Tour des Trois Vallees 2019
John and Pat, Andy and Gaye, Ian and Pete headed over to
Dieppe for the Tour of Three Valleys. John has attended many times, a couple of
us were repeat offenders and two were newcomers. Our 2016 visit was on the day
of the EU Referendum result and such was our despair we nearly didn’t return
home that time.
This event was started in 1972 by Neville Chanin, widely known for his cycling adventures around the world. The event is in commemoration of the Dieppe Raid in 1942 where Canadian allied troops suffered massive losses. It is organised by the local Cyclo-Club Dieppois, and the British side of things by Caroline Street.
Cyclists of all shapes and sizes attend the event, although arguably not always the most athletic. The Southgate CC contingent did our best to reflect such diversity.
Given the history of the event we wanted to ensure a military style approach to the organisation of the weekend. Sadly we got off to a bad start on Friday morning. Pete and Ian arranged to meet at 4.10am to cycle down to Victoria to catch an early morning train for the ferry from Newhaven. Unfortunately Pete was at New Southgate rail and Ian at Southgate tube. Both riders then independently made a mad dash to Victoria and possibly in record times for anyone laden with rucksacks and panniers.
Friday evening was spent by the harbour, with some of the party having a good workout by eating bowls of very small mussels. A waiter took the liberty of spilling Calvados all over Gaye’s Normandy pie and then setting fire to it, bloody cheek of him. Gaye seemed ok with it though.
On Saturday we had a lovely relaxed ride down the Avenue Verte to Neufchatel en Bray to a wonderful café. It was hot, some local cider was consumed. On the way back it got even hotter. It was so hot if Steve Mosley had been there he might have been tempted to fill up a water bottle. We stopped off to regroup at a “tabac” for beers. It was a rather gritty, rustic but friendly place.
John tried to help a French cyclist who had a mechanical but there was nothing which could be done. The poor chap looked like he had a long walk home. This offer of fostering good international relations (rather than our very brief visit to the tabac) meant we missed the welcoming presentation later in the day.
On Saturday night the French women were playing the USA in the World Cup. We had been in Dieppe before when the national team were playing and knew the locals liked to celebrate a win with a noisy parade. Unfortunately France lost, however this fact was lost on the seagull population who continued to party all night long anyway.
On the Sunday there are audax style rides of various distances from 30k to 140k, with the option to team up with other people. Gaye and John chose the 60k route and got back as early as feasibly possible to sit in a local pub and people watch. Pete and Ian chose the 100k. Ian had not oiled his chain for a couple of years and it became a bit squeaky - progress was delayed by a lengthy refreshment stop to google cycling website Q&A forums to see whether the beautiful local fields of flaxseed could be made into an instant lubricant. Andy chose the 140k and teamed up with a hard man from the west country who might have taken on any of the blokes drinking at the tabac the previous day. Most interesting perhaps was Pat, who chose the shortest distance and teamed up with a Frenchman to become lost en route together, arriving back at the rendezvous pub later than even Andy. John seemed alarmingly unsurprised and unfussed about it.
On the Sunday night there was an eccentric awards ceremony. John summed this up perfectly as Dads Army meets Hi-de-Hi. The Southgate party tried to keep our heads down during this as we had missed the welcoming do the day before. Some of us got through it with the assistance of a little snooze.
It was time to go home on Monday. Ian and Pete got the midday ferry and, once back in Blighty, took part in a Guinness Book of Records attempt to fit the most number of cycles on a three coach train. Everyone else enjoyed the fine weather and a trip along the coast before taking the evening ferry home.
It was a fun weekend. Great company, wonderful food and drink and helped by the weather. The organisation of the overall event is always excellent and John ensured we had good digs. We even all got a nice rucksack for competing.
Around 300 British cyclists took part as well as French, German and even Aussie cyclists. There was quite a bit of interest in the Southgate club shirt – apparently there are some bits of England outside of London where Southgate is only known as the name of the England manager. Good grief!
The Southgate Six
