Monday 5th
I have spent the day around the camper. I got my bike out and went for a short but very energetic ride! Read, ate and have now come to the Crêt de l’Oeillon high above the Rhône and Rhône Valley. I am not sure what I am going to do now. There is a lake a little further on which looks interesting so I might try to make my way there.
Well, what a lovely lake: It is a reservoir for the fresh water for Annonay. The dam (barrage) was built and opened in 1867! There is a lovely one-way road around the lake where people walk, jog, cycle and ride their horses. Apparently there are 2.6 million litres in the lake!
I had hoped to see Christian, we haven’t seen each other for so many years but this is not a good time for him. His Mum is in hospital and just had a scan and they will have the results tonight. He is going to pick up his dad from the ‘Maison de repos’, where he has been convalescing after a kidney and ‘rate’ oh merde, I have forgotten the English translation! I know it too! So we will not be seeing each other just now, another time then.
It is a lonely life in a camper – alone! But I am trying to do all I can to make it feel less so. What? Well, I am reading and that really helps because you have tens of people with you. Yes, I don’t say much in fact I don’t think I have uttered a word to anyone today. No, that is not true – I have said ‘bonjour’ to people I have passed on my bike! I think that my lot is to be alone, to live and spend my life alone. All of this started when I was very young and sent to school. I give the impression of an outward going, confident person but that is not me. I find it difficult to speak to those I don’t know. After my time with Lynn, I spent 5 years alone, and then I have spent the last 2 years alone too. Yes, Istvan is part of my life, but we spend very little time together, living in 2 different countries. How strange listening to France Musique and to find a programme on ‘The Sound of Music’, which is opening, at Chatelet next Sunday, and in English at that!
Camped: On the left bank of Lac de Ternay
Sunday 4th
I had realised that I had had so much to drink or was it just the Champs at the end of the evening. Anyway, I had slept in the camper outside Marie and Robert’s place. It was Michel, Robert’s brother arriving for lunch that woke me! We had a leisurely, and for me non alcoholic lunch. I could still feel the alcoholic poisoning in my system. I decided to leave around 16h and to make my way down the Rhône to the Ardèche. I have come to the ‘Parc National du Pilat and spent the night near a little place called ‘Bassin’ just outside of Le Pelussin, the middle of nowhere.
Camped: Bassin, Loire
Saturday 3rd.
This evening I am meeting up with the gang in Macon and we are going to eat Frogs! The meeting place a restaurant le Bouche??? at St Laurent sur Saône. I dcided to have a look around the Dombes so went to Versaillieu first where I had lunch. I wanted to be by an ‘étang’ but it isn’t easy, if nigh on impossible to get the the water’s edge. I carried on to the monastery of Notre Dames des Dombes and visited the place. It is no longer run by Cistercian Monks but by some multidominational group. It offers retreats to people who feel that they need a little peace and quiet and makes all sorts of things from apples. Chatillon sur Chalaronne was my next port of call, where I visited the parc of the town which was once the garden of a rather nice country house. Today I got the impression that it is some sort of horticultural institute. The weather had been really hot and muggy, so it was a welcome change when the storm broke! Thunder, lightening the lot! A yet only 10kms away at Macon and St Laurent, not a drop fell. It was around 17 when I finally arrived at St Laurent and got my bike and found the restaurant. I then decided to have a ride around St Laurent and on the other side of the Saône in Macon. There is a really good esplanade been created there. There are also the markings for the 2 greatests floods, the worst is 1840 when the river rose some 8 metre above its usual course, and 1955 at 7 metres! I also found out that in the past St Laurent was the limit of the Dukes of Savoie territory and the Holy Roman Empire. The evening was not uneventful! A lovely meal just the end was a bit of a letdown! We finished the evening in St Priest with a bottle of bubbly.
Camped: St Priest
Friday 2nd July
After taking a lot of time and getting everything done I finally left the flat around 15h. After going to St Jean Automobile to pick up the stuff that has been there since the crash with the Punto, I then made my way to Meximieux to see the Insurance company. That now seems to be sorted out, I just need Thierry to complete the forms when they arrive and to get everything sent off to the expert. As I was not far from Montluel, I rang and was asked to stay for something to eat.
Camped: Port Galland
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