73.19km –10H51’
Altitude : 121 m
Here we go for the « heat »
We go to bed with the window open, which Serge closes at 1:00 AM because of a storm. One or two claps of thunder and we go back to sleep. The nights are shorter and shorter, but because we go to bed so early we don’t know exactly when the sun goes down. We do know that it comes up at 4:00 AM.
There are lots of « firsts » today: breakfast outside at 6:30 in the morning and it is already hot.
At 10:30 Serge has an upset stomach, both diarrhea and nausea. For two hours he plods on, waiting to make a comeback. And after 2 hours he takes off. He thought he would have to stop his stage at 30 km, his eyes were bulging and he was staggering. Eliane says he looked like he would fall to the left or the right. With the exception of his stomach flu in January, Serge has never been upset like he is today. For information, the temperature was 26°C at noon and Serge, who is beginning to know himself well, says that most certainly he had a bit of heatstroke! That may be true and contrary to what I would have thought, at km 50, when today’s hourly average had fallen noticeably, Serge decided to do a “normal” day, i.e., at least 72 km. He didn’t express it that way but did say that he would stop at 7:15 PM, i.e., 12 hours after his start. Serge likes to say “I saved the day”. He can sleep soundly, proud of the work accomplished.
So, he is reasonable since he sets limits for himself!!! But who said he was crazy?
The Finnish countryside is glowing, with colourful houses painted red or yellow, pink, blue or green….
The terrain is far from flat; it’s rolling. Serge likes this environment and fully enjoys the surroundings.
Eliane is already tan, René and I put on shorts for the first time this year and we will get tanned legs if the weather stays like this, because it is particularly sultry.
When you look at a map of the country, you get the impression you are looking at a big piece of Swiss cheese, with water in the place of the holes. We are navigating between woods and lakes.
PS: Serge turned off his watch during pauses, which accounted for 1H10’,’ since we spent 12 hours on the road.