Not so hot today, but extremely windy.  I was so cold starting my ride just before 9:00 that I stopped to put on my rain jacket as a wind-breaker.

I had a pretty ambitious route planned, going north/northwest to Ligne, then Charme, then east/southeast to Lonnes.  I was already getting tired as it seemed that no matter which direction I was riding I was facing a fierce head-wind, or at the least a cross-wind.  

I took a short-cut down to Fontenille, bypassing Juilie, then decided not to continue east to Bayer and Aunac but headed south instead, meeting the road that goes back to Chateaurenaud, right across the river from St Groux.

I still rode over 30 km – not as far as I’d planned but due to the wind it felt like twice that.  The scenery was, of course, beautiful – pretty villages, fields of sunflowers, barley, corn – the usual.  

I had volunteered to gut the sardines we’re having for dinner – I used to be a pretty good trout gutter, and I always bought whole kalamari for my greek feasts so the idea didn’t make me squeamish.  There were 14 of the little things – each about 5 or 6 inches long, and I used the same technique Dad had taught me when I was young. Sharp knife under the gill – off with the head, then point of the knife at the end of the belly down near the tail – slice all the way up and scoop out the guts with my fingers.  I also removed the bones as they came out easily attached to the spine.

Neil manned the BBQ once again and we enjoyed a really nice sardine dinner with greek salad, fresh baguette and a fairly decent tzatziki (not my home-made, but tasty none-the-less).

Loaded another route into the GPS – got a little frustrated as it doesn’t seem to accept every route I plan in BikeMap.  I eventually got a good route loaded – I’m trying to go out every day in a different direction so I get to see more of the countryside around here, and all of the pretty villages along the way.  I set out just after 9:00 and rode southwest thru Cellettes and Villognon to Amberac where I turned north.

Miss GPS got me turned around a couple of times in the villages – the direction to turn isn’t always fast enough so I ride past then have to go back when it beeps that I’m ‘off course’.  Almost the entire time I was riding past barley or corn fields, gently rolling hills, the lovely small villages, the occasional creek or river, and once in awhile a shrine or large cross.

After passing thru Fouqueure I had to go on the main road for a few km – it had just been re-surfaced and was still smelly and throwing up small bits of black stuff as I rode.  I left my planned route very near Luxe, so instead of going up to Ligne I went across on much smaller roads to Villesoubis, where I picked up the route again.

From there it was down the hill to Chateaurenaud then across the river to St. Groux, where I once again knew where I was.  A nice ride in the shade (thank goodness – it was near 30 degrees) and on into Mansle. I was gone just about 2 ½ hours, but it did include stopping to take photos, as well as figuring out what Miss GPS was beeping about a couple of times.

Colin and Mo were just leaving the house when I arrived, so they continued on down to the bar for a coffee while I had a quick shower and did some laundry.  I had just hung my clothes on the line and was getting ready to go down to the bar to meet them when they returned home.

I walked to the store, then came home and had a small greek salad for lunch.  Around 5:00 we went down to the campground bar, where the football match between France and Peru was about to start.  Folks kept arriving to watch the game, and by the time we left the place was pretty much full.  I didn’t really care who won, but I made sure to keep that between Colin and myself – the fans here are pretty serious about their team.

Colin made a delicious pasta bolognese for dinner, then I went to bed earlier than usual, although it took forever to get to sleep – maybe I need to drink more wine (ha ha ha!!).

 

Got up a bit earlier than usual so I could go on my ride before it got too hot.  I had loaded a course into my Garmin GPS last night so was all ready to go.

It was a longer route than yesterday and headed east first to St. Front, than back west along mostly very small side roads that I never would have chosen myself.

It was very quiet on the back roads – just past St. Front I was overtaken by a group of riders (12 or 15) heading towards Romefort – they were going up the slight hill much more quickly than I was.  Just before Romefort Miss GPS directed me to turn right onto a very narrow road – at one point I passed a man taking his dog for a run – the man was driving his car slowly while the dog jogged beside it (no leash).  The road was so narrow that I stopped riding at the nearby ‘intersection’ where the car turned – the dog, in the meantime, had come over to slobber on my left leg, then went back to his run with the car.

