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October 31 Monday Bicycle touring France from Paris France to Milly France We are awakened by the maid trying to come into our room at 10 AM, but my bike is blocking the door. We get the motel desk clerk to help us place a call home. He can't figure it out either. He calls the operator. We get through. I talk to Sharon's mom for a groggy nine minutes and am billed 82 and a half francs ($22.77). Canada is expensive the clerk says as he hands me the bill. "Souvenir," I say. We continue our quest for N7. After 10 kilometres and several stops and asking for directions, we find it. A group of kids on the street point and fake laugh as we ride past on our fully loaded touring bicycles . I smile. People in cars honk and wave or give thumbs-up signs. We pass a group of policemen on the side of the road and one claps as we ride past. Probably the guy from yesterday. We eat lunch at a bench on the side of a bike path. We haven't found a single grocery store, but we've seen lots of florist, lingerie, sports fields, coiffures, and car dealerships. No wonder the French are so skinny, I muse. I buy a 2-litre juice at a gas station. My first food purchase. The wind is strong toward us. Rain drizzles. It's warmer than when we were cycle touring in Canada. Leaves are still on the trees. At Milly, we look for a campground. A guy
grabs Sharon by the arm and drags her across the street to a
pastry shop to find someone who speaks English. A guy in line
is able to speak English, but he doesn't know the area. Someone
explains to him where the campground is, then he takes Sharon
outside, and translating, explains it to her. After 15 minutes, I see a sign and we pedal our fully loaded touring bicycles down a non-lighted road. There are no street lights, no cars, no moon, no stars. The countryside has begun. We eventually find the campground and they check us in for 54 francs ($15.00). Earlier today, we cycled through an old town with super-narrow streets. Brick road. Cobblestone. Stone buildings, wooden shutters. Very ancient looking. The cars here are small. Gas is 5 francs/litre ($1.39). Lots of motor scooters and motorcycles. The drivers have been courteous and patient with us on our bicycle tour. So much for the stereotypical rude French we've heard of so often. Everyone has been friendly. They are quicker to try and speak English to us than anyone in Quebec was. Lots of black people, too, I'm surprised to see. Quite a few Oriental, too -- they know lots of languages. The campground has a pizza trailer set up which makes pizza on the spot for campers. I'm also surprised to find that there are quite a few people in the camp. We toured down a muddy path in the dark and found a spot under some trees. It is quite muddy (all that rain). There are no picnic tables. We set up beside a pallet that they must use as a picnic table? I really have no idea. |
