TOUR DAY 8 (Sept 16)
Musings from the morning:
- I had VERY crazy dreams, almost movie like. Just weird stuff. All centered around New York and JFK airport.
- I can tell how good a French hotel breakfast is going to be by just the first bite of the croissant.
- For that matter, I can tell how good a French Hotel is going to be just based on the first bite of the croissant at breakfast.
- I understand spoken French the same way a dog understands his masters. Blah-blah-blah-blah OUTSIDE? Only for me its: Blah-Blah-Blah-blah CHAMBRE NOMBRE? Hunh? Oh! the breakfast girl wants my room number. Then I rattle it off back to her, faking my fluency.
- Time to get started. Its rainy, but not too bad today. Really worried about my knee, but I'm goign to take it easy.
The day started out fine… I could feel the knee, but it wasn’t painful. After an hour, I lowered the seat to the height the bike shop recommended (quite a bit lower) and I could feel the geometry better on the knee immediately. Maybe it was just seat height that was causing a strain?
The bike path to Chambord was well marked, but I missed a turn somewhere (easy to do at 20kph) and found myself on the main surface roads in the middle of the fields. Cars and tour busses fly past me. I finally made it to the town of Chambord only to find out the most famous of all French chateaus was not actually in the city. I had to go another 3km to get to the front gates, then another 3km on the designated bike path to reach the structure. It was quite impressive.
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| Lookinng back toward Blois |
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| On the bike path to Chambord before I lost the trail |
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| Lost and looking for clues if I'm on the right path, I spot this Chateau in the distance. Is this it? No. |
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| What is this thing? A grain silo? A water tower? Rapunzel's new digs? |
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| On the surface roads in the middle of the fields. |
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| Inside the front gates of Chambord Chateau, I think the bike path is a lot nicer than the route for autos |
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| View of the Chateau from the bike path |
I arrived at the Chateau at 1pm and the tours lasted about 2 hours. I probably should have just stayed there and spent the night and pressed on to Orleans the next day. BUT hindsight is 20/20.
I ate lunch at the chateau and pressed on towards Orleans.
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| Chambord Chateau |
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| made it! |
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| Life is rich at the Chateau, even to go to the bathroom is 0.40 Euro |
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| I was surprised how empty the grounds were |
A mere 5km later and I was walking the bike on the trail with 3km to get to the next town of Baule. I made it to Baule and found they don’t have any hotels in the town. It’s pretty industrial and the only open business I found was a Tabac in the center of town; a common type of store that sells draft beer and cigarettes at a counter, and about 300 types of magazines, from children’s to pornographic. The clientele was pretty rough, most stopping in to buy lotto tickets.
I explained to the bar tender in French I could not ride anymore today and I needed a hotel. He responded in a kind of French that I was really not familiar with (I’m guessing it would be like a thick country accent back home) blah-blah-blah-blah Round-about, turn left. Blah-blah-blah-blah go straight, blah-blah-blah-blah, hotel and restaurant blah the highway blah-blah-blah, blah. Got it?
I decided to quit. Enough. I pushed the loaded bike to the local train station a few blocks away. I was not in the mood to find some highway motel. I would just take a train to Orleans and figure out what to do next.
I got to the train station, and I waited for a train. And waited. And waited. A video monitor explained (In French) that the train blah-blah-blah accident blah blah with a person.
And that it was definitely the person’s fault, and definitely not SNCF.
My train had apparently been canceled, with the next train coming in an hour and a half. I imagined how packed a Friday evening train would be after the previous train cancelled. Packed for sure, and me with my bike and all its bags.
I have heard that if trains are full, bikes are refused… and I wasn’t about to stand around for an hour and a half to have that situation happen to me.
Ok, I’ll go look for the road hotel. I found it right where he said it would be. Actually in the next town down in Meung-sur-Loire. It is the Not-Messing-Around Etap Hotel -a creature like I have never seen before. You don’t even need to speak with the front desk clerk to get the room… just stick your credit card in the ATM-looking machine in the front pre-lobby.
It will issue you a code that will unlock not only the front door, but also the door to your room. The rooms are all the same I understand. With a double bed in the middle, and a single bunk straddling it above. All rooms come with free WiFi, but SKYPE and other VOIPs are blocked. Minimum price 42 Euro. Maximum price 42 Euro. Any questions?
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| The ATM-like machine where you can book yourself a room and pay for it during after-hours operations |
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| No Keys at Etap Hotel... you are given a 6-digit code that lets you in the front door, the front gate, and your room |
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| Waiting for the train that never came |
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| A cool old WWII era jeep parked in the front yard of a house in Tavers |
I hope that tomorrow my knee us up for the simple 20km ride to Orleans. I’m ready to rest up a bit in a bigger city than where I’ve been since Tours.
I may be down, but I’m not out.
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