Imagine a rumpled bedcover. That's what the landscape in France looks like on our map. We are trying to link valleys to ride northwards but so many are crossing east/west that we soon find ourselves on one elongated roller-coaster ride. Let me describe this more accurately. We crawl our way up to a ridgetop and then zoom down the other side. These ridges and valleys are too large to actually get any momentum up. We just have to grind it out.
But don't get me wrong. I'm a dyed-in-the-croissant francophile and I am really keen to make this ride work. Our original idea was to cycle across Spain to Lisbon and then jump across the Atlantic from there. But when we got the offer to house-sit for Andy & Kate, we then thought about other options. The clincher was air fares to Calgary in Canada. The cheapest flight in August is from Gatwick in England. Not wanting to miss an opportunity to see a little more of France, I persuaded Gayle that cycling back to England in a short space of time would be the kind of training we needed in order to get fit for riding the Great Divide route in North America. And so here we are.
The landscape contrasts with the dry golden shades of Spain. Here, the land is fecund. It is being heavily farmed and much of the arable land is turned over to maize. But there are other cereals too, vegetables and, our favourites, sunflowers. Acres of them. We start waving to them. It's as if a crowd has gathered beside the road and is cheering us on. Or turning their backs on us. It depends which direction the sun is. The Tour de France has already begun and we see signs warning road users of imminent closures for when the circus passes through on its way to Pau.
We feel like we are now riding against the clock. Our first objective is to visit Robert and Daniela who recently moved from the Alps to a new home and a new life in the province of Gers. In the middle of nowhere, it seems. We find the place on Google maps and mark it on our road map. But how to get there? Gayle has a cunning plan. First we cut straight up and through Montrejeau, which just happens to be on the top of a hill. Then we follow a zig-zag route valley-hopping north. The gradients are unforgiving. Late afternoon we hit a long valley at the end of the day and sneak down a track into a field of maize to camp. It's light so we cook first behind some trees. A tractor enters the field and moves into the maize to set up a water cannon. Of course the farmer then drives out of the maize and onto our track. We go over to greet him and ask if we can camp here. He happily agrees but warns us to stay clear of the water cannon which is firing water in pulsing arcs across the maize. Pas de probleme, monsieur, merci beaucoup! At about 10 pm a horrendous noise begins. A combine harvester is hoovering up acres of wheat in the next field. The hungry beast keeps munching until about 2am.........
We pause for lunch in a village. We're close now. But none of the road junctions are matching our map. Gayle's instincts kick in. Turn right, up here! We crawl up a mean-looking hill. At the top another junction. We phone a friend. Robert picks up. Keep going, he tells us, it's up and down all the way. It is. We finally turn a corner and see beyond a farm someone waving at us. Robert. He and Daniela walk down their track to greet us. We're hot and tired and very happy to have found them.
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| grand houses in a village in Haut-Pyrenees |
But don't get me wrong. I'm a dyed-in-the-croissant francophile and I am really keen to make this ride work. Our original idea was to cycle across Spain to Lisbon and then jump across the Atlantic from there. But when we got the offer to house-sit for Andy & Kate, we then thought about other options. The clincher was air fares to Calgary in Canada. The cheapest flight in August is from Gatwick in England. Not wanting to miss an opportunity to see a little more of France, I persuaded Gayle that cycling back to England in a short space of time would be the kind of training we needed in order to get fit for riding the Great Divide route in North America. And so here we are.
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| Excusez-moi, ou est la boulangerie? |
The landscape contrasts with the dry golden shades of Spain. Here, the land is fecund. It is being heavily farmed and much of the arable land is turned over to maize. But there are other cereals too, vegetables and, our favourites, sunflowers. Acres of them. We start waving to them. It's as if a crowd has gathered beside the road and is cheering us on. Or turning their backs on us. It depends which direction the sun is. The Tour de France has already begun and we see signs warning road users of imminent closures for when the circus passes through on its way to Pau.  |
| a welcome tap outside an old monastery |
We feel like we are now riding against the clock. Our first objective is to visit Robert and Daniela who recently moved from the Alps to a new home and a new life in the province of Gers. In the middle of nowhere, it seems. We find the place on Google maps and mark it on our road map. But how to get there? Gayle has a cunning plan. First we cut straight up and through Montrejeau, which just happens to be on the top of a hill. Then we follow a zig-zag route valley-hopping north. The gradients are unforgiving. Late afternoon we hit a long valley at the end of the day and sneak down a track into a field of maize to camp. It's light so we cook first behind some trees. A tractor enters the field and moves into the maize to set up a water cannon. Of course the farmer then drives out of the maize and onto our track. We go over to greet him and ask if we can camp here. He happily agrees but warns us to stay clear of the water cannon which is firing water in pulsing arcs across the maize. Pas de probleme, monsieur, merci beaucoup! At about 10 pm a horrendous noise begins. A combine harvester is hoovering up acres of wheat in the next field. The hungry beast keeps munching until about 2am.........
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| it was peaceful when we arrived |
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| and it was still peaceful when the sun went down |
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| mid-morning break |
We pause for lunch in a village. We're close now. But none of the road junctions are matching our map. Gayle's instincts kick in. Turn right, up here! We crawl up a mean-looking hill. At the top another junction. We phone a friend. Robert picks up. Keep going, he tells us, it's up and down all the way. It is. We finally turn a corner and see beyond a farm someone waving at us. Robert. He and Daniela walk down their track to greet us. We're hot and tired and very happy to have found them.
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| we last saw Robert in Kyrgyzstan in 2014 |
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| so tell us Daniela and Robert, what attracted you to this house? |
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| the only sound is birds |
