Stage 12: Veneray to St Florentin

After our rest day, Toms bike re-shod, we cycled another 63 canalside miles today, from Veneray to St Florentin, taking our overall total to 692.

After an 8.00 breakfast we left the old farmhouse gite and headed for the canal under familiarly grey skies.

Initial progress was slow, Toms new France Poste tyres wanting to divert and stop at every letter-box in the village, but these distractions disappeared once we got to the Burgundy canal . With the front wheel buckle now removed Tom was able to admire the countryside around instead of being mesmerised by the rhythmic waving in front of him.

The teams expeditionary skills were by now finely honed and stocking up with cheap but great pic-nic ingredients in the supermarket before we left Veneray proved to be a master-stroke when we found a peaceful little canalside jetty miles from anywhere at lunchtime. In Monet-like surroundings (if you think of weeds instead of lily pads) the boys tucked into a meal fit for navvies - baguette, ham, salami and boursin, followed by chocky biscuits and water.

Despite the bone shuddering surface (for a road bike) Greg was gobbling up the miles faster than chicken nuggets in a KFC but in a break from recent tradition it was Greg who decided to have a puncture in the post lunch session and Tom was able to look on smugly with with new tyres fully inflated as Greg went through the familiar routine. For once Greg had to wrestle with the tyre levers instead of lobbing heavy projectiles into the canal while waiting for big bro.

For a while we played musical bikes, changing around to try each others in sections between locks. By the end we were all happy to return to our own steeds although Greg missed the "sofa- like" comfort of the touring bikes.

We soon found the campsite in St Florentine, perfect unless you like the little luxuries in life when it comes to toilets (toilet paper) but cheap and quiet. We rode into town to the strangely named "Batman Pizzeria" ... run by Turks, named after an American comic crime fighter, and specialising in Italian food in France.... just go with the flow. Accompanied by Ricard and demis the meal was a good carbo refresh (the team always monitoring intake and conscious of the optimum dietary requirements) ready for the next days ride.