Saturday August 23, 2014

It rained during the night, fortunately the tent didn’t leak, but the tent was very wet in the morning.  We had to pack the tent away wet again.  We cooked our breakfast in the washing up area where it was dry, as it looked as if it was going to rain again and it did.  We left the campsite wearing our heavier rain jackets as it was quite cool. It stopped raining we switched jackets to our windbreakers and finally the sun came out and we were able to remove the jackets as it was quite humid.

We stopped in Julien en Born for lunch – the boulangerie did not have sandwiches, but did have a lovely olive bread which we bought to have with dinner tonight and smaller baguettes and of course pain au chocolate.  I went over to the charcuterie and bought 6 slices of salami and 4 slices of some local cheese (which he let me taste before I bought it) and we made our own sandwiches and ate them before it started to rain again.  Ralf went into a small restaurant and bought two cups of coffee.  What more could you ask for fresh baguettes, good meat and local cheese, a good cup of coffee and fresh pain au chocolate.  Life is good, even in the rain.

We had decided on a short day to day and not to follow the Velodyssey route.  It was getting quite monotonous and we really can cope with the cars on the smaller roads and you get to see villages and Towns.  Although, we came to one round-about and a small car had cut off another car.  The car that had been cut off laid on his horn and then drove so close to the woman’s bumper it was scary, then he overtook her with cars coming in the opposite direction – road rage.  Qu’elle surprise it was a British car driver that was exhibiting the road rage.

Water towers do not have to be boring.

We stopped at this house which seems to be a traditional style building for this area.

The dogs were not impressed with us taking photos and were barking up a storm.

We carried on to Leon, quite a nice Town, the market was closing up as we arrived and the Tourisme Office had already closed for the lunch hour period, well actually 2.5 hour lunch period.  There was a local map showing campsites and we decided to cycle to Petit Jean, an aire camping site, which means a rural site.

The campsites in Town were 3 and 4 star sites, which we figured would be expensive.  As we cycled along the road to Petit Jean, we almost turned back.

Petit Jean is a rural site, I looked around and thought, this is going to be rustic but it is absolutely lovely.  We set up the tent on a nice open piece of ground and it dried very quickly.

We chatted to a fellow camper who is a cyclist (Paris Brest Paris) kind of cyclist and was very impressed about what we are doing, but would not do this for a holiday.  We showed him on his map of France where we had cycled and told him we were heading for Spain and Portugal.  He is also heading for Portugal but by car.  He likes Portugal because a lot of people speak French in Portugal.

Ralf had decided that he would cycle back into Town to get dinner, rather than get it as we cycled through the Town.  He said it is better as that way I can do some research and shower instead of waiting outside in the sun for half an hour while he goes in to get the shopping.

I went for a shower.  OMG a shower cubicle that is big enough to swing a couple of cats.  I don’t bang my elbows on the walls when I am washing.  The cubicle has a shower curtain which stops your clothes and shoes from getting wet while you are in the shower. Miracles of miracles a tap that you turn on and the water comes out continuously, you can actually adjust the temperature and stand underneath the water that is spraying from a nozzle and the water pressure and temperature is awesome, I think I have died and gone to heaven.

This is what life boils down to a decent shower, good food and a nice quiet place to pitch your tent – now if we could only have a picnic table at the site, life would be perfect.  There is an area where we can sit and eat but not at the site.