Often a European tour involves churches, galleries, landmarks and other points of interest. This year I decided to concentrate on laundries and their development in Europe. After all, I have been to Igors in New Orleans where the beer was cold, the band was hot, you could shoot some pool and wash and dry your smalls all at the same time. I have to report that Europe has not in any way approached this American dream. There is room for some entrepreneurial action on the clothes washing front.
Tomorrow we leave for another three day ride, ending up in Romania on June 30. Since leaving Austria we have spent a day in Slovakia, and four in Hungary. Beers are a lot cheaper as is food, provided we steer clear of the main tourist areas. There are several stark differences. One is with the people, women in particular. All the young women seem to have legs that just go on and on, hair that is blonde and long and bodies to suit. The youth is edgy, lots of tattoos and piercings and wild clothing combinations. Another is with the houses - mainly unadorned, grey and utlitarian. Not a flower box in sight, although vegies still abound along with fruit orchards. There also seems to be more household dogs and the woodheaps are neither as big nor as neatly stacked. A third is the roads - pretty bloody awful, with drivers to match. We have officially entered Skoda territory, just waiting for my first Trabant sighting.
We have experienced sudden and violent storms in Slovakia and Hungary - winds, thunder and lightning, rain - each night. There seems to be little or no warning for these weather events. During the day we are riding in 35 to 37 degree heat, so a few of the folks are finding conditions hard.
We have not seen many animals at all, unless you count any number of white horses, and caged chooks panting in their corrugated iron shed. It did have windows though, which is how we got to see them. I read today that horse meat is on the menu more and more often and that most of the flesh comes from Eastern Europe.
As for wildlife, I have seen two snakes, only one of which was dead, several pairs of white swans with cygnets, an eagle and chick, more storks, a dead fox and several dead moles. We have also seen a number of other wild life specimens, all shapes and sizes, all ages, and I guess it is fair to say all sexes. There was the man fishing but we could not readily tell which rod he was holding; the Reubenesque woman sitting on the picnic table; the man laying full length on top of his boat, legs splayed, facing the bank; but my favourite was the woman zipping along in her dinghy, the small outboard puttering and a large grey Schnauzer snuggled up beside her.
Bratislava is a pretty place with cobbled streets and grand buildings, but on a small scale. Budapest is a city where very grand buildings of all styles vie for space between the statuary, roads, tram and train lines. It bustles and hustles, sirens scream all day long and traffic is wild. I was told today that Hungarians like animal husbandry and raiding other countries, but it seems that Hungary has been raided more than it has raided, at least in recent times. There is evidence of the bullets and shrapnel from WWII on some of the buildings although many were completely destroyed along with all the bridges during that period.
We are now officially halfway. I believe I have cycled 2003 kms, and time-wise, we have 23 days to go.
Please send me an email with your news: dogsdelight@hotmail.com will reach me. There is also a changing slide show of pics of our trip at http://www.paristoistanbul.com/ - not many though.
Technical information...
June 23: Vienna to Bratislava, 90 kms, about four and a half hours, hot
June 24: Bratislava to Gyor, 110 kms, about four and a half hours, hot, really our last glimpse of the Danube although we officially leave it at Budapest
June 25: Gyor to Estergon, 100 kms, about four hours, hot with a 5 km climb
June 26 & 27: Estergon to Budapest, 57 kms, about three and a half hours, hot with a 15 km climb to start up a heavily wooded road and then a 20 km downhill - fantastic, although the trip into the city was not quite as scenic, peaceful or enjoyable.
Saturday 28 June 2008
Sunday 22 June 2008
Five days on the trot
The days are flashing by in a spin of wheels, tent erections and laughter. Even if we complain about the food and its paucity of sustaining components, the noisy camp grounds, the lack of a good washing machine, the inability to find an internet cafe, the rain, the heat, the flies, the diversions along the path, the stinging nettles when you fall off, the price of an apple juice in Austria, the opening hours of supermarkets, the price of iced coffee in a cafe, the price of a beer that´s cold...we still laugh, often, ridiculously and spontaneously.
