|
November 9 Wednesday Bicycle touring France from Laroquebrou France to Maurs France Route change. Instead of cycling due south, we decided, after studying the map for the umpteenth time, and finally realizing we would be hitting some major Pyrenees, to cycle tour along the river instead. This made the pedalling much easier and we did 120 km of cycling in less than a full day's riding. It was raining on and off most of the day. By early afternoon we were soaked and decided to call it a day and get a hotel, so that we could dry out and have a shower. We were sitting in a local bus shelter waiting for it to quit raining. A hotel was across the street. Sharon decided she wants to be inside. The shower turned out to be a cruel joke with no hot water -- barely warm. I got wet and turned off the taps. I lathered up, turned the water back on and hosed off. All of my clothes are either wet, dirty, or a combination of the two. It is difficult to dry things when it is constantly raining. The rivers are still high with muddy brown water and overflowing their banks. The scenery from Maurs, where we cycled west along D19 and D662, was fantastic. High rock cliffs tower over the road in tiger ice cream colours of orange and black. Tunnels cut through the mountains, rather than sending us over them. We saw a neat town built onto the cliff edge. Impressive architecture, pleasing to our eye. Rock arches, ornamented train trestles, even the replanted trees in the forests have a pattern of rows of evergreens interspersed with rows of hardwoods. |