A little further on I rounded a corner and startled two animals at the edge of a field next to the road – I think I was almost as startled as they were, actually.  Thru the trees and from the corner of my eye they looked almost like two of the same animal – one much larger than the other. I realized, however, that although they were both a reddish-brown with big ears and a white tail, one was a large rabbit and the other a small deer.  The rabbit flew forward and then cut onto the track I was on before bounding off across and into the woods on the other side. The deer, meanwhile, had jumped (like a bunny!) across the entire field to the woods on the far side. The barley was up to its chin but it leapt up and over very quickly.

Shortly after that I got onto a road I recognized and was back at the house in Mansle in a touch under 2 hours total – tired and sweaty.  Had a quick, refreshing shower and a cup of tea, followed by a bite to eat, then went with Colin to follow the local cycling club on a ride.

We drove behind them with the flashers on and Colin honked to warn them whenever a car was passing us.  We carried extra water for the riders, and ended up picking 3 of them up one-by-one as they got too tired.  The ride was around 80 km in all in very hot conditions – I was kind of impressed with the younger fellow that made it the whole way.

Ended up eating the rest of my leftover pasta for dinner – it was too hot to think of cooking.

Left around 9:30 for the weekly market in Lezay – it was smaller than the huge one we went to last year in Rouillac, but was pretty impressive none-the-less.

There were lots of nice cheeses, meats, etc, as well as a bunch of junk.  Also the live animals and birds – including lots of bunnies, some raised and some wild (poor little things must be terrified).

After the market we stopped by the charity shop at St. Soline which raises money for and supports animal shelters, etc.  

We walked around a bit and Colin spent some time in the ‘book shop’ picking out paperbacks and 80’s cd’s.  

We had tea and a sandwich in the cafe, visited the ‘for adoption’ doggies, including a jack russell-cross with a head-cone on, then headed to Ruffec for groceries before going home.

While trying to carry more than I should have downstairs I dropped the laundry soap on the floor and it split open and almost emptied itself.  I never realized before quite how sticky laundry soap is – I must have used half an industrial-sized paper towel roll trying to mop it up, then resorted to a floor mop and water.  

While Colin and I were involved in cleaning up the mess Mo was busy upstairs cleaning up something else – she had gotten into the grocery bag and removed the mini-sausages the Colin had bot for her – she had eaten the entire bag!  

By the time we had cleaned up the laundry soap it was too hot to go for a ride, so I just stayed inside out of the heat and read a book until we walked down to the campground for dinner just before 8:00.  Colin and Neil both got burgers while I chose pasta.

Mo was acting a bit strange – I think digesting all that sausage was very tiring for her and she was pretty lethargic.  She didn’t look quite like a python that swallowed a goat, but she was a bit rounder than normal.

I created a nice ride route on Bike Maps and downloaded it to the Garmin app on my ipad, which I then sent to my GPS device.  Colin helped me attach the mount on my handlebars, then I was off to see if it actually worked for me.

Colin mentioned that it had just started to drizzle, but by the time I was a block away it was just pouring.  I decided to keep going – I had my rain jacket on but was a little concerned about my camera – the case is ‘water resistant’, not ‘waterproof’.  Luckily the hard rain didn’t last long, and it eventually stopped altogether – my camera and everything else in the case were fine.

The GPS seems to work just like the one in Colin’s campervan – it shows how far to the next turn, as well as your current position within a moving 2 km or so map.  It beeps when a turn is coming, and gets very excited when a wrong turn is taken. I ignored this at the very beginning because I had a particular road I decided to follow to get to St. Groux, and after it got over it’s beeping frenzy it reset itself and adjusted to a new route.

I followed the directions and it led me exactly where I’d set it for – east from St. Groux to Bayer, then south thru Puychenin and Fontclaireau before going under the highway and down the long hill back to Mansle.

The bar down the road is closed on Mondays so Colin and I walked to the campground bar for a quick drink before dinner.

Today is the first day I got to be an official photographer of a cycling race, and got to be ‘behind the scenes’ the whole time!!!  Ok – it was a local kids’ race, but it’s a start…

Colin and I headed down the street to the main square just before 10:00 (Mo had to stay at home) so he could help load up the local cycling team’s van, which he is driving today in the race in the nearby town of Saint Angeau.

