| Day # | 25 | State of Legs | :-) |
| Distance (miles) | Distance (km) | Ascent (feet) | Ascent (metres) | Punctures | |
| Today | 45.3 miles | km | 1280 feet | metres | 0 |
| Trip Totals | 926 miles | km | 31366 feet | metres | 0 |
| Today's Route |
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| Route So Far |
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Travelogue
Guess what? It absolutely poured down again today. M1's eloquent description of yesterday's weather applies again. And then some. Because if anything, the weather was worse than yesterday, with few breaks in the rain and possibly a lower temperature to go along with it and the persistent westerly wind into which we spent much of our time cycling.
It was still fun though :-)
Depending on which of M1 or M2 you ask, that is!
And of course it had poured down in the night. We leave our shoes outside the tent in the area between the fly sheet and inner door. But someone.... code name M1.... hadn't moved their shoes quite as far from the bottom edge of the external door as he should have and his shoes had consequently pretty much filled with water in the night. The water literally had to be poured out of them this morning! Yeuch. But, on they went, with the same wet socks that were worn yesterday. Wearing fresh, dry socks would have been quite pointless.
Anyway.....
Towards the end of yesterday, we reviewed today's route and decided that given the horrible weather forecast (which turned out to be spot on), we'd make a change to our route and drop down to the River Meuse and the Meuse Canal that runs alongside the river, as soon as we could and then follow the path we'd cycled earlier in the trip (EV19) but in the reverse direction. This would add a few miles to the distance but be easier and doubtless faster than the original plan which meandered through the hills and valleys to the north of the Meuse.
On leaving the campsite, we immediately had to climb a substantial hill which had an 11% gradient. We know this was the gradient because there was a sign which seemed to take great delight in telling us so, as we worked our legs to climb slowly past it, heart rates steadily increasing!
Once again, there aren't that many photos from today's trip, because of the rain. M1's smartphone is relied upon for navigation using the Organic Maps app and has to be removed from the frame bag it sits in when navigating if a photo is to be taken. The phone itself is waterproof (within limits of course!) but its touch screen does like to get confused when water gets on it. In fact, water dripping onto the transparent plastic cover of the frame bag can cause the phone to react as if you're touching it with several fingers at once. The map application will zoom in or move to a different location, all as if possessed by some demon. It's actually a bit of a nightmare when you're trying to follow the map and bad enough with water obscuring parts of the screen, never mind losing control of the thing! So that's why exposing the phone to pouring rain is kept to a minimum!
Anyway, there were a few taken from the first hour or so, before the rain got really bad and before we reached the Meuse Canal.
Back on day 11 of the trip, we'd cycled to the French town of Douzy. Today's route took us back to Douzy and it was a few miles from there that we got onto the cycle path by the Meuse Canal. When we got to Douzy though, we were really wet and all we were interested in was hot coffee and pastries. And a chance to sit in a chair out of the rain. Douzy is a small place but around the square with its impressive church, there's a bar and a patisserie, both of which were open.
We went into the bar, which had quite a few people in it. We got friendly greetings of "bonjour" from customers and staff alike and some sympathetic smiles at the bedraggled state we were in! We obtained coffees and sat down to enjoy them.
M1 drained his coffee cup first and M2 indicated that it was now time for pastries and coffee #2. M1 was dispatched to the patisserie with one requirement only from M2. Whichever pastry M1 chose for her, it had to be big.
M1 did not disappoint. He returned with a Maxi Pain au Chocolat (MPaC) for M2 and not one, but two pastries (of the normal size) for himself, an apple turnover and a Pain au Raisins (PaR). Hope you're liking the French pastry coding scheme being invented here, by the way!
Refuelled, we set off again but the weather showed no mercy and was now raining even harder than when we'd stopped at the bar. We were soon cycling by the Meuse Canal though, which was physically easy and quick by our standards.
It had evidently been very windy in this part of France over recent days because everywhere that there were trees by the path, there was a lot of debris. This caused the bikes no problems and fortunately we suffered no punctures. Fingers crossed this is how things continue.
But, we did encounter a fallen tree.
Today's campsite is in the French town of Charleville-Mézières, adjacent to a large park and the River Meuse. On arrival, we noted they had cabins and given the utterly soaking state of our clothes, decided a proper roof, heating and a bed were in order. Yes, I know. We're in danger of losing our status as bike packers and becoming bike glampers! Well, we don't care. We were wet and for the first time on this trip, cold as well!
We had to wait a while for the cabin to be prepared and so sat in the relative comfort of the snack bar.
Finally, our cabin was ready and a delight it is, with a double bed, a sofa, a TV, a coffee machine and kettle and heat!
Hot showers have been had and we've eaten a meal. We feel human (and dry) again!
Tomorrow's another day and the forecast is for less hostile weather, albeit not necessarily without rain. What will be will be.
Fin.
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