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by SS at 9:03 pm on Wednesday 17th July

The last couple of days have been pretty tough going, partially due to the lack of promised internet access (both hotels have had 'technical issues'). Phil managed to track down the wireless router at the first and reboot it but it didn't seem to help. I suspect that sheer overloading was responsible for it being so unresponsive. (It used WEP encryption which suggests that the router was outdated at best and delinquent at worst.) Luckily today we managed to get online at lunchtime at an awesome sandwicherie in Bourg en Bresse.  Besides the proprietor being (readily) willing to speak to us in English, she also had a vegetarian option and super fast wi-fi. Sadly I'm writing this post retrospectively so unless the Wi-Fi at this hotel fixes itself, it might be a while before you see it!

We intended to wake up at 6:30 and leave Nitry at 7 to make the most of the cooler morning but a combination of latent fatigue and a late previous night meant that we didn't get on the road until just after 8. Our first  priority was to find breakfast (Nitry was small enough to not have a boulangerie but surprisingly sported a rather nice restaurant). The first one we found about 5 miles down the road was shut. Supposedly being open on Sunday means they are shut on Monday.  France being France though, we soon found another after 3 miles and I bought two pain-au-chocolat.

Riding on further, around 20 miles in, we came across a bike shop - which, despite every sign suggesting it should be open, was shut. By this point my knee  was consistently giving me issue and, convinced that there were no other variables that could be a problem, I decided to look at my cleats. It turns out that the cleat on my right shoe was pointing inwards slightly which would have caused my cycling position to be slightly 'off'.    My bike gave me almost no ergonomic problems since Africa (aside from considerable saddle issues) and I had since only changed the saddle and my shoes. I fixed the cleat and we were off again but the knee pain was still there - a twinge just above my right knee which made it extremely painful to put any weight on it.

Phil had another couple of punctures in the next 10 miles which slowed us down  and by the time we hit the road again, it was 11:40 and we had only managed 30 miles of the intended 85 miles. The rest of the day was tough going, lots of 'rolling hills' down long, straight 'D' roads. These are the French analogues of Britain's A roads. Most of the time these are single carriageways, but occasionally the road would widen to accommodate three lanes and the middle lane would alternate as an overtaking lane for each direction of traffic. This was both a blessing and curse for us - it gave vehicles more space to overtake but near the point of alternation, they would overtake at much greater speed, no doubt feeling rushed by the lane suddenly coming to a close.

The D road we were on appeared to be a major freight road for France and there were a substantial number of lorries overtaking us. Luckily French lorry drivers are very courteous to cyclists and often pulled well out so as to minimise the impact of their draft on us. This must have been nervewracking for drivers coming the other way - especially on the single carriageways!

Additionally, there was a fair amount of resurfacing work going on where the holes had been 'repaired' by filling them with loose gravel. This led to quite a few small stones getting flicked in our direction by passing vehicles - painfully bouncing off our torsos and heads.

Our optimistic routing took us off-road yet again  and feeling adventurous, I suggested to Phil that we take it. He grudgingly went along with it for a few hundred metres after which it became apparent that we would have absolutely no traction going uphill on the loose rocky surface. One of his reasons against taking it was that we would probably get a puncture and sure enough on our way back to the road I picked up a pinch puncture in my rear wheel, much to Phil's chagrin. On the plus side, both of my tyres are fully inflated now!

Lunch was a soporific many many calorie combination of bread, cheese, salad and these desserts called 'Paris Brest's which are named after the PBP ride Phil completed. They were seriously sticky but so awesome. I also picked up these chocolate butter biscuits and have slowly been working my way through them...I intend to try as many types of biscuit as possible before we leave France.

Not long after lunch, Phil suffered another puncture. Luckily we had picked up new inner tubes at the Atac supermarket we bought lunch at and it was an easy fix by the entrance to the quarry. I took the opportunity to catch some sleep perched upon two rocks and using my helmet as a pillow.

