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November 3 Thursday Bicycle touring France from Montbouy France to a soccer field near a nuclear power station In Montbouy, while eating baguettes beside the canal early this morning with an old church in the background, I saw a small boy with a long fishing rod and a pail for his catch, going fishing. There are lots of flowers around the church and in any spare plots of land. Pansies are a big hit. I went to an outdoor toilet in the middle of town with trees for a view over the top of the door. These French people sure know how to live. We bicycle tourists will fit right in. My Mr Tuffy tire liner slipped sideways and caused a blow out. Maybe it slipped sideways when we had to let all of the air out of our bicycle tires at the airport? I hope my front tube and liner are okay. The Mr Tuffy liner chaffed a hole right through the tread on my bicycle tire. It ruined an almost-new tire. Tired. Sharon says I need to eat more when we're bicycle touring. We stopped at a bakery. I bought what I thought was a pastry with pudding squishing out, but it turned out to be plaster of Paris, entirely made from confectioner's sugar. Later I managed to buy pastry with pudding, but it was too rich for my liking. Sharon couldn't believe it. Too rich? I went into a real grocery store today. The prices seem to be about equal to Canada. Some fruit, such as oranges and grapes, are cheaper. I tried to buy candles for our candle lantern. The grocery store didn't have any. It took me a while to try and explain what I wanted. "Candle?" Blank look. "Luminaire au paraffin?" Blanker stare. Then I sang Happy Birthday and made a blowing sound. "Ah, oui! Bougie!" That was it, all right. Bougie. But they had only birthday cake candles. Oh, dear. How do I explain, yes, that's what I want, but that's not what I want. Grosser? I calculate we have to cycle 100 kilometres per day in order to get to Lisbon in time to meet Susan and Vicky by the 20th of November. Today was our first full day of bicycle riding, and all we could manage was a paltry 75 kilometres. It takes us much longer to eat, shop, find washrooms, and figure out then find which road we are supposed to be on. It's slower cycling too because the villages are closer together, so instead of going through a handful of places in a day like when cycle touring in Canada or the States, we go through one every five or ten kilometres when cycle touring in France. Then, too, are the short daylight hours to contend with. Right now its is light from 8 AM to 5:30 PM. Sharon took a picture of me on my touring bike in front of a nuclear power plant. We were cruising through the countryside, green grass all around us. Suddenly, we look across a field and there are two huge nuclear cooling funnels in the middle of the field. We are now sitting in a dark soccer field, looking at the nuclear power plant glow from artificial illumination (at least I think it's not from the plant itself). Red lights decorate the tops and sides of the funnels. Wind impeded our bicycle touring progress again today, but at least there was no rain. People actually use their shutters around here. Sharon thinks it is to hold the heat in, at least in the winter. It sure is private. I can see only a tiny crack of light emanating from behind the shutters. Makes it good for us free bicycle camping tourists, too -- once people are in their house with their shutters closed, it's not likely they are going to see us and our little bicycle touring tent. Even if we had candles for our candle lantern. |
