Europe 5 France

Europe 5 France

The rest day was just that, a rest. Visitors from Europe use to joke about New Zealand, that it was closed on the weekend, well Rural France runs a close second.

The day was heavily overcast, which felt like a thunderstorm looming, it proved to be so as the heavens opened and torrential rain proved all storm water drains inadequate.

I managed a walk through the square and a look in the large church which I called a cathedral before, very impressive stone work but like so many churches nowadays in need of some serious maintenance.

I ended up quite early back in my room and watched the Tour de France develop into a one team race, with Christopher Froome having a tight grip on the yellow Jersey. My expectations and my excitement for it was for a much closer race, with the final outcome in the balance right until next Sunday with the showdown at Alpe D'Huez. But unless Froome has a serious setback or crash, it looks a foregone conclusion. So my cancelling the pre booked beds at the alps because of the Cash Card delay, don't feel so bad now. 

Monday 20 July saw me back on the road and with still lots of cloud about the morning ride was cooler without the direct heat of the sun. The D396 took me out of town across the river La Marne. Then via Les Rivierel Henruel to Bussy Aux Bois and the D5 to Rosnay-L'Hopital. Through huge cropping farms into a large forested area with lakes at Dienville, with welcome shade as the sun is in full glory again. At Vendeuvre on to the D79 to Le Grand Mallet, then a very long downhill through Essoyes and onto Mussy sur Seine. I Pass the place were Renoir worked for many years, not that I noticed any inspiring or outstanding landscapes, apart from a very large church. But hey! I continue through Charrey sur Seine and on to the D118 to my destination for the night at Montliot et Courselles, arriving at 3 pm in 31*C after biking 110 km and finding the hotel closed until 5pm.

I end up down the road a little in a bar, with one other customer and the owner sitting on the veranda, having a drink. The customer Bernard, knows all about the All Blacks and predicts the All Blacks will be beaten in the World Cup final by France ! A lot of this is in sign language and with the help of pen and paper, Bernard even got up and did some version of the haka! The 2 hours waiting for the hotel access passed quite quickly, although I would have  liked my shower first. When it did open it is quite basic, run by a nice young couple, relying on overnight stays from travellers coming off the main road nearby. They do have a basic restaurant with a set menu and  provide breakfast consisting of 2 bits of French bread, one croissant some condiments and coffee. It was adequate, and at a reasonable price. They filled my thermos with hot water for along the way with a friendly smile. One of the things I enjoy most of all when I am on the road, is to find a nice spot for a break and sit down and enjoy the place I am at, make a cup of fresh coffee, from the thermos flask and my paper filter holder and freshly ground coffee I carry. Usually I would pass a boulangerie to buy a nice pan-au-resin or some other delicacy to have with the coffee. So it is not all hard riding and suffering as you might expect or I try to make you believe!

War memorials a plenty here.

I avoid all main highways and France has a huge intricate network of secondary, third and fourth class roads, which are generally fine to ride on, virtually no traffic, bar some large farm machinery, and vary in size from a NZ state highway size with marked lanes, to single lane access ways barely wide enough for a car. All tar sealed, the very narrow ones, sometimes a bit rough or cobbled but overall very smooth and in this area quite undulating. One is never more than 10 km away from a village or hamlet so one is not really isolated, as we know it in NZ or Australia. This is not the way to travel in a car, but certainly the best way to travel by bicycle.

Coincidentally I travel close to the source of some great rivers. First of all the Meuse or Maas as we call her in Holland, today the Seine, which flows through Paris and soon I will make my aquaintance with the Rhone.

Tuesday, 21 July,

I am away by 8 am, with clear blue skies and it promises to be another hot day. The ride today takes me, again, along very small lanes and farm roads, through tiny hamlets and long forest roads. The disadvantage is that I did not come across a single boulangerie today, so my coffee break was accompanied by a stale muesli bar.

I did enjoy the quiet roads though and was surprised by seeing several live foxes and one dead one, killed on the road overnight I suspect. Also a couple of weasels chasing each other and making interesting squealing noises, they were obviously enjoying the chase, nearly running under my front wheel. I enjoyed some very long down hills, the reward for climbing those false flat roads of this area. For the ones that follow my progress on the map, the ride today took me through Etrochy, Cerilly, Balot,Nestle-etMassoult, Savoisy, Etais, Fain-les-Montbard, Venarey-les-Laumes, Posanges, Saint Thiboult, Eguilly where I crossed the A6 the autoroute to the sun, then onto Chailly-sur-Armacon, Chatellenot, Clomot and to my hotel in Arnay-le-Duc

Riding 107 km in max 36*C heat, arriving here just after 2.30 pm.

To date after 8 biking days and including a bit of sightseeing while waiting for the Card, I have covered 1,015 km and climbed 5,726 meters so far. Coming from below sea level in Holland, it is generally up hill to the Alps, but obviously not just climbing, otherwise I will have reached the moon by the time I get there. Later on I will do the subtraction of descents to see the actual hight difference as we go.

That is purely for the interested parties, for some others it might be useful to help you go to sleep.

As far as audience goes, Google gives me all this data, where the blog is accessed from, so far on this journey from Holland, NZ, UAS, Belgium, Germany, Canada, France, Australia and Belarus !

That reminds me, I was woken up in the middle of the night by a racket my iPad was making! Ellen Bracx, nee Cohen somehow got her wires crossed, or her fingers in a knot, and face-called me from
Canada ! My pad is on to use my alarm clock, and to re-charge it overnight Ellen, thanks for the call !