There were already barriers setup, as well as a covered food/coffee area and a podium, and they were setting up a sound/mike system.  We were called together with the other volunteers just before noon to a small building across the street where we were given lunch – wonderful crispy/soft baguettes with very tasty pate, ham and tabouli, and some of the tartest pickles I’ve ever eaten.  For dessert there was a flan-type thing that I didn’t care to try, and the creamiest, most delicious camembert ever.

As soon as we were finished it was back to work for the rest of the folks, and back to taking photos for me.  The kids were starting to arrive and sign in – as they registered they were given a number to be pinned to the back of their jerseys.

They ranged in age from about 5 years old to 14 or 15, including several girls, and the first races were sprints one-by-one to the line – about 100 metres for the smaller kids, and 150 or so for the older ones.  The road of the village was closed, so the main drag was just for the racers.

Then the road races were on – Colin was driving the lead-out car and I went with him on the first round, which was the little ones.  They did a warm-up ride halfway around the course, then they lined up for the actual race back to the finish line in front of all of the ‘fans’.  

They were so cute! Each of the youngest racers had an older one riding behind them to encourage them and make sure they were ok along the route. And the road wasn’t actually totally closed – they let cars thru from time to time and it was a bit annoying – I felt somewhat ticked-off on behalf of the racers.

After the first race with the little ones I jumped out of the van so I could take photos of the next races as they passed the finish line – the next oldest group did 3 laps, then the next did 5, followed by 8, then the oldest racers did 13 laps.

There were two of the older riders that were far faster than the rest – they lapped many of them at least once, if not twice, and were only a couple of feet apart at the end.

A man that had a couple of kids racing came up to me to ask (in French) if I got a shot or two that I could email to him – I downloaded what I’d already taken to my ipad and he found a couple with one of his sons, then I identified a few more.  He wrote his email address on a scrap of paper for me but I couldn’t read his writing – Colin gave him a business card later so he can get ahold of me. Maybe I should have my own business cards – ‘Sally McKenzie cycling photography’!

After the last race was over the medals were given out – every single racer got one, and the 3rd, 2nd, and 1st placers got trophies as well.

Most of the racers looked like they had a lot of fun, but of course there was the odd parent that was a little too serious – happens in every sport.  Maybe there’s a budding Sagan or Contador in the bunch. One of the littlest girls got a medal a small trophy and some flowers – she held them up and didn’t stop smiling for about 10 minutes.

As soon as everyone started leaving the volunteers began tearing down the barriers, etc, but then we were all called together for a celebratory drink and some snacks.  I told Colin that I thought it was peach juice, but it was definitely spiked.

After the van was loaded we headed back to Mansle, and I sat at the bar while Colin helped unload the van.  It ended up being a fairly long day – starting at 10 and not getting home until around 8, but it was so much fun.  All I needed was an ‘official pass’ slung around my neck – maybe next time!

Did yoga again, with Mo doing her own version on the rug beside me.  Colin took me out for lunch – we went up to La Cagouille in Ville Jesus and when we went to park Colin commented about the lack of vehicles in the parking area.  We wondered if maybe it was closed, but the door wasn’t locked so we went in – the place was completely empty.

We soon found out why – the chef/owner saw Colin and was very sorry, but they wouldn’t be able to serve us and just then his wife/co-owner came out and said the same thing.  They’re actually expecting a tour group to arrive for a set lunch and will be completely full. Too bad – I wondered to Colin on the way back to the car if they might just put a little table outside the back door for us and slip us the leftovers…

Went instead to a small ‘snack bar’ at the nearby ‘lake’ Saules (willows).  The menu was actually a portable blackboard featuring a choice of 3 entrees, 3 main courses, and 3 desserts, with prices varying according to how many of the 3 courses you chose.  We both ordered the warm sheep-cheese salad, and I asked for the veal with mushrooms while Colin got the lamb. After taking the orders the waitress (who was extremely nice and spoke pretty good english) said she wasn’t sure if there was any of the veal left but would check.

I ended up with the lamb, but that was quite alright.  The sheep-cheese salad was excellent, and the lamb was falling-off-the-bone tender.  Along with the quite good red wine to wash it down with it was a really nice meal.  Mo was so good and quite we hardly knew she was there, sitting under the table waiting patiently for handouts.

