 |
| Well done Jimmy - you did it!!! |
We walked in a procession the 500 odd metres to the tram
stop with Jimmy balancing his bag on top of my panniers. We had a bit of a clear out on our overnight
stop. Pete has been putting up with an
inflatable mattress that goes down every night, so we got rid of that and Pete
took ownership of Jimmy’s one. That was
one less thing for Jimmy to carry. I
suggested he give his tent to one of the refugees in town but he has decided to
take it to Switzerland and give it to his friends there.
We didn’t have any change to buy a tram ticket for Jimmy
from the ticket dispenser so we chucked him on the tram with a 5 euro note and
told him if anyone asked to see his ticket, just to plead ignorance and give
them the 5 euros. As it turned out,
nobody asked him for money or ticket.
Meanwhile, Pete and I cycled into town, negotiating our way past the
refugee camp. The most direct cycle path
goes straight through it, which we weren’t keen to do and nobody else was either,
so we skirted round the edge. Pete asks,
“Which way are we going?”
 |
| This is a very small part of the refugee camp and it is seriously right in the middle of town. |
I just jumped on my bike and said “Away from the knife
wielding angry man over there!” as I saw a bare chested man threaten his friend
with a knife – admittedly it was only a bread and butter knife but hey, if he
knew we had a full loaf of unbuttered bread in our panniers, we could have been
in big trouble!
 |
| Ju gives Jimmy a lift with his bag |
We arrived at the train station shortly after Jimmy and all
proceeded around to the ticket office.
Jimmy and Pete went inside while I stood guard over the bikes so adopted
my best staunch, don’t mess with me stance.
Until I got bored after five minutes and started doing a few yoga
stretches.
About halfway through chavasana (the corpse pose at the end
of my hour long routine – no just kidding, it was only about 20 mins waiting),
Pete and Jimmy emerged victorious with tickets in hand with two changes for
Jimmy – one in Paris, the other at Basel and he should arrive at his friend’s
house in Switzerland about 6.30pm tonight.
Pete here. When we
entered the ticket office, we had no clue that you had to take a number and
wait your turn. A nice lady saw us come in, guessed we had no clue and told us
what to do. We then watched as five people assisted others with their
enquiries, including the nice lady. As the numbers got closer on the screen, we
were hoping we’d get the nice lady, as she kept looking over to see if we were
okay….and as luck and good timing went….we did. She hardly spoke English, but
between the two of us and Dad smiling in the background, she sorted everything
for him and even gave him some options, which she didn’t need to do. I never
got your name, but thank you so much for your kindness and may the gods smile
upon you.
 |
| It was sad saying goodbye to Jimmy |
It was sad saying bye to Dad, but he’s off on his own little
adventure now, as are we. The most important thing for me is that he’s safe. As
the train pulled away, we gave one last wave, turned and cycled off toward the
coast. Julia had been busy organising a route and we had plain sailing out of
Nantes. It was good to be able to get into some mileage and we clipped along at
a steady speed. Elizabeth and Phil were
setting off from their campground further north so we said we’d see them on the
road or at the end of the day.
 |
| But there was also a measure of relief that we got him through two weeks of bike touring relatively unscathed. |
At about 12.30pm, having left Dad at 11.15am, we stopped for
lunch at La Chevroliere, by the side of yet another, stagnant pond. It wasn’t
as bad as it sounds and we enjoyed a nice meal. By then we’d covered 20kms, so
now began the second session. This was longer and into a head wind, which had
been there all day, but was now a little more intense. Julia was beginning to
feel a little light headed, although cycling strongly and when we arrived at St
Christophe du Ligneron, with a nice church and a tabac store that was open, we
stopped.
Sitting on the seat outside the doors eating some chocolate and
drinking a coke and a bloody pigeon shits on my leg from up above. That’s no
way to try to convert me to the other side, let me tell you.
 |
| And a certain amount of happiness the responsibility for his welfare had been lifted from us! |
Around the back of
the church, but a part of the building were some nice toilets, so we made full
use of them.
Ploughing into the strong breeze, we kept a steady pace,
both, now feeling good and eating up the miles. We’d had little contact with
Elizabeth and Phil who were headed in the same direction, hoping to do some
cycling with us over the near future, but when Ju got a call, Liz said that
Phil had fixed two punctures today….bummer.
 |
| The front of the church in St Christophe du Ligneron |
 |
| The back of the church at St Christophe du Ligneron......brings a whole new meaning to "God, I needed that!" |
We were heading for St. Gilles La Croix, a beautiful seaside
town, just up our street, back to what we know. At 6pm outside the Super U
supermarket there, we pondered on which campsite to take – so many showed up on
MapsMe. What it didn’t show however was
that they were all closed for the season! For the next hour and a half we rode around
trying to find one that was open. What the hell is that about…. ? Finally at
8pm, at the sixth campground, we asked a nice guy who took us to the camp
manager who agreed to take pity on us, giving us a pitch for only 10 euros. We
are the only people here. Showers and toilets laid on… fantastic.
Liz and Phil finally rolled into the same town and found a pitch
at La Padrelle at 8.30pm - they had wisely used the internet to check if it was
open before leaving Nantes.
Showered, ate and all is well with the world……although we
haven’t heard from Dad since 5.30pm so hope he didn’t fall asleep on the train
and wind up in Istanbul.
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