Day 5 – Saturday 28th May 2011
This is one of the reasons I like France so much: there’s just loads of open countryside and it looks fantastic. Sure, there’s countryside in the UK – I live in Wales, plenty of it there! – but it’s not the same. In the UK, hedges line the roads and mark out each field, stopping peering eyes from having a look in. In France, sometimes it’s just a ditch that lets you know where one field ends and the next starts. It means you can look side to side, seeing amazing views without having to be at the top of a hill. I tried to get some photos of some of the views, but I don’t think they do the landscape justice.
In fact, I pushed the limits and took one photo as I was going down a hill (the view was great but I didn’t want to stop).
I ended up lying in this morning. After yesterday’s palava (and still doing over 60 miles!) I was exhausted. With no alarm clock, I’m relying on my little speedometer for the time. I really hope its battery lasts the whole trip. Not only is it where I’m getting all my data from, I also want to see it clock over 2,000 miles!
So, after leaving late, I managed to have an early lunch in Montargis: 17 miles where the only “stops” were 2 sets of traffic lights. Ideally I’d liked to have been camping in Avallon tonight, but given the time I entered Montargis, I figured I’d probably end up cycling until 8pm again and I didn’t want that. The other option was Auxerre. There’s only about 30 miles between Avallon and Auxerre, so I figured if I got to Auxerre by 4pm I might try to push on.
The trouble was that shortly after Montargis my right foot started playing up again. I’d cycled about 25 miles so far today but I just had to stop to give it a rest. I’m sure any sports therapist would say I should rest it for a couple of weeks, especially as it feels a bit swollen, but that’s just not an option. Sometimes you’ve just got to keep going, battling the pain. 30 miles later and I can cycle easy. Either the pain’s gone or I’ve gotten so used to it that I think it’s normal. But I’m still aware that it’s not completely well. I decided to set a plan for the next few days. I’ve got to get over the Alps soon and a dodgy foot will only make it more difficult than it already is.
The original plan was to push on to Avallon today, get to Beaune tomorrow and spend 2 nights there so I can check the bike over (as well as having 2 nights eating a duck salad in blackcurrant sauce!). But I realise I need to take it easy. Tomorrow’s Sunday. Most places will be shut, making it hard to get food. I’ve stocked up a little bit today and will just have a casual ride to Avallon (plus the lady at this campsite’s reception told me of a nice cycle path along the river which will take me at least half way), then I’ll push on hard to Beaune the day after, still staying there 2 nights. That should give my foot a bit of time to heal, give me a bit of a break (by the time I get to Beaune I should have cycled over 400 miles), and hopefully set me up nicely for the mammoth trek over the Alps. Well, that’s the plan, and knowing what my plans are like, it may well change!
I’m currently wondering how long the panniers will last. I got them over a year ago off Tim, an old university friend (I say “old,” only that he graduated last year... he’s actually younger than me!), who’d had them for a while himself. In fact, the rack they’re clipped to is from Tim as well... when he found out I was doing this trek to Greece on the old Banana, his comment was, “That bike won’t even make it to France, let alone Greece!”
Anyway, the panniers... there have been a couple of incidents with them already. Firstly, when I was shooting around Paris, I ended up going down a fair few one-way streets... the wrong way. Bikes were allowed to go down the streets in the opposite direction to the cars – there were even cycle lanes! But the roads were so narrow, I’m not surprised I didn’t see anyone else doing it. With cars parked both sides of the road, there was barely enough room for a car, let alone a push bike to pass by as well. But the issue wasn’t with the cars; it was when a pedestrian stepped out as he tried to walk side by side with his gang. There was nothing I could do. The pannier clipped him and I had to stop a few yards later to put it back on. He apologised, I said it was ok and we laughed about it.
The second incident was a few minutes before the rear cassette broke on me yesterday. I don’t know what happened, but there was a bit of a bang, the back wheel locked up and I stopped to assess the damage. The left pannier wasn’t clipped onto the rack properly and the bottom rear corner of it had got caught in the spokes of the wheel, ripping it open a little bit. I got the pannier back on properly, well aware that it is still dangerously close to the wheel. I feel powerless without any gaffer tape – it solves so many problems! (I just can’t find any cheap enough...) However, I should get to Avallon fairly early tomorrow and I’ve brought a needle and thread with me, so I hope that sewing it up will solve the problem... at least for a while!
But that’s tomorrow, and at the moment I’m wondering how well I’m going to sleep since there’s a bit of a fairground right next to the campsite, and quite a bit of noise coming from it...
