Got going for a bike ride with Neil at 9:00 sharp – Colin and he had plotted out a route last night while I was in the bath.

Rode out of the village and along the busy road for about 2 km then turned left onto much quieter roads. Had a really great ride through many lovely villages, down and up hills – I only had to stop once, and even then I didn’t get off the bike and continued riding up the hill after a short rest and a drink of water.

Stopped a few times to take a photo, and went in to one of the larger churches – door was unlocked with a sign to please close it after you left even if it was open we you arrived (we did).

Passed by sunflower and corn fields, cows and grape vines. They have many small groups of wind turbines dotted around. Saw a river crossing that was a boat pulled by a rope from shore to shore.

Coincidentally arrived back at Colin’s at 11:00 sharp – exactly 2 hours, which was not actually planned – just under 32 km covered. Much less than Neil would have done by himself, but not bad for me.

Did a trial-pack of what I plan to take to England to make sure the bags I’m taking will fit into Ryanair’s policies. I’m pretty sure it’ll be ok – I’m borrowing a back-pack and shoulder bag from Colin that won’t include any of my camping gear and it makes a big difference to the size and weight.

Completed the online checkin with Colin’s help – my ipad comes up with different things than his laptop so it was easier for him to do it, and then he printed it for me – it’s not obvious at the start, but if you’re not an EU citizen then you must print your confirmation, not just have it confirmed online. If you show up without what they want it’ll cost you 50 euros more to get them to go online and confirm you.

Walked the dogs down to the pub, then just after we left to take them to the hippodrome for a runaround Neil caught up to us. He stopped at the campground’s. bar while we made the rounds with the dogs, then joined him at the bar for a glass.

Had a really nice BBQ burger dinner and watched the San Sebastian bike race on tv.

Had another slow morning, then walked with the doggies down to Mansle’s market – considerably different than the one yesterday. It was in the village square and there were only 5 or 6 vendors – although what they did sell was really good local produce and stuff, and we got some very nice, fresh veggies for Sunday dinner. Took the little ones for a run at the hippodrome, then strolled back to the village square.

Sat at the pub and had a glass of wine – well, I had wine and Colin had a latte – doggies got their treats from the waitress. Listened as the town hall clock chimed 12 bells at noon, then 12 more at one minute after. Then the nearby church had their go for 12, but they didn’t quite get there, and the 7 that did chime were way out of cadence. Then they got really worked up and chimed no less than 72 times (not that I was counting – but we wondered if they were ever going to stop!).

Walked back to Colin’s, then hopped in his car and motored down to Angouleme to do some shopping.

Got some lipstick (one of my travel essentials!), a new pair of flip-flops – a bit fancier than the last that broke on the Galibier – and some more saline solution for my contacts. The lady in the pharmacy eventually understood what I needed (thanks to Colin’s translating) and went into the back of the store to get a small glass bottle – looks like the right stuff but I’ll have to check the ingredients against my existing solution before I put anything in my eyes.

Also went into the Decathlon store to try to get some new tires for my bike as I’ve already kind of thrashed the ones I have but they didn’t have the right size. Colin says he will take care of it for me while I’m at his house in England.

Took the doggies for another walk down to the pub for another glass (for me, not the dogs – they got another treat), then went to pick up some fish and chips for dinner. The fish and chip place was a mobile unit parked in the parking lot of a large supermarket – they’re at that location on Thursday’s, and can be found at other spots and markets, etc on other days.

Had another long hot bath and went to bed shortly after – nice easy-going day.

Today is the monthly market in the nearby town of Rouillac, so we headed out in the BMW just after 9 under cloudy skies and a light rain. The market is very large and they close down the centre of the town completely.

On the drive there we passed an abbey, and a couple of cognac distilleries – one new and one old (cognac is very big here) as well as the headquarters of the Cognac Growers Association.

After walking quite a ways and negotiating around all of the cars that were parked on the ‘sidewalk’ – without walking out onto the very busy road – we arrived at the first stalls. They were all chickens, ducks, geese, bunnies and hamsters.

