07.21.09
Posted in Montenegro, The journey journal at 2:19 pm by Administrator
A quick note here from skopje in macedonia.
The country of montenegro is pretty aptly named. it means black mountain in italian and in its own language it is Crno Gora which means black mountain. Strange that. Well the three of the four full days that we rode across the country involved climbs of over 1000m and our highest point on the trip was at about 1850 above sea level. We first crossed into the touristy area of herceg novi and it was an iteresting place. Nic kept pointing out all these really tall slim pretty girls that I would have not otherwise noticed. Then we headed around the awesome area of Kotor bay. It is a pretty specky area and well worth a look. After kotor we found out why cycle touring is really awesome. The climb out of kotor involves about 39 switchbacks and goes up just over 1000m and horizontally about 8 km. We ran out of water in the 35 degree heat around 800m up and just as we took our last swig we came around a corner and there was a little stand selling drinks and homemade cheese and cured meats. It was like a magical oasis. We asked pleadingly for water with swollen tongues and the guy who ran the stall clicked into action. Out came the chairs and the umbrellas and the precious water. Then more water and then the home made wine and the snacks and the home made spirits and finally out came his little guitary kind of violin thing that he proceeded to play for us all of the local folk music. It took us hours to get away from Luka and wobble our way up the rest of the hill. We could feel the last few hundred metres as we were a little tipsy but it was such an awesome experience to spend those hours out of the sun with such a genuine giving bloke. We would have missed that if not on bikes and it is that kind of hospitality that is appearing more and more in the balkans that is making this trip the dream that I hoped that it would be. The remainder of montenegro was a blur of gorges and mountain passes and stunning scenery. We did a small ‘civilisation stop’ in Podgorica and went to the movies and saw transformers. It was so wierd to fit back into ‘normal life’ for a second again. The countryside that we went through got really rural and remote and it was great to get away from populated areas.
The map that we were using for this part of the journey was bought in Melbourne and aparently printed in 2006. Unfortunately it wasn’t so up to date. It showed a nice main road heading out of montenegro into kosovo. It was Highway 9 so it couldn’t be bad.. right? Well the bitumen ended 10km and 600 m from teh top of the pass and didn’t start again until well into kosovo. As there is a kind of diplomatic cold war between the 2 countries then the blocked and neglected the road. A car couldn’t get through but a bike could get around the landslides and gravel and roadblocks and rocks and areas that have been dug up. There isn’t a real border there, just a kind of 12 km wide no mans land that nobody lives in or goes to. The only sign that we were leaving montenegro was the white landrover parked beside the road with three montenegran police next to it. They invited us for coffee and drinks and kind of as an afterthought checked our passports. Very cool border crossing and a great insight into things in the two countries at the montent.
Anyway bye for now.
Tc
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07.20.09
Posted in The journey journal, croatia at 12:25 pm by Administrator
Bosnia and croatia are interlinked in a some fun and confusing ways and I’m just happy that you don’t need a visa to get over each of the border crossings. So we did a quick stint of riding along the croatia adriatic coast before stopping for teh night in the only city in bosnia that is on the coast. We stayed in an old lady’s field that shes kinda tried to convert into a camp ground. pretty funny but after the heat on the coast we really needed a shower.
Then we cruised along the coast to the town of trsteno, 17 klm short of dubrovnik. The campgrouund there was run by a old brother and sister that had roots in the aristocracy of south america. We decided to stay there for a few days to give our bums a very deserving break and to explore dubrovnik. It was great to stay just outside of the range of teh tourists that swamp dubrovnik. It is an awesome city and there are ways to explore it without being elbowed a million times an hour by the cruiseships full of picturebook tourists and we loved it. The bars that sit just outside the city wall are reason enough to go and for some reason they aren’t crowded and so are ace. swimming in the shadow of teh huge fortificationsis spectacular.
The coast of croatia is so different from the interior that we saw. Almost all of the evidence of war has been erased and the area is prosperous. That may be because every second car was a tourist from some other part of europe. It is some seriously stunning coastline though.
After three days off the bikes we were raring to go again and set off on the day’s ride to the montenegran border but thast will be a new story.
