| Day # | 15 | State of Legs | :-) |
| Distance (miles) | Distance (km) | Ascent (feet) | Ascent (metres) | Punctures | |
| Today | 43.4 miles | km | 791 feet | metres | 0 |
| Trip Totals | 588 miles | km | 17996 feet | metres | 0 |
| Today's Route |
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| Route So Far |
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Travelogue
When we got up today, it was raining moderately hard. Full waterproofs were put on before we left, even though our immediate goal was to get to the village boulangerie, only a few hundred metres away! And get there we did. M2 used her best high school French language skills to order us a couple of coffees and croissants praliné and we sat down at a table to enjoy them.
Another cyclist walked in and ordered at the counter. He was clearly British, so M1 said hello.
Now, it has been said that M1 and M2 are rather adventurous. Cycling hundreds of miles? Day after day? Up (stammer) h-h-h-h-hills?! Carrying and sleeping in a tent?! AT YOUR AGE?! Mon Dieu!
But, adventure is a relative term. In talking to him, we learned that the British cyclist was about 30 years old and was cycling with two friends to Athens, Greece. And he intended to complete the ride in no more than 10 days, cycling around 500 km per day. That's not a typo. Five hundred kilometres a day! Unbelievable. They'd apparently left Brussels at 10 pm the day before and cycled non-stop through the night. Mon Dieu!!
M1 asked how he coped with sleep deprivation. He answered that he was accustomed to it and that in England, he lives to the west of London in the Cotswolds and generally gets up at 2 a.m. to cycle to work in London. Mon Dieu!!!
His bike was either a road bike or a gravel bike and it was carrying very little, with only a couple of small frame bags attached, retaining its aerodynamic qualities. Logistics were discussed and apparently he had one cycling strip only, which of course he was wearing, and an insulated gilet for warmth. He had no tent, but carried a "bivvy bag" instead. His route would take him down to Switzerland and over the Swiss Alps into Italy, via the same pass and descent that M1 had used in 2022, the St Gotthard Pass and the amazing Old Tremola Road.
We finished our breakfast, wished the British cyclist luck, and headed off on the road. About 20 minutes later, he overtook us at speed :-)
The rain had lessened by the time we started out again, but it came and went and its intensity varied throughout the rest of the morning, with no real respite. Occasionally, it became very windy and then at an instant, the wind would disappear. This is very atypical weather for the time of year.
Most of the route today was on roads, but some of it followed the River Meuse or the Canal of the Meuse. In all cases, there were plenty of Eurovelo route EV19 signs to follow, making navigation easy which was as well because using a smartphone, even in a plastic case is hard with big droplets of water splashing down onto it all the time!
Rivers and canals are always great for spotting wildlife and we enjoyed watching an otter in the canal this morning.
Our route took us through the large town of Verdun.
There was a strange little tunnel on the way out of Verdun. The "path" seems to have been constructed from planks of wood, suspended somehow above the water. They make a loud and very disconcerting noise as you cycle over them!
After a brief stop for groceries, we found our way to our campsite for tonight, pretty easily as it's almost right on our route. It's a nice place on a farm, with good facilities, including WiFi that works. It's right next to the River Meuse as well.
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