April 24, 2023
Train to Saint Malo
Today’s task was to take the train from Paris to Saint Malo, the official starting point of our bike ride. Not having taken bikes on trains in France before, we were unclear on the procedure for taking bikes on trains in France. I thought I had read that you must remove the panniers, and hand your bike to a rail worker to put on a baggage car. Not true. You just wheel your bike onto your car, place your bike in the designated bike space, and take your assigned seat, likely next to your bike. Easy breezy. Except in my case, the dedicated bike space was piled high with luggage. Thankfully, a man who appeared to be a teacher with a large contingent of middle schoolers, and who was perhaps responsible for the pile of luggage came over and started slinging luggage around the car until we could just fit my bike.
The second train was an uncrowded local train and taking a bike on that was even easier. Just wheel it on and lean it against a wall in a designated bike area on each car. The problem was we only had ten minutes between trains and Doug and Donna, and I were separated on the first train by ten cars. So, this led to ten minutes of me frantically pushing my bike around the train station while trying to simultaneously find Doug and Donna and the second train. When I did find them, they were in the process of abandoning me and boarding the second train. I made a dash to their car and got on without a second to spare.
Having now successfully packed, flown, unpacked, assembled, rode, and then put our bikes on two trains, Doug and I sighed a sigh of relive and both agreed there was nothing stopping us now from reaching Saint Malo on time for our tour. Shortly after that, we began disembarking at the wrong station. Calling it a station is a bit generous, it was more a patch of grass next to the tracks surrounded mostly by farm fields. This should have been a clue that we were not actually in Saint Malo, but I was too busy trying to quickly off load bikes and panniers. Only when I noticed the sign that read “Direction Saint Malo” did it dawn on me that we were making a terrible mistake. Frantically, we lifted bikes and panniers back onto the train and made it safely the rest of the say to Saint Malo.
Also, very good news. The kidney stone saga is largely behind me. Today was pull the string day, the stint is in the trash, everything is great, and that’s all I’m going to say about that.
Tomorrow we officially start the ride south.
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Today's ride: 7 miles (11 km)
Total: 10 miles (16 km)
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