France, at last

I spent the morning phoning everyone including St. George Bank to get my internet account reactivated. Sigh. Anyway I had a nice chat with everyone and updated the blog. Breakfast wasn't too bad. It was a self serve buffet of bread, jams, cheese, and three types of sliced meat. Also cereal and tea and coffee. I bloated up, 4 pieces of bread, 2 bowls of corn flakes and 2 cups of tea.

I then had to go into town to send the faulty bike computer to Germany and to buy a Michelin map for France. I had just got the map and was studying it when I realised it doesn't show camp sites. I went back into change it, but then discovered that none of the new maps have camp sites marked any more. Oh dear. Oh well, I guess we can normally guess which towns will have camp sites, and if not we can always ride on :) I was about to leave when I checked the rack bag to discover I had left my wallet in the shop! Still there, phew. Good thing I always check.


I finally left at 12.50. Getting out of town was not too bad. There were a few bike paths that went to places that weren't on any of my four maps, so in the end I used dead reckoning and actually got where I wanted to! Then it was all clear sailing out and to the south east. The weather was not the best, overcast, almost raining. I almost made it to the border town I was aiming for when it started to rain. Fortunately there was a trusty bus shelter. I waited there for a bit and then rolled the last K into town. I went to get lunch at a small bar/cafe. They had a menu du jour so I ordered that. The waitress came back, finished. I ordered a Croque Misseur, it is cold outside today afterall. She came back, the toaster is something. In the end I got a demi-baguette with tuna and a Fanta, quite nice. In due course I set off south and finally into France. At last. I took a photo. The route number was, quite appropriately, D1.


I had decided at lunch to make for a larger small town which looked like it was the regional centre and so should have a camp site. It did! I actually went to the tourist info as it was a bit damp and cold but the best she could do was a convent 3 K's away where there were no shops. (Only 16 Euro's.) In the end I decided on the camping as I could walk into town. I went there and they had an offer of breakfast for 4 Euro so I got that as well, it seemed reasonable. The owner asked what time and suggested 6 am? Ha Ha Ha. I suggested 8 am, she laughed, no problem.



After showering and having my little reward (see photo) I walked into town, there is an old fort here, but I didn't bother going in. The town only has 2 restaurants, one is closed, and they are both very expensive. Oh well, another cold dinner tonight.