October 6, 2013
Day 80 Sainte Luce
This is the point at which we need to make a train jump, and given the fact that we have a plane to catch in Amsterdam on Oct 12, that train needs to go to Amsterdam! Once there we will cycle around Amsterdam and out to Katwijk.
Our day began at Michel and Jeannette's in the way that every day begins in France, with fresh baguettes. Michel went out early to get them, and so was also able to land some ficelles. Ficelles are skinnier than regular baguettes, and so will get stale faster. So the bakery only makes a limited number. In theory ficelles are crustier and so more desirable.
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The main job for today was to figure out the train way to Amsterdam for Grampies and their bikes. Jeannette is the train website expert, and spent the time with Dodie to figure it out. Armed with the web info, Michel, Dodie, and I made out way to the train station to try to land an actual ticket.
There is no way to go to Amsterdam with bikes said the ticket agent, at least not without a "housse". A housse would translate in this case to a large carry bag. Yeah but, we said (or French equivalent), that's not how we read it on the web. So go buy your ticket on the web, was the haughty reply. Some calmer words followed, and the man finally allowed that we could buy a ticket for the bikes, as far as Paris. After that, it's housse or nothing!
We took the Paris offer and went to look at the actual train, to see where our now ticketed bikes would actually go. We sort of saw, but were reluctant to actually board the TGV, lest it leave and we find ourselves in Paris right now!
Our next stop was the city dump. Nice tour guiding, Michel! Actually the objective was to find something with which to make two housses. Of course, like everything else in France, the dump was closed on Sunday. So, we slunk back home, to explain to Jeannette our success, or not.
Miraculously, in Michel's back yard was a large sturdy bag that had been used for a firewood delivery. Michel and we grabbed this and scrubbed it clean enough.
We then folded the bikes to see what our target looked like, and dodie and Michel set about fabricating housses. By golly, they did a good job. We may need to keep these housses for future trips!
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Meanwhile, Michel helped with out tire woes by supplying two new 20" Schwalbe Marathon Pluses, from his private tire cellar I presume. These went on, and the BMX tires went to the retirement home, with our thanks. Michel has these rare and valuable tires because his trikes use them. So with his two trikes, he has six of these tires on the ground at any one time! The Grampies we're very taken with these trikes, as they would be with anything that allows you to approach a problem lying down!
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With the housse problem somewhat under control, Dodie repacked the stuff to make it more compact for dragging on a train. We headed out with Michel down to make sure we could find the Loire and the way to the train station in the morning. With the bikes unloaded this was a bike gliding experience we had not had for some time.
Back home again, we found Jeannette had prepared a huge number of Crepes Bretonnes. There were savoury ones with ham and cheese, and sweet ones. Jeannette was a little scandalized to find me putting jam on the savoury ones. This is not a personal but a cultural preference. Canadians will always put maple syrup on a thing like that, and lacking maple syrup, it's jam! Next, I demanded coffee to go with the screwed up crepes. Michel and Jeannette had to scramble a bit to drag out the coffee stuff, and then Jeannette confirmed that I wanted a large amount of weak coffee. To top things off, I asked for the left over coffee to be left, so I could microwave it tomorrow. Clearly, three months in Europe have done little to improve my food sophistication, and given a little indulgence from gracious hosts Michel and Jeannette, I have reverted to crazy Canadian ways. maybe it is time to be bundled into a train and be shipped back to the frozen North America!
Today's ride: 7 km (4 miles)
Total: 5,412 km (3,361 miles)
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