The majority of my bicycle voyage was marked by the shelter I found during the rain, and the resulting strange encounters.
Day 2 27 Avril 2014
95.2 km
Sancerre---> Sully Sur Loire
My first morning on the Loire was beautiful and breathtaking. To my great pleasure, the nature stretched as far as my eyes could see and all I could hear was the chansons of birds and the flow of the river. There was not a single person around to disturb this nirvana I had discovered. After that, I inevitably found my first taste of reality.
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| Ships n' storm clouds |
It's no secret that I'm very idealistic and often put myself in situations that require solutions. This is no exception. When planning my trip I always figured 100 km = 5 hours = no problem. I was thinking I could finish early to late afternoon everyday which would leave me plenty of time to stop, relax, explore, and sortir a bit at night. Nice try, Kho. Maybe I can manage that velocity on a smooth, flat road sans luggage but it's a different game when you add gravel paths, camping equipment, and frequent stops to dodge dark storm clouds. I learned quickly which clouds meant seek shelter. In the real world, the 4 or maybe 5 hours turned out to actually be 6.5 hours to bike the 97 km.
Just in case my delusions weren't enough to teach me a leçon, a never ending rain cloud rolled in when I was still 10 km from my campsite. I had no choice but to discover just how chilly camping in an April rain can be. It's cold enough that I never, in fact, made it to my campsite. I was too physically and psychologically drained to walk there, let alone deduce its location on a map . Instead I went to the game tent where I was told there were heaters. Of course they didn't work but being close to the idea of a heater was enough for me. I hung up my wet clothes and put on every single piece of dry clothing I had packed. I was too tired to feel silly about pitching my tent inside the game tent as a German family loudly played pool and quietly judged me. Despite the cold cement below me, I slept like a rock. Or peut-etre, a frozen rock feeling nothing but pride after successfully completing a very difficult day.
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| My tent inside a tent, pas mal, eh? |
Day 3 28 Avril 2014
62.34 km
Sully Sur Loire ---> Orleans
Another day full of rain. I biked a bit in the morning, spent about three hours at a cafe waiting for a storm to pass, and as soon as it did, I biked like a maniac until I found another storm. The second one caught me absolutely in the middle of nowhere. Thanks to this, I got to try something that I had only seen happen in movies. There happened to be a farm with a "Propriété Privée" sign but I didn't want to get drenched so I ignored the sign and made myself comfortable in the garage next to a tractor. Based on every failm I had ever seen, I was prepared to either 1) get chased by a man with a shotgun, or, 2) get invited inside for un cafe. In my case, neither of the two happened. A man arrived with a truck and looked at me with a questioning smile. I nervously (and poorly) explained that I was there for shelter and would leave when the rain passed. He didn't understand the first time, but after my second desperate attempt at a french explanation he shrugged with a, "D'accord," before disappearing inside.
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| Monty B with his new tractor friend. |
After that, I got my first tire crevee as I arrived in Orleans. Because of this, I decided to blow off my camping reservation 16 km away so I could buy a new bike tube the next morning while in the city. I found a hotel, ordered a pizza and wings, and slept for 14 hours.
Day 4 29 Avril 2014
10.25 km
Orleans--> Olivet
I was fresh and ready for a full day of biking. After fixing my tire and a quick bite to eat I was ready to roll. However, four unfortunate things happened. 1) Another flat tire 2) I got lost 3) Another flat tire 4) Another rainstorm.
Okay a hole in the tube can be patched, and a second trou can also be patched. When lost, I can get directions, but when it's pouring and I don't want my warmed clothes to get wet, I have no choice to stop. I found myself wrapped in my bike cover under a friendly looking tree of a parking lot containing a handful of motor homes. To my surprise this parking lot was not a campground, but instead somebody's home. In fact, a nice somebody. The woman invited me inside to stay dry and drink a coffee. Funnily enough, this woman told me that there was a campground nearby that just so happened to be the same campsite that I had made a reservation at the night before. However, I was not able to leave right away because I noticed that the son was watching the Simpsons in French. Can you believe that it was the episode when Homer stops going to church? My luck doesn't stop there, these folks even drove me to the campsite.
I made my way to Camping Olivet. Here, I spent my evening in the community room with the cyclopathes, a very interesting family of four who were taking four months to bike 4000 miles across the Loire and the Danube.
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| Me with the youngest cyclopathe after a petit lecon d'ukulele. |
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