In a misery enjoys company sort of way, it's interesting to read how you too have been struggling with the elements in the past few days. Hiding under the fluffy quilt seems to be a common strategy for us. Makes sense.

p.s. We find we are falling behind on replying to comments that may need an acknowledgement or answer. In our email, they get blended in with other messages, and in Cycleblaze "What's New" they get blended in with news of other people's postings. All in all, though, What's New would seem to be the best place to manage them.

Now, not that I am crying about not yet having the answer to my question about your brake failure (after I deigned to remember the darn question), but I do see a partial answer to what I was asking, within your photos, - you have disc brakes. And in one photo I could almost read the brand name on the brake lever!

Wow, we all sure managed to hit a miserable weather patch in France this time round. Hopefully it will blow itself out and send us, if not sun, then at least less cold and rain.

Well, it is reassuring to know that I am not the only one with a memory that comes and goes.
Regarding the brakes, so far so good. We have Shimano hydraulic disk brakes (front) and we still have Avid BB7 disk on the back. I have a 3rd rim brake for extra stopping power. If we develop problems with the rear mechanical disk, we will probably change to hydraulic there too.
The bike shop in Dole felt that the Shimano disk brake that had been installed was not tough enough for our load. Basically it failed to the point of no stopping power, and that’s not fun! The shop in Germany was unable to get BB7’s in time, so the Shimano was a failed experiment. Live and learn.
The weather here is abysmal - cold, heavy rain and wind. We gave up after 45 k and got a hotel room. I have not had a chance to look at your journal today - where are you and how is the weather there?
Had a lovely post from Tricia Graham about a river boat we posted a photo of recently. It turns out that friends of theirs from New Zealand own it and they have spent time on it. Just love the connections we make through our journals with fellow cyclists.
Take care.

Ah, I remembered my question: What was the nature of your brake failure?

We expect that you will find the new hydraulic brake great. We really like the gripping power and lack of cable friction. People are split, however, with some thinking hydraulics are hard to maintain (like, to bleed or refill) and some saying it is easy.

Are yours rim or disc? What make? We have Magura rim and really love them. They make it literally as much fun to stop as to go.

It really does add enjoyment to read about something that is already familiar. We know exactly the spots where you took photos in St Jean, in Chalon, and even this image in the veloroute (ok, there were several, so we can not exactly claim to know this one).

When I started to write to you with a question, from under a shopping buggy shelter at Lidl, I had something I wanted to ask. But now I can scarcely remember where we slept yesterday (without the help of the blog), let alone what the questions were.

p.s. An offshoot of reading in your blog about places where we were is reading in our own blogs (or memories) about places where we were one to three years ago. So the cockpit voice recorder (if we had one) might have: "What is Rochefort downtown like?" "Dunno" "Well didn't we come into downtown last year?" "Dunno"

Wow, so good to hear from you. We love making connections when we travel and this is unique. We admired the Petronella, as well as others we saw today, but for some reason this is the photo we chose. Where will you be riding? Life is good here in France. Happy travels. Mary Ellen

I nearly fell of my chair when I saw this this morning. Petronella belongs to very good friends of ours. Each European summer they leave the New Zealand winter behind and spend 4 months touring the french waterways, in much the same way we go and tour on bikes. In fact Rosemary and John leave next week for St Jean and Petronella will be bound for Paris. Several times we have met up with them on our wanders and have spent some happy days aboard. Enjoy your trip and keep safe we are certainly looking forward to being off again
Ciao
Tricia and Ken Graham

I can imagine, Scott. Did you tour other regions of the Alsace? It is a special part of France.
Good to hear from you.
Mary Ellen

Oh dear, I guess we can’t leave Germany. Our high school French let’s me down when I need to be spontaneous.
Did you continue to have rain thru the day?
Regarding France and religious holidays like today-Ascension Day- the hotel told us today that yes, people believe in God but most leave their stores open anyway.

Dodie has been known to exit the tent to "yell at" late night noisy partiers, but only when we are in a country where we can speak the language, ie France.

Hi guys, I am stuffed under a shopping cart shelter in the rain, waiting for Dodie in Super U. Super U, gotta love 'em - open on Ascension. ... oops, she's back, I will have to post my actual comment tonight!

Hi Steve
You are a super sleuth and so right.
Last year we stayed in hotels so charging wasn’t an issue. Yes, the blue shirt cable goes to a two prong and we have a 5 metre cord to our tent and a small 3 outlet connector so that we can charge multiple items
However, we would never leave our bike battery in a bathroom. Too valuable and usable.
Happy travels.
Mary Ellen

The blue cable adapts the camping car socket to standard two prong, right? So then to get power to your tent, do you have an extension cord? Once in the tent, do you have a power bar to allow more than one thing to connect?

Do you ever have to pay more for a site with power?
Would you ever consider leaving a battery charging in the sanitaire?

If it weren’t for the more contemporary cars, Rosheim looks little changed since we biked through here 20 years ago.

Gorgeous!