Stats
Mileage = 69.68 miles
Riding time = 5 hours 39 minutes
Average speed = 12.3 mph
Top speed = 30.8 mph
Total mileage since start = 337.0
This is one of the reasons I like France so much: there’s just loads of open countryside and it looks fantastic. Sure, there’s countryside in the UK – I live in Wales, plenty of it there! – but it’s not the same. In the UK, hedges line the roads and mark out each field, stopping peering eyes from having a look in. In France, sometimes it’s just a ditch that lets you know where one field ends and the next starts. It means you can look side to side, seeing amazing views without having to be at the top of a hill. I tried to get some photos of some of the views, but I don’t think they do the landscape justice.
In fact, I pushed the limits and took one photo as I was going down a hill (the view was great but I didn’t want to stop).I ended up lying in this morning. After yesterday’s palava (and still doing over 60 miles!) I was exhausted. With no alarm clock, I’m relying on my little speedometer for the time. I really hope its battery lasts the whole trip. Not only is it where I’m getting all my data from, I also want to see it clock over 2,000 miles!
So, after leaving late, I managed to have an early lunch in Montargis: 17 miles where the only “stops” were 2 sets of traffic lights. Ideally I’d liked to have been camping in Avallon tonight, but given the time I entered Montargis, I figured I’d probably end up cycling until 8pm again and I didn’t want that. The other option was Auxerre. There’s only about 30 miles between Avallon and Auxerre, so I figured if I got to Auxerre by 4pm I might try to push on.
The trouble was that shortly after Montargis my right foot started playing up again. I’d cycled about 25 miles so far today but I just had to stop to give it a rest. I’m sure any sports therapist would say I should rest it for a couple of weeks, especially as it feels a bit swollen, but that’s just not an option. Sometimes you’ve just got to keep going, battling the pain. 30 miles later and I can cycle easy. Either the pain’s gone or I’ve gotten so used to it that I think it’s normal. But I’m still aware that it’s not completely well. I decided to set a plan for the next few days. I’ve got to get over the Alps soon and a dodgy foot will only make it more difficult than it already is.
The original plan was to push on to Avallon today, get to Beaune tomorrow and spend 2 nights there so I can check the bike over (as well as having 2 nights eating a duck salad in blackcurrant sauce!). But I realise I need to take it easy. Tomorrow’s Sunday. Most places will be shut, making it hard to get food. I’ve stocked up a little bit today and will just have a casual ride to Avallon (plus the lady at this campsite’s reception told me of a nice cycle path along the river which will take me at least half way), then I’ll push on hard to Beaune the day after, still staying there 2 nights. That should give my foot a bit of time to heal, give me a bit of a break (by the time I get to Beaune I should have cycled over 400 miles), and hopefully set me up nicely for the mammoth trek over the Alps. Well, that’s the plan, and knowing what my plans are like, it may well change!
I’m currently wondering how long the panniers will last. I got them over a year ago off Tim, an old university friend (I say “old,” only that he graduated last year... he’s actually younger than me!), who’d had them for a while himself. In fact, the rack they’re clipped to is from Tim as well... when he found out I was doing this trek to Greece on the old Banana, his comment was, “That bike won’t even make it to France, let alone Greece!”
Anyway, the panniers... there have been a couple of incidents with them already. Firstly, when I was shooting around Paris, I ended up going down a fair few one-way streets... the wrong way. Bikes were allowed to go down the streets in the opposite direction to the cars – there were even cycle lanes! But the roads were so narrow, I’m not surprised I didn’t see anyone else doing it. With cars parked both sides of the road, there was barely enough room for a car, let alone a push bike to pass by as well. But the issue wasn’t with the cars; it was when a pedestrian stepped out as he tried to walk side by side with his gang. There was nothing I could do. The pannier clipped him and I had to stop a few yards later to put it back on. He apologised, I said it was ok and we laughed about it.
The second incident was a few minutes before the rear cassette broke on me yesterday. I don’t know what happened, but there was a bit of a bang, the back wheel locked up and I stopped to assess the damage. The left pannier wasn’t clipped onto the rack properly and the bottom rear corner of it had got caught in the spokes of the wheel, ripping it open a little bit. I got the pannier back on properly, well aware that it is still dangerously close to the wheel. I feel powerless without any gaffer tape – it solves so many problems! (I just can’t find any cheap enough...) However, I should get to Avallon fairly early tomorrow and I’ve brought a needle and thread with me, so I hope that sewing it up will solve the problem... at least for a while!But that’s tomorrow, and at the moment I’m wondering how well I’m going to sleep since there’s a bit of a fairground right next to the campsite, and quite a bit of noise coming from it...
Stats
Mileage = 69.68 miles
Riding time = 5 hours 39 minutes
Average speed = 12.3 mph
Top speed = 30.8 mph
Total mileage since start = 337.0
Wow Mike, well done, sounds like you're having a very exciting time, and well done. :] Hope and pray your ankle is well. :] xx
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