Day 7: Rain... Rain... Go Away...
Wednesday July 3 - Day 7 - 54 miles - Total 282 miles
We started this morning with a nice chat with the guy from last night and nice lady who spoke English! The rain was spitting down from the start, but we managed to find a Carrefour (supermarket) after our obligatory boulangerie in the morning informed us tht the 2 bakeries in town were both out of business. Meh...
But cherries and pain au chocolat and baguette and salmon sandwiches were had by all... Hurray!
We started to cycle out of the greater Nancy area on a very nice and quite long bike path in the rain. There were a whole flock of swans... (do swans flock?) in the river that the bike path followed which was the Moselle River (if you were interested). We cycled over a dam (weir) on a little wooden bridge much smaller than the earlier bridge we went over called the Bow String Bridge. Quite pretty (if is wasn't raining)...
The bike path followed the course of an old railroad line through the village of Lay St. Christophe and out into the French countryside again. This was equestrian country as the bike path had a sand half for the horses and an asphalt half for the cyclists. There was also several barns and a dressage stadium - which had signs up for the cyclists to be quiet as they passed in case they scared the horses! After a few more miles of this we came to the end of the current bike path (although there are plans to extend it apparently). There was a small workshop where were signs that you could buy local artisanal honey; however when we enquired, we were told that there was no honey today, but there will be some tomorrow....guess they don't keep much stock!
We emerged onto the main road near the village of Champaneux. The road was a tad busier than we wanted (especially in the rain) but we persevered and went through several more zombie villages. We reached the village of Moyenvic, which had a really strange and creepy church. It was modern (post WWII) concrete with tiny windows and an open church tower with exterior stairs....it just looked like a Stalinist prison. Very strange. We changed roads here onto a quieter one which was more pleasant.
We really don't understand the opening hours in France. We passed several shops and restaurants and NONE were open. We were even shooed away from one that was closed when we tried the door. And this was at about 5.30pm!
Unfortunately the terrain of this area of the country is VERY rolling. We drop down in elevation about 150-200' to enter a village and then the road goes through the village and we have to climb the 150-200' back out the other side....this can get very frustrating...especially when it is raining! The scenery is very pretty and we are enjoying noticing the different crops and wildflowers and watching them change as we cross into different micro climates.
As it was raining today, we did take shelter in some bus shelters. We started the day in the TED bus catchment area, but ended in the TIM bus area....personally the TED bus shelters were nicer.
After asking directions from a very friendly car mechanic in Langatte, we got to the village of Haut Clocher and found the converted convent. It is called Couvent de Saint Ulrich and, of course, it is up a very steep hill. We did get to the top eventually (after passing another closed restaurant)...and more problems began.
The owner/caretaker person (Jo) had already left for the day and since we didn't know if we would get this far we didn't make a reservation. Not a problem we thought. However when we reached Jo on the phone (who doesn't speak English but does speak French and German) since we didn't have a reservation she couldn't give us a room even though there was availability. We explained (in broken French) that we had just cycled 90kms through the rain and it was 7pm and we really needed a room. However, she wouldn't budge... even when a lovely couple did some accurate translating for us. Now at this point we looked absolutely a mess sitting on the stoop of a convent; wet, dirty and tired from a day's ride... So when a very lovely German couple came out and we explained our predicament, they allowed us to watch them key in the code to the front door... and maybe the internet password... (which is how we are posting tonight)... so there was some fruit on the entry table obviously for guest consumption... so we took some... and maybe there was a beautiful garden in the back... so we put up our tent in it... and maybe there is a kitchen inside the building(that absolutely does not say that people can not enter on the door) so we went in... and made dinner with our veggies and pasta bought earlier in the day... and had a cup of tea... with honey...
So now we are off to brush our teeth before bed (in the kitchen sink) and we will head towards Strasbourg tomorrow (about 40 miles). This time we will make reservations at a hotel before we get there.
Tomorrow's weather: Not raining!
The World is ours!
Note: Will post pictures soon (making sure we dont get kicked out first...) Te he he...