One thing that took the smiles off our faces was a side-trip to Mauthausen, a concentration camp where the prisoners of war were literally worked to death in the granite quarry. A photo of a young Italian man, dressed in his best suit, perched atop a hillside in his home town, his little white dog by his side, was my poignant moment. What did this man, and the other 120,000 plus thousand men who perished in the camp´s confines as a result of starvation, overwork and cruelty, ever do to deserve such a fate.
The villages we ride through are snapshots of daily life, a panoply of concerted industry: gardening, tending the animals in the barns, mowing and harvesting the fields, tying back the vines, picking the cherries and walnuts, shopping prior to midday for the two-hour close-down lunch break.
We have ridden the Danube valley in all its changing states: narrow high-wooded and rocky cliffs sprawling rich valley land dotted with villages and farms; terraced hillsides; barges pushing loads of crushed metal and cars and all manner of goods; then yesterday, pleasure boats, naked frolickers and fishermen. Tomorrow we leave Austria for a brief sojourn in Slovakia, then onto Hungary for a few days. New currency, new languages, new riding conditions.
I cannot always upload pics to the blog but there´s a great collection at http://www.tourdafrique.com/orientexpress/multimedia.html Check them out. You need to click on each country to see the progress.
More bloody gondolas, or technicals...
June 16: rest day in Regensberg
June 17: Regensberg to Straubing, 60 kms and about three hours
June 18: Straubing to Passau, 100 kms, four and three quarter hours
June 19: Passau to Linz, 105 kms, five and a quarter hours
June 20: Linz to Emmersdorf, 109 kms, five hours
June 21: Emmersdorf to Vienna, 120 kms, six hours, hot and sunny
One thing that took the smiles off our faces was a side-trip to Mauthausen, a concentration camp where the prisoners of war were literally worked to death in the granite quarry. A photo of a young Italian man, dressed in his best suit, perched atop a hillside in his home town, his little white dog by his side, was my poignant moment. What did this man, and the other 120,000 plus thousand men who perished in the camp´s confines as a result of starvation, overwork and cruelty, ever do to deserve such a fate.
The villages we ride through are snapshots of daily life, a panoply of concerted industry: gardening, tending the animals in the barns, mowing and harvesting the fields, tying back the vines, picking the cherries and walnuts, shopping prior to midday for the two-hour close-down lunch break.
We have ridden the Danube valley in all its changing states: narrow high-wooded and rocky cliffs sprawling rich valley land dotted with villages and farms; terraced hillsides; barges pushing loads of crushed metal and cars and all manner of goods; then yesterday, pleasure boats, naked frolickers and fishermen. Tomorrow we leave Austria for a brief sojourn in Slovakia, then onto Hungary for a few days. New currency, new languages, new riding conditions.
I cannot always upload pics to the blog but there´s a great collection at http://www.tourdafrique.com/orientexpress/multimedia.html Check them out. You need to click on each country to see the progress.
More bloody gondolas, or technicals...
June 16: rest day in Regensberg
June 17: Regensberg to Straubing, 60 kms and about three hours
June 18: Straubing to Passau, 100 kms, four and three quarter hours
June 19: Passau to Linz, 105 kms, five and a quarter hours
June 20: Linz to Emmersdorf, 109 kms, five hours
June 21: Emmersdorf to Vienna, 120 kms, six hours, hot and sunny
This petty pace creeps on from day to day
The birds in Europe are early risers, so, naturally, are bike riders. I usually wake about 5:30 and stumble out of my tent round six-thirty dressed for a day in the saddle. It´s over to the ablution block, then back for packing. Packing is always challenging, as we all know, so innovations are always welcome. After the bag is packed it is thrown out of the tent, the bedroll is deflated and rolled and the tent zipped. Then it´s tent de-erection time. The tent is always wet so it gets rolled, stuffed in a plastic bag and wedged into the bag. Then it´s breakfast at 7:30: sometimes porridge, mostly cereal, bread and jam, sometimes yoghurt and fruit. Occasionally we have scrambled or boiled eggs and bacon. Clean the teeth, wait for the team, then pedal off around eight.