Tc
One little tale of fun in dubrovnik was that on the morning that we were going to leave I couldn’t find my wallet to pay. We looked and looked but it was no where to be found in any of our stuff. The last time that we had seen it was the day before getting on teh bus back to camp. It was in the shopping bag. So after a bit of searching and figuring options we thought that we’d check with the driver of one of the buses that pass by. It was only 10 minutes to the nex tbus so we ran up to the stop and nic went to the post office in town to get some money out with her cards to pay for the camping. The post office wouldn’t give out the money and so the bus driver was the last hope. As he pulled up I sheepishly asked if there was a lost property number to call as I’d lost my wallet on the bus the day before. Like magic he produced my wallet from his little draw and handed it over. What are the chances!!!! We were pretty stoked and there were high fives all round with the kiwi couple that were camped next to us. All the money and stuff was still in it and it was a great lifter to send us on our way.
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07.16.09
Posted in Bosnia, The journey journal at 11:19 am by Administrator
Well after the war depression that we saw across the centre of croatia we were so amazed to see so much life and reconstruction across bosnia.
We stopped and had ourselves a nice hotel stay in a city not far from the border but I can’t remember the name now. We needed a good clean up and the stop was little celebration treat as I finally sucked it up and poped the question that had been building for a while. I asked if nic would buy the beers this time. Well I’ll hopefully send a proper email about that soon but I’m a tad rushed at the mo.
Anyway we cruised through to Banja Luka and were invited to an awesome 18th birthday party in a tiny camp ground and got a little tipsy and were kept up to all hours as the kids these days really know how to party late. (I suck at being old). Then we travelled done some of the most beautiful gorges and rivers and things and had a great time. We met heaps and heaps of other cyclists on the road which was a great change. We loved mostar and Sarajevo (that was a quick side trip on the train) and we then passed out to the coast and the other bit of croatia.
Jajce was awesome as we were the only travellers in town and the guy even came and unlocked teh fortress for us to go and have a look. Its beautiful and not as touristy as anywhere else. We really think that everyone should come and see bosnia on a bike before all of the tourists come and flood it and steal the culture. Hmm I see a small flaw in that plan. Oh well its our little secret.
Hugs
Tc
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07.12.09
Posted in The journey journal at 10:46 am by Administrator
After we left slovenia we took a rather unconventional route through croatia. Based on directions given to us by the many slovenians that stopped to talk to us we crossed into croatia at metalika and headed to the city of Karlovac (where one of the most popular croatian beers comes from and they have a beer festival but it was at the wrong time of year for us). The tourist information place in karlovac gave us an awesomely inaccurate map and we planned to cross to sisak and then into bosnia. We got a tad lost and ended up doing an extra 50km or so but it turned out to be a pretty interesting detour. We were seriously off the beaten track and it gave us the chance to see how things are in rural croatia away from anything that even closely resembles a tourist. Even people from the next villages don’t tour here. Then after Glina we got into an area that seemed to have really been hit very hard by the war and it doesn’t look as though it will ever recover. There are villages that where humanity is completely dying out and where nature is taking back the land. The hills were really pretty and it was a strange feeling to see the way that the people are dying out and the bush is closing in. For 70 km we saw so many villages where no people were under the age of 50 and those were the young people there. Most of teh houses were empty and falling down and many had had the bush swallow them up. Such a different experience to that in Slovenia but definitely an experience worth having. We met a nice couple in a bar in Karlovac that told us a fair bit about their country and they were very positive about much of it. I’m intriuged to see the coast now to see how different it is from the areas that man has done his best to irradicate himself and give the land back to nature.
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Posted in Uncategorized at 10:04 am by Administrator
So after my slightly scathing attack on italy I figured that I should post some positive stuff and basically its impossible to say negative stuff about slovenia.
From the second that we hit the border it was spectacular. The countriside was gorgeous and it seems that they have been handing out free house paint for years and so all the houses are beautiful. All of the industry is hidden behind nice clumps of trees and even the rubbish dump that we passed looked kinda pretty. The drivers were so far the best that I have encountered in the world and seemed be actually aware that cyclists exist and didn’t want to run us over. In fact they deliberatley tried to get out of our way all the time. Even the slight waynes world feel to the mens fashion in the countriside had a certain charm. The people were the most interested in talking to us than anywhere else so far with random strangers trying to say hello at every turn. We stayed in Ljubljana with a great couchsurfing family and they even put on a slightly less than legal fireworks show for Nic for Canada Day. Even the fact that it rained every day didn’t dampen our enthusiasm for the place and its beauty. Cycling through Slovenia comes highly recommended by us and you can even avoid riding up most of the mountains and still see lots of the country.
