“To my mind, the greatest reward and luxury of travel is to be able to experience everyday things as if for the first time, to be in a position in which almost nothing is so familiar it is taken for granted.” – Bill Bryson
In the morning I woke up earlier, but was not in the
right mood the set off for the journey so I enjoyed my time by writing this
blog and having leisure breakfast that consisted of croissants with chocolate
spread. I left the place at 10:30 in the morning and had a longer break a while
ago because I found an unattended electricity plug for boaters that I used for
charging my devices. I felt like a canal pirate :)
On the way I saw a group of girl scouts, all nice and
tidy in their uniforms. What a feast for the eyes! Later on, there was not much
to see or to write about. I was getting bored by the tedious ride along the
canal that looks still the same. The only one thing that changes is the terrain
and I am always glad when I can ride with moderate speed. This was not always
the case and several times I was swearing on my way how can the French possibly
call this piece of rocks a national bike route. Several times I rather went on
the normal road to get around and to speed up a little. Without my audiobooks,
I would have probably gone crazy. Later in the afternoon, I was desperately
running out of water and could not find any public toilets or restaurants near
the last 10 km, at least not on my fabulous offline map. Strangely enough, when
I was walking with empty bottles around a building for ship administration and
probably a desperate look in the eyes, a
man came up to me and said that I can take water from a hydrant that he opened
for me with a special key. I do not know how to explain such a strange
coincidence. It was like dispatching a message to the Heaven like “Hey, I need
some water” and getting a reply “Gotcha, here you have got some”.
In the evening I made a quick break with a small
dinner. I checked my cell phone for any news and I got a message from my mom
that her French penfriend, Hedwiga, gladly offered accommodation for me as soon
as she heard of my plans to travel in France. I did not hold much hope that the
village would be somewhere near on the way, but I was totally surprised when I
realized that it was only 25 km from my location. I took the bull by the horns,
immediately arranged by phone that my mother confirms the invitation, and I
prepared myself for the way. I really love such spontaneous decisions and funny
things that happen to a traveler on his or her way. Everything was set that I
can come so I gladly accepted the new challenge and travelled 25 km more than I
was supposed. I guess that now you expect any other crazy things that happened
to me on the road, but I must disappoint you that this time everything ran
absolutely smoothly. No problems with the GPS, no problems with finding the
route either, enough light outside for safe cycling and my battery was doing also
pretty fine. When I arrived at Hedwiga’s place around 10 pm, I was most
cordially welcomed by her, enjoyed having a shower (for me really luxury during
these hot days) and it sounds for you maybe obvious, but for me absolutely
stunning that time, I finally hade warm dinner since I left Ulm. The French
really know how to savoir vivre. They typical dinner consists of several
dishes, firstly something light, afterwards the main course, and finally some
cheese and dessert. My dinner was a la Hilton: I had my favorite canard stuff
as the starter, then a succulent beef steak with noodles, and in the end I
overindulged myself with all kinds of cheese that Hedwiga had at home, tasting
a bit of each of them. Oh, I have almost left out the dessert that was creamy yogurt
that I splashed down with some kind of typical French soda. There could be no
better reward for riding 120 km as this! It was an ultimate experience to taste
typical local food at home, experience the French lifestyle and to brush up my
French, which was not really as easy as I had thought. On the sofa I could
recharge my batteries and in the electricity plug those of my laptop and cell phone.
This visit was a very nice surprise and I am very glad that it worked out!
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