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November 13 Sunday Bicycle touring France from a mansion in Peyrehorade France near the Portugal border to Anglet France The water was hot this morning -- after Christophe turned on the water heater last night. I took a bath after Sharon, using her old water. That's one thing that I've already learned about bicycle touring in France. There's no telling how much hot water there is. We were a couple of minutes late walking from our apartment across the courtyard to the main house for breakfast this morning. I told Catherine we had trouble getting our car started -- the standard excuse for lateness during winter in Canada. We had toast and tea and then went to church with them. We arrived a bit late. Christophe is always late, Catherine tells us. But we weren't last -- Christophe's sister, Caroline, came in after us. Baby Estelle was as contented as ever with a red hairband, four teeth, and a chunk of bread. The only familiar sounding part of church was when everyone sang Alleluia. We talked to Father afterwards. He asked us if we knew it was winter. He can't believe we are actually out there cycling at this time of year. But there is no snow here. It is actually warmer than when we were cycle touring around the Gaspé Peninsula in Canada at the beginning of October. (Folks in Gaspé told us: "Next time come in July.") We went to church in Christophe's fancy car. It is an old Member of Parliament car that the MP had when he was stationed in Berlin. It is big and has all the options. Very luxurious for our first ever car ride in France. Lots of leg room for tight cycling muscles to stretch out in the back. Back at the mansion we talked about American culture and how it is invading everything from food to clothes to entertainment. Catherine told us young people in France think America is great from what they see on TV. But Catherine, after being there, doesn't have much to recommend. In fact, I would have to say she's an American basher. Not us. We love Americans and their all-you-can-eat buffets. Talk about a cyclist's paradise! I braided Sharon's hair this morning. Must be a French braid. Catherine has been fussing over us. We stayed for a special lunch she prepared. Baby Estelle is having her 11 AM two-hour nap. She sleeps 12 hours straight through the night. These are the kind of folks who should have all the babies. We had a starter of fish liver spread on bread. It tasted like paté to me. The main course consists of roast mutton with green beans -- just the bean, not the pod. The mutton was very tender and succulent. It was my first roast mutton and I didn't find the taste strong at all, as we had been warned. In fact, it was delicious. For dessert we had fruit, yogurt, and cheese, of course. We drank water, as Catherine and Christophe explained they only like to drink the really good expensive wine and they can't afford it at every meal. Sharon and I have found that even the cheap wine is excellent to our neophyte taste buds. We got our touring bicycles from where we had left them leaning and got underway at 2 PM. We cycled to Peyrehorade and stopped to buy a baguette. Found the washrooms by the church after asking two old ladies. We cycled across the Ardor River and followed a narrow one-lane road along the river. Christophe used to do a lot of cycling and he gave us directions to the little-used roads in the area. When the odd car happened along, it would actually pull over and stop until we cycled past. Talk about respecting cyclists! We're very impressed. We saw many more bike riders out, too. The flat terrain and sunny weather brings them out, I guess. And it's the weekend. It's a rare day for us without rain. It rained plenty last night. Catherine said it was like this for three months in the winter and then sunny the rest of the year. Guess we should have checked the climate charts before we booked our cycle holiday in France. We told Catherine it could get down to -40º C in Edmonton and was usually in the -20º C range for a couple of months, with snow beginning in October and lasting until March. "Then it's nice?" she asked. "Oh no," we respond. "Then it usually rains most of the summer." I guess that's why it's called Sunny Alberta. "Swell country you live in," she replies. The rain here may explain the lack of dryers for clothes? We haven't seen any dryers, but Catherine tells us they do exist, in fact, she says, they're quite cheap, and most families are starting to get them. It is the electricity to operate the dryer that is expensive. Catherine says dryers are quite practical. Easier than hanging clothes up to dry. I think the French are slower to adopt non-traditional things in some areas of technology. Catherine agreed France is behind in some things. "Like pizza, for instance," she says. "Pizza just arrived three years ago," she says, "and Italy is right next door." As she says, "Pizza is so practical. It is fast to make when one buys it from the store." She says the French are adverse to new food things, especially if they are fast to prepare. I asked about the short wash basin fixture in the washroom and I was told it was an honest to goodness bidet. To wash your feet in. Catherine says no one uses them anymore, but they are so used to seeing them in the bathroom, that everyone still puts them in when they build their house. See? There's that tradition thing again. I ask Catherine what "merde" means. She says, "Shit." She couldn't believe someone said that to me. Well, he was drunk. At least he didn't say merde-tete. The good luck part comes from not stepping in it, I guess. So that's why you don't say "merci" when someone says "merde" to you -- takes the good luck away. We hit 1000 km cycle touring in France at Mont de Marson yesterday. It has rained 13 out of our 15 days. Bayonne has an old-walled section. Two huge church towers, very old and stately, dominate the town's skyline. This is a Basque fishermen region. The houses have red and green trim. There are kiwi fruit trees. They raise horses, too. Saw more duck and goose farms. The Basque fishermen want to separate from France. We are in a closed campground in Anglet. We are the only ones here. We found a gate to the campground. There was a heavy chain and padlock on the gate, but the lock wasn't locked, so we pushed our loaded touring bikes in. Practically an invitation, I figure. We set our lightweight bicycle touring tent up about half way down between some trees. It is very dark. There are houses on both sides of the campground. The washrooms have been broken into and someone smashed one of the porcelain toilet bowls. Hope we don't get discovered and blamed for the vandals' act. |
