Couches to Aiserey

I went to dinner at the restaurant attached to the camp ground in Couches yesterday. When I went to the campground I got the impression that the lady didn't like me much. I have a feeling it is because she thinks I'm English. Usually they check my passport and their attitude changes completely, but she didn't check my passport.

The lady who checked me in was also the waitress at the restaurant. When she checked me in she spoke fluent English but last night, inexplicably, she pretended she didn't speak English. I don't know why. Then she ignored me for most of the night. I couldn't get her attention for anything. She'd always turn in the direction opposite to where I was. When I asked for the bill she didn't bring it for 20 minutes, she didn't take the money when I sat it in the table, she ignored me when I took the money to the bar to pay. I felt like I was invisible. I was going to just leave without paying but then she came and took the money. Needless to say that long bombs were back on.

I left for Aiserey outside of Dijon this morning at 11. I had to follow the canal and came across the Australian couple from 2 days ago. They'd managed to make it through the locks before the canal closed and were enjoying a more leisurely pace. It was hard to cycle as slow as their boat was going.

Most of today I was on roads as I've left the Eurovelo 6. The traffic was very light and the wind was at my back for most of the day. I hadn't been looking forward to today, mostly because of having to ride on the main roads and also because I had a destination I had to be at, which meant I couldn't just stop whenever. But it was quite a nice easy day in the end.

I left the canal at Chagny and headed toward Beaune. I tried to divert around Beaune but somehow ended up right in the centre. There was this church with a roof patterned with bright tiles that I spotted through some trees. I went hunting for a better angle to take a photo but couldn't find one. The other side of the church doesn't seem to have the tiles and it was so crammed with buildings that the side I was on was difficult to get a shot. So just know that the picture I took is the best picture possible...

The rest of the way was a fairly easy ride. I met some people when I took the wrong canal the other day and they invited me to stay with them. So I am. They gave me the address but I didn't notice the extra word in it. So obviously I went to the wrong house and had an awkward miming session with a lady who turns out to be the mother of one of the people I'm staying with.

I found the house and the couple I'm staying with are the nicest people. When I first met them it was for probably 5 minutes. I'd just woken up and they were just leaving the camp ground, but they invited me to come stay anyway.

Nelly is the lady. She speaks some English as her son lived in Cambridge for a few years. Dupras is the bloke and he doesn't speak very much English but occasionally he'll flash his phone in front of me with something funny he's typed into google translate, usually at Nelly's expense, hence why he doesn't get her to translate.

They have been unbelievable hosts. Their house is amazing. They have fruit trees around one side with cherries, apples plums etc. It was the first time I've seen an apple tree in real life. It was like seeing a hamburger tree. I'd never thought about what apples look like on a tree. They come off shelves usually. They have a vegetable garden out the back, which I raided for their cherry tomatoes,and a terrace that overlooks the trees.

We sat amongst the fruit trees drinking beer and eating until a storm came. Then we had dinner, which was duck skewers, spicy sausage and tabuli. All these things had French names but I forget them. Then Nelly brought out loads of cheese. I've worked out that fromage, which means cheese, is a dinner course here. It comes after the main and before the dessert. Cheesecake confuses things. There was one cheese which is local to here that was particularly tasty so I'll have to remember to find out and immediately forget what it's called.

Dupras got on the net and used his powers of Frenchness to sort out trains Basel for me. It made it so much easier. The only problem is that the cheap one that can take my bike leaves early, so I wouldn't get to see Dijon. So I'm going to see Dijon tomorrow and stay here again tomorrow night.

Couches

I am now the only person at this camp ground. I'm trying to think of ways to take advantage of that fact but apart from charging my stuff I've got nothing. In fact, any mess I make can be directly traced back to me now so it is almost a disadvantage. No more reverse long bombs.

It is blisteringly hot again today. I have ridden for 6 days so on the seventh day (today) I'll rest. I think I'm the first person to think of that system. It's going to be hot again tomorrow too then I think it will cool off.

I went for a look around Couches. I think it is pronounced coo-shay. It is a charming town surrounded by rolling hills and vineyards.  I want to say it has that lovely mountain town feel but a) I've never been to a mountain town and b) there aren't any mountains here. But it has what I imagine that feeling is... Clear? It is a toss up between me and the bloke that served me at the shop for the title of least charming thing in Couches.

I went and had a look at the chateau this morning. The only way to go inside is as part of a guided tour, which is in French, that I had just missed. I wandered around the grounds instead. I was the only person there as well. Must be the smell. The castle is just outside Couches and sits part way down a ridge that continues past the town.

