We started the day by having breakfast in the chapel (as one does) before packing up and heading out into the rain. We knew we couldn’t avoid it but it isn’t a big deal since we are waterproof and it wasn’t cold. It does get a bit tiring as it was quite relentless but we found respite at a couple of bars for coffee and tea. This part of the ride broke the record for us with passing by of 58(!) locks on the canal. The boats look like fun but you would really have to enjoy passing through locks if you were travelling this way. We passed by another section of the canal which had 3 canal tunnels for the boats, not for us. There was a ‘promenade’ boat tour but like for many things we are a bit too early. It must really boom here in July. We enjoyed speaking with a Dutch cycling couple going all the way from the Netherlands to somewhere south of us to visit friends. They had travelled by bike far and wide.
Our accommodation turned out to be a bit of a pain here. It was my third choice after the first was fully booked, and the second choice cancelled our reservation only a couple of weeks ago. There are few choices here and this one was well situated but also required a 300euro cash damage deposit as well as self-cleaning to avoid another 40euro charge. We don’t travel with much cash anymore and it costs to withdraw from ATMs. Then, despite the official check-in time being 4pm on this rain soaked day the host emailed and said she could only make it by 6pm. Aargh. It is an okay place but we’d like to put it behind us with our 300euros intact.
The second day was mostly spent in doing laundry and ‘taking a day off’ after the trying one yesterday. Besides there isn’t much to see here and it’s still threatening rain. We hit the supermarche and said hi to the local Charolais herd.
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