cycling straight into a ferocious headwind which was worse than climbing hills (and we had a few of them thrown in for good measure too.)

Although the original plan had been to lunch in Epernay, our good catering crew took pity on us and met us 57 miles out with lunch to keep us going for the final 13 miles as food was becoming essential to see us through the final miles and keep up morale. They truly pulled a rabbit out of the hat as they had less than an hour to get lunch sorted for us all, buy it and set it up.

We’re still cycling in three groups and have now jelled well together. We cycle in peletons – single file or double (which can irritate the drivers, but they are still not a patch on the swiss drivers for rudeness). There is  a healthy rivalry between the three groups but the back group is best of course (Editor’s prerogative),  lots of laughter generated and the tidiest peleton apart from when Will and Ian make a break for it.

We arrived in Epernay around 3.30pm and it was breathtaking to cycle past the grand noms de Champagne on the way in.  Our normal daily routine on these rides is to get up around 6.30am, breakfast, cycle, arrive at the destination, clean bike and wash clothes, eat and go to bed. So it was nice to have a couple of hours to wander around the town and to enjoy a glass or two of the town’s most famous produce. Robin and Barbara, clearly still suffering from eating too many greek salads were found tucking into lemon tart, strawberry gateau and petits fours, before we even got to supper.

Cycling over the next two days will be tough. 80 miles tomorrow to St Quentin and 5000 ft of climbing..joy.

Whoops of celebration were heard as we entered the town of Chalons this morning as this marked the official 1,000 milestone of travelling for the team who started out on this epic olympian adventure just 12 days ago. They’ve done a fantastic job and although they are now getting seriously tired they plough on keeping everyone going . It’s a fantastic achievement.

Please do keep your messages of support coming as they mean so much to the team on the road – you can post on this blog or via Twitter at hashtag o2o2012 and if you are in Canterbury on Saturday please do come along to the Cathedral to welcome them back at around 4.15pm. All welcome.

A short day today – just 65 miles. The Champagne country has its own vast beauty but it makes for hard cycling especially with a strong wind in your face like today.

Several people left breakfast saying they were going out and might not be back for some time. But it’s not too bad. Much cooler (temperature). Undulating but not steep. Half way by 11am. Here we go…….

Legs are still turning. St Dizier reached after 95 miles. The route had some long slow hills up and down through open valleys and forests. Skylarks sang in the sky. Was that a Goshawk landing on a fence post? We’ve been trying to remember our journey. Those who did the Greek leg feel it is now so far away: the memories as distant as those of childhood. Tonmorrow: Epernay. Champagne country! Seems appropriate. Thanks for your continued messages of support and generous sponsorship.

Well if we thought Monday was hard,yesterday turned out to be the real challenge. 93 miles of grinding ups and downs. We left the hotel shortly after 9am and spent most of the day travelling through the most beautiful countryside (that was the upside).

We had, admittedly, become deeply suspicious when the lady at the restaurant on monday evening had declared that the road to St Dizier was a lovley flat ride. As that’s certainly not what our maps said. Was there another St Dizier indeed. NON – It’s just that Monsieur Barrett felt like giving us all a special birthday treat so took us the scenice route – and scenic and hilly it was. We lost count by mid morning. We still felt generous enough by lunch time to present him with a birthday cake however.

Lunch was halfway up a hill and boy were we ready for it!

The post lunch session turned out to be very hard work with several of us flagging (baguettes weighing rather heavy!) But we had a joyous lift midway when the Coopers reached their THOUSAND mile point since leaving Olympia. Congratulations to them. What a feat.

After a lovely mid afternoon coffee and icecream stop it was one final push up a monster and then downhill all the way to St Dizier.

70 miles today, mainly flat. Yippeee.