I did the unthinkable by sitting in the grounds and googling the chateau. There was nothing particularly interesting about its history. It was built in the 11th century to guard the road to Paris. Some rich people owned it but died so then some other rich people owned it, built some extra stuff, but you won't believe it, they died too. Then it got bought by a rich guy but it went into disrepair so some other people decided to restore it and run it as a tourist attraction. I've just described the history of every castle ever. Poor people don't own castles.

It was a very nice castle. I sat at a stone table overlooking the valley and had some lunch, took some photos and buggered off.

Now I'm trying to think what to do with myself for the rest of the day. I don't know what to do about my hair. It's gone half Jovi. I don't know whether to get a haircut or buy a headband. I've been having problems with sweat going in my eyes when I'm cycling so I think I'll just get a headband, embrace the 80s and go full Jovi. My cycling blog is about to become a steel horse riding blog.

Palinges to Couches

I'm surprised to find I've come a lot further today than I thought.

This morning when I woke up I went to collect my chocolate bread things from the reception at the camp site. At most camp sites you can order bread at the reception and it will be delivered in the morning. At the place today she'd turned it into a breakfast with tea and coffee. It was nice but I hadn't really been intending on eating chocolate bread for brekkie.

I left fairly early but kind of bummed around for half an hour at the next town,which is the one I laid down under the tree at yesterday. The route today was mostly on the road beside the canal. Traffic was light until I started to get to the outskirts of Montceau. It was a bit tricky getting through the town but I found my way.

I stopped at Ecuisses and got lunch. I sat in the shade and ate it and stayed there for what seemed like hours. When I left the route went back onto the canal tow path and was really nice.

There were small lakes and reservoirs so often I was riding on a path with water on both sides. The reservoirs are there to feed the canal. I'd been wondering where the water for the canals comes from as there are no tributaries entering the canal. I crossed the highest point of the canal and took a photo. I had been following it up hill, but now I'm going down hill.

Not far down I went past a couple from a boat having lunch and noticed an Australian flag hanging off the front. I stopped and said hello and ended up staying for a couple of hours. They spend each summer on the canals for 5 or 6 months.

They were telling me that the canals periodically close because they run out of water and the one they are on, which I've been following, is likely to close for that reason. So they are trying to rush through so they don't get stuck. Rushing on a canal boat still isn't very fast. Another canal had closed in the last week or so because someone accidentally let all the water out of the reservoir!

While I was talking to them another boat pulled up with 3 kiwis. So I went and chatted with them for a while. I picked their brains about different routes. It's funny that I'm following the eurovelo 6, which they'd never heard of, and they're following some canal route that I've never heard of, but it is the same thing. I'm on the towpath and they're in the water but it is the same route. I thought about hitting them up for a lift but I go much faster.

The only other thing they mentioned was that Dijon is a very pretty city and I should go there. Some people had invited me to stay with them at their house outside Dijon and I was tossing up whether or not to go as it's off the route slightly, but I think I will now.

When I left I headed towards a campsite and got there but it was closed for the season. So I had to go further off course to find another one and it is almost empty. I'm going to charge everything again.

So after all my dilly dallying today I've still managed to come about 60km, although 10 of them or so have been off course to this camp ground.

Tomorrow the route apparently splits. There is the vineyard option or the waterway option. I think I'll stick with the waterway. Grapes have a tendency to be grown on slopes.

Snack Bus

Last night I ended up staying up until almost 1 watching the new terminator. I'm going to email Stephen Hawking later and get him to explain what the hell was going on in that film. All I know for sure is that even though Arnie is old now, he's still the best action hero.

I woke up around 10 and left around 11. Had lunch in Digoin and started riding. The ev6 goes all over the place in this section, up and down hills, crossing the canal several times. There was a road that ran alongside the canal so I went on that instead.

It was very hot again. I'm not sure how far I've come, but I'd say it is only 30km. I just can't put as much water into me as what I'm sweating out, so I started to feel a bit faint. I rested under a tree for a while and decided to just give up for today. I left the canal and backtracked a bit on the ev6 to get to the camp ground.

This afternoon I went for a swim in the nearby lake and did some washing. I just had dinner in the snack bus that is next to my tent. It is a restaurant they run out of a converted bus. The tables are all outside and the kitchen is in the bus. It was restaurant quality food, but at bus prices! Not bus fare prices, but, you know, bus food prices.

I had a salad, a white cow steak (this region is famous for their white cows apparently) some goats cheese that you can either eat with sugar to make it like a yoghurt or eat with salt and pepper to make it salty peppered goats cheese. I took a gamble and went with salty peppered sugared yoghurt cheese mix. It was pretty good. Dessert was rice cream, but with a fancy French name and a significantly higher quality than the tins you could get from Franklin's in the 90s. It was very tasty.