We hit the road again and after a few stops to fiddle with my saddle position, reached Chalone-sur-Saone (there's a little hat accent missing somewhere there - sorry) at about 6:45 after 6:39:27 hours of riding. We decided to visit the local Decathlon and Phil finally managed to pick up some genuine 'good' inner tubes and patches. I bought myself a bottle cage.

All in all it was a long day - 96.31 miles with an average of 14.4 mph. Chalon is a lovely town and we ended up eating at a pizzeria just behind the 'Cafe Piccadilly Pub'. The (South Indian?) owner spoke good English and made me a calzone with the ham swapped out for mushrooms. It was good and was followed by a creme brulee - my favourite dessert. A good day.

This morning we actually managed to wake up at 6:30 (as painful as it was). Chalon being a bigger town than the last two, we  were able to pick up breakfast before leaving and I had a lovely almond pastry called a 'Jesuit' with a hot chocolate. Phil finally managed to get his morning coffee - something which he hadn't imagined would be so difficult to find in France!

We left Chalon at about 7am with a tough day ahead of us. Luckily there were no punctures today! (Ironic too, given that we are currently better prepared for punctures than we ever have been.) Most of the day was the same sort of straight D roads over rolling hills and sadly many lorries. These were relatively quick though and took us through some lovely farmland and the occasional section lined with evenly planted trees. At about 55 miles we entered a forest and then it became clear the terrain was changing as we turned into a road that switchbacked straight up hill. We had just entered the 'Rhone-Alpes', the French county that, I believe, includes the Alps themselves.

Climbing was hard work and I was worried how my knee would hold up, given its aversion to putting the hammer down. My Ti bike was overgeared for the hills in Ethiopia but I hadn't learnt my lesson and it is still running the same gearing - albeit with 10 kilos of additional load. Basically - tough going.

My knee survived though - there was no significant pain as long as I stayed seated. Soon enough my other knee started aching from the strain and it was much easier to ignore the original painful knee! This flattened off slightly but soon became steeper as we climbed up onto the plateau where Hauteville-Lompnes was. We pushed on though at a steady speed (usually between 5  and 7 mph) and soon reached  'Corlier', a hamlet at the beginning of the flat-ish plateau. Feeling pretty thirsty, we looked for water at a campsite there but no operator was in sight. Eventually we snuck into a kitchen block and filled our bottles, hoping that no one would mind.

The last 10 miles were  reasonably flat, having climbed 1500 feet to get up to the plateau in just over 15 miles.  We reached Hauteville-Lompnes after 80.69 miles at 4:30pm, ridden over 6:04:37 hours - with a respectable average of 13.2 mph. Amusingly, the hotel was shut when we arrived with a note saying that reception will be open at 6pm. Phil acquiesced and cleaned himself up with some wet wipes and changed into his non cycling gear. After my Tour D'Afrique adventures, I was more content staying in my (sweaty) cycling gear until a proper shower could be had.

While waiting for the hotel to open, we raided the local Carrefour and picked up some fruit (surprisingly lacking from our diet here). I took my biscuit experimentation further with some chocolate florentines and a litre of 'demi-creme' milk. We gorged on these on the tables outside our hotel and I managed to polish off all of the biscuits and a fair chunk of the milk -- almost a thousand calories worth! (It probably doesn't need saying but I am a big fan of these biscuits,  light, crispy and with the perfect amount of chocolate - they were sublime.)

For dinner we wandered around looking for the restaurant most able to serve a vegetarian meal, settling on a brasserie near the middle of the town. Amusingly, for me at least, there was some confusion when Phil ordered a meal for me and we both received vegetarian salads! Poor Phil.

Tonight will be an early night ahead of another early start tomorrow as we descend into Aix-les-Bains where we will spend a rest day.

2 comments posted so far
Anish wrote at 10:08 pm on Wed 17th Jul -
Don't worry, soon you will be in Italy and the vegetarian food will be EPIC! Enjoy! :-)
John & Jean wrote at 11:10 pm on Wed 17th Jul -
Best of riding to you both. Enjoy your rest day!

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