What an awful day today. Tons of rain and I only managed 13 miles before taking refuge in a church porch in the village of Kembs, an hour away from Basel. So close to leaving France, and yet so far.
The rain was so bad and I felt so miserable. I waited huddled in the church porch for about 45 minutes, nothing open in the vicinity, no coffee shop, bar or even a restaurant. Such a dead town, lifeless. I searched for a local Air BnB or hotel, but nothing. There was a campsite about 15 minutes away so I just made a dash for it and rolled in sopping wet. Got no sleep at all last night, just too pumped about leaving France and wondering when or how I would get to see my friend Kasar in Zug. As it happened, she rang up as I was having a breakfast of salad and this muesli bread type of thing (really needing the fibre) and after chatting with a lovey German woman who was on her cycling tour towards the Atlantic coast for 4 weeks. Nice lady, I saw her briefly at the common space where I was writing yesterday diary. Her partner was either English or studying in England (Norwich) and had a heart attack and died in London 8 years previously. She seemed OK about it and was a seasoned bike tourist. I noticed she was well prepared for the rain as she set off in the opposite direction to me, on her way to Besançon and the Atlantic Coast. She didn't bat an eyelid when I said I was going to Turkey and clarified the route I should take, which was not via Zurich. Anyway, chatting to Kasar was great and I realised how much I would look forward to seeing her again so decided that once I got to Basel I would get a train down there for a couple of days.
It is Irina birthday today and now I have decided to take the trip to Zug as an additional circuit and return to Basel to continue the journey, then why not just do the same and make the effort to see her. I appreciate the real people in my life more and more and she is one of them. Def need to rethink the way I do my bike tours. Will start looking into accom en route which seems only slightly more expeno than campsites tbh. Also going to look into sleeping bags when I get home to compare sizes when they are rolled up and small.
Pleased to have discovered a muesli fibre saturated bread type thing from Super U. Looking into bivvy bags now, this trip has certainly been a learning experience on how to do things. Gotta say, I am rather enjoying being in my tent with both interior sides up, giving me so much space yet it is raining outside.
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