From Port St. Marie to Nancy: Camping, at last

June 11, 2008

A good breakfast and we're off - to a very grey day. We'll be happy if it doesn't rain. The road again is hill and dale in roller coaster manner. Every three to five kilometers we pass through another village. Nowhere a cafe or market or bakery, but nice scenery.

In Parroy we meet a German couple from Nürnberg riding the Paneuropa Bike Path in the other direction. They tell us of their difficulties finding a room but have no complaints about the hills. They are young and look very fit, however they don't speak any French which is making problems. They, too, were surprised to find that the Paneuropa Bike Path, which has such a promising website, is actually non-existent, at least the French part.

For lunch we find a bakery in Dombasle-sur-Meurthe and have some meat-filled pastries which taste especially good since we know how lucky we are to find anything at all. And now we head for Nancy, a real milestone on our trip.

This is the time of day, after about 40 km, when I start to get a pain in my right shoulder - later it will go away again - and the wind is now coming head on, but it hasn't rained. We cross river and canal, back and forth, and approach Nancy from Laneuveville, an easy entry into the city.

On the very last stretch we miss getting on the canal path and have a short unpleasant bit of traffic. Then we find our way to Nancy's magnificent Place Stanislas, the sun comes out and we sit in an elegant cafe for a while and bask in the sun. What a great feeling of satisfaction at having cycled here.

Place Stanislas: We have made it to Nancy

Posing with Stanislas the Munificent: Polish king in exile and son-in-law of Louis XV, he was beloved in Lorraine and nicknamed 'the Munificent' because he protected the arts and embellished the cities, including the famous place Stanislas in Nancy

Now to the tourist office. Due to a congress being held here, there are no rooms to be had in Nancy and surroundings. But there is a camping ground. We will now be very happy to set up our little tent. After looking around Nancy a bit, we head off in the right general direction for the camp ground which is outside the city. And I see a hellish road leading straight to the sky. It looks like the perpendicular side of a building. But we have no choice so up we go. Plod, plod, plod for 45 minutes. I also suspect there will be no food out there in the boonies. We have again managed to neglect stocking up on provisions in case we find nothing along the way.

As all things have an end, so does our climb. We eventually reach the top of the hill, or what we take for the top, and find the the "Camping Brabois". It's almost empty, very pleasant with big trees ... and they have a restaurant. They even have a television and Janos can watch the Europe Cup Soccer game. Happy end for the day.

Our pretty camp ground: Camping Brabois outside of Nancy

Today's ride: 61 km (38 miles)
Total: 614 km (381 miles)

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