Obviously I haven't done much today except not felt well. I've been struggling to stay awake for my reservation at the snack bus. Yep, I had to make a reservation. I'm going to sleep now.

The photo is the view of the lake from the snack bus.

Wherever I was to Digoin

Not a very interesting day today. I decided to make my way back to the Ev6. It was only 12km and it got me 12km from where I took the wrong turn, so the only real extra riding I did was the 15 the wrong way yesterday. One for the kiddies. If those distances are straight lines, what sort of triangle am I describing? 

After about 5km I took a wrong turn again and lost the Ev6 again. It sounds like I'm hopeless, but what actually happens is they put up signs for other cycle routes that look the same and I follow them. Usually I check, but when I'm in a town it isn't so easy to stop and pull the map out at every intersection.

I followed this other route, which didn't even deserve signs because all it did was take me to the very hilly, very busy main road.

When I got to Bourbon-Lancy I stopped at a supermarket and got food. I couldn't see anywhere nice and shady to eat it so I stayed on the shady side of the supermarket carpark. As I was finishing a bloke walked past and said bonjour and I replied in kind. Then he turned around and asked in a broad Aussie accent if I speak English. His name was Pete and he was from Phillip Island. He was 72 but looked more like he was in his early 60s and has been on the road for 5 months on a sort of working holiday in a van he borrowed from his mate. We stood around telling stories for a half hour.

He told me about a Turkish guy who invited him for a cup of tea at one of the places he'd pulled up to stretch his legs. They showed each other pictures of their wives and children and chatted for a while. When he went to leave the Turkish bloke did the kiss on each cheek that they do in Europe but added one on the neck and a hand on the bum and kept going for more! Pete said he's looking forward to seeing how that story goes down with his mates at the bowlo.

After that I found the ev6 again, carried on along the canal and stopped at Digoin. It is only very early so I probably could have gone quite a distance further, but today it is very hot and I was feeling it.

The only other thing of note was that I saw one of those loser kids by the canal and his loser family down in the car. Without details, based on the aroma of the quick ride past, those kids were more than just drunk the other night. 

I only took one photo today and it is of a very big boat just squeezing into a lock. So yeah, I saw that today too.

Nevers to not where I was meant to go.

I dun goofed! Followed the wrong canal! Rookie mistake. But let's keep this chronological.

Last night I went for pizza in Nevers. It is a nice town with a huge church, decent sized monastery or average cathedral perched up on the hill right in the middle. Makes for a very pretty town from whatever angle. Except I guess if you're at the cathedral and facing away. There is also a grand looking building which I think may have been a small castle. It was being used for something else but I can't remember what. Court house maybe.

Anyway, I went for pizza and it was delicious, but when it came time to pay I realised I'd lost 10 euros out of my pocket so I didn't have enough money. That's embarrassing and awkward at the best of times but when I have to mime that I don't have money for the food I just ate it amplifies the awkwardness. Try and mime that. See?

Thankfully one of the blokes at the table next to me spoke English and translated for me. The manager was really cool and said to come back the next day to pay. I went back to the camp, got my money and walked back to pay straight away. The translator table were just leaving and all gave me a round of applause. I consider myself somewhat of a hero for making a mistake and rectifying it 45 minutes later.

I must say, the French people I've met are very trusting and very trustworthy. My opinion of the French has changed a lot since I've been here. I wasn't very open minded towards them when I set off which was a mistake because they are fantastic. Friendly, helpful, patient and they say bonjour to me constantly. People say hello to me, honestly, about 70 times a day. Old ladies especially.

Anyway, after pizza I was keen to get some sleep. But there was no chance of that. First, a couple had parked their camper about a metre from my tent and were up playing backgammon. That isn't a code or a euphemism. That's what they kept me up with.

Then the screaming started. I seriously thought I was having audible hallucinations. I ducked my head out and it was some teenager. He wasn't screaming words. I thought maybe he had some special needs and it looked like he was being half carried half dragged by some other people. After about half an hour I worked out they were all teenagers, and they either all had special needs or were all drunk. One of them was walking like how Peter Garrett dances. He was so close to being paralytic.

They eventually went back to their tents, still screaming, but they were a long way away so I could barely hear. But then the 2 camper vans that were parked near them decided to move. Next to me of course. So they lit my tent up like the sun as they did it and had a little gathering to debrief about their move just now.

Finally, there was quiet. Then the bloody campervan alarm went off. At that point I leaned my head out a shouted a request as loud as I can. I won't repeat it in case children are reading. It's what you think it was. It worked for 15 minutes then the screaming started again. But it either only went on for a few minutes or they went back to their tent.