Wednesday July 3 - Day 7 - 54 miles - Total 282 miles
We started this morning with a nice chat with the guy from last night and nice lady who spoke English! The rain was spitting down from the start, but we managed to find a Carrefour (supermarket) after our obligatory boulangerie in the morning informed us tht the 2 bakeries in town were both out of business. Meh...
But cherries and pain au chocolat and baguette and salmon sandwiches were had by all... Hurray!
We started to cycle out of the greater Nancy area on a very nice and quite long bike path in the rain. There were a whole flock of swans... (do swans flock?) in the river that the bike path followed which was the Moselle River (if you were interested). We cycled over a dam (weir) on a little wooden bridge much smaller than the earlier bridge we went over called the Bow String Bridge. Quite pretty (if is wasn't raining)...
The bike path followed the course of an old railroad line through the village of Lay St. Christophe and out into the French countryside again. This was equestrian country as the bike path had a sand half for the horses and an asphalt half for the cyclists. There was also several barns and a dressage stadium - which had signs up for the cyclists to be quiet as they passed in case they scared the horses! After a few more miles of this we came to the end of the current bike path (although there are plans to extend it apparently). There was a small workshop where were signs that you could buy local artisanal honey; however when we enquired, we were told that there was no honey today, but there will be some tomorrow....guess they don't keep much stock!
We emerged onto the main road near the village of Champaneux. The road was a tad busier than we wanted (especially in the rain) but we persevered and went through several more zombie villages. We reached the village of Moyenvic, which had a really strange and creepy church. It was modern (post WWII) concrete with tiny windows and an open church tower with exterior stairs....it just looked like a Stalinist prison. Very strange. We changed roads here onto a quieter one which was more pleasant.
We really don't understand the opening hours in France. We passed several shops and restaurants and NONE were open. We were even shooed away from one that was closed when we tried the door. And this was at about 5.30pm!
Unfortunately the terrain of this area of the country is VERY rolling. We drop down in elevation about 150-200' to enter a village and then the road goes through the village and we have to climb the 150-200' back out the other side....this can get very frustrating...especially when it is raining! The scenery is very pretty and we are enjoying noticing the different crops and wildflowers and watching them change as we cross into different micro climates.
As it was raining today, we did take shelter in some bus shelters. We started the day in the TED bus catchment area, but ended in the TIM bus area....personally the TED bus shelters were nicer.
After asking directions from a very friendly car mechanic in Langatte, we got to the village of Haut Clocher and found the converted convent. It is called Couvent de Saint Ulrich and, of course, it is up a very steep hill. We did get to the top eventually (after passing another closed restaurant)...and more problems began.
The owner/caretaker person (Jo) had already left for the day and since we didn't know if we would get this far we didn't make a reservation. Not a problem we thought. However when we reached Jo on the phone (who doesn't speak English but does speak French and German) since we didn't have a reservation she couldn't give us a room even though there was availability. We explained (in broken French) that we had just cycled 90kms through the rain and it was 7pm and we really needed a room. However, she wouldn't budge... even when a lovely couple did some accurate translating for us. Now at this point we looked absolutely a mess sitting on the stoop of a convent; wet, dirty and tired from a day's ride... So when a very lovely German couple came out and we explained our predicament, they allowed us to watch them key in the code to the front door... and maybe the internet password... (which is how we are posting tonight)... so there was some fruit on the entry table obviously for guest consumption... so we took some... and maybe there was a beautiful garden in the back... so we put up our tent in it... and maybe there is a kitchen inside the building(that absolutely does not say that people can not enter on the door) so we went in... and made dinner with our veggies and pasta bought earlier in the day... and had a cup of tea... with honey...
So now we are off to brush our teeth before bed (in the kitchen sink) and we will head towards Strasbourg tomorrow (about 40 miles). This time we will make reservations at a hotel before we get there.
Tomorrow's weather: Not raining!
The World is ours!
Note: Will post pictures soon (making sure we dont get kicked out first...) Te he he...
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