Feeling hot, hot, hot

Today's forecast promised 30c so I decided to get the 71 miles done as quickly as possible and avoid all of the 'regrouping' faffing. The destination was Guadeloupe, a popular tourist town.

The route started with a descent down to a plain and then 30km of speedy flat riding.

The area is known for growing peppers but the main crop seemed to be tobacco plants.

I tried to take a photo of a black bull under some olive trees but the support van pulled up and scared him off - his retreating bottom is somewhere in this photo..

Today's riding still involved 1239m of climbing and after a brief coffee stop, up I plodded in the heat. 

A particularly evil climb had a 10% gradient and no shade, this photo was taken at the second of my hang over the handlebars to get the heart rate down stops 

I stopped very briefly at the lunch stop to fill up the water bottles and carried on climbing. 

The eventual descent was steep and scary but great views of Guadeloupe below.

The hotel is in a monestary and is just beautiful

After a much needed shower, Rusty and I have had a meander round the lovely town, it's so much better to have time at the end of the day to recover rather than still be cycling in the worst of the heat.

Now all I need is a massive plate of food!