I saw the three idiots this morning and got stuck into them. They don't speak English but I hope they go home and do some googling. I've been a pest before, but at least I scream words.

Way too many paragraphs for "it was noisy last night". Sorry.

I went to get the train today and the internet had lied to me. The train cost almost 200 euros. So I am still riding. Before I set off I stopped in maccas and did my tax. Sort of.

It is hot today. The sign at the pharmacy said 39 degrees but I doubt it was that hot. I rode along the canal. There were a lot of boats travelling both directions today. I beat them.

Just before Decize there were some boys jumping from a bridge into the canal. They waved and asked in broken English if I wanted to jump with them. So I quickly dumped my backpack and took my shoes and socks off and jumped a couple of times. They were stoked. I'd say they'd been asking cyclists all day. I took some photos of them jumping but unfortunately there was nobody around to get a photo of me. It wasn't very high but it was really fun.

I went into Decize and followed what I thought were the EV6 signs but alas they were for a different bike route, so I have now followed the wrong canal for 15km. I'm at a place called Cercy la Tour. It is the wrong canal, but the right direction. I'm tossing up continuing and cutting through a national park then meeting up with the EV6 again later. Hills are the only issue.

I'm at a camp-site that cost 3.70. The only other people here are a friendly Scottish couple. I don't understand it. I'm wondering if it's haunted or something. Either way, I'm going to plug as much stuff as I can into the shaving plugs in the bathroom and take at least 3.70 in electricity.

St Satur to Nevers

I've arrived at Nevers and am either at the very end of the La Loire a Velo or am bloody close. There were little plaques on the path today counting down the kilometres. When it got to where I think 0 should have been there were a couple of deck chairs and a sign. I thought it was a nice touch. Unfortunately they were occupied.

This Loire valley bicycle route is amazing. I can think of only one better way to see France. I did less than half of it, but it would be well worth doing the lot.

The one better way would be to start where I am now and head downstream to the ocean in a canoe or kayak. The river flows at a fair rate and there are places to camp everywhere. Imagine floating past castles, detouring along canals, fishing for dinner. THAT would take the cake. I know I've got a few mates who'd be up for such an adventure and I can't recommend it highly enough.

Today I intended on leaving early but got stuck downloading a podcast to listen to, then chatting to people on facebook, so I didn't leave until almost 12.  The wind was still around but not nearly as bad as yesterday.

I headed along the river and stopped at La Charite dur Loire for lunch. It was a dreary place. For some reason hardly any shops were open, including the supermarket, but I spotted 4 glasses shops open. I've noticed that in a few places. They seem to always be open.

After lunch I decided I'd camp around Cuffy. But when I got there there wasn't a campsite. I hadn't actually checked if there was one, so it was my fault. I carried on to Nevers, which meant instead of cutting across the river at Givby I did a big loop around Nevers and got here from the south, which probably meant an extra 20km. They were nice km at least.

There was another canal bridge, this one with a few locks on either side. I watched some boats go across.

I missed a sign about a km before the campsite and ended up in a car park. A Czech truck driver came up to me and we mime talked for a while. He was from Prague. I hit him up for a lift and he said no problem. I was really tempted to take him up on the offer. He had room for the bike and I could have got him to drop me off before Prague. He said he has to do a loop around France first so I ended up wussing out.

I checked the trains and I think I'll get one from here to Basel tomorrow. At Gien they were complicated and expensive because all the trains headed to Paris and it involved a station change in Paris. From here it is a train to Dijon and change for a train to Basel. I don't know the cost but imagine it won't be too expensive.

Gien - St Satur

I woke up early this morning to try and get a good start to the day, but it was raining so instead I stayed in bed until 8. The rain stopped though so I packed up my wet tent and left.

I went about 10-15km down the road to Briare. There is a canal bridge there which was cool to see. Not a bridge over a canal, but a bridge that is a canal. It goes over the Loire so the canal boats don't have to deal with the current in the river.

On the other side I stopped to figure out where to go and a bloke wheeled his bike up to me. He was English, heading the opposite way starting at Basel. He told me the ride is really good to Basel and he's been camping up next to the canal each night. He'd actually camped on this patch of grass next to a shop where I was stopped. I talked to him for ages and he ended up giving me these excellent maps that he'd been using but didn't need anymore. He said he'd cycled from Beijing to Shanghai before and it was really good and recommended cycling through China.

After I said farewell and set off again the wind picked up. And up. And up. It is brutal today. I'm at the bottom of the hill that Sancerre sits on, which is 50km from where I met Geoff, and it was a gale force headwind the entire way. I'm amazed I managed to churn through the kms as quickly as I did. At some parts I was in the lowest gear, 1,1, on a flat paved surface. At other times when the wind was coming from an angle I was leaned over so far that the peddles were almost touching the ground. I needed my helmet for all the branches falling on me. Some powerlines came off the pole so they were swaying at about head height next to the path. I was worried they'd tear away from the remaining poles and take my head off.

