DAY 35 <-> DAY 33
On the evening of day 34, the next team approaching the finish is 190 km from the goal. It’s Géry & Baudouin, who have been caught in bad weather for the past few days. “We tried everything to get back to 3rd place but it wasn’t enough. We never managed to make up the day we lost at the very first checkpoint. And it’s been raining since we arrived in France, so we’ve slowed the pace a bit. But we’re having so much fun!” The video below proves that they’ve kept their childlike spirit somewhere in their heads 🙂
The two Belgian friends are due to arrive in Chambéry this evening or tomorrow morning, to complete their 2nd major Sun Trip as a duo!
In Spain, the atmosphere is sunnier for the participants. The trio of Vincent Gallego, Luciano and Bertrand don’t always ride together, but they usually meet up in the evening and “the aim is for all three of us to finish”, Vincent tells us. “The energy of the return journey is not the same as the excitement of the outward journey, but it’s always a pleasure to return to the land of my paternal ancestors. There’s a change of scenery every day today, with La Mancha and the hypnotic landscape of wheat fields in the breeze”.
Luciano’s spirits are high too, and he’s clearly using up a lot of energy: “I’m eating a lot because I need the energy, and all the other suntrippers travelling with me can’t believe I’m eating so much and I’m still so skinny. The fact is, I don’t have many reserves, my stomach disappeared in the first week of the Suntrip, so I can eat whatever I want without risking putting on weight, and I love the food in Spain, so it’s a win-win situation for me! I feel great and happy to have made it this far, tomorrow we’ll reach the last checkpoint!”
Here’s a video of the two adventurers in La Mancha :
At this point, it seems that Vivien Dettwiler is unable to catch up, still in 7th place just over 200km behind the others. Will he be able to make up the 1,400km he still has to cover?
In Morocco, Jean-Louis Mérelle and Herman Segers are approaching the boat for Spain, which they are due to take tomorrow. The two men are really enjoying what they’re seeing since they started their climb north. “I have the impression that the further I go, the further back in time I move. It’s a strange mix of mud houses. That lasted a good hundred kilometres, discovering this whole world with my own eyes, sometimes close to tears as I was so moved by all this beauty in every sense of the word. Will I have enough memory to remember everything I’ve seen…” writes Jean-Louis on his Polarstep. See here a video made by Jean-Marie Azaïs.
It was the same story for Herman: “The Todra Gorges were really the most beautiful thing I’ve seen in the country. Riding there was very beautiful and further on I discovered an authentic Morocco, almost from the time of Jesus. The depths, the colours, the atmosphere…”. See these beautiful photos.
A little further back, Vincent Lauga seems to be experiencing fatigue. In the evening, he wrote us these words: “I’ve had severe headaches since this morning… it’s hard… I lay down by the side of the road and slept for half an hour, I just hope it gets better”. We hope he’ll soon get back into shape and we’re sharing these beautiful photos taken in the mountains.
To finish, here’s a series of superb photos taken by Czechs Michael and Jiri, during their shortcut of the route via Ouarzazate. The two men are still having problems with their solar recharging, but they’re getting plenty of eye candy.
No news yet from Miguel Letor, who is in Marrakech and should be crossing the Tizi N’Test pass on 16 May.
Bonus video
Jack Butler gives a full presentation of his bike. It is thought that Jack may soon become a TV sports commentator 🙂