It´s morning tea about 10:30 - purchased in a cafe of course, a good chance to sit down and enjoy the camaraderie of the group. Them more peddling until we locate the lunch truck, prominently placed on the roadside, usually marked by the aluminum ladder tied with red flagging tape . More bread and spread, maybe a whiff of protein, occasionally some fruit, and a refill of the water bottles. The roll is marked to make sure no-one is lost or strayed. Then it´s off again, until we reach our final destination. On rare occasions we stop again for an afternoon hot chocolate, or iced coffee, depending on the weather and the availability of tantalising offerings.
In camp, we collect our day bag, set up our tents, head for the showers, wash out nicks and stuff, and maybe have time for a quick beer prior to dinner. Also before dinner we have a rider meeting when we are given our directions for the following day´s ride. Then it´s into the tent about nine, a bit of map reading and clothes sorting for the morning, then off to sleep, usually like the dead notwithstanding bladder demands and working out how to get it done without getting saturated from the rain or the mist or the heavy dew, until the cycle begins again in a few short hours.
News
We have had two more accidents since I last updated the blog. Neil is in hospital in a serious condition with a broken pelvis and Don is leaving tomorrow after breaking his collar bone today.
It´s morning tea about 10:30 - purchased in a cafe of course, a good chance to sit down and enjoy the camaraderie of the group. Them more peddling until we locate the lunch truck, prominently placed on the roadside, usually marked by the aluminum ladder tied with red flagging tape . More bread and spread, maybe a whiff of protein, occasionally some fruit, and a refill of the water bottles. The roll is marked to make sure no-one is lost or strayed. Then it´s off again, until we reach our final destination. On rare occasions we stop again for an afternoon hot chocolate, or iced coffee, depending on the weather and the availability of tantalising offerings.
In camp, we collect our day bag, set up our tents, head for the showers, wash out nicks and stuff, and maybe have time for a quick beer prior to dinner. Also before dinner we have a rider meeting when we are given our directions for the following day´s ride. Then it´s into the tent about nine, a bit of map reading and clothes sorting for the morning, then off to sleep, usually like the dead notwithstanding bladder demands and working out how to get it done without getting saturated from the rain or the mist or the heavy dew, until the cycle begins again in a few short hours.
News
We have had two more accidents since I last updated the blog. Neil is in hospital in a serious condition with a broken pelvis and Don is leaving tomorrow after breaking his collar bone today.
Tuesday 17 June 2008
Gastropods
It´s amazing how every day around 10:30 the need for some German apple cake takes hold and one must find a Konditorei and satisfy the hunger. So far, I have sampled four distinct apple cakes: a sweet cakey style with chunks of apple; a sour layered concoction of apple slices in a crumble shell; a sweet apple pie with icing on top; and a cake akin to zucchini cake made with loads of cinnamon and grated apple. All have been very welcome at the time, along with a large cup of hot chocolate or milk coffee and a restroom to die for when it comes to amenities and cleanliness.
Which gets me onto gastropods. In France there are red-ochre slugs as large as, if not bigger than, my index finger. One cyclist ran over one which caused him to fall off his bike, that´s how big they are. In Germany the slugs are browner and smaller, just like the snails, which are brown and modest in size, unlike their French counterparts which are huge and pale nougat in colour. I am sure there would only be a need for four or five if you wanted to prepare a meal with them.
And I suppose I should mention dogs. I don´t think the French dogs are happy as all those I came across were either on short leads or caged in small dog runs, snarly and barking. German dogs on the other hand, are more waggy and pesky, and some even snuggle up for a damned good ear rub, like Sally we met along the way when getting directions, or the Eggelstetten dogs arriving at the bar for a pre-soccer match drink. However, I have ordered a dog scarer to be delivered in Vienna, to cope with those Romanian dogs.