At one point when I'd been blown to a standstill I saw a bike race go past. I'm not sure what it was, but there were loads of cyclists and loads of support vehicles. The coolest thing is the noise they make. There are whistles and sirens and bells, then the sound of the bikes whizzing along. It's like a high speed, high pitch parade.

So I made it to St Satur. Like I said, Sancerre is up a steep hill. It's a very famous wine town. The best sauvignon blanc comes from there. It's one of the must see places, but I'm pretty sure that's only if you're a wine snob. Which I'm not. So I'm not bothering with the hill. If I meet some wine snobs I'll just say I went and that they "really must try to make the effort".

I'm camped amongst some trees, one of which has fallen over. I found a spot with only little trees, but they have fruit so every few minutes these green things fall on the tent. I have a feeling it will be windy tomorrow too, but if it isn't I will probably get past Nevers and off the Loire route. From there it is east to Basel.

Finally, congratulations to Matt and Aga. Great news to hear after a shit day. I'm pretty sure Matt and Mum are the only people that read this blog, so now Matt has his hands full I may as well just address it to Mum.

So mum, can I borrow some money?

Gien again.

Last night there was a band on next to the river. They were a French reggae band. They were pretty good but I think they may have been lip syncing. The parts in English were all about burning things down.

I've noticed a lot of French kids swear in English I don't know if they know what they're saying, but they swear like truck drivers at each other. It's strange because nobody bats an eyelid. I also find it really weird when I go into shops and they are playing music with heaps of swearing. Or when the play land at maccas has Dre 2001 playing.

I met a French bloke last night who was camped just down from me. For some reason I was calling him Richard but that's not his name. I have his real name written down somewhere. Anyway, Richard had a tightrope that he had brought on his bike trip, so after the French reggae we slung it up between 2 trees and did some tight rope walking. Richard was pretty good. I wasn't. I was using him for balance and I think at one point I was at a 45 degree angle with all my weight on him, pretending that I can walk a tightrope.

I woke up this morning and was feeling quite under the weather. It was raining so the feeling was literal as well as figurative. The train was too expensive and too long, so I'm going to ride to Dijon and get a train from there instead. Going  to. Not have. I slept most of the day.

I went into the town in the afternoon. There was a bike race on. They'd closed off the streets and we're doing laps on a circuit past the castle. I found a spot on a cobblestoned corner at the bottom of the hill the castle sits on. Couldn't think of a better spot to see someone come a buster, but nobody did. It was cool listening to the tyres squeal around the corner and seeing the cyclists try to invertase as the came on to the straight.

Tonight I chatted with a German couple from Stuttgart. They have travelled a lot and gave me some good tips for places to see and how to go to Russia. They said the Trans Siberian is super cheap. Cheaper than I thought. They said around 250 euros to Beijing. They've also offered me a place to stay if I get to Stuttgart. I've been offered a few places to stay but I might actually take them up on this one.

I plan on getting up early tomorrow and putting in a big day. 3 nights in one place is not going to get me back to Australia. For the next week I want to ride every day.

Gien

Didn't know what to do today, so I did nothing.

Walked to the castle, which wasn't particularly impressive. It looks a bit like the vice chancellor's office at a university. Maybe not Armidale university. There is a church attached to it, which seems to have remixed the bells. It must have done 20 dings and half a dozen dongs for 8 o'clock this morning. I thought a rave was going to break out. I had a look in the church from the outside. I didn't go in in case I got struck by lightning or burst into flames or someone built a bridge out of me.

I walked to the supermarket and got food, ate it, lazed by the pool (another mid 30 day today), read my book (I'm up to book 11) and totally disregarded the fact today was supposed to be spent figuring out where to go and how to get there.

I think I'll get a train (there's the 'how') to Basel (that's the' where') tomorrow (and a bonus 'when'. Got more done than I expected. I declare today a resounding success) . The Eurovelo 6 goes through there so I can continue on that. I would like to go into the Swiss Alps, mostly to see some mountain goats balancing on stuff they shouldn't be able to balance on, but I think I could live a fulfilling life without seeing that.

If it is ridiculously expensive to get the train I suppose I'll just keep riding. I ordered a eurovelo 6 guidebook pdf but it hasn't been emailed to me yet. I'm hoping it can give me some guidance. Because it's a guide book.

Also, a few people have mentioned they can't comment. It should be fixed now. If you had of told me in the comment I would have fixed it ages ago. Idiots...

