Rainy days and Mondays always get me....UP!

Monday 19th August

Well where do I start? Get yourself a cup of tea, this could take a while.

I woke up as usual around half 7 when the birds get too unbearable with their singing to roll over and ignore and besides, today I had a made breakfast to wake up too. I got packed up and was ready at 8:30am at Marie Claire's. I met her husband Bernard who did not speak so much English but that wasn't a problem and walked into the kitchen to find a lovely little French breakfast laid out just for me. The two of them had already had theirs and Marie Claire was busy on the phone talking to her cooker company, so she let me get stuck in to homemade black currant jam, fresh bread, tea and cornflakes. A great start to the day which continued with a little chat about the day plans and how far I had to cycle etc. After telling Marie Claire my plans she proposed I should stop at la Schlecht as cycling all the way to Colmar was too far and very hard going. This put me in a little doubt as I am already half a day behind my initial plans and thought if all the mountain ranges were this tough then I should add another week onto my time in Switzerland!

Anyway Marie Claire said the weather should be fine and sent me on my way towards Colmar and the mountains. Now don't get me wrong, Marie Claire is an absolute angel but she has as much weather forecasting talent as Michael Fish. In less than 5 minutes of leaving Marie Claire the heavens opened and the further I rode, the darker and wetter it got. The higher I cycled, the darker and wetter it got. At one point visibility must've been less than 100m and I found myself cycling up 1300m with a shear drop to my right, and cars and lorries flying past on my left, concentration and determination were definitely on the menu at this point. There were no time for breaks, I knew where I had to get to and that was la Schlecht, this would be my checkpoint however long it took. After just over 3 hours of torrential rain and an hour of that climbing, in which I played various games to keep me motivated I arrived at a restaurant in la Schlecht. Screw the budget I thought, im treating myself. Chicken nuggets and chips for me and multiple trips to the bathroom to dry myself off. During lunch I met three men from Brussels, a father, son and his friend who were motorcycling around the area. We had a good chat and after telling them about my trip one guy gave me some money for a "decent meal." This came completely out of the blue but was a great show of generosity and I am truly thankful for that. Amazingly by now the sun had come out which gave me more time to dry and I sat and talked to two hikers from Germany until I was ready to go again. One of the men from Brussels assured me it was all downhill to Colmar and even showed me on the map a more scenic and flatter way to get there. The next 45 minutes I don't think I touched the pedals! It was without a doubt the most beautiful ride I have done down the mountain through Munster and other villages I forget the name of. Cycling past vineyards through tiny villages with their winding roads and perfect gardens. The whole area was like an oasis for games, flowers and happy feelings.

Arriving in Colmar continued the good vibes with lots of people, nice parks and everywhere you looked seemed to be a photographers dream. Taking pictures of the intricate buildings and not knowing where to look or where to go next as everywhere looked like it had a hidden treasure around the corner. I was honestly gutted that I wasn't staying there the night and half contemplated looking for a hostel but its definitely on my list of places to go back too, maybe with someone else though instead of on my jack jones.

Anyway, just leaving Colmar after spending a bit of money on treats from Lidl I notice a couple of nice football pitches by the side of the road. There were a couple of kids and a coach so I thought I may take a detour and check it out, after all it was 4pm and the sun was still up!

The coach's name was Alain and the team was AS Andolsheim. The boys were U11 and there were only 5 of them with another assistant coach Vieux. I told them what I was doing and Alain was more than happy for me to get involved. The first hour I watched and then as they had odd numbers Alain got me playing in the game at the end. The kids were great,  Loic, Noir and Luca just like any kids stuck me in net straight away! I got a little bit disheartened but when I saw Alain had set up a 60x40yrd pitch for a 4v4 I was chuffed to stay in my area! Now with the story I have of being a coach and riding all this way, when you play in different countries you like to do your own country proud by not looking like an idiot. I failed in doing this right when I slipped up trying to out do an 11 year old with a Cruyff turn. To be honest though, that only added to the embarrassment of wearing cycling shorts whilst playing football! Not a good look! The game ended in a penalty shoot out and I made up for things by calmly smashing the ball passed a very frightened 11 year old, straight down the middle, worst penalty ever but I wasn't taking any chances.

Alain asked me to stay for 20 minutes after training for a drink and a chat, I had no plans so went along with it. It turns out that Alain is a reporter for the local newspaper and was very interested in my story. We did a quick interview, I spoke about Saints Foundation and Kick  4 Life and what I'm actually doing and he said he would email me the article!

So there you have it! Media time in France! I was so happy to get a bit I French football in before I reached Germany and it looked almost impossible but not only did I meet a couple of great guys and some great kids, but got in the local paper as well!

After our chat I just hopped back on Nigel and left, felt quite bizarre really but I still had to find a place to stay and by this time the sun was setting pretty quickly. Cycling on another massive high I flew past possible camping grounds riding ever closer to Germany. My body should be shattered as I've had no rest days in 9 days and today I'm pushing 80 miles and a bit of football but I'm buzzing on adrenaline. I eventually find my best spot to date, on the bank of the river Rhine overlooked by a castle. I knew it had been used to camp in before as there were alot of wet wipes in the area. Ive been meaning to buy wet wipes myself but with the packaging so similar and being in the same shelved vicinity in the shop,  I run the risk of spending money on sanitary towels instead so I've opted out completely. 

Today has been an amazing chain of events and I thank all those involved from when I woke up to when I finally went to sleep. It really has blown me away.

Lets hope for more days like this in the future.