Today was just one of those days, where everything was a bit challenging.
Let me start by getting something off my chest. I’m sick of whining, I’ve had it morning and late at night and it’s get on my nerves. This morning I went to the loo and there it was again, a high pitched whine following me everywhere. It’s not Tim, this whine comes from those nasty little mozzies, they bite even through long sleeve tops and trousers and seem immune to repellent. My body looks like I have a bad case of measeles. Still on the plus side I killed the one that followed me to the loo !
Anyway toilets over, I went to pick up my powerbank (battery) which I’d left on charge at reception overnight – guess what it hadn’t charged. Minor panic as I need this to keep the phone and Garmin Sat Nav going.
From there it was to the supermarket to buy breakfast, being France it didn’t open until just before 9. So we had to hang around a while. Tim paid close attention to the signs !
I let Tim do the shopping and amongst other things he came back with four loo rolls. Clearly a troubled man.
From then it was dodging the showers and off along a road following Le Vendee river, around 10 we found a lovely spot for breakfast. Right next to a bar that did great coffee.
After that things started to get hilly and go wrong. We had drizzle and then heavier rain and Tim was having trouble with his gears.
We managed to improve Tim’s gears, but then my Garmin Sat Nav started to freeze and wouldn’t even turn off. Eventually I reset it, but it continued to play up. By now it was getting very dark and we were getting rain showers. After pulling in for a “comfort” break, I got a small branch caught in my wheel, I pulled it out and didn’t think much more of it until a mile or so down the road when the tyre went flat. No problem I had spare tubes, but the minute we started to fix it, the heavens opened and it poured down until just after we had put the wheel back on !
Still we ploughed on and eventually found a nice dry bus shelter for lunch.
After that we spent a couple of hours cycling in torrential rain towards Partheny. Did I mention the hills ? it was a very lumpy ride, almost as much climbing as in the worst day in Spain .
Eventually, we rolled into town and found a campsite. We had decided that we didn’t want to set up the tents as we were both soaking wet.
We managed to rent a cabin, with all mod cons and plenty of room for the bikes. There was one more mishap though. I managed to run into the owners cat, although I don’t think she noticed ( the owner) the cat clearly did and gave me a wide berth after that.
Once settled in, a trip to the supermarket, followed by a very civilised dinner !
Steady Pedals 