Saturday 7th September 2019  – Orleans to Montauban approx. 320 miles Breakfast was very basic, consisting of cereal, bread, butter and a few jams, all washed down with lashings of coffee. I expected the hostel I was staying at to be filled with young back packers and the like, but there were a much larger group of senior citizens all staying. Maybe they were all there for the annual skydiving convention being held down the road?! 😊

Anyway by 10.30am I was back on the road heading south. Initially I had to contend with a few squally showers, but just as I began debating whether to stop to put my waterproofs on. I could see brighter skies in the distance, so I pressed on and sure enough the clouds parted and the rest of the days weather was lovely.

At my second fuel stop I had my first disappointment of the trip. I looked at my helmet to see that my Bluetooth receiver device had become detached and was nowhere to be seen. I wondered why my music cut out soon after leaving Orleans. I just assumed at the time the battery had gone flat on the receiver. I had visions of my little device in a thousand pieces scattered across a French motorway somewhere south of Orleans! I had been using double-sided sticky tape to secure the receiver to the helmet as the clip I had, broke but obviously the tape wasn’t up to the job. Then as I returned to my bike, just as I’d resigned myself to being bereft of music on the go for the rest of my trip, I looked down and the very tape that had not been up to the job for my helmet, had stuck on to the tank bag with the Bluetooth device safe and intact! Note to self – need to find better way to secure receiver to the helmet before using again!

Once back on the road I passed through some lovely typically French towns and villages, some busy, some sleepy. The busy ones have a profusion of zebra crossings and at one particular crossing I came to a halt to allow an elderly lady to cross, but the car coming from the opposite direction appeared extremely reluctant to stop. As the lady stepped out in front of him he continued to nudge forward and actually tooted his horn at her as she walked past the front of his car as if it was he who had the right of way (as you’ve probably gathered it was a man driving the car). I think this is a legacy from years ago, because I can always remember being told that when on the continent that if you used a zebra crossing you were taking your life in your hands as motorists paid little heed to them.

Many of the roads were pan flat and straight, but thankfully as I passed through the Dordogne valley things livened up with plenty of undulation and twisties to distract attention away from my saddle sore bum! Also with the vineyards and dying sunflower fields passing by one could only be in this beuatiful part of France.

I finally entered Montauban around 6pm and the satnav took me virtually to the front door of tonights accommodation an Air B&B property. There I was greeted by Sarah and her husband, Jean-Marie. No sooner had I bought my luggage in to my comfy room with en-suite shower than Jean-Marie offered me a cool beer and a place in front of the tele to Watch the England V Bulgaria game. So I quickly got changed and joined him on the sofa to watch the game. By the time England were 3-0 up I knew it was all over and I was getting hungry so I set off on foot and within 20 minutes or so I arrived at the bar/restaurant suggested to me. As I arrived the whole street and park opposite had been closed off as the fair was in town, and what a fair it was! I’ve seen quite a few travelling fairs in the UK, but this one was massive with all the amusements and more scary rides than you could shake a stick at! I would have had a go on one or two, but I’d left my cash back at the B&B, and needless to say, fairgrounds don’t take credit cards! The restaurant was very busy, but the waiter found me a spot where I was able to enjoy a nice big pizza. That was until the people next to me decided to change their baby’s nappy on the table immediately adjacent to mine! Thankfully by then I’d nearly finished and for those of you that know me well, it takes quite a lot to put me off my food! To be fair there was only one toilet in the premises and when I visited there were no nappy changing facilities, just one of those old-fashioned continental toilets, nothing to sit on, just a block of porcelain sunk in the ground with two grippy bits indicating where you should place your feet! I left the restaurant around 9.30pm and as I headed back I was surprised to see hundreds of people (including families with young children) still arriving or walking towards the fair. Once back at my digs I tried to write a bit of this blog, but I was dog tired so I soon retired to my bed where I went out like a light!