So thanks to Slovenia and to the people that we met Tone and his family and Andrje and everyone else.
big hugs
Tc
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Posted in Uncategorized at 9:51 am by Administrator
the day usually starts with us waking between 6 and 7 but usually 6:30.
I unlock the gear and cook breaky while Nic packs the tent and bedding.
We usually hit the road between 8 and 9 and ride in the cooler morning air.
We need to stop so Nic can snack around 25 to 30 km into the day and then continue on to have lunch somewhere around the 50 or 60 km mark.
then its push to where ever we are aiming for the day with usually less sightseeing in the afternoon.
The number of hills detirmines the number of afternoon breaks.
We usually hit 80 to 100 km for the day but start looking for a camp spot around teh 80 km mark.
We try to free camp as much as possible and thats been really easy to do except along the coast.
Then we set the camp up and I cook dinner while nic does the other chores around teh camp and then we eat and chill and sleep.
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07.01.09
Posted in Italy, The journey journal at 8:15 am by Administrator
Well now that we’ve left italy I should write a bit about our time there and what we saw.
We were joined in Nice by Nic’s brother, Dan and his girlfriend Christal. They weren’t verz experieinced bikers but thought that thez’d give this touring caper a go.
The journez from Nice went along the riviera coast and their first daz on the bike involved riding through a whole country. We had lunch in Monaco and watched the rich and ludicrously rich wonder by.
The french coast is stunning and very up and down. Down to each town and then up around the next point. Then we hit the Italian border and, WHAM, we weren’t in France or anything that even closely resembled it anymore.
I have the impression of Italy that they have overdeveloped and ruined every part of the country that thez could. The only bits that have survived are those that are too steep to ruin, are too old to have been pulled down or are too swampy and yuk already. I mean every square inch of sand along the coast is covered with horrible umbrellas and deck chairs and all the beaches are private and owned by the bars and hotels that put out those chairs. Also all of the rivers that come to the coast are channeled into uglz concrete chutes. The buildings are all terribly rundown and cramped together and the only ones outside of the few historical cites that are slightly nice are those that have had old style looking facades painted on them.
The few bits that have survived the Italian’s need to overdevelop are pretty great. Some of the coastal road is so beautiful and awesome to ride along before genoa. That is until they randomlz block a tunnel on the bike path and you have to back track or there is a rockslide and so you have to ride over the mountains around it but even that was pretty nice. The cinque terra is a gorgeous area, especially looking down at the towns from above. We topped out at a 545 m climb that was at the end of a sustained 8% grade ride at the steepness of tose hills was pretty tough but the views at teh top were worth it. We only rode down to one of the towns and walked into another as the thought of the 300 plus metre climbs out of them wasn’t that thrilling. Dan and Christal took a short break from the ride just before Cinque terra and zipped down to Rome for some sight seeing and rejoined us in Florence.
After Cinque terra we had a few good flat dazs into florence and stopped along the way to do the cheesezy photo thing in Pisa. Pisa is not much of a stop as there isn’t much to see there other than the leaningish tower. I kinda like the tower’s lean cos of the geotechnical coolness of teh problem but I’m sure that most people just like it cos its pretty.
Florence was a good 2 days break and we drank a little too much on the reunion with Dan and Christal and so the sightseeing day was a little less vigorous than it could have been.
I think that Lyon could beome a lot like florence if the French stopped caring about how their buildings looked and how the city was laid out. Its got so much potential to be more beautiful. I still like it but it could be more. One thing is that the florentines and tuscans do know how to cook and to eat and no trip to tuscany should be completed without a nice big local steak (minimum weight 700 grams) and some chianti (mmmmpasta as well).
After Florence it kinda got a bit hillz and we ended up doing 3 1000 m climbs in 2 days, ouch. Dan and Christal did really well to complete the days even though they were pretty stuffed by the end of them. The hilly areas were nice and rural and quite steep. There were plenty of wineries but we keep coming across the problem that we hit the wineries on a sunday when nothing is open or during siesta time and so we’ve missed some awesome looking wines. Doh!