Double also, there is an electric tree here!

Beaugency to Gien

Big day today. I'm a cyclist now so I'm supposed to say it was a big day in the saddle. It was a big day treading the peddles. I made that one up but I think it's pretty good too.

If I drove a car down the main roads I would have went 80km. I reckon I went well over 100. I'm trying to download the La Loire app so I can figure out how far I really went but the internet is being sketchy. It was hot today too. I just looked at a thermometer and at 7pm it was 34 in the shade. Lucky for me I was riding in the sun.

Last night I went over to Beaugency in an attempt to catch the supermarket before it shut, but I missed it. But I saw that the dodgy shop at the camp ground was serving food so I went there and was surprised to have one of the best steaks I've had. I noticed most of the other people were locals so I think I might have stumbled upon a hidden gem (for more local knowledge like this go to localoids.com - just wait for the traffic spike Prash. Mum and Aunty Julie, all over it).

There was a band on the opposite bank of the river and I was tempted to go over and listen to them butcher the doors, led zeppelin and the rolling stones. But ended up just listening from my side of the river. They were exceptionally good except for the pronunciation of the lyrics. The guitarist nailed the guitar solos though.

I left today at 10am. Pretty early for me. I intended on going to Orleans and maybe camping at the next town past. I rode for a while along mostly gravel roads then crossed the bridge and found myself in a Gypsy encampment. I'm not sure if I'm allowed to say Gypsy so I'll just plead Australian. I thought it was just some people parking up their caravans like you sometimes see. Which I suppose it was. Here's what made me think it might not be what it seemed:
- the damp mattresses hung over the fence.
- the chicken coop filled with geese.
- the pot bellied pig snuggled up under a caravan with a dog.
- the rubbish scattered everywhere like an ultra camp chaos.
- the hair.

I wanted to take photos, especially of the geese pen and the little pig (it looked more like a little boar) but didn't want to stop.

After that I had the urge for a toilet. I kept following the path but 9km from Orleans the urge became... Urgent. So I left the track and looked for a toilet. I must have rode around for an hour, guided completely by where I though a toilet would be. And, if I'm honest, where some isolated bushes might be. I found a toilet at a bus station but it was locked, I found some bushes next to an orchard but there was a man working nearby. It was a real ordeal. I eventually stumbled upon a supermarket and went to the toilet there. It was like I was reborn. I consider myself to have two lives, BP and AP. I went from turmoil and misery to happiness and contentment in 3/5ths of a second. Amen.

This blog is slowly getting less suitable for the children at school so please adults could you censor it for them?

My first few moments AP were spent figuring out where I was. Turns out I'd zigged and zagged my way 9km to Orleans.

I rode through the town. There is an impressive cathedral there. I didn't take a photo because it was too hard to get a decent shot, but I imagine God would be suitably impressed.

I lost the Paris Hilton route after that and ended up following a canal. The path was shoddy. Sometimes gravel, sometimes worn grass. I hit a tree root at speed and the jolt sheered my front basket from the bit that attaches it to my bike. I fixed it with an ocky strap and now that front basket has better suspension then any of my cars have had.

The only other thing of note was this village I stumbled upon called Combleux. It was at a spot where the canal forks off in a few directions and it didn't seem to have any roads. There were lots of bridges with flowers decorating them, and gravel paths, but the roads were missing. There were some cars parked at houses but it was such a peaceful place without cars zooming around. It's what I noticed about Venice as well.

After a while I realised that a canal generally doesn't follow a river as that would render the canal redundant, so I hit a main road back to the river and found the Paris Hilton route again.

The next place of note was Sully. It has a little castle with a moat. I stopped and had a quick look. It wasn't packed with tourists and it was a good looking castle, but I didn't go in.

From there I kept riding and at some point ran out of water. It wasn't as bad as my earlier predicament because the worst case scenario was only death rather than embarrassment. So I rode 15km feeling pretty thirsty but found a tap. Carried on until Gien, which has another castle and a pretty nice camp site.

I don't know what to do tomorrow. I might get a train from here towards Switzerland and pick up the Eurovelo 6. I've set reminders for 4 different TV on the Radio gigs. I want to go to one. The Krakow one is tonight. The Luxembourg one is in 5 days and the Swiss one is in 6. I can't remember where the 4th one is but it seems unachievable. So I'm aiming for the Swiss one. Secretly I think they'll appreciate the effort and invite me on tour with them.

Photos are:
2 of the little village with no roads.
3 of Sully castle.
View of Gien from the camp-site where I am now.

