There were times this morning when I thought this particular day – the whole trip perhaps – were being derailedโฆ It all started by me heading over the bridge back in the direction of La Rรฉole. Oops! Wrong direction. No big problem; Iโd only cycled perhaps 50 metres across the bridge and by doing so made a nice video clip (yep, you guessed it – watch the videoโฆ).
Iโโm glad to have finished the Canal du Midi section of the Canal des Deux Mers cycle route. Now in Pรฉzenas – Iโll explain in a moment – the highlight of yesterday was cycling along the excellent voies vertes that brought me inland from Sรจte yesterday evening. Cycling at the end of the day is something that doesnโt often happen (the way I tend to organise my days) but the advantages of cycling at that end of the day are similar to those of early morning cycling; quieter roads, cooler temperatures and the โgolden hourโ sunlight that washes a beautiful soft tint over the landscape. Itโs also worth noting (and remembering) that the winds tend to die down in the evening. Mmmโฆ Perhaps I should do night shifts on the bike.
I judge my WarmShowers hosts on how I provide for WarmShowers guests when I host back at home. Alas in recent years this has been less frequent. When I lived in that beautiful tourist hotspot that is, errโฆ Reading, I hosted quite regularly in the summer. Since moving back to rural Yorkshire Iโve hosted just three times. In Reading I was half-way between London and Oxford or en route to the West Country. In Yorkshire, despite it being far nicer, Iโm not really on anyoneโs cycle route (although not very far from the Pennine Cycleway – take note!). Anyway, aside from a warm shower, I provide food, drink, Wi-Fi, clothes washing, advice, deep-tissue massageโฆ Well, most of those.
I donโt like Mondaysโฆ Someone has beaten me to the song. I really donโt like Mondays in France as most places are closed. There is a special corner in hell for bank holidays that happen to be on a Monday in France. Today was one of the latter. Nothing open whatsoever this morning. We are celebrating the โAssumption of Maryโ. Not being a man of religion I donโt know what Mary was assuming but perhaps it was that there might be something, somewhere that was open to buy lunch on a Monday bank holiday in France. There isnโt. Even the French are exasperated; one couple who were cycling in the opposite direction stopped me in desperation at around midday asking if Iโd passed an รฉpicerie that was open. I hadnโt. They broke down and sobbed beside the cycle path in desperation. I told them my plan was to survive on my box of peanuts until I could cook something in the evening. I scarpered as quickly as I could lest they use force in getting hold of the cacahuรจtes. When I did I turn to look, I could see them chasing after me using surprisingly fluent Chaucerian language vowing to prise the peanuts from my hands. The entente cordiale only goes so farโฆ They were my peanuts. I digress.
They certainly packed them in at the municipal campsite in La Rochelle. As predicted, it was a noisy evening, including fireworks at one point. Things did quieten down after midnightish but then at some point in the early hours the couple in the text next to mine decided to have a, errโฆ loud romantic interlude. Iโll leave that there.
Here’s an interesting idea… and there doesn’t appear to be a catch: Boom25.com. Cyclists and travellers – you are probably one or the other or both otherwise you wouldn’t be reading this – can and do spend hours poring over the websites of online retailers looking for that […]
It seems timely… Here’s the route being taken by today’s cyclists in the Tour de France compared to my own cycle into Paris in 2015 en route to Nordkapp: Somewhat different although the two routes do coalesce somewhere near the Champs Elysรฉes. Here’s how I described the journey […]
Tick, tick, tickโฆ Basically thatโs what Iโve spent today doing. Ticking off all the things that you might, in an ideal world, want a disused railway line, converted into a walking-cycling greenway – voie verte here in France – to have. If the dรฉpartement of Seine-Maritime set out to build what I consider to be an unbeatable bit of cycle-touring infrastructure, they succeeded.