The 40 km downhill into San Marino was a sweet ride een though it was raining a little and then we climbed up to San Marino. It was my 49th country and I’d always wanted to see it but by the time that we reached the bottom of the cable car to the old town the clouds had settled in and so we couldn’t actually see the views and the only things that we could see in the old town were the millions upon millions of shops selling terrible and glitzy touristy crap that even most grandmas wouldn’t want. We were all pretty underwhelmed by San Marino and we glad to be on the way down the hill back into italy and a bunch of flat days into venice.
I’ll leave it there but we’re now in Slovenia and loving it soo much. I’ll go into more superlatives later but its ace and we’ve got one more day here before hitting croatia.
Hugs
Tc
PS sorry for the Zeds everywhere in teh text but the slovenian keyboard has swapped the y and z and I keep missing them.
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06.26.09
Posted in Uncategorized at 8:58 pm by Administrator
leaving venice tomorrow for Slovenia and my 50th country. running out of internet time doh!
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06.17.09
Posted in Uncategorized at 3:24 pm by Administrator
The bikes seem to be holding together well after a month.
I had some troubles because I damaged my chain but thats fixed now.
The tyres and teh brake pads are wearing out fast and will need replacing by istanbul.
I’m still happy with my seat which is the one off of my specialized road bike. Nic’s seat is going ok but she is having more back end problems than me.
The keen sandals are going really well but the tan lines from them are hilarious.
Our tent has been great so far.
the sleeping mats both have holes in them and so really now are just insulators to the ground rather than matresses but we’ll hopefully be able to pick up some patches if we can find a camping store.
our stools were a great idea but they were pretty cheap and so probably won’t last much longer.
the msr stove is really good and we’ve been using unleaded petrol to power is and it is going well. It is the most widely available fuel and we use about 1 euro in fuel per week.
the tioga panniers are very waterproof but they aren’t likely to make the entire journey without problems.
The pack safety mesh that we use to lock up the bags at night is a great peice of mind and has kept the gear safe.
the bikes came with a 48 tooth big ring on the front of the bikes but I up graded it to a 50 tooth ring and I’m happy that I did as we have had the need to push the big ring a few times and its been good to get the speed when needed rather than overspinning.
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06.12.09
Posted in Uncategorized at 10:52 am by Administrator
we’ve made it to italy. just a quick update as time is very limited on the internet. the pace of life here is so much more hectic than france. the country of france seems to wake up with a nice stretch and a croissant and then cruise off to what ever they feel like doing. Italy wakes up to a loud alarm, takes several shots of espresso and then scretches out the door to its scooter and then buzzes all day from the caffine. hilariously different to france.
anyway time is up.
Tc
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06.07.09
Posted in The journey journal, Wine and cheese and bikes at 3:01 pm by Administrator
If you want to do a week or so cycling then the section from Lyon to Avignon was great, flat and if you go in late May then teh trees are so full of cherries that I could litterally pick them while riding and keep myself fueled on the go.
We’re now in teh town of Villenevue Loubet near Nice and waiting to pick up Dan and Christal. We’re having a much needed day away from the bikes and giving the bodies a chance to recover. We haven’t had a full day off in 2 weeks and even then the last days off we’re full of running around Parisian sights with Jen. We even slept until 9am thismorning which was sooo nice. We’re staying with Jean Michel from the warmshowers website and he and his family have welcomed us so generously. Awesome stuff.
The road to here was a long one. Yesterdday was our longest day. 135 km. The hills weren’t steep but some were high enough to cause some hurt. We changed through 4 distinct geological units and so my nerd meter went into overload. The 3 people out there that are interested can email for details but I was a little over excited. There were also loads of bike paths for the day which was great and the road was stunning as only coastal roads can be. Some sections even rivalling my beloved great ocean road.
Well I’m off to do some bike maintenance.
Hugs
Tc
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06.05.09
Posted in The journey journal, Wine and cheese and bikes at 11:32 am by Administrator
OK so we’re currently n the town of Bandol on the mediterainian coast of France and I’ve realised that I’m never going to be able to keep upto date if I keep trying to add loads of detail. SO I’m gunna give a really quick run down since our teary fareweel to our initial cycle buddy, Jen in Paris.
We went to versailles and were amazed by the awesomeness of the gardens. The museum pass is invalueable in Paris as it saves you hours of queuing.
After Paris and a big thanks to Alexis for his awesome hospitality and putting up with us for 3 days we headed south.
Camped in teh bush and were nearly blown away by a thunderstorm overnight.
