Un jour de repos

*Un jour de repos – Monday *

Put simply….I did bugger all Monday…,when in France….🤣. Can’t say I missed anything, as well, most things were….yep, you got it ….closed. I truly cannot understand how this economy works at all….because no one seems to work at all! I’m sure that’s simply not true, but to the untrained eye one is left scratching your head pondering how anyone makes any money. France has truly enthralled me with what is on offer to see, but it’s exasperated me in terms of getting access to basic things……France was the one country I actually ran out of water in and could not find a soul to help me find a tap….this was Sunday last week when central France has a siesta for…the whole day! Then they take Monday off to recover!

So other than getting a few things in preparation for not being able to get them tomorrow, I stayed in my room. Read. Relaxed. Sorted, then re-sorted stuff, offloaded some stuff, bought flights and insurance, and generally tried to get organised for the final week in France before the eye watering expense of Switzerland 🇨🇭.
I did get to continue to listen to my favourite on line psych, Alan Robarge, talk about self comforting…excellent podcast.

And no rest day is complete without a dollop of Bessels book!

_Traumatised people chronically feel unsafe inside their bodies: The past is alive in the form of gnawing interior discomfort. Their bodies are constantly bombarded by visceral warning signs, and, in an attempt to control these processes, they often become expert at ignoring their gut feelings and in numbing awareness of what is played out inside. They learn to hide from their selves.” (p.97) Bessel A. van der Kolk, The Body Keeps the Score:

When I awoke Tuesday morning (having been up past midnight in a teleconference call) I had a familiar feeling of emotional tension – that uncomfortable burst of electric feeling I had so often experienced in Adelaide, a visceral feeling of unease. I think yesterday’s down time and reflections re-triggered me a bit.

Well today’s ride was the longest in a while, and nearly all of it along various canals and parts of the Loire. See the two videos in this blog entry…..it was in places very challenging indeed. I clocked 120ks overall. It was tough on bike and rider, but somehow the Ks clicked down and we survived. Well… I did, albeit battered and a bit bruised. Bob….well Bob is disintegrating on a daily basis but refuses to give in. Everything came loose at one point today, panniers fell off, derailleur got choked with grass and flying twigs, and things got stuck in wheels! The main problem is the freehub/pawls have started to disintegrate, so I’m nursing Bob hopefully to Zurich to get a new rear wheel …I hope! If not I’ll have to rethink how to do a work-around! I think that’s the last of the really tough sections. Whilst the EV6 is predominantly gravel and tarmac footpaths , today wasn’t following that track, but the Maps version of Paris-Roubaix along the canals of central France. And as someone who has experienced the torture of the Hell of the North, today came a close second!! I arrived at the evening accommodation to find it….closed, bar two very hungry cats! I waited for an hour then decided to try and locate an open door which I found in the upstairs part of the farmhouse….this appeared to be a vacant room for rent so I decided to stay! As it turns out it was my room – the owner appeared a few hours later, as if it was perfectly ok to leave guests to work out their accommodation on their own, mumbled something about breakfast and disappeared again, only to resurface in the morning seeking cash as she had no credit card machine. Whoops….I had no cash!! So I got her to drop me to an ATM in the nearby town – that was an experience as her ‘car’ was one of those weir lawnmowers with four wheels – they have two seats, forward and reverse, and not enough power to pull the skin off custard! Hilarious fun, noisy as hell and slow as a snail!

Wednesday was a wonderful day of riding. Rolling hills, tracks through vineyards exploding with autumnal colours, and canal paths for the whole day. I stopped for lunch in the village green, which was of course utterly deserted bar two old cyclists on electric bikes who like he had stopped for lunch. We had a sort of conversation about cycling, and they told me about going to the Barossa in south Australia 😊. After they left I lay on the grass under a tree and simply stopped. It was 24 degrees. The birds were singing. There was no urban noise at all. Instead of belting down food then rushing to my next stop, I stopped. And it was delightful!

I’m staying in Chalon Sur Soane today and tomorrow as I have a 3am conference call to Aus and I’m not cycling after that! After that I push on north east to the border with Switzerland 🇨🇭 😊