Dieppe Raid 2011
My first away trip with the Wayfarers(Sou’Westers). Cycled down to Newhaven on Friday the 10th with Simon Lambourne and spent the night in Telscombe youth hostel and were guided across the Downs to a pub called the Spanish Lady for some food and rehydration by two Kingston Cycling campaign guys also on their way to the Raid. They also supplied drinks back at the youth hostel, very resourceful!
We all caught the Dieppe ferry the next morning and met Rob and his wife on their tandem. Once in Dieppe we checked in for our meal at the Cafe des Tribunaux and sampled the wine, very nice. We then had our climb up to our hotel, the Formula 1, which meant cycling up the Avenue Leon Gambetta, phew, and with fully laden panniers.
We met up with the Wayfarer group for an evening meal of moules and plenty of wine! Then the cycle back up to our hotel. We did mange breakfast at the Hotel La Plage with a large Wayfarer contingent before a ride to the start of the event.
The Raid was a fantastic event with the route being marked by spray paint on the roads. The scenery was great, with climbs and sea views through lovely quaint villages, past chateaus, along part of the avenue Verte with a lunch stop and finally ending back in Dieppe with ice cream on the beach and off to the prize giving. The French obviously like trophies as there was a large table overflowing with them and it was a large table! The wayfarers bagged a good amount!
After another ride up the Avenue Leon Gambetta and change into casual attire we caught a cab down the Hotel Windsor for the dinner. After a very nice meal with great company and lots of Whisky we eventually retired to bed (via a lengthy wait for a cab!)
Monday was spent around Dieppe drinking, eating and sightseeing before catching the ferry back to Newhaven and the ride back to Telscombe.
Up early on Tuesday to meet Pam and Irene in Lewes for breakfast and a leisurely ride home via elevenses at Hayward’s heath, lunch at the Dragon pub at Colgate and afternoon tea at Denbies and indoors just after 6pm. What a great weekend! Would certainly recommend it and would most definitely do it again!
Follow this link to photos of the weekend.
Tony..
2 comments:
Thanks Tony - great pictures!
Thanks for the wonderful memory of the day from the pictures it was well worth all your constant dashing ahead.
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