When we look at a place like Ian and Clare's it conjures romantic images of life hundreds of years ago. Of course, while those images are being conjured, we also appreciate (expect, really) the hot running water, lights, and heat - things that would be lacking back then. The water, lights, and heat are of course basic 20th century things, but in a brief tour of the place this morning, I saw that really there is a lot of 21st century here. The first bit would be the solar water heater on the roof above our heads, and the next the photovoltaic panels, installed above the carport like shelter that Ian also built. The panels, when the sun shines, provides what I calculated to be about the power of three 15 amp house circuits back home. That's great. Ian also has the ability to sell power back to the grid, though the electric company apparently does not pay much for it. Just nearby, is a heated wooden swimming pool built by Ian. Interestingly the decking boards are mostly Douglas Fir, a species that I thought was unique to British Columbia, but which did come from France. The pool is heated, I think, by electric power from that roof.
The heat for the buildings comes from an innovative pellet burner. It takes wood pellets from some huge bags and burns them as needed to heat water in a very large tank. From there the water circulates to water based radiators, such as are in our little section. The burner watches the temperature in the storage tank, and turns on, to maintain a conservative 80 degrees. In practice, Ian has found all that to be very nice, but he cooks on a woodstove and just throws a log in when his rooms need heat.. That is the same low tech solution we use at home!
An interesting side note from the tour- scratched into a wall near the boiler was the inscription below. It was presumably put there by a German war prisoner. PG would stand for "Prisonnier de Guerre". "Amler" is most likely a German or Austrian name, with a lesser chance of its being Czech or Hungarian.
The dates 1918 1919 imply the person (Amler M) stayed here beyond the official end of the war.
Ian and I had had a whale of a time playing with Dodie's brakes, as well as removing and reinstalling her Nexus rear wheel. With the bikes cleaned, and so finely tuned, I was eager to set off for a tour of the surrounding region. Ian opened the gate, and the dogs came to see us off. It was swell.
We got probably close to the .33 km that I had in Orleans. Dodie reported that she could only get the lowest gears. We pulled over, and now that I am an "expert!" I had a look. I had a strong idea about what the problem was, but we returned through the gate and the dogs, and quickly Ian and I were lying on our backs examining the Nexus. Yes, the gear change cable was routed on the wrong side of a little flange! We had experience now in rotating the "cassette" into position, removing and reinstalling the cable. Very quickly, the gates were back open, and dogs called out to do their farewell duty. Whew! Ian said he was getting ready to hide behind his dog for protection, had the thing actually been buggered.
Our objective for this ride was to check out the highly rated bakery in nearby Chaumont, and to go to Gisors - to look at their church and also to visit the Intermarche there. This countryside, which is called the Vexin, is studded with little villages, that are separated by fields of rape, flax, wheat, and peas. Right now it's a quite flat (but not too flat) scene of bright green from the new crops, and yellow, from the still mostly flowering rape.
Vexin seems more of a region than a political division. It is on the border of Normandy and the Paris district, North of the Seine. You can see Gisors in the blue circle.
The countryside is studded with towns and villages, and I have trouble keeping them straight, and frankly (as might be expected) they are very similar to each other, each being extremely picturesque. In the photos that follow, I will note the town if I know it.
For a long time Gisors was a military fort. At the end of the XIth century a large mound was raised and by the XIIth century there fortifications on top. During the Hundred Years War (1337-1453) more towers were added the place became a royal residence. But by the XVIII's century the place was demilitarised.
Back at Boubiers, we arrived at its now familiar traffic light. Ian says the light was a final project of a former mayor. Ian thinks the objectives of the light, whatever they may have been, could have been accomplished with traffic calming flower beds, or the like. Now it is just an annoyance for the residents.
Tomorrow we will go exploring in another direction - south? Ian and I played with Dodie's brakes some more this evening. Ssssh, don't tell her. We also have a scheme to bleed the brake fluid...
Today's ride: 37 km (23 miles) Total: 4,181 km (2,596 miles)
