Mercredi, Septembre 29 1993, Mon Dieu c�est 10.30 heures.
We could not believe we had slept so long. The change in time had caught up with us. Before leaving that morning to begin the real journey, we booked a room in Paris at the Royal Phare for Octobre 10th. I also mastered the telephone and managed to call Winfield, it being only 6.30 in the morning at home.
We needed water for the day so I went looking for a shop that was open. There was one just a few doors from the hotel, run by a delightful woman about my age. No English and very rapid French, but I managed to get what I wanted and went on my way.
To our dismay when we went to load our panniers on our bikes we discovered that one of Judy�s tires was too soft to ride on. The valve was bent and she could not pump any air into it. This was France and the stores close between 1200 and 1400 heures. We had no choice but to wait until 1400 hours for a bike shop to open. Luckily we found a good one on rue Victor Hugo just off rue St Catherines, where the young man fixed the valves and pumped up the tires for free.
We were not far from Le Gare St John, supposedly the beginning of the tour we were taking. At le gare, the attendant in the office de tourisme booked a hotel in Villenave D�Ornon for the night and one at Les Relais Bleu, a hotel in Merignac near the aeroport, for our last night before returning to Paris. We were then on our way to find the suburb of Begles, the route to take us out of the city and into the countryside.
Our destination for that night was Villenave D�Ornon. After cycling around and around a detour in the highway we finally arrived in a little town, (never got into the country), which to our surprise was our destination. By this time it was raining again and nearly dark. Mon Dieu, we�re having so much fun! We had to ask directions from a shop keeper where the Formula 1 Hotel was. A kind lady who spoke English translated the directions for us and after a few wrong turns we found the hotel.
Not much space with the bicycles also in the room
It was almost an automatic hotel. A code to get into the room and into the Hotel after certain hours at night. The room was quite small and we had to take our bicycles into the room with us. Very cosy. The toilette and the shower were at the end of the hall. After using the toilette, when you opened the door, it flushed automatically, and when you went out and shut the door the whole unit sanitized itself. We were glad to be in out of the rain, no complaints to speak of. Just in time for our daily ritual to toast the ladies back home.
A problem! No place to have dinner within walking distance and we were hungry. A taxi was summoned, and the driver, after convincing us there was no place to eat in Villenave D�Ornan, said he would take us to a nice place to eat in Bordeaux. We really didn't believe him but low and behold in ten minutes or so we were right back at Place de la Victoire, the spot we had spent all day getting away from. Il pleut encore. We ate and returned by the same taxi to the hotel. Goodnight. 15.4km.
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El Camino de Santiago, Spain
Ecuador and Peru adventures
Trekking in Nepal