Day 10 - France cycling trip: Mondoubleau - Tours

Today I did 83km and I'm not even sore!  Also, by doing Chartres -Tours in 2 days instead of 3, I've made up for the day I spent comatose in Maroeuil. So, I'm back on schedule.  I have a buffer of a few rest days,  but I prefer to save these days for really bad weather or aches.

Today, I had interesting weather. I started out with a slight drizzle.  Not too bad but having rain gear was a must. It stopped raining,  and after a while I saw a laundromat. I went in and dried a few things for 20 minutes.  Feeling comfy again,  I exited the laundromat and it started to rain again.

After a while the clouds cleared,  the sun shone down its warmth, birds started to tweet and I started to dry. That lasted maybe 45 mins and then it started to rain again.  It was off and on the whole day. Each time it became sunny,  I had hope it would stay that way, and each time it started to rain, I reminded myself that it wouldn't last long.  Every time it transitioned from rain to sun, I looked around for a rainbow,  but alas, I never saw one.

At one point it was sunny AND raining.  I was covered simultaneously by complete sunlight and raindrops. Very weird.  You can't explain that.

At one point after a rain spell, I noticed that my breaks were rubbing against the wheels. I did my best to fix it, but I decided to take my bike in to see the bike doctor for a checkup. I arrived in Tours and went to GoSport, where the bike doctor tweaked a few things (gears,  breaks). I think he spent about a half hour on it and charged me 24 euros. It's probably a lot for simple adjustments, but I was happy to have somebody who knows better than me do it.

Today, I took pictures using an app BoD made just for me! It adds a timestamp and location caption to the photo, but unlike EvidenceCam, the timestamp is in local time, not GMT. Now that's love, making a special tailored app just for your girlfriend :-)

I had dinner at the hotel: shrimp with clementines for the starter,  tagliatelle carbonara (with an egg!) for the main dish, and a fruit salad for dessert.

Day 9 - France cycling trip: Chartres - Mondoubleau

Slight change of itinerary today. I initially planned to do Chartres -Tours in three days,  staying in Chateaudun and Vendome, but these stops were along a major highway, and this route would consist of three rather short legs. Instead,  I decided on an alternative route with one stop at Mondoubleau, riding on smaller roads.

The ride this morning was mostly uphill. I stopped in Brou for lunch where I had eggs/mayo for a starter, Milanese turkey scallop for the main course,  and a fruit salad. When ordering,  I had forgotten that I had already eaten 2 eggs for breakfast.  So I had a total of 5 eggs today. Nice cholesterol boost. :-)

The ride from Brou into Mondoubleau was a pleasant descent. 

When stopping to take pictures of a rotting remains of a castle (I know some of my readers appreciate old rotting buildings), I met a friendly local with his children, dog,  and French -American wife. We had a nice chat, comparing the different places we have lived.

Today on the road, I saw the Loir (not Loire) river, Jesus on a street corner, a couple of farms with lots of cows who looked at me suspiciously, the Fresh Prince's hometown, the Commanderie Templière d'Arville (a non-rotting building from the 12th century), a church, farm equipment, and more.

Today was a bit warmer,  and the first time on this trip where I wore just one sweatshirt instead of two! Tomorrow it is supposed to rain. But I have waterproof bags for my stuff, a raincoat, rain pants, a waterproof GPS and even a waterproof phone!  But still, I'd prefer no rain :-) At least it will be warmer.

Day 8 - France cycling trip: Magnanville - Chartres

The day has been busy, and it's not over yet. It was a bit warmer today. This is the first day I didn't wear all the clothes I have with me at once :-) Cycling was tough today,  as it seemed to climb most of the way. The elevation at the hotel in Magnanville was 66m and the elevation of the hotel in Chartres is 140m. Today's ride was 72 km.

The hotel I'm staying at is in a great location.  It's right next to the cathedral, right next to an area with plenty of restaurants, and, perhaps the most important of all, right next to a laundromat!  I've done one load of clothes and I'm so happy to have a clean shirt, sweatshirt and pants  again.  Handwashing clothes with bar soap in the hotel  is better than nothing,  but nothing beats the real thing. :-)

Today on the road, I saw some nice views, funny looking horses, a cock, a lake, signs telling me which way to Paris (I'm not ready to go home yet!), a radar sign which informed me that my speed was 13kph, and teddy bears.