A little further on we came to the bread, cheese, sausages, wine, live eels, all kinds of fish/seafood, even snails and horsemeat (long lineup for that one) – a little something for everyone.

Most of the stalls were local produce or products, but of course a few were just junk.

Tried a couple of pork products that were really tasty and got a few veggies. Returned to the pork place after walking around and bot some pate that we taste-tested, then bot some olives – I’m going to make a greek salad to go with the pate for dinner tonight.

After the market we drove to the ruins of a Roman amphitheatre and sanctuary – there were a bunch of students there doing an archaeological dig in a couple of places. There was also a poster indicating that there will be a play or something at the amphitheatre this Sunday – a bunch more students were cleaning up the hillside for seating as only a few of the original stone seating rows are still intact.

Colin then took me to Villejesus for lunch at La Cagouille (the snail – they’re really big here, and I don’t mean just in size). It’s a restaurant he’s been to many times before and knows the folks there, both the staff and other diners. There’s no menu – the hostess/waitress just tells you what they have today – for starter either ham and fruit (cantaloupe) or greens with cuke and tomatoe – Colin had the first, I chose the second. Then for main course either coq au vin or chicken curry – we both chose the coq au vin, but right after she’d left I kind of wished I’d order the curry.

The salad was excellent – very fresh with a really nice olive oil dressing. When she picked up our empty plates she said ‘so it was one coq au vin and one chicken curry’? She read my mind! I said yes – that’s what I’d like and was it ever good – chicken was so tender it fell off the bones and it came with rice and lentils which was a delicious combination.

I actually had dessert for once – three choices – creme brulette, chocolate cake with ice-cream or walnut torte with ice-cream. I chose the last one and it was heavenly, although a bit sweet for my usual taste, but the coffee ice-cream cut the sweetness a bit.

We spoke with the chef before we left and told him how wonderful the meal had been – I think he appreciated our comments. He told us about a race on Saturday – the ‘snail race’, where one person runs and their team-mate rides a bike. It starts late, around 5 so we might come watch.

Got back to Colin’s house and had an online chat with the geek squad about my facetime problem. She couldn’t help and told me I had to contact Apple direct (which is what Dominic emailed to me yesterday). I phoned a toll-free number for England and the lady I spoke with led me through the process of how to change my password while she waited. It worked so I facetimed Dom just after 5 – it was nice to see him.

Decided not to have the pate, etc for dinner as we’re both still stuffed from the excellent lunch we had.

Slept in very nicely – quiet house, comfy bed. Rain started – not pouring, but steady. Had a nice lazy day watching British home renovation shows, etc, and got two loads of laundry done, including my filthy, sweaty money-belt – the tag inside said to ‘spot wash with a damp cloth’ but it was way too dirty for that so it got tossed in the machine (came out perfect – just like new). Eventually had to go out to get some food so Colin fired up his BMW and we took the dogs for a ride to the next town, then took the scenic route home along a back road that he says is great for bike riding.

Passed fields of sunflowers, lush farmland, pretty rivers, folks fishing (for trout, I think). Lovely little villages every few miles

Tried to facetime Dom but suddenly Siri was telling me I needed to setup a facetime ID first – even though I’ve facetimed him at about 100 times since I left home. Went into the facetime icon on my ipad but it told me my password was wrong. Tried to setup a new password but ended up going in a frustrating circle so had to quit trying before I hurled the ipad across the room. Emailed Dom instead, but it’s not the same as speaking with him and being able to see the kitties.

Had a great dinner of baked salmon, nice chats with Colin and Neil – fairly early night after nice easy day.

Had some rain during the night, but little wind, thankfully. Everything was still soaked when we were ready to leave, so packed up the tent stuff into a big black plastic garbage bag that then went into my large waterproof bag.

Got going just before 9 – left Jussac heading west, then northwest past Tulle – leaving Cantal department and into Limousin. Continued northwest, then west again to the small town of St. Yrieix-la-Perche where we stopped for lunch.

One thing that’s common to many places, both in Italy and here in France, is that they’re heavily into roundabouts, and lots of them have displays of different things, including beautiful flowers, etc.

Took nice quiet back roads to Rochechouart – there’s a music festival going on and they have posters and musical symbols up everywhere.

