Very sunny France

 After six days on the bike, we have arrived in Verdun a very pretty city on the banks of the Meuse river.

We have cycled along the river, its canals, and quiet country roads, where the views of the Charolais and the sheep are close-up and come with accompanying aromas. 

Yesterday some people were frolicking in the river and jumping off an old steel bridge into the water. Looked very inviting indeed..

I’ve enjoyed some friendly encounters with the locals. Asking questions in French is one thing understanding responses is another altogether. One friendly woman prevented me from pouring custard into my coffee. I thought cream anglaise would be just plain cream. Obviously, I haven’t read enough French cookbooks.

The stand out accommodation was faulty towers the night before last. Checking was meant to be at 5 pm but I had messaged to ask if we could check in at 2 pm. Yes came the response that would be possible however when we arrived Madame shouted goodness knows what Harris and pull the blinds down. We found a shady spot at the back of the hotel and Des went off in search beers and came back with ice creams. Unfortunately for us the supermarkets do not have refrigerated beer only mountains of cheese, cold, cuts and yoghurts. Anyway, our hosts continued in their faulty ways by banning entry to the cool part of the dining room, where we might sip on our beers when the bar was finally open, not opening the dining room until 7 pm, and then being astounded that we wanted our bikes and check out by 8 am. We were in some industrial complex with three huge supermarkets around us, but no houses.

We are almost 400 km away from Maastricht and intend to ride to Dijon after this rest day where we will spend three days before exploring the Burgundy region. Life on the bike is grand.