Hit the Loire valley the next day in Briar. Bloody beautiful town and this began the start of many wonderfully flat days and our first real tail winds that lasted all the way to Marseille.
The loire was beuatiful country side with lots of farming, white cows and old chateaus. Lots less inhabited and lots more organised than northern france.
From the loire valley we pushed a 120 km day, over a mountain range into the rhone valley. Stayed with Italian couchsurfers Samuele and his girlfriend and they were supernice and really looked after us after our longest day yet.
Then into Lyon for a quick stay and more awesome hosptiality from Jo and Tom and their kids. Lots of food and chats and fun. Tom rode 30 km with us out of Lyon and we went with the flat and the tail wind south. FIrst night stay in the field of a cool restauranteur, Bernoit and in a castle the next. Bernoit served us wonderful local cuisine of fried minnows and grenouilles (frogs). I never thought that my chips would be bigger than the fish on my plate.
We then made it to Avignon which is a pretty a ok city.
Then pushed south to keep the wind behind us and were planning to stay in Marseille. Unfortunqtely the city sucks and I caught 3 people trying to steal from us in the first hour. lucky that I’m on the ball or a guy would have walked off with Nics bag and 2 pickpockets would have got stuff. So after getting our fix of the Chateau d’if of Count of Monte Cristo fame we made a quick exit over the hills to Cassis. Then today we are heading along the Med passed Toulon. Its great.
One thing that we’ve really noticed is that there is a significant proportion of the french that really go out of their way not to go out of their way for you. Its not all of them, its not even half of them but there are an annoyingly large number of people in this country, especially the south, that seem to take enormous pleasure in being rude and.. well to put it bluntly pricks! It really detracts from the great and helpful people that we have met.
In other news Nic has taken the pressure off of me by having the first stack (crash) of the tour. I really thought that it would be me that would bite the dust first but in Marseille yesterday Nic missed a small gutter and fell off cutting her knee. Nothing too serious (no amputations required) but it’ll sting for a while and we’ll have to watch it for infection and nastiness. She did pretty well as I would have cried if it had been me.
Anyway, time for lunch and getting back on the road so that we can meet Dan and Christal in Nice in a few days.
Love and hugs
Tc
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05.31.09
Posted in The journey journal, Wine and cheese and bikes at 8:39 am by Administrator
So here I am on a beautiful morning in Lyon and I figured that I’d do a bit of blogging. Lets see how much time I get.
I left the story off last time in Montreiul. From there the we headed to Paris and spent 2 more nights free camping. The wind slowly abated and the hills became slowly less nasty and our legs were getting a little stronger. The signs of tiredness were starting to show though as none of us had expected it to be as hard as it had been. Its amazing how much hard it becomes to ride a bike once you put 40 to 50 kilos of gear on it. I can do 100 km in my sleep on a road bike but the touring bike takes a lot of effort. As I was carrying the food for Nic and I my load varied up and down and I was trying to eat as much as possible to keep the load light. We’re generally buying food in the afternoons now. We stop in at a supermarchè and buy dinner breaky and lunch the next day. Its working well. Jen carried all her own food and gear and was tremendous at keeping going.
Our camping spots were interesting. Either there aren’t many unattractive places in France or we’ve been really good at picking the picturesque ones as we’ve had some beautiful fields and locations to sleep in. One night we contemplated sleeping under a graphitti covered bridge but instead Nic spied a cute little fishing spot down the river and so we slept there.
We also made a fun stop at a town that had turned itself into a giant, townsized garage sale for the day. Everyone in the place wheeled all of their junk out to the street and people came from hundreds of Km away to buy the junk. Jen even found some great burningman costumes and Nic found the french books that she’d been craving. I was just happy to taste some of the local wines.
The road into Paris, that we took was the N1 which is quite the large highway and so there was lots of traffic to escort us in. The roads so far had been the secondary roads and the french are pretty good about giveing cyclists room to breathe (please take note of that australia, you don’t have to try to kill the cyclists).
So into Paris we rode. We didn’t come in via a hill and so didn’t get a great overview of the city like we’d hoped for but after lots of twisting through the streets we popped out of the maze at the Place d’étoile and the Arc de triumph. This was paris and all its stunningness (I’m sure thats a word). We did a bit of sightseeing and the met with Alexis who had agreed to put us up for the few days that we were in town. He was awesomely hospitible and I can never repay him for how good he was to us. His cooking was excellent as well. I’m not sure if that is genetic with the french but I’m not losing any weight in this country despite riding millions of kilometres. Paris was a delightful blur of pastries, museums and random old stuff and once again I really enjoyed my time there.