Another milestone today as I finished the fold-out map "Oise, Paris, Val d'Oise" and I start the map "Centre".

Now I'm off to search for some dinner.  There are a few brasseries near the hotel,  which may please my readers more than Subway or Buffalo Grill :-)

Day 7 - France cycling trip: Beauvais - Magnanville

Today was cold! Brrr. Especially this morning.  I appreciated going up hills today,  because the extra effort resulted in my toes defrosting.  :-) Despite the cold, the morning was pretty easy riding, with just the right amount and slope of hills to keep things interesting. I'm pretty sure the winds are on my side.

I think today I did about 70km, which must be the longest distance in a day on this trip so far. It didn't seem too difficult.  I think the most tiring part is arriving in or leaving the city, at the end or beginning of the day, navigating the city traffic.  Once out of the city,  it's smooth riding for hours. I think I can do 15-20km in one hour in the country,  and sometimes it can take an hour just to do 7-10km in the city, especially if I walk part of the way to avoid traffic.  Maybe I should stay in smaller cities / villages instead of these medium-large cities,  to maximize the pleasant portion of the riding time.  Of course in small villiages there are fewer eating and sleeping options :-)

On the road today I saw a less shy horse, some ducks and geese, a bit of forest,  the Seine river, and of course miles and miles of fields. Also a couple of dogs,  some cute and friendly, and some who succeeded in communicating " this is my house, keep your distance" :-)

At noon, I took a minor detour looking for a grocery store,  but I happened upon a Turkish restaurant. It was barely noon and the restaurant was completely full. It must be the only Turkish restaurant in the region or something.  In Paris, these restaurants are everywhere. I did get a seat and enjoyed a serving of lamb, fries, and salad.

I decided to stay at hotel F1 tonight. This is a chain of extremely cheap hotels.  I thought it would be like Motel 6, but it's actually more like a dormitory (or how I imagine a dorm, as I never actually lived in one) . The room has a sink but the bathrooms and showers are common.  It's slightly inconvenient but it seems clean enough :) I might stay in an F1 again sometime, but I think tomorrow I won't go for the cheapest one :-) We'll see what's available in Chartres.

For dinner,  I had McDonald's. Nothing like a big mac to wind down the day.

Day 6 - France cycling trip: Amiens - Beauvais

Today, I saw farm vehicles going almost as slow as me,  cemeteries, snow, a shy horse, and lots of fields. When I saw the snow, I knew I had to stop to make a snowman. I only spent a couple of minutes on it though. It looks more like a snow owl than a snow man, I think.

Food seems to be an interesting topic for my readers, so I'll describe my gastronomic experiences of the day. I had breakfast this morning at the hotel in Amiens. Eggs and bacon were nowhere to be found, but I did have some crepes with apricot jam, a croissant, some ham, and orange juice. That's not too much, but my stomach wasn't awake enough yet at 7am to have a full feast. My mid morning snacks consisted of a banana, dried fruits,  nuts, and a baguette left over from Maroeuil. Lunch was not too tasty: a cold can of lentils with carrots.  I had to wait until I was quite hungry so that I could eat it. There was not much choice though, as there were no restaurants along the way. My mid afternoon snack was a kiwi left over from Maroeuil.

Dinner was excellent,  even though it was not French at all! (Some of you will be disappointed, sorry). I ate at Buffalo Grill, which is basically a steakhouse with an American country / tex-mex theme. I arrived at 7:15pm and I think I was their only customer. Maybe that's a bit early.  Country music was playing in the background and the staff were dressed in flannel shirts. They didn't have a southern drawl though (not sure what a southern drawl would sound like in French) .
I ordered a steak and a baked potato, with cranberry juice and a cheesecake for dessert.  Cheesecake is hard to come by here so I had to take this opportunity! It was all very delicious.

Tomorrow I'll be heading out to Mantes la Jolie.  It's not a great city but a necessary stop on the way to Chartres.

Today I marked a milestone by completing the first fold-out map: "Nord-Pas-de-Calais, Picardie". I can leave this map behind as I get started on the next one: "Oise, Paris, Val d'Oise"