6 June 2025 (cloudy with sunny patches, cool) 52km

The rain that should have come yesterday, arrived last night by the bucketful. Even though I slept soundly from 10.30pm - 3.30am, I was always aware of it hosing down and if I did stir, hey presto. We really need a good wind this morning to dry the tent out, even a little, but none is forecast. 

You always find faults with a tent you spend months in, although Vango, our last touring tent, was a cracker. Good enough to inspire poems and a song.  This time we're travelling with a Big Agnes.  It's a three man/woman tent with a huge vestibule area, great for preparing food or storing gear.

However, this model has a flaw. When it's wet, every time you open the flap, you get soaked and it doesn't have to be raining at the time, condensation will do it.  Having said that, the inner tent is spacious, enough for gear if necessary and to this point, keeps us dry, which is the most important aspect.

As I write this, I'm looking at the splashback of dirt on the bottom sides of our inner, knowing that at the earliest time, that is a job that will need doing.  Staying dry on the road, when your days can be fourteen hours long, can be a challenge. For us, cycle touring is about enjoying the scenery, history, sights, smells and interaction with the local population. That's why, if it is pouring with rain and we're going through a beautiful landscape, we will take a day to let the bad weather pass, so that we can at least see something on our journey through.

Years ago, in our early twenties, we racked up big mileage in a day (anything from 80-160kms), but the years have taught us that you miss so much by trying to rush through life. You're going to get to your destination, enjoy everything your journey has to offer. This applies to everything, not just bike touring.

Upon waking, we made our morning ritual to the loos. A bit like the Camino walkers. And like the Camino walkers, when asked why they do it....we say... to find relief !

Pete missed out the fact that while getting out of the tent in the wee hours this morning while it was still dark, he accidentally put on my shoes and laced them up, completely oblivious to what he'd done. It wasn't til I grabbed what I thought was one of my shoes and noticed the distinct difference in weight that I noticed what he'd done.

I don't think I mentioned our stove.  Our trusty kitchen workhorse, valued friend of over ten years, gave up the ghost yesterday. After buying gas for it the day before, we went to boil the pot and....nothing.  One of our main priorities today, along with a SIM card, will be a new stove. 

At 7.30am with the rain still coming down, we both snuggled back down in our sleeping bags for a kip.  I later learned that Julia hadn't been able to sleep, whilst I enjoyed a fitful snooze.  By 8.30am we were back into the start of our day. 

Packed up everything inside the tent and noticed the sleeping mats were damp. The rain had seeped in under the ground sheet. The intensity of the rain last night had thrown dirt all over the side walls, so we knew we had a job to do. The groundsheet itself was not only wet but dirty. As for the flysheet it was sodden. 

Down to the Cafe to have a coffee while the tent hopefully dried off a bit, but more importantly to connect to wifi, as that's our only form of communication. Once we had the blog posted it was 10.30am, so then it was back to pack up the tent. Transferred all our gear out onto the road, trying to keep it free of dirt and gravel.  Cleaned the tent as best we could and then washed and oiled the chains and packed the bikes. 

Earlier we bade farewell to Jan (Yan). He was heading into Paris. Nice young man.

Cleaned the chains and gave them some lube and we were off to see the gardens at Versaille. Didn't go into the Palace, because I'm a tight git. Couldn't think of parting with $140 for inside and $68 for outside.

(JU: I think the real reason was because our English friends told us the whole place was covered in dust. The hall of mirrors has thick dust coating them and I don't think I could have stopped Pete from jumping the barrier and getting to work!)

But we did cycle through the park at the back and the grounds were extensive. Long avenues of trees with dead straight lines. Unfortunately the more interesting gardens were well fenced off from the peasants so we contented ourselves with a pleasant ride and a few long range photos.

What we saw was sufficient before leaving Versailles and heading to Rambouillet, where we are being hosted by a guy called Jean Favier, through Warmshowers. 

The riding today was less than inspiring. Lots of traffic, the cycle tracks were quite bumpy in parts and scenery was non existent. The Mapy app was telling us one thing but leading us onto the motorways, which is a no go. 

Stopped late for a bite to eat at a small park. Managed to dry the ground sheet and get it clean, but the fly sheet was wringing wet so there was no chance of it drying in the short time we were stopped. Off and riding and again we found ourselves taken to the motorway.

This time I rode to a workplace and stopped a car exiting and asked the driver, a lovely middle aged lady, who didn't speak English and her daughter (who did) for an alternative route. They kindly gave us directions on smaller roads and we arrived at Jean’s at 6.35pm. 

He had given the address of his apartment block, but not the number. With no wifi, we couldn't contact him. I asked a lady with her kids for help and she managed to get through to Jean for us. He arrived downstairs and we put our bikes in his storage locker, with his other eight bikes? Then upstairs to his flat. He lives in a top floor apartment on the fourth floor, which is tiny. Noticed that there wouldn't be room to dry the tent and flysheet.

He lives on his own and you can tell. He yearns for conversation and this would be the main reason he hosts travellers. His flat needs a lot of work both maintenance and cleanliness wise, but his heart is good and I felt sorry that he had no one, especially as he enjoys company.  He works from home doing something in computers and does English lessons regularly. Told us that he has his next exam coming up soon.  Jean speaks English very well and wants to graduate to a B+ in his next exam. He is very into his history and his stories were fascinating.

He cooked us quiche and salad, followed by a rice dish, with which I had some homemade bread. We also had a cider to wash it down. It had a most unusual taste to it. But we drank it anyway, hoping we didn't wake up chained to the wall of his basement. It was now well after 10pm and we were both very tired. I did the dishes while Julia struggled to keep her eyes open as Jean talked and we finally hit the sack at 11.15pm.

Tomorrow's forecast is overcast with drizzle, not good for drying a tent.