Anyway time to hit the road again in Lyon so I’ll hopefully get another chance to update soon.
Tc
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05.30.09
Posted in Uncategorized at 8:48 pm by Administrator
Was going to write lots of stuff about the journey into paris and down the loire valley and now just into the Rhone valley but I’m really sleepy and there is a comfy REAL bed calling my name so the updating will need to wait a little longer……..ZZZZZZZZZ
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Posted in The journey journal, Wine and cheese and bikes at 7:35 am by Administrator
So it seems to me that the people of northern france are really scared of trees as there were hardly any to be seen, that they are a mountain loving people due to the excessive number of hills across the countryside and that they constantly endure a strong southerly wind that is the bain of all cyclists trying to cross south to Paris.
Well that was the feeling that we all got from the few days that we spent crossing to the south.
The absolute best thing about cycling in the mornings in France is passing through the small towns and smelling the patisserie cooking up its heavenly goods to sell to the world. That smell would make a strong man cry it is so good. I now know how the ancient sailors felt as they tried to resist the charms of the Sirens because I nearly dashed my bike against the rocks trying to get to the patisserie many times.
So as the map will have shown we spent nights just outside Calais, in montreiul (pronounced mon-troy), on the south side of Poix de Picardy and just north of Paris before a great few nights in Paris with my old friend from College, Alexis.
Once we got off of the ferry we headed south and I thought that taking the coast road would be nice and flat and good. I was a little wrong. The road was nice and scenic but it was anything but flat and with a roaring head wind we only made it a little way south before stopping for the night in an abandoned (and falling down) farmhouse on the cliffs overlooking the English channel (the the marche as it is know to the rest of europe). We were all stressed about being caught and thrown off the land but as we found out later, no one really seems to care where you sleep if you area cyclist and don’t leave a mess. The french airforce did a few fly overs and we thought that the were on patrol for vagrants such as ourselves but our comoflage worked and the never found us. Also we found out that bbq lighting fuel isn’t the best thing for our stove and so we couldn’t get it to work and ended up eating cold cans of chicken korma (and vege curry for Jen) for dinner. Mmm cold canned food. We were also out of water and since it was late, I back tracked into town to find some. My mastery of french got a few drink bottles filled at a small shop so that was all good. Basically I knocked on the door after closing time and when the guy answered I held up the bottles and pleadingly asked “Eau” (pronounced badly as Ooh). He didn’t seem happy about it but filled the bottles anyway.
We have discovered that if the French know you then they are welcoming and helpful and hospitable but if they don’t know you then they don’t really seem to care and will only go out of their way to help if really pushed. We hit that a lot while asking for directions and things.
Day 2 of france was an early start up and down the rolling chalk hills of the Normandy coast. None of us was mentally or physically prepared to carry the weight up these hills into the head wind and so going was pretty arduous. Lots of stopping at the top of hills for a photo and a drink. The scenery was stunning though and so that made a good excuse to stop and rest.. I mean have a look at. I got my first flat in Bourgne sur Mer. It took a whole screw to penetrate the kevlar liners in the tyres but it did and I heard that horrible and scary hissing noise of air leaking from my back tyre. One thing that I liked about riding along the coast were the hundreds of concrete bunkers still left over from the world wars. Its interesting to see them all still in place and gives a really perspective on the scale of the wars in that area and the invasion size. There are also war monuments everywhere and many towns are dedicated to the forces that ‘liberated’ them.
From there we decided to head inland a bit to try and avoid the wind but couldn’t escape it and after a pretty tiring day we stopped in the camp ground in the town of Montreiul. It took a car load of french guys about 35 seconds to try to pick up Nic afer she asked for directions and even though she pointed out the fact that her boyfriend was standing 5 m away they were not to be dissuaded. But she resisted their charms and I got to keep my girlfriend. That night we wandered into town for a restorative ale in the local bar and felt much better about having had a gloriously warm shower and a comfy spot of grass on which to park the tents.
ok rounding off for now. We’re just outside Lyon with some great couchsurfers but its time to head into town and so I’ll finish the updating later.
Tc
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