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I didn't get much sleep last night, I'm not really sure why as the place I've chosen to camp was really peaceful, it's difficult to say whether I was tired enough from lack of exercise or I wasn't comfortable on my camp bed which is strange because usually it's fine. I was keen to get the tent broken down as quickly as possible as I knew that if I didn't and someone turned up and saw the tent there's a slim chance that they might start asking me what I was doing and telling me I wasn't supposed to be there in a language I didn't understand either! Dealing with that situation wouldn't have been much fun. I could however break down the tent and then pack it away and despite the fact that all my belongings were spread out all over the place no one could prove that I'd spent the night there at least without going through my things which would have been a touch uncouth! Fortunately it had been so warm overnight that the tent wasn't wet at all so I was quite happy to just pack it away immediately.

Almost as soon as I'd finished packing away my bedding and my tent it started to rain, which was unexpected. I'd put all my stuff on a picnic table along with the tent which was sheltered from the weather by the trees above but I knew that only gave me a matter of time before my belongings started getting wet. Well where I was staying couldn't quite be called wild camping as it was actually some sort of municipal wild swimming place complete with a beach on the river and that did mean that there were people there when I arrived. There were some advantages however such as the toilet, the running water from the sink, and as I realised when it started raining also the fact that there was a shelter above the sink so you can probably imagine what I decided to do as soon as it started raining. Despite what seemed to be good planning on my part with none of my gear getting wet, I still managed to get the sock I was wearing wet! Genius. It occurred to me that today was Sunday and while I can appreciate the French with their good workers rights it does make it rather difficult for a touring cyclist who doesn't want to carry lots of food, fortunately I'd experienced this several times before so I knew that chances were I had to get to some sort of shop by midday if I wanted to buy any food so I was quite keen to get away as soon as possible, I usually aim to leave at 9 but managed 9:30...not too bad. I told myself this would be relaxing holiday or at least more relaxing than a cycling trip where there's no set end point like getting to Rome last year. Despite this I'd already set myself up for some anxiety at the first part of the mornings riding purely because I knew I needed to get to that shop - it seems like practically everything shuts on a Sunday afternoon in France!

Pleasingly I did get to the shop well before it was to close which was definitely a relief, I did feel like I spent more time than I wanted to there, probably about half an hour which was a bit silly but then when the products and the layout of the shops are different from what you're used to it does tend to slow things down a bit. It reminds me of one of my first supermarket visits in France in 2022 - I think I spent about 40 minutes in there, much to the irritation of my ride partner. Still, he's a climate change denier, so no great loss there! Just as I was ready to leave this shop, the weather turned and started to rain again, it turned out this would be a theme for the whole day sadly. The actual scenery while riding was really pleasant - rolling hills, trees, lots of greenery in general. I was warm enough but the issue was  my shoes were going to get wet which is never much fun and when you're on a multi-day trip as it's really quite difficult to find an easy way of drying shoes out, especially if you're camping rather than staying indoors. I was warm enough however, and not too hot either. So, despite being soaked through with rain, I was probably more comfortable than the day before in the heat!

Komoot had generated the day's route, and I'd trusted it to give me a route using its "Bike Touring" profile (Now just called cycling I think). The aim of this profile is to avoid motor traffic at all costs. Sadly sometimes this means going off-road, which on a road bike is far from ideal. Worse still if the map data it has is off it can send you to a dead end, as it did that day, in the middle of a field.

In the end I turned around and found a gravel track which took me to the road which I would have joined anyway. It still had me cursing somewhat. I don't mind going off-road if I plan to do it, but it's really frustrating when it comes as a surprise, you know it's delaying your progress, and you keep losing traction in loose gravel, big rocks or sand. I don't particularly want to get injured while on holiday! I'll avoid going off on a Anakin Skywalker style rant about why I don't like sand. He's not wrong though!

Eventually I returned to sweet blessed tarmac! Much better. The surroundings were still green and verdent, the only problem was the constant rain. I was warm enough though. I actually forgot to bring my rain jacket, but at least I realised while passing through London. I'm now the proud owner of a second Castelli rain jacket! Lucky me. Better than someone finding me in a ditch after I sucumbed to exposure in the French countryside!

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Unlike my last two bikepacking trips, I've once again brought my Helinox Chair Zero. It's a bit of a luxury for what is supposed to be a lightweight cycling setup, but it comes in to its own when you just want to stop and eat your lunch. Sadly it does not come with a built in umbrella, so its usual utility was somewhat curtailed. So, rather than hunt for seating which I've become familiar with on previous cycling trips, this time it was a hunt for shelter. I ended up finding a tiny village with a scrap of shelter underneath a notice board. Not ideal but better than nothing. The village itself seemed rather empty. As I was tucking in, to my surprise people of varying ethnicities started walking past me. I only bring this up as it seemed rather odd. I tend to assume in a lot of European countries the more rural areas are rather homogeneous with white people. Maybe they lived there but the way they wandered around I got the impression they were there on holiday. Had a bus tour dropped them off? Who knows! They said hello anyway and seemed friendly enough, it just seemed a strange place to visit when everything there was closed. Anyway, I ate my lunch, and just before the fact that I hadn't put my jacket* on gave me the chills, I set off once more.

*Ed, 3 months later - what?! Weird.

More cycling in the rain. If I'm warm enough cycling in the rain really doesn't bother me. The issue is things getting wet, especially my shoes. An hour or so of cycling after setting off from eating my lunch, the majority of which had been downhill, I just happened to put my hand on the rear back to check the SPD sandals I have were still with me. I couldn't feel them. I stopped...nope, they're definitely gone. After having booked a hotel for the evening while eating my lunch, my mood was improving, but you can probably guess that this revelation tanked my spirits once more. Really frustrating! I did consider going back to look for them but it just wasn't worth it, I didn't want to spend an additional hour or more riding searching for some sixty pound sandals. Not worth it. I continued on spirits dampened, much like my shoes!

The descent in to Bourg was fun - the roads were smooth (as always in France seemingly) and having my goal in sight helped lift the mood. I'd been carrying a ready meal with me all day, so I wondered whether to cook it before checking-in or after. In the end I decided to cook it in what seemed to be a bit of a town square. I think some of the locals thought I looked a bit odd with my camp stove out, but looking odd has never put me off before! I know that a lot of the cycle tourers/bike packers that inspire me will cook meals from scratch, but most of the time I can't be bothered. In my experience so far it's really quite difficult to buy ingredients to just make one meal, quickly. Maybe that's why I should go to the cycle touring festival one day. I've already got the t-shirt, but that's it. Some easy to prepare nutritious meals for the cyclist on the go with limited food prep options would be great.

I got to the hotel, which I already knew had secure bike parking, someone had asked in the booking.com Q&A section. Result! It turned out to be a garage underneath the hotel, which I was given the key for. I still ended up locking my bike to the rack inside. Every so often I see a news story about a cyclist having their bike stolen while on holiday. I don't want to be one of those people! That said, I do leave my bike outside shops sometimes unlocked on holiday as I had the day before, but that's usually when it's clear there's very little footfall.

I just about managed to carry all my luggage up to the hotel room. In the rare occasion I stay at a hotel, I cross my fingers that the TV provided is a smart TV so I can watch content from home. A bit uncultured right? Well I don't speak French and it wasn't a smart tv, so that put that idea down. Instead I ended up dictaphoning the first part of this log in bed. I need to go back and edit the mistakes it made. I had a shower, went to bed, hoped the following day would go a bit more according to plan.

P.S - Not many photos on account of all the rain!