Puncture

Not much to report today. Woke up, packed up, set off, bike had a puncture. I checked the tyre last night and it was fine so it went flat when I was asleep. Bloody annoying. This place has a bike shop so I wheeled my bike over to there and it was shut. It was supposed to be open. I waited until after lunch to see if they were having a lie in, but it didn't open.

So I went to the tourist information and they said there is another one 4 kilometres back the way I came. I decided to have a go at fixing it myself. I don't have any spanners and the multi tool I have was useless. So step 1: Take the wheel off was a failure. I pushed on to step 2 regardless, took the tube out and found the hole. It was more of a split. It looks like when the bloke fixed the spoke he pushed aside the plastic that protects the tube from the spokes inside the rim. So the tube was a bit mangled. Step 3 is to mangle the tube so that was already done. I put the plastic back and patched the tube but it just split more. That wasn't part of the steps.

So I pushed the bike 4km back, replaced the tube and went to McDonald's . Not to charge my phone, but to eat McDonald's and watch John Oliver.

Now I'm back at the same place as yesterday.

I did meet a French couple and chatted to them. They taught me how to say more names of towns. They also gave me a map of the Paris Hilton route. It goes a fair way beyond Orleans (pronounced Awly-on). At Nevers it continues on as the EuroVelo 6 to Vienna and Budapest. So I think I might have a go on that. I'll probably use cheat codes though (get a train) for some of it.

Blois to Beaugency

I didn't end up going into Blois last night. I was just too buggered. I went for a walk along the river instead. I found an abandoned mini golf course. Not something you really expect to be abandoned. No episodes of Scooby Doo ever led the gang to the old abandoned mini golf course. The holes were still playable, the rest was all overgrown and there were rabbits everywhere. It was like something out of fallout 3 (video game mum, ask Rob).

This morning I went into Blois instead and had a look around. There was another chateau, this one not so impressive. The whole place is built on a hill on the bank of the river. It was bigger than I expected. Lots of winding cobbled streets and huge roundabouts with parks in the middle.

While I was wandering around the rescue service went screaming through town with a rubber ducky (a type of boat, for the non Australians). When I was leaving I saw them out in the river. They hadn't launched the boat but two of them had paddled out on rescue boards and the third bloke was swimming. They probably could have walked out to where they were.

Some people in a canoe had gone through the rapids under the bridge and managed to capsize. I think when they went through the rapids they had decided to go through the bit with the least water, so they bottomed out then I think the water must have turned them sideways and tipped them out. They were fine, safe on the bank so I watched this 3 man rescue crew rescue an esky (cooler for the Brits). They had ropes and boards, flippers and goggles. I was tempted to walk across the rocks and grab it. The canoe was still on the rocks so I'd say they brought in the helicopter for that.

When I finally got riding I realised I was on a different signposted route to yesterday. The one from yesterday was on the other bank. Mine was like a second division route. It didn't have as many signs and the paths weren't as good, but the scenery was still brilliant. I decided to name them. The route yesterday is Paris Hilton and today's was Nicki Hilton. I named them so because although Paris is flashier and gets more attention, Nicki is just as pretty and a lot less people have been there.

Somehow I managed to lose the route so I headed back towards the river. My phone was flat at this stage. I ended up on Berlin Hilton. The third Hilton sister. Named so because like the third Hilton sister, I was making this route up. I ended up on a road heading towards a station so I turned off and was on a little country lane, then it turned into a bumpy dirt track between cornfields, then back into a country lane, then a straight dirt road, then a grass track behind some farms. Berlin Hilton is not a fun ride.

I ended up back on the road though and now I'm at Beaugency. It's a nice little town much like the others. I'm sitting in a park watching one of the shortest fattest men I've ever seen hustle people in Bocce.

There is another chateau here. Or the remains of one. It looks like this was a larger one and the town has been built amongst it. There is a large central tower - like the white tower at the Tower of London - with shops around it. A block away there's another big stone building and another block or two is the gatehouse and walls. It's kind of cool.

Tomorrow I will most likely head to Orleans, which isn't far. From there I'll probably get a train somewhere. Maybe Geneva. Suggestions welcome but I'm keen to move on from France. Maybe Italy. If you do have a suggestion, could you also pay for the train ticket?

Also, here is the Bayeux Tree of Liberty light show I filmed:
https://youtu.be/LWihqh8Uusw

Tours to Blois

First thing, Le Mans is pronounced Do Mon. Tours is pronounced Tw-errr. Blois is pronounced Bwl-errr. I've discovered that most French sentences will contain quite a few errs. It sounds like they aren't sure what they're saying so I nod patiently, which makes them think I understand what they're saying. Then I ask if they speak English. If they say no I start miming, but I've noticed I unconsciously stop speaking English too in my narration of the mime. I just make French sounding noises. I could be that I actually do speak French but nobody has told me yet.