As we move further east, the cars are getting bigger. Ninety-nine per cent of cars in France are small - lots of Smart cars, for example, whereas on entering Bavaria, we are coming across more 4x4s, but still not nearly in the number we see in Australian suburbia. In France it is possible to purchase bio-fuel at regular service stations, as well, and just to make the comparison, unleaded is approximately €1.60.
We have travelled for three days along river valleys, surrounded by bucolic German endeavour. I am still gob-smacked by the firewood that each householder collects and stacks. On average, I would think there are 20 tonnes per household. The gardens are overflowing with all manner of vegetables, fruit orchards, large shady walnut trees and full-blooming roses in reds, crimsons, pinks, gold and creams. Each fills the air with perfume, a heady dose when mixed with the piles of silage in the farmyards and the sprayed-on liquid manure in the fields.
More technicals:
About 1,1790 kms, give or take a few, so we´re a quarter of the way there.
June 13: Ulm to Eggelstetten, 100 kms, about 5 and a half hours of zipping cycling
June 14: Eggelstetten to Kipfenberg, 95 kms, about 5 and a half hours of pleasant green fields ripping by and only a little rain
June 15: Kipfenberg to Regensburg, 105 kms along white gravel paths, again, 5 and a half hours or thereabouts, but tiring...course, we made up for that with a hearty meal and some wine at the Augustiner, a Biergarten not to be missed should you be by this way.
Which gets me onto gastropods. In France there are red-ochre slugs as large as, if not bigger than, my index finger. One cyclist ran over one which caused him to fall off his bike, that´s how big they are. In Germany the slugs are browner and smaller, just like the snails, which are brown and modest in size, unlike their French counterparts which are huge and pale nougat in colour. I am sure there would only be a need for four or five if you wanted to prepare a meal with them.
And I suppose I should mention dogs. I don´t think the French dogs are happy as all those I came across were either on short leads or caged in small dog runs, snarly and barking. German dogs on the other hand, are more waggy and pesky, and some even snuggle up for a damned good ear rub, like Sally we met along the way when getting directions, or the Eggelstetten dogs arriving at the bar for a pre-soccer match drink. However, I have ordered a dog scarer to be delivered in Vienna, to cope with those Romanian dogs.
As we move further east, the cars are getting bigger. Ninety-nine per cent of cars in France are small - lots of Smart cars, for example, whereas on entering Bavaria, we are coming across more 4x4s, but still not nearly in the number we see in Australian suburbia. In France it is possible to purchase bio-fuel at regular service stations, as well, and just to make the comparison, unleaded is approximately €1.60.
We have travelled for three days along river valleys, surrounded by bucolic German endeavour. I am still gob-smacked by the firewood that each householder collects and stacks. On average, I would think there are 20 tonnes per household. The gardens are overflowing with all manner of vegetables, fruit orchards, large shady walnut trees and full-blooming roses in reds, crimsons, pinks, gold and creams. Each fills the air with perfume, a heady dose when mixed with the piles of silage in the farmyards and the sprayed-on liquid manure in the fields.
More technicals:
About 1,1790 kms, give or take a few, so we´re a quarter of the way there.
June 13: Ulm to Eggelstetten, 100 kms, about 5 and a half hours of zipping cycling
June 14: Eggelstetten to Kipfenberg, 95 kms, about 5 and a half hours of pleasant green fields ripping by and only a little rain
June 15: Kipfenberg to Regensburg, 105 kms along white gravel paths, again, 5 and a half hours or thereabouts, but tiring...course, we made up for that with a hearty meal and some wine at the Augustiner, a Biergarten not to be missed should you be by this way.
Thursday 12 June 2008
The home of Kepler and Einstein
Another rest day, this time in a swish hotel in Ulm. We need it as the protein to carbs ratio in the menu has declined, so all the rest we can get is good. And because the Germans seem to run on bread, it´s hard to find a good sausage when you need it.
For those of you interested in wildlife sightings I have seen: a red squirrel with not much life left i
n it, a hedgehog in similar condition, a field of storks, a nest of storks complete with baby on a chimney, many hawks, kestrels, herons, ducks, white swans and geese, a pair of small deer-like creatures, some feral cats as well as cows with bells, goats and the odd sheep, all with tails.