Passed a bunch of road re-surfacing – maybe the Tour is coming here next year – ha ha. Left the department of Limousin and went west into the Charente to Colin’s town of Mansle, not far north of the city of Angouleme.

Colin’s house is wonderful – he showed me a ‘before’ picture and I can hardly believe it’s the same place. Hung my soaked tenting gear up on an outside line to dry, then took doggies for a walk – there’s a nice grass horse track (hippodrome) and cricket field, right next to a beautiful campground managed by a friend of Colin’s.

He bought me a glass of wine at the campground’s bar, then we walked back up to another bar for another glass. The dogs love the place as they always get treats there. Colin’s friend/roomer Neil joined us after he finished work, then an Australian couple pulled up chairs as well.

Went home and face-timed Dom for the first time in days, then had a wonderful roast chicken-leg and potatoes dinner and more good conversation.

Had my first bath since leaving home. Neil had re-done the bathroom a couple of years ago and I’m the first one – other than the dogs – to use the bathtub. It was very relaxing – nice and deep with a sloped back and everything.

Got to sleep in a real bed – my thin foamy on hard ground is better than nothing, but a bed is much more comfortable.

Had a really good sleep until about 3 when the howling wind and pouring rain woke me up. The rain came and went and I was warm and dry, but the wind was fierce. At times the top poles bent so far that the side of the tent was blowing in and touching me. I had done a good job of pounding in the stakes so the tent wasn’t blown away, but I was very concerned a couple of times that the poles were going to give out and the tent would collapse on me, or else the seams would burst from the power of the wind.

I must say that I’m very impressed with both the design and the construction of my little tent – it held out against the gale, and I fell back into a fitful sleep around 6.

Packed up quickly as the rain clouds were closing in again – the ground cover and the fly are a bit wet from the night’s storm, but got everything put away just as the rain started again in earnest. On the road around 9.

Passed out of the Ardeche and into the Haute-Loire fairly early – saw the very beginnings of the River Loire where it’s really just a very small creek. Not very far later we passed over the river again – much, much bigger now.

And there are Tour displays everywhere around this area as there was a finish, a rest day, and a start at Le Puy-en-valey.

Went northwest, then southwest to the city of Aurillac, then tried to get to a small campsite Colin knew of just north of the city in the village Jussac. Took a couple of wrong turns and backtracked once or twice, but between the two of us with our good sense of direction and his very detailed map book we found it.

Campsite was closed for lunch, but that was ok – parked the van (used their loo) and took the doggies for a little walk, and then let them run free in the football (soccer) field next door. They are so cute when they run – Mo especially, as she almost hops rather than runs when the grass is a little long. The campsite is really nice – surrounded by a creek that splits right around it, so almost an island.

Checked in when they reopened after lunch (at 3:30!) and set my tent up as the clouds were looking grey. Had a really nice hot shower, then went for a longer walk further than the football field. There are tennis courts, as well as an outdoor theatre that was setup for a play – they had a bunch of little medieval-looking houses and other buildings all ready to go.

There was also a marsh with an old, now closed, wooden path and sign-boards telling about the various insects and plants.

Got back to the van and we took the dogs for a walk into the village, intending to maybe get a drink and a small bite to eat. Nothing was open – either too late for lunch, too early for dinner, or closed because it’s Monday – typical of a village in France, I guess.

Went back to camp and made our own dinners – I had the last of my dried soup packets that I bot in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Colin had fried eggs and bacon.

Went for a really nice ride around the area after having breakfast and taking down the tent. Had to spread out the tent and fly to dry a bit, but really not that bad considering the soaking they got on Friday night.

The ride was awesome – went away from the village thru walnut orchards on the small winding road. Eventually met a slightly larger road where I turned right, knowing that as long as I kept turning right I would sooner or later come to either the village or the campsite.

Met the ‘highway’ and turned right again, crossed the river then arrived in the village.

Road around a bit, then took the ‘alternate’ road back to the campsite.
Stopped at the office where the wi-fi is, emailed Dom to let him know I likely won’t have internet tonight but will be in touch Monday if possible.

