A good night’s sleep in the tent and once again a joyful dawn chorus to wake us.

A quick breakfast of half a chocolate torsade each then packed up and headed into the nearby town of Airvault which was small and very old with an impressive half-timbered market hall. It was early-ish Sunday morning so there wasn’t much going on. A small epicerie provided us with a banana each to supplement our breakfast. Fuelled up we headed out of town to start the day’s ride.

Pretty much the whole day was spent crossing wide open farmland, an area that the campsite owner had called “The Prairie”. It was a very trying day. Being able to see miles and miles ahead makes the journey seem longer. Such wide open space offers no shelter and we were at the mercy of the wind – most of the day it blew relentlessly into our faces, making riding on the flat feel like an uphill struggle and actually riding uphill felt even worse. On the plus side my knee was very much improved and only slightly painful, which was extremely welcome.

Lunch was a picnic sat on the ground in the entrance to a field. Bread and cheese again.

More riding into the wind for the afternoon until eventually we arrived in Poitier. Stopped at the first bar we found for a drink.

We’d treated ourselves to an Airbnb so that we could stay in the middle of the city. Hosted by slightly shy Franck it was a gorgeous little bedsit. We bought food for tomorrow in a local supermarket. Ate dinner in a Thai restaurant, one green and one red curry – delicious and satisfyingly huge.

Fell asleep almost instantly in the super-comfy bed. I love our tent but it was nice to have a change for a night.

Miles cycled: 35 (felt more like 50)

Total: 308 miles

Good things today:

• Chocolate torsade
• Much improved knee
• Airbnb
• Franck
• Thai dinner
• Vibrant city
• Sunny day