We've had a couple of accidents: Marilyn from Canada broke an ankle yesterday so she and her husband are flying home tomorrow; and Neil, our four-score and more year-old American, tumbled the day before and required x-rays and a day´s rest, but he´s fine and in good form, as usual.
We've been on the Donau now for two days and the topography is constantly changing. Yesterday it was fields of barley, corn, spinach and canola, which interestingly, the Germans, like their French neighbours, do not keep behind fences. The first day it was towering limestone cliffs, some fields and lots of up and downs as we crossed the river, re-crossed it and climbed up and down its banks. The constant is lots of trees, lots of water and a plethora of villages, all with their Bäckerie and Kaffee vendors. It rained again overnight, much Donner and Blitzen, and a few spots en route.
I ride in a small group most days: John Ross from Edmonton, Stewart from Poole, sometimes Bernice and Mike from Edmonton as well, Dan from Boston, Phillip from Ottawa, and maybe for a little while with others. I am definitely wining the red jersey with the white spots for being the last up the mountain, and our group seems always to be last in to the coffee shops, to lunch, to camp, to everything pretty much. But hey, it´s not a race, is it, and we´re seeing everything in just that much more detail than the speedsters.
More technicals:
June 9: Freiburg to Phoren, bloody big hill, 80 kms, 6 hours, sunshine and blue skies
June 10: Phoren to Sigmaringen, 95 kms, 5 and a half hours and about 500 metres of sneaky climbing
June 11: Sigmaringen to Ulm, 110 kms, 6 and a bit hours, flattish and even a tail-wind for awhile
Other highlights:
Every rest day I don the surgical gloves and get out the Chux wipes, borrow degreaser from Stewart and clean the back cassette, the front cassette, the chain, re-grease it all and wash down the bike frame. It is the rest day highlight, after the laundry, that is, which last night proved more entertainment than I could manage, but I´ll tell you about it another time.
For those of you interested in wildlife sightings I have seen: a red squirrel with not much life left i
n it, a hedgehog in similar condition, a field of storks, a nest of storks complete with baby on a chimney, many hawks, kestrels, herons, ducks, white swans and geese, a pair of small deer-like creatures, some feral cats as well as cows with bells, goats and the odd sheep, all with tails.We've had a couple of accidents: Marilyn from Canada broke an ankle yesterday so she and her husband are flying home tomorrow; and Neil, our four-score and more year-old American, tumbled the day before and required x-rays and a day´s rest, but he´s fine and in good form, as usual.
We've been on the Donau now for two days and the topography is constantly changing. Yesterday it was fields of barley, corn, spinach and canola, which interestingly, the Germans, like their French neighbours, do not keep behind fences. The first day it was towering limestone cliffs, some fields and lots of up and downs as we crossed the river, re-crossed it and climbed up and down its banks. The constant is lots of trees, lots of water and a plethora of villages, all with their Bäckerie and Kaffee vendors. It rained again overnight, much Donner and Blitzen, and a few spots en route.
I ride in a small group most days: John Ross from Edmonton, Stewart from Poole, sometimes Bernice and Mike from Edmonton as well, Dan from Boston, Phillip from Ottawa, and maybe for a little while with others. I am definitely wining the red jersey with the white spots for being the last up the mountain, and our group seems always to be last in to the coffee shops, to lunch, to camp, to everything pretty much. But hey, it´s not a race, is it, and we´re seeing everything in just that much more detail than the speedsters.
More technicals:
June 9: Freiburg to Phoren, bloody big hill, 80 kms, 6 hours, sunshine and blue skies
June 10: Phoren to Sigmaringen, 95 kms, 5 and a half hours and about 500 metres of sneaky climbing
June 11: Sigmaringen to Ulm, 110 kms, 6 and a bit hours, flattish and even a tail-wind for awhile
Other highlights:
Every rest day I don the surgical gloves and get out the Chux wipes, borrow degreaser from Stewart and clean the back cassette, the front cassette, the chain, re-grease it all and wash down the bike frame. It is the rest day highlight, after the laundry, that is, which last night proved more entertainment than I could manage, but I´ll tell you about it another time.