Packed up the rest of my stuff and got on the way by 11. Headed west thru more lovely countryside, crossed the Rhone river (very large and beautiful) and up into the Ardeche (not in the Alps anymore).

Stopped at the lovely village of Le Champe-Raphaelon on top of a mountain at a ‘rough’ campsite – just a place where campervans can park but no facilities. Setup my tent on the grassy edge – discovered the stinging nettles after I walked thru a bunch and got my shin stung. Colin had a ‘pen’ of some kind that took the sting away – I think it’s more for insect bites/stings but it worked pretty well.

We walked the dogs into the village and went for a drink at a bar – everyone loves the doggies. The pic below is not the bar – it’s the church next door.

The Tour had a late start – not until 4, and they had a special bit on Thomas Voekler, who is retiring after this race.

The race will be on for at least a couple of hours, and unless someone has the guts to go for it nothing much will happen until the last half hour or so, so I took a walk. The road past where we’re parked curves around after about 100 meters and just goes back down to the village, so I went back the other way to the main road. Followed it into the village then took a road to the left that had signs for other villages.

Turned back after about 1 km as the road started going down fairly sharply and I didn’t want to have to climb back up that much. Took a quick side trip to a cemetery that had tons of flowers on the graves – some of the ‘plots’ had name plates for several different family members, and most of the flowers were plastic.

Got back to the campervan, had dinner and went to sleep early – wind was picking up and storm was coming.

Got up later than usual – heard the churchbells ring eight once, then again a minute or two later. Got up and had a nice breakfast before going up to the wi-fi area and posting another update to my blog.

Colin and I put enough laundry together to do a load in the washer near the office, then I went back and did yoga for the first time since Sunday. Took the doggies for a walk around the campground – saw the pool and recreation area – two tennis courts, ‘beach’ volleyball, children’s play area, restaurant, etc.

Did some more internet stuff – downloading pics is still a pain even though the wi-fi here is pretty good (note to Rebecca – you were right). Hung the clothes up to dry – some things were done in less than an hour it’s so hot here.

Had lunch, then watched the ITT for the Tour on tv – in French, unfortunately. Looks like the Froomster is going to win another Tour, unless someone has the chutzpah to go for it into Paris tomorrow instead of posing for pic’s and drinking champagne while riding.

Had a wonderful refreshing swim in the pool – lots of people but the pool was large enough. Lay in the sun for a bit, then went back to the campervan.
Colin got us pizza for dinner – ready in about 5 minutes and cooked in an outdoor wood-fired oven. Took it back to our campsite to eat outside – it was delicious.

It’s so blessedly quiet here – no traffic noise, only the creek and the birds, plus the churchbells, of course.

Had a pretty good sleep – was so tired after yesterday. It rained off and on, and there were four or five lighting flashes in very quick succession, but no thunder that I could hear. By the time I got up for morning tea in the van the sky was clearing nicely, although it was still a bit cool.

Went for a walk back down the hill a bit with Colin and the dogs – couldn’t believe the crowd that had gathered since we arrived yesterday – campervans and cars lining both side of the road in places and halfway down the hill back towards Chorges.

And – we have barriers and a banner! Back just a little way from where we’re camped is the summit of the first categorized climb of this stage (Col Lebraut/cat 3) and worth points for king of the mountains. We have 2 vans of gendarmes to keep us in check – good luck (ha ha).

Saw a small family that had a cat on a leash – don’t think that would have worked with either of my babies, but good for them. Luckily Colin’s dogs didn’t see the kitty – they go crazy enough barking when they see another dog, but a cat would have gotten special barks, I’m sure.

I decided to watch down by the end of the barriers, rather than in front of the van, so took my lawn chair and a book down to stake out my spot. I’m right next to a family – mom, dad, baby, small boy and grandpa. The calvacade passed around 11:30 or so – I didn’t take any pics this time because all of the ‘floats’ are the same – just tried to snag freebies. I could have gotten a nice blue hat that fell inside the barrier, but as soon as I stepped onto the road to go get it the nearest gendarme blew his whistle and scowled at me so I retreated back behind the white line – wouldn’t want to miss the race because I had been arrested or something! The woman next to me cleaned up catching stuff but I wasn’t quite as successful – most of what I got I gave to the little boy next to me, but it was still great fun – the crowd was really enthusiastic and totally into it.

