Wow, an amazing day. Still buoyed up by seeing my bestie yesterday and coupled with this smooth ride along a deserted canal after with no vehicular traffic was sensational.
So pleased I had packed my wireless speaker, a last-minute addition. I eventually found a way of lodging it in position for maximum volume and cranked up some bangers including Flashdance, What A Feeling which totally encapsulated my mood. Strongly suspect that this may become the soundtrack to my adventure and tried to see if I could take a video of me cycling whist it was playing, sadly not.
Not only has there been no vehicular traffic, but I also haven’t seen any boats along the entire length of this canal so far either, which is getting on for 100Km now if you include the past couple of days too. Surprising, then, to see the water was pretty clear and not particularly fast flowing either, with a lot of carp swimming about.
I pushed on through the small but massively floral town of Froncles to the tiny village of Vouécourt that mainly consisted of a church, bridge and a 150-year-old public lavoir or washhouse. It was a bit cloudy but that didn’t detract from the overall prettiness of the place.
The churches over here, at least the older gothic ones dating from around 1400s, have distinctive conical hat shaped spires and along with the kick ass floral displays put on both by the local authorities and augmented in splendour by the private residents in any number of boxes, barrows, barrel and other assorted receptacles, have become a defining feature of my trip through France thus far.
Sadly the villages always seem so empty, devoid of people and everything seems to be permanently shut. As one local explained to me, the younger demographic no longer what to live in such a rural backwater, leaving only the oldies behind. I wouldn’t blame them. I also think that English villages are also much prettier, more architectural detail and interesting on the whole.
I pitched my tent in a beautiful spot overlooking the fast-flowing weir of the river Marne with the bridge behind it. A lot of flood warning notices all over the place, but I took my chances and perched right by the river’s edge, the noise of the running water too hypnotic to ignore.
The campsite was full of people from the Netherlands with some very fancy looking RVs and camper vans, which was par for the course. It’s a very Dutch thing to do, apparently – to drive down in your RV to the south of France and stay for August. I did meet a couple of cycle tourists who were pleasant enough but only as long as the one-way conversation was them telling me where they were going, how far, how long it would take and where they have already come from. I can’t remember what they said now, but it wasn’t earth shattering. I’m still pretty sure that they never asked me once about my périple.
I still had bags of energy as the ride had been so easy and for the large part, very smooth although the canal path did sometimes get a bit bumpy in parts. Given that there was nothing open in the village, including even the church, I cycled the 6KM back to Froncles and picked up supplies, including loads of cold beers which I didn’t imagine I would drink, but I didn’t want to run out and it was too far to return from my campsite if I did so. My diet is healthy, lots of apples, satsumas and grapes as well as couscous, pasta, tuna and tomatoes. It's about all I ever eat, having tried lentils but I find them repellent.
To be honest, I am not enjoying the cooking part too much, its all so fiddly, limiting and actually expensive when you are on your own. The last thing that I want to do when I arrive somewhere is spend time chopping, slicing and dicing after I have cycled, got lost, found my campsite and put up my tent.
Am going to have to rethink the food part of this whole thing because it is not bringing me much joy. I really need those damned front panniers which would give me more room to store supplies. I have also identified another batch of items I can send home as well, so will look out for a post office along the way. That should help.
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