Sunday 8 June 2008
Die Luft ist kuhl und es dunkelt...
...und ruhig fließt der Rhein, the wide fast river we crossed today which marked the border between France and Germany. We left Munster this morning, a very Germanic town in Alsace, where the cobbles rattle your brain matter and the rain just keeps coming, like it has pretty much all the time we have been in France. It is fine today and I even saw the sun´s crepuscular rays pierce the clouds, ever so fleetingly, but it does prove that the sun is still there above us somewhere.
Remember when you woke on a Saturday morning and it was grey and raining and after you did the messages and so on, you settled in for a day in front of the fire with the papers, the footy on 774, the osso bucco simmering away and the teapot close by? Well, that is the type of weather we have had - mist, sleet, thunderstorms, misty rain, wet rain, heavy rain, continuous rain. As you can imagine, this is something very new for a lass from Melbourne. Sure I have ridden in the rain, for half and hour or so, but never ever for eight hours, and then some, and following that ordeal set up a tent in a dripping campground and huddled under a picnic gazebo to eat dinner. The food is good, though. Not a pumpkin sandwich in sight.
The perfection of the paint-by-numbers French countryside with its rolling hills and narrow-streeted villages, where the stone houses nest in valleys and spill geraniums and roses onto the street, has given way to the three-storey pitched-roof farmhouses with stacks of precision-laid firewood and regulated vegetable patches where men in overalls clip trees and pull weeds.
Today we got lost. How fortuitous. A small village with one place to eat. We were treated to creamy white asparagus soup, a 50cl tall glass of non-alcoholic beer that is worth giving up the real stuff for, and potatoes, any way we wanted them. Frau even brought an extra bowl of the soup over and invited us to eat more.
The kindness of strangers is infectious. Yesterday prior to the ascent of the Col de la Schluct (in about 10 degrees, rain, mist and fog) a woman who lives on the route came out of her house with hot coffee and chocolate and insisted on having her photo taken with us because she was very proud to know that we were doing a bike ride from Paris to Istanbul.
It´s a rest in a classy hotel in Freiburg tomorrow - more laundry, more bike maintenance and brake pad checking, more tent setting up, this time in the basement garage to dry it out. On Monday we are off on another day´s climbing to Donaueschingen where the Danube begins. Then it´s onto the Donau Radweg until Budapest.
For the technically minded, here are some stats ( please note that they are all approximate as my computer has not worked once, unlike me):
June 1: Paris to a farmyard near Provins, 105 km, fine, sunny, 5 hrs TITS (time in the saddle)
June 2: farmyard to Troyes, 90km, wet, 7 hrs
June 3: Troyes to Chaumont, 110 km, partly fine, 5 hrs
June 4: rest in Chaumont, wet
June 5: Chaumont to Xertigny, 136 km, seriously wet, 8.5
June 6: Xertigny to Munster, 88 km, wet, 5.5 hrs
June 7: Munster to Freiburg, 70 km, grey, mainly fine, 3.5 hrs
Remember when you woke on a Saturday morning and it was grey and raining and after you did the messages and so on, you settled in for a day in front of the fire with the papers, the footy on 774, the osso bucco simmering away and the teapot close by? Well, that is the type of weather we have had - mist, sleet, thunderstorms, misty rain, wet rain, heavy rain, continuous rain. As you can imagine, this is something very new for a lass from Melbourne. Sure I have ridden in the rain, for half and hour or so, but never ever for eight hours, and then some, and following that ordeal set up a tent in a dripping campground and huddled under a picnic gazebo to eat dinner. The food is good, though. Not a pumpkin sandwich in sight.
