Thursday and Friday

Thursday and Friday

Thursday was a day of rest!! And gee did I need it. I stayed with a host called Susan who comes from England but has made France her home for decades. Her home was utterly delightful. I had an apartment all too myself which was incredible. Susan is a cycle tourist too, and a tandem rider in to the mix too so we had much to share and reflect on. She had a cat at behaved like a dog and a dog that behaved like a cat!
In the morning I tried to map out my next week as I knew I had to be in certain places at certain times to ensure I could connect with colleagues in Australia. That done is strolled in to the gorgeous village of Beaugency -picture perfect French village. I can see why Susan made this her home – just beautiful. As she had ridden the Eurovelo 6 route a few times she was able to guide me through the route, with countless expressions of ‘you cannot get lost, it’s sign posted all the way…’. Note to self – trust your instincts when someone makes it sound so easy-peasy!
During the night it bucketed down with thunder and lightening so I awoke to a very damp morning with more rain before I set off for Sully Sur Le Loire. I found the EV6 easily but that was about the only highlight of the day! I am not ashamed to say I wept today – a combination of fatigue, general weariness, getting utterly lost (….’you can’t get lost…!!), then puncture after puncture after puncture. The first 20k on the veloway would have been easier in a boat! After some serious downpours of late the track which was hard gravel was submerged in large sections. Bob did not appreciate it one bit! Neither did I. Then the signs disappeared so I got lost going in to Orleans then …bang! Blew the back tyre. I found a coffee shop and asked for a bike shop which luckily was only a K away so I walked to it, filthy wheel in hand to get things fixed. The bike was a complete mess, as was I and the bags, one of which of course I couldn’t take off as it’s held on with cable ties!! This saga took an hour! Having got out of Orleans I then swapped my Maps to ‘car’ which then proceeded to take me to a motorway despite it being set to avoid that! Then I punctured! So I stopped for a bite to eat and try pull myself together. I had done about 30k in 3.5 hours. I got utterly lost soon after restarting. And punctured again. My cassette had worn loose and my bottom bracket which I did a temporary fix on day 1 in France gave up the ghost. So I walked the last 3k to my hosts. I was feeling pretty fragile! A hot shower and a cup of tea helped 😊. I spent the next two hours washing, fixing and generally giving some TLC to Bob! My hosts were so understanding and I appreciated not having to cook or camp tonight. 70k in 6 hours tells its own story. I had a huge sense of disappointment as I wanted the Loire valley veloway to be such a wonderfully calming experience…,it was anything but. And for other cyclists reading this you’ll know that feeling of just not trusting your bike any more – that it seems to be on a self destruct road and you can’t get off it. It takes all the joy out of riding when you’re constantly wondering ‘what next’. Tomorrow I can only but hope is better. I need new tyres and new tubes for sure….priority number one when I get to Sancerre tomorrow! I’m going to bed utterly exhausted and to be honest, homesick and sick of travelling! But I also know that’s just part of the tapestry that is cycle touring. France has thrown up challenges every day and so far I’ve coped – today was a step too far and it showed!
Tx