Anyway, I got to Tours last night. It occurred to me that it was 4 weeks since I last slept in a bed, or even on something soft. So I decided to go to a hotel. It was £28 on Expedia. Not too damaging but I felt immensely guilty.

I didn't explore Tours but on my ride through it seemed very nice. Not like horrible Rennes.

The hotel was near the airport and it had 12 stars on the sign. I'll tell you what it felt like 12 stars too.

I stayed at the hotel until checkout at 11:30 this morning. Then I went to KFC. Shame shame shame. It was 12:30pm by the time I actually set off.

I rode down to the river and along the cycle path until it ended. The Loire valley has a big long cycle route (800km) that is signposted and I figured that it was probably on the other side of the river, so I rode along a busy road to the bridge google said I could cross. And I could have if I was a boat. That meant I had to either go back into the town or go along the busy road to the next town. I don't like back tracking so I stayed on the busy road for 13km until the next town with a real bridge.

That town was called Amboise (I don't know how to pronounce it but guessing Amw-errr) and it was very nice. It sits on a wide part of the river with a big bridge going  across. There is a huge chateau up on the hill. I didn't know chateau means castle. At the bottom there are cobbled pedestrian streets full of restaurants. It would have been a nice place to stay.

I stumbled upon the Loire valley route at the bottom of the chateau so followed it from there. I have to say, that bicycle route is fantastic. It is excellently signposted. The route goes on a mixture of quiet country lanes (but open to traffic, not that there was much) and dedicated cycle paths. It would be easier to take the main road the entire way as it's straighter and flatter, but the cycle route was really fantastic.

Unfortunately I must have missed a sign about 15km before Blois. I got to a road and there was no signs saying what way to go so I guessed I was supposed to turn off earlier and missed it. I decided to just make tracks to a campground. Google took me down a rough dirt track about 5 km long and up a bloody big hill and the campground didn't exist. 2nd time that's happened. So now I'll only go to ones that have reviews.

So I made my way down the hill to another one and google took me through a wheat field, past some bee hives and up an embankment to the road. It's ridiculous!

I'll probably go have a look at Blois tonight then make my way to Orleans tomorrow. I reckon I probably cycled 70 or 80km today which isn't bad seeing as I'm lazy.

First photo is the "bridge", second is the chateau, rest are the river.

Rennes

This morning I packed up and rode to Rennes. I found a canal and rode along the tow path. It was a really nice ride.

I made my way to the train station in Rennes and bought a ticket to Tours. Unfortunately only certain trains accept bikes so I had to wait around until 4:37. I haven't explored Rennes, but from what I've seen it is full of weirdos. I haven't felt comfortable here at all. People going through bins, a lady doing some weird interpretive dance with a large metal bollard, more drug dealers than you can poke a stick at.

The only thing of note that has happened here is that my bike near got chopped up. Outside the station there is work being done so there is a big metal colourbond fence around the work site. I had my bike leaning against it and I was sitting with my back up against it when a circular saw blade came tearing through about 20cm above the basket on my bike. Sparks were flying everywhere onto all my stuff. I jumped up and moved the bike before he got to it. What sort of stupid dummy just starts cutting without warning the dozens of people on the other side? Anyway, after a couple of hours he has a doorway through the fence.

I'm on the train to Le Mans now, then changing for the train to Tours. My bike is stowed vertically up against a wall which was not easy to do. I arrive at 7:45pm so will probably be wild camping tonight.

Feins

I found out where I am. There is a little hamlet nearby called Feins. I'm camped at the lake down the road. It is packed here. Not the campground but the lake. The car park has around 200 cars in it. Some people are picnicking where I am but most people are hiking around the lake. Most of them have those hiking sticks that look like ski stocks. I don't know what they are for or how they are better than a stick from a tree.

This morning I washed my clothes in a washing machine for the first time since I left. Then I read my book in the sun while the clothes dried, went for a swim in the lake and went for a ride part way around the lake. I was going to hire a windsurfer but there is not a breath of wind. Then I was going to hire a kayak but I'm glad I didn't because on my ride I discovered the creek I was going to explore turns into a drain not far up.

I rode into Feins to try to find a shop that's open. They have a church and a cemetery, but no shops. Lucky for me the pizza van just turned up! I did discover in Feins that I'm on the Paris-Brest-Paris cycle route. I also discovered that the little road back to the campground was actually a driveway with an unhappy lady gesticulating wildly at the end. Oops.

Heading to Rennes tomorrow and will catch a train to Tours if I can. The bike's making strange noises that sound really bad, so I might have to buy some earplugs.

Oh and I took a photo of a bee.