The perfection of the paint-by-numbers French countryside with its rolling hills and narrow-streeted villages, where the stone houses nest in valleys and spill geraniums and roses onto the street, has given way to the three-storey pitched-roof farmhouses with stacks of precision-laid firewood and regulated vegetable patches where men in overalls clip trees and pull weeds.
 |
| Crossing the Rhein |
The kindness of strangers is infectious. Yesterday prior to the ascent of the Col de la Schluct (in about 10 degrees, rain, mist and fog) a woman who lives on the route came out of her house with hot coffee and chocolate and insisted on having her photo taken with us because she was very proud to know that we were doing a bike ride from Paris to Istanbul.
It´s a rest in a classy hotel in Freiburg tomorrow - more laundry, more bike maintenance and brake pad checking, more tent setting up, this time in the basement garage to dry it out. On Monday we are off on another day´s climbing to Donaueschingen where the Danube begins. Then it´s onto the Donau Radweg until Budapest.
For the technically minded, here are some stats ( please note that they are all approximate as my computer has not worked once, unlike me):
June 1: Paris to a farmyard near Provins, 105 km, fine, sunny, 5 hrs TITS (time in the saddle)
June 2: farmyard to Troyes, 90km, wet, 7 hrs
June 3: Troyes to Chaumont, 110 km, partly fine, 5 hrs
June 4: rest in Chaumont, wet
June 5: Chaumont to Xertigny, 136 km, seriously wet, 8.5
June 6: Xertigny to Munster, 88 km, wet, 5.5 hrs
June 7: Munster to Freiburg, 70 km, grey, mainly fine, 3.5 hrs
Thursday 5 June 2008
We're in clover now
Riding along the Champs Elysees and around the Arc de Triomphe was a buzz. Then it was out on the N19, hottish, flattish and longish to a farmyard camping ground. Next day, probably fab sights but couldn't see a thing through the mist and the rain. Day three fab scenery that I could see, including those hills that seemed to never end, and we're not even climbing yet. Grenouille merde!
In Chaumont, so called because it's a town called Chau on top of the equivalent of the north face of the Himalayas, the Mont bit, to which we must ascend to wash our stinky biking gear, eat, look around and enjoy our day of rest. Just getting up is like five trips up the La Trobe St hill. Hope it's improving my leg tone: something has to soon.
The highlights are the company and the scenery. Lots of "Oh yahs" otherwise known as Canadians for all those who have enjoyed Fargo, who know a thing or two about bikes and biking along with all manner of other stuff. I was with two of them plus a Brit and an American when we pulled into a town, sopping wet, and ordered chocolate chaudes to warm us up. Monsieur, a fellow patron, shouted us our drinks as a bon voyage gesture. I love the French. They are so polite to cyclists on the road, yes even FBTs (****ing big trucks) and smile and laugh good humouredly at my pathetic Francaise.
Riding all day in the rain on day two was instructive - it taught me how to hurtle downhill in a downpour, vision afforded only by a fluoro clad cyclist hurtling down before me. It also taught me that tying the tent fly securely is important and that newspaper can dry shoes. I say 'can' advisedly. I slept soundly through the donkey's repeated braying, the five hour thunderstorm and the rooster's crowing on the first night and pretty much repeated the performance on day two. But the FBTs roaring past last night seemed to keep me awake. Pity really as donkeys make better noises.
For the parents reading this I have a new phrase for you: "as clean as Singapore" which you can use in relation to requests about how you want rooms to be left, for example.
As Bill, a kindly American said on day one, we're in clover now. Only 3700 kms to go!
In Chaumont, so called because it's a town called Chau on top of the equivalent of the north face of the Himalayas, the Mont bit, to which we must ascend to wash our stinky biking gear, eat, look around and enjoy our day of rest. Just getting up is like five trips up the La Trobe St hill. Hope it's improving my leg tone: something has to soon.
The highlights are the company and the scenery. Lots of "Oh yahs" otherwise known as Canadians for all those who have enjoyed Fargo, who know a thing or two about bikes and biking along with all manner of other stuff. I was with two of them plus a Brit and an American when we pulled into a town, sopping wet, and ordered chocolate chaudes to warm us up. Monsieur, a fellow patron, shouted us our drinks as a bon voyage gesture. I love the French. They are so polite to cyclists on the road, yes even FBTs (****ing big trucks) and smile and laugh good humouredly at my pathetic Francaise.