The place also is a campground, along with fishing rights.  There were a couple of tents, and at least one fellow fishing at the time.  They call it a lake but I’d call it a pond – not very big, but apparently does have good fishing – carp and trout, from what I could understand.

After lunch we went by the village of Ligne to visit some more friends of Colin’s, Elizabeth and David.  

They have a just lovely (and fairly large) stone house that must have had a good deal of renovations.  They were very nice, and we stayed and chatted for about an hour or so before heading back to Mansle.

Stopped at the bar on the way home for a quick glass of wine (me) and half-beer (Colin).  As we had had a rather large lunch neither of us really wanted a full dinner so just had bread and cheese.

Stayed up way too late watching tv after Colin, then Neil, went to bed.

Finally did yoga again, then after lunch went out with Colin to the bar.  The local cycling club was leaving on a ride from the square across the road and Colin was there to see them off.

Later in the afternoon we went for a drive to Fontenille to see some friends of Colin’s, Tony and Joyce, who also happen to be Neil’s ex-in-laws.  Tony had framed a couple of posters for Colin, and has a wonderful workshop where he does paintings and other artwork.

Their house and yard have been completely re-done (by Neil) and it’s a very beautiful and inviting place.  I especially liked the corner water feature and hanging flower baskets. We ended up visiting for a couple of hours – they seem like very nice folks.

Thursday I actually went for a bike ride!  It was really nice to be out again, and I covered about 18 km – not much, but fresh air and exercise just the same.

I rode as far as the village of Mouton, and then down a couple of side roads to see where they went.

Stopped at the bar for a quick glass of wine, then dropped my camera back at the house and rode to the store to get fixings for BBQ burgers for dinner.  

A little later Colin and I went down to the bar – the very nice lady that owns it always gives me the kissy kissy cheeks now, and Mo loves her because she always gets treats from her.

There’s a yard on the walk home that has a curious collection of bird ornaments that are very cute.

Burgers were delicious – Neil manned the BBQ while I did the fried onions and mushrooms.

 

Up very early – saw some of the resident rabbits hopping about, but none of the black ones.  

We were on the way before 8:00 under a very cloudy and rainy sky heading west towards Lyon.  Miss GPS took us on what seemed like a strange route to bypass the city – we hit morning rush hour and going was pretty slow on the inner ring-road, but she did have a method to what seemed like her madness.

We ended up on the road west, then north to Roanne – there was a series of strange looking geometric sculptures on the side of the highway.

As we were driving I was taking photos of some of the tourist billboards on the side of the road and Colin reminded me that we had travelled this road last year in the other direction.  I had thought that some of the billboards looked familiar and when I looked back in my photos from last year I realized that I was taking some of the very same photos, although from the other direction.

We then veered northwest to St. Pourcain-sur-Sioule – saw a really cool sculpture of a cyclist in a roundabout – think it’s for a stage of the Tour that will be coming thru here in mid-July.

We then went west to Montlucon – had to follow a short diversion as they were doing road-work on the main highway, but it didn’t take too long.  Continued on past Gueret, then Bellac, then home to Mansle.

There we hundreds and hundreds of semi-trucks on the minor highways – we assume they don’t like paying the tolls on the motorways, and thus take the smaller roads with no tolls.  There must have been about 85% semi-trucks compared to cars, which seems counter productive on more than one level. The toll highways are missing a lot of cash and the smaller roads get beaten down from the weight of the trucks, not to mention the traffic rumbling thru all of the small towns and villages.  Perhaps if they lowered the toll-rates for the big rigs more of them would use the motorways and the local roads wouldn’t get so damaged?

Everything is lush and green here – they’ve had lots of rain, including some fierce storms.  Reached Colin’s house at around 5:30 and relaxed a bit – Colin started a load of laundry almost immediately – we had brought a bunch of towels and stuff from Papiano so had a few loads to do.

Started to get a bit caught up on my blog – first time in a week that I’ve had reliable wi-fi.

Tuesday was a bit of a lazy day.  We took Mo for a walk down to the campground – passed a couple of cats lounging on walls, but Mo didn’t notice them so they just watched as she went by.  