The little family next to me had moved right behind the barrier (little boy on dad’s shoulders), and I let another photographer beside me so I was the second person after the barrier ended. At the last minute a young girl (one the the Spaniards camped right next to Colin and I) tried to stand right in front of us and we both said at the same time ‘no no no – photographers’, so she went across the road instead.

The riders were much more bunched up than on the Galibier, of course, and passed more quickly as the climb hadn’t been nearly as steep or long. I got several not bad shots of Froome and a few others – didn’t notice Quintana or Contador, but I took a lot of pics so they might be in them somewhere.

As soon as the last racer had passed, not that far behind the first ones, folks started to leave en masse. Banner was down in a matter of minutes, barriers being taken apart. I packed up my tent fairly quickly, and we were on the road ourselves within an hour or so. Traffic was a bit heavy until we passed thru Chorges, but after that not bad at all.

Headed west thru beautiful (what else?) mountains and valleys until we found a nice campsite at the town of Luc en Diois. Immediately set up the tent as the sky was very threatening, and it did start to rain before I was done, but got the basics covered and gear inside without getting everything soaked.

It rained so hard that the campsite’s ‘roads’ were more like creeks and I had to be very agile to jump over them all to get to the office where the wi-fi is.

Face-timed Dom for the first time since Sunday – he didn’t get my email from yesterday until I had logged in to this campsite’s wi-fi so was he very glad to hear from me. Had two emails waiting from siblings – Doug’s was ‘Dead?”, and one from Ross (for Susan and him).

Had a wonderful shower – first one in several days – and a great grilled steak dinner made by Colin. After dinner I got caught up a bit on posts, but was very tired and went to bed early. Still rained from time to time, but not like the deluge shortly after we arrived.

Didn’t sleep much between the wind, rain and talkative folks down the way. It was still drizzling when I took the tent down – left the fly intact until the last so the tent wouldn’t get too wet. The fly is dripping, the tent and ground-cover aren’t bad, but all will need airing/drying out before I setup again.

Got on the road around 9 trying to get to Embrun for Friday’s stage, but got stuck in Briancon when they wouldn’t let us thru to the highway because today’s stage is starting here. Ended up pulling into the McDonald’s parking lot to use their loo and get the free wi-fi. Since we were forced to stay in the city we walked the dogs down to see the start of the stage. Found a nice park that was full of people so knew we were on the route.

Unfortunately we had already missed the cavalcade so just waited about 3/4 of an hour for the race to come by. As the time approached the fence between the park and the road got more and more crowded, so I picked my spot and waited. First a couple of young boys, then another and then another squeezed in to my left – by the time the riders came by it was 3 people thick and I could barely get pics past the frantically waving hands of the boys – they were very excited and enthusiastic!

The racers went by in no time – not really racing, of course until they get out of the city and I did get a couple of nice shots of the leadout line.

Afterwards we walked back up the McD’s, and I took out my wet stuff to dry on the big rocks at the edge of the parking lot. A Sky van pulled in and Colin told me to ask for a water-bottle or something, so I did – the driver was in a hurry to get some food, but said he’d be back in a few minutes. I went up to use their loo again – the place was absolutely packed, but the Sky driver came back with a huge bag of burgers and fries, and gave me an authentic Sky water bottle!

My camping stuff was about dry, so we hit the road again just after 2 for Embrun, which is at the north end of a large lake (Lac de Serre Poncon) that reminded me of Okanagan lake, then followed tomorrow’s Tour course to pick our next watching spot.

We ended up just past the crest of the first hill – there’s a nice wide spot right on the side of the road where I can see the lake below from my tent. There’s quite a few other campervans and folks are walking up and down the road and stopping to say hi.

A couple of French men came by and started talking to us. They thought it was quite funny that I was over here for six months (with another man!!) while my husband was home with the cats. When I pointed out that I live in the tent and Colin in the van with the dogs they just laughed and walked away.