Riding all day in the rain on day two was instructive - it taught me how to hurtle downhill in a downpour, vision afforded only by a fluoro clad cyclist hurtling down before me. It also taught me that tying the tent fly securely is important and that newspaper can dry shoes. I say 'can' advisedly. I slept soundly through the donkey's repeated braying, the five hour thunderstorm and the rooster's crowing on the first night and pretty much repeated the performance on day two. But the FBTs roaring past last night seemed to keep me awake. Pity really as donkeys make better noises.
For the parents reading this I have a new phrase for you: "as clean as Singapore" which you can use in relation to requests about how you want rooms to be left, for example.
As Bill, a kindly American said on day one, we're in clover now. Only 3700 kms to go!
Sunday 1 June 2008
We're ready to roll
How did it get to be May 31 already? I bet if I was a kid and it was my birthday it would still be six months away. But I'm not. Pity I acted like one when all those marvellous opportunities for riding presented themselves since I first had this 'good' idea to join a European bike tour. So, there's no longer any hiding to be had, the truth will out in about ten hours.
I thought this was a clean-living tour so I was a tad surprised when I overheard the hotel staff explaining to a couple of chaps in our goup who had only just met that yes, they would have to share the double bed as there were no more rooms with single beds. I don't think they thought the staff were serious as they took the key and went unprotesting to their room, but they were down soon enough and sat waiting for another allocation. I finally got my key (I mean who's ever hung around all day in a hotel lobby anywhere, let alone Paris, for an hour and a half waiting for a room?) so I grabbed the bags, the spare tyres - the bike's that is - and pounded up to the eight floor and slotted the key in, pushed open the door and there saw what seemed like a very naked male bottom, atttached to legs and torso of course, lying across the only bed in the room. The bottom's owner didn't seem all that happy to have me as a roommate, and I wasn't so keen myself as there didn't seem to be an awful lot of room left on the bed. However, the hotel staff were very understanding and didn't charge me for the extra and indeed found me another room in barely forty minutes. I didn't like to say anything to them, but it does have two single beds in it so I'm thinking that there is a hotel fairy who just changes the bedding arrangements in rooms willy nilly as part of a delightful but little heard of Parisian tradition.
I'm hoping the fairy will materialise in my tent tomorrow night complete with bed, doona and pillow but I suspect the only thing to materialsie will be me, and I will snuggle into the Swedish Princess and will not stir again until hearing the melodic morning songs of French sheeeeeeps.
I thought this was a clean-living tour so I was a tad surprised when I overheard the hotel staff explaining to a couple of chaps in our goup who had only just met that yes, they would have to share the double bed as there were no more rooms with single beds. I don't think they thought the staff were serious as they took the key and went unprotesting to their room, but they were down soon enough and sat waiting for another allocation. I finally got my key (I mean who's ever hung around all day in a hotel lobby anywhere, let alone Paris, for an hour and a half waiting for a room?) so I grabbed the bags, the spare tyres - the bike's that is - and pounded up to the eight floor and slotted the key in, pushed open the door and there saw what seemed like a very naked male bottom, atttached to legs and torso of course, lying across the only bed in the room. The bottom's owner didn't seem all that happy to have me as a roommate, and I wasn't so keen myself as there didn't seem to be an awful lot of room left on the bed. However, the hotel staff were very understanding and didn't charge me for the extra and indeed found me another room in barely forty minutes. I didn't like to say anything to them, but it does have two single beds in it so I'm thinking that there is a hotel fairy who just changes the bedding arrangements in rooms willy nilly as part of a delightful but little heard of Parisian tradition.
I'm hoping the fairy will materialise in my tent tomorrow night complete with bed, doona and pillow but I suspect the only thing to materialsie will be me, and I will snuggle into the Swedish Princess and will not stir again until hearing the melodic morning songs of French sheeeeeeps.
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