Let the Rugby World Cup Commence!

Friday 8th September 2023. Cussac.

No blog yesterday, sorry. I had a bike ride early in the morning, whilst it was cool and then hunkered in the shade at Tim’s house.

I have been fine tuning my nutritional intake for the coming cycle tour. Following best advice here was my lunch yesterday…..

Just what I need to give me those extra miles in my legs. Yes, that’s a Butter Pie, mushy peas, boudin noir and fried onions. I’m sure the England Rugby squad will be eating the same. They certainly will perform better in the scrum!

The Butter Pie went down a treat. It was well worth the effort of bringing it over here.

Whilst on the subject of nutrition, here’s todays lunch….

Special cordon blue cuisine! Healthy fish, peas are a good vegetable and the cider is my fruit!

I’ll be back on my chicken salads when I am on my own again.

This morning I had another longer bike ride to Chalus and on a round trip to a few chateaux.

Chateau de Brie.

This is the route of Richard the Lion Heart. Now that I have established my royal credentials I could be King Richard IV when I return to England.

This is the Chateau Chalus- Chalmont where Richard the Lion Heart was killed by a crossbow as he attacked the castle in 1199. It is believed that his entrails were buried under the ruined chapel on the right of this photo. I’m not sure where the rest of him was buried?

There’s another ruined chateau at Chalus….

At lunchtime Tim took me out to a restaurant where we had our fish and chips then a quiet afternoon in shade.

By the way, Janice has been having a great time on her holiday to Croatia and will be flying back to the UK tomorrow….air traffic control systems permitting!

Tonight of course we are getting very excited about the first match of the World Cup, France v New Zealand. It should be a great game.

Ireland play in Bordeaux tomorrow in the afternoon heat and England play tomorrow evening against Argentina in Marseille.

Apparently it was reported in the papers that the England team took a few hours off training to do a visit to a local French orphanage, “It’s so upsetting to see the sad faces without hope”, said Pierre aged 6 years! I’m sorry to be a bit gloomy about Englands current form but at least they won’t have the burden of being one of the favourites. I will be supporting them through thick and thin…..

Proud to pull the shirt on! I’m always available to get on the pitch at short notice….as long as I’m only bringing on the water bottles!

I am ready to leave the motorhome here at Tim’s house and travel tomorrow to Bordeaux with just my bike and panniers. Tim will drop me off in the morning so that I can cycle into the Rugby Village in the centre of the city. I hope to see the Ireland v Romania game in the afternoon on a big screen then cycle to my ‘Premiere Classe’ hotel on the outskirts to check in and then cycle back into the city to see the England match on a screen somewhere.

I’m really looking forward to seeing the eclectic mix of fans from Ireland, Romania, Wales and Fiji in the same city at the same time. Of course there will lots of French too…..and Billy no mates!

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