After looking at a fair few tents online, I decided http://www.gooutdoors.co.uk/ was the best place to go and have a look, seen as Basingstoke has one just up the road from me. It also has a tent showroom, which was brilliant when we wanted to compare how the tents looked, and the space we had in them. We were never going to but 2 one person tents – as it’s much easier to just have the one tent to put up. A 2 person tent was never going to be big enough – they look tiny to me! So we started looking at the 3 person tents. We only had about £25 each, so we found 2 in our price range that looked ok. We settled on this one http://www.gooutdoors.co.uk/hi-gear-nucleus-3-tent-p194450 as it looked bigger and felt more roomy than the one next to it (I cant remember what the one next to it was!). Unfortunatley they were out of stock. Damn. So I asked if we could have the one on show, Nope. But they took me over and compared what tents they had that were similar. Why did I want the Hi-Gear Nucleus 3? It was slightly more waterproof, and it seemed more spacious. After several minutes talk, we settled on the http://www.gooutdoors.co.uk/hi-gear-proton-3-tent-p194454 which was sold to us at the same price as the one we had originally wanted. Brilliant!
So we have a tent. Now we’re going to have some fun practising pitching it! Probably later today – I’ll let you know how we get on!
When we got home we decided to start looking at where we want to go in France. I know stage starts and finishes are busy, but aiming in roughly that direction, should give us some idea when the detailed TdF route map comes out in June.
We travel to Belfort on Saturday 7th July to be ready for Sundays stage which starts there. Then when all the palava has dies down a bit, we aim to travel onto Besancon (or near there) where that is the finish town on Monday 9th July.
Ha i do wonder if we are being a bit foolhardy? As there is a rest day on the Tuesday, and I have decided to go somewhere up the Col du Grand Colombier – if we can get up there!! then travel somewhere near St Jean de Maurienne.
If that sounds complicated to you, it probably is! But I think we have got it! I’ve written directions down, and highlighted routes on the map – just in case we don’t get a Sat Nav!
I hope today we can work through the rest of the routes, sort of up to Pau (the last rest day), where we meet my TF who will probably be joining us all the way to Paris!
Time to have a coffee now
Ciao
thelonelycyclist 