À Bientôt, France!

Fortunately my poor attempt at repairing my derailleur got me all the way from Calais, through Dieppe, and all the way to Paris! The ride from Calais to Dieppe was really nice, took me a day and a half to cover the ~175 kilometers through rolling hills of farms and small villages. I decided to only spend an afternoon in Dieppe, my main reason for going was to stand on the beach where Canadians came up some 75 odd years ago. I quite quickly continued on my way towards Paris. I stopped over in a little place called Neufchatel-en-Bray for two nights. I’m finding it really nice to try and do two full days of cycling, then have one day “off.” The day off in Neuchatel was used to dodge some of the rain coming in off the Atlantic, and find a place to get a haircut. Literally nothing seems to be open on Sundays, so the second day, after hiding from the rain in McDonalds (read: free wifi/american toilets) I managed to find the only coiffeur open on the monday. Not quite as good of a job as my regular barber in Winnipeg, but it’ll do for a couple weeks. I wasn’t able to find someone from warmshowers to take me in like I did for the first night of the trip in London for my time in Paris. Fortunately I was able to find a campground not too far from Paris! The 18 euro per-night tariff was much more agreeable to my budget than a 50 euro hostel bed. Actually, it worked out perfectly! I was able to leave the majority of my gear at the campground while I took my bike out to explore the city! I was able to cover much more ground than I would have on my two feet, or using rickety rental bikes. I think I hit all the major touristy spots and, of course, a fair number of cafes! My two favourites were Honor Coffee, and Coutume. My second full day in Paris was incredibly busy! I woke up early to make sure I could line up to get into the Louvre. After a morning running around the Louvre, I made a quick stop at Honor before cycling down the the 13th arrondissement, where I was able to get the hem on my jeans repaired. From the 13th I cycled all the way to Versailles to see the palace, before cycling all the way back to the campground. Across the Seine from the campground I found a much more competent bicycle repair shop, one where I was actually able to get the part that I needed! There was some minor miscommunications between myself and the proprietor, Eric, which ended in me being “late” for the appointment that we had set for 6:30pm, him thinking that I would sacrifice Leia to him for the entire day. He over-charged me 10 euro for his trouble, a small price to pay to have a fully functioning rear-derailleur! The past few days have been spent cycling to Luxembourg! I had one night in the forest off the side of the road and one more 120km past that at a campground. These two days may have been the least inspiring days of cycling yet. The topography was not unlike Manitoba - straight roads, except with a few extra long, sweeping hills through in. The pavement wasn’t all that great either. On the edge of the road the stones set to form the road were spaced so sparsely, that each pedal stroke was half as effective as it would have been on a smooth road. The third/fourth day post-Paris was spent in the town of Verdun. I took an extra day to rest my legs a little, and to explore the hills to the north of Verdun, where a significant portion of World War I was fought. They’ve left a number of outposts and trenches in the hills, slowly crumbling, yet still standing to give witness to the events that took place 101 years ago. Vast sections of forest are still scarred by the trenches that run the length of the hills, and by the irregularly shaped divots left by explosives. Today on my ride north to Luxembourg I stumbled upon a massive monument to the French soldiers who lost their lives fighting in WWI. The monument looked out onto a field the size of at least 12 soccer pitches, full of little white crosses spaced uniformly across the hillside. Sobering to say the least. I’m looking forward to spending the next two days exploring Luxembourg City a little bit before heading south. The weather has been really nice during the day, hitting the low 20s during the day. Overnight the temperature has dipped as low as five. So far the cold hasn’t bothered me much, it’s mostly the dew in the mornings that becomes tedious. It can take quite some time for the accumulated droplets to be evaporated away by the sun. As of this evening I have put on 1,166 kilometers in Europe thus far! I think 13 of those have been actual riding days - the others have been days off where I haven’t necessarily put the bike computer on the bike. What else… I’ve been sleeping really well (considering I haven’t slept indoors since leaving Luton). The fact that the dew sets in as soon as the sun falls usually chases me into my tent shortly after 7:30. I can only read so much, or journal, or watch the Office for so long, so I’ve been sleeping much longer than employment at a coffee shop has allowed over the past year or so! I also discovered in Neufchatel, that liquor isn’t taxed in France nearly as much as it is in Canada. I picked myself up a bottle of Oban 14 for under 40 euro. At home it is nearly $120 CAD/bottle! Who said that dirtbagging it meant you had to slum it the whole time? Best, Gavyn.