Etap Logistics et al

Have you considered the logistics for the 2009 Etap yet? I have and have been working on a cunning plan.

As yet I do not have an entry or permission to put one in, but I was brave enough to bring the subject up last night with The Wife.

The way I introduced the subject was along the lines of, "How about next year we holiday in the Auvergne area of France in late July. There is a nice four star caravan park with excellent facilities near Allegre. The site has British built luxury mobile homes (see Eurocamp or Keycamp intersite for details) 4 swimming pools, restaurant, canoes, tennis, fishing, lots of walking cycling and rafting, it is near the sea (sort of) and, oh, the Tour de France passes through the area about that time and we could actually be there to watch a stage".

"Oh, and funnily enough the Etap is on the same week in the area".

After I had recovered from the stern glare, I stood my ground as I was lectured on how I needed to spend more time with my son, not out training for the Etap or wandering around like a zombie all the time exhausted. My response (not that I had my strategy all planned you understand) was that I stood up well on the Guilford Pootle-on reckie of the Tourmalet and Hautacam this year with little training, and my entry into next year would be on the basis that training not be a priority like in 2007, and that my attempt would be on a best efforts based on whatever fitness I have.

Besides, we usually holiday at a similar camp in the Southern Vendee (near La Rochelle) and it would be nice to see a different part of France.

Anyway, the conclusion I have taken from the conversation is that I can enter the Etap, but participation still requires more discussion. The intention would be to drive down leaving on the Friday July 17th and the caravan site might be the accommodation solution. The family could fly down and be picked up from the airport any day and they could fly home as well.

The advantage from a travel point of view is that I would get to drive there and back at my own pace without the back seat driver, the wrong type of music on the CD or the constant bickering that family harmony engenders on long car journeys. You may also remember that in 2007 M and I missed the Paris Periphere and ended up in the centre of Paris, this time I have TomTom with French maps.

This might also solve the problem that the start and finish are some 167 Km apart, in that The Wife could drop me off and pick me up.

Now if the other Guilford Pootle-on families plan holidays in a similar vein then there might be other synergies that could be advantageous.

My big problem now is getting an entry only package. As Sports Tours are sold out of entry only anyone else got other sources?

Trust you are all training this weekend. I am hoping that I will be allowed to cycle the 55 miles down to Bognor Regis this weekend (to the family holiday home there) whilst The Wife takes my son to his football Saturday morning before driving down to join me.

What we also need to kick start training is the reintroduction of the Guilford Pootle-on Monthly Mont Box time trials (3 laps of a 8 mile circuit around Mont Box), oh, and has has anyone started planning a 2009 reckie trip yet?