Colin’s friend Cassandra runs the campground – they’ve added to the outdoor bar and put in a really nice roof over it with lights, etc.  The cappuccino was, once again, very large with not much milk-foam and very very strong. After a whole packet of honey it was great – I’ll have to fill up my tiny honey jar and carry it in my camera case from now on.

Watched today’s stage of the Tour de Suisse on tv, and had a really nice salmon dinner with mashed potatoes.

 

Took a walk after breakfast up the hill towards Les Saisies (the summit of this climb) but it’s a bit further than I thought – probably more like 3 or 4 km instead of 2.  

Spent some time scouting out the best place to watch from, then settled in on chairs right in front of the campervan.  The racers will round the corner just below us and likely be on our side of the road. I set my camera case out in front of my chair with its Cdn flag proudly displayed.

The race started early today so it would be over before the final of the French Open starts.  Some motos and a bunch of team cars came by, but no busses. We could hear and see the heli, and then the motos started coming more steadily – Colin asked one of them how long until the racers arrive – 5 minutes?  He was told – no, 1 minute.

The climb we’re on is pretty long, and is the 2nd or 3rd or the day but the racers still came pretty fast.  There was a break-a-way of about 6, then about 2 minutes later a huge peloton led by the Sky-train.

They straggled up after that singly or in small groups, with the last racer about 25 minutes behind the first.

It’s the same here in France as it was in Italy – almost anyone will wave back if I smile and wave to them – even the moto-cops.  It’s quite funny, and I even got a couple of whistles.

We took a little time taking down the flags and setting off down the road back to Beaufort, where we turned west/southwest to Albertville.  

Leaving the big mountains behind we got on the motorway southwest, then northwest to Chambery, then west to several km before La Tour-du-Pin.  

Got passed by another small group of ferraris – white, red, red, red, yellow – it seems they travel in packs.

Exiting the motorway we got into a campground that Colin has been at before – it also has a very good restaurant.  I tried to setup the tent again, using the jubilee clips that Colin had gotten for me but it just wasn’t working.

We were both hot and sweaty – it’s 30 above here – and badly in need of showers after being on mountains for the last few days, but we ended up spending a bit of time with our neighbours first.  Colin had taken Mo out for a little walk and lo-and-behold the campers in the next site had two little jack russells and some friends of theirs had a very small yorkie. Luckily Mo and the others got along really well – no growlies from any of them, although the little yorkie, being male, was interested in her!

We sat down and had a drink with the 4 – all from the Netherlands, and they had only met each other earlier in the day at the campground.  After about an hour’s visit we left to get our showers – there is one tap that you push for the water, and twist one way or the other for hot or cold.  The water only stays on for about 5 seconds so you have to keep pushing it the entire time, and the difference on the dial between scalding hot and freezing cold was very minute, but despite that it was really nice to be clean and fresh again.

Had a nice glass of wine outside the campervan, then went down to the restaurant for dinner – the Dutch folks had saved seats at their outside table for us so we happily joined them.  The menus they had for us were in dutch – apparently they get lots of visitors from the Netherlands so even have menus for them. We exchanged ours for english ones and had a look at the offerings.  I ended up getting a baked dish with potatoes, cheese and bacon – my three favourite foods all in one dish! It came with a green salad, and 3 kinds of cold meat – ham, prosecco and salami, all of which were delicious.  

Colin had one of the specials that included appetizer, main course (veal in tomato sauce) and dessert, one of the dutch ladies (Anna Marie) had frogs legs (which apparently they eat a lot in this area) and one of the men, Tom, had a special that had 5 or 6 courses.  I was totally stuffed with my one-dish meal I don’t know how he put it all away, but he did, and he’s not even fat. One of the dutch couples had their little yorkie in a small backpack on an empty chair – I didn’t even know the little guy was there until he poked his head up at some point to have a look around.

One of the waitresses inside helped me get connected to the wi-fi so I quickly face-timed Dominic for the first time in many days.  As I was saying good-bye I walked back to the table to show the dutch folks that, yes, I really did have a husband back home. He didn’t want them to see him because he hadn’t shaved or combed his hair, but they heard his voice.  It’s funny that, no matter what we say, hardly anyone will believe that Colin and I are just friends. We’ve even quit telling most people since they don’t believe us anyway – they just nod and smile (nudge nudge, wink wink, say no more, say no more….)..