Le Loop 2023: Stage 8 Libourne – Limoges

Cycling summary

Breakfast: 06:30

Transfer: 30 minutes

Start time: 08:08

Distance: 200.7 km

Terrain: Hilly (2,103 metres climbing)

Climbs: 1 Cat 3, 2 Cat 4

Finish: 18:20

Time in saddle: 8h37

Temp: cool, rising to warm in the afternoon once the rain stopped (18-28 degrees)

Drinks: 4 litres

Suffer score: 5 out of 10

Local lowdown

Wine country today, passing by the village of Pomerol, home to Petrus and other big names. We travel through the Perigord region and finish in Limoges, famous for its porcelain and ceramics.

Tale from the Tour

What a difference a day makes. I don’t mean 24 little hours, but the 9 hours sleep I had last night. I felt totally different this morning and thoroughly enjoyed the day even if it did rain for much of it.

At the first two feedstops there were local people keen to understand what we were doing and I was happy to chat and explain. They couldn’t believe that we were riding all the stages of the Tour de France, though for me that ends after stage 9 tomorrow.

At the first feedstop there was a number of bicycles that were used as part of an art work. This one says “Everything is possible. We think that you must always believe in yourself, never give up on anything, always see everything through right to the end. For example, our bike has been made more beautiful. Everything is possible.” I think that second sentence is good motivation for those of the group riding the whole of Le Loop.

We saw a lot more preparations for the Tour today – as usual there were many old bikes painted in the colours of the various leader’s jerseys on display. There was also an impressive artwork made out of bikes.

This made me think of the Steve and the crew at Bromley Mencap where I volunteer on a Wednesday. It’s a bike project teaching young adults various bike mechanics skills. They take many donations and the bikes they receive are either put back into working order or salvaged for parts. There is a stack of old bikes out the back, so maybe we could get Mr Dangerous, the Destroyer and Mr McNuggets to do something like this at Norman Park!

I spent a lot of today studying the trees as we went past. My wife Babs and I will be going on a painting weekend in November when will be taught how to paint trees (we’ve done landscapes and portraits). We can take our own pictures to use if we want so I took quite a few today. I don’t think any of them will really work, but here’s one I liked regardless.

We were still in the Dordogne region and saw many signs celebrating the fact that both the men’s and women’s Tour de France will be passing through the region this year.

The lunch stop was at a picturesque point, as was the final feedstop of the day.

And finally, it was my turn to be shamed by being awarded the frog today. I had stupidly mentioned to the current owner Nobby (forgetting that he had the frog today), that in the rain and with no one around me I practiced a skill that the professionals sometimes employ to avoid stopping when nature calls. One person said afterwords that I should have been awarded the chapeau instead! Enough said. That won’t be happening again, no matter how much I like to emulate the pros by riding around France!

Although this was my longest stage (it would have been Stage 2 but I cut that short) and it rained for most of the day, I was feeling very good today and completed the course with no difficulty. In fact, it was a thoroughly enjoyable day out.