Day 13

We were all packed up and on the saddle by 9am, but within half an hour, Paul wanted to stop for a wash. Mucky pup.....

We all felt much better after that, and continued on our journey. There were a few battles of will today.

For a start, the weather; it was chilly, but sunny, then cool and breezy, then the sun almost disappeared behind clouds, and it became warmer. Jacket on, jacket off. Then the road; for nearly 20 miles we followed D roads, and it was a busy, main road, plenty of traffic, straight as an arrow in front of us, but then we were bumping through tiny villages and big open fields again. We rolled with the hills, the initial long climb was very cruel to our behinds.

Sticking to our plan, we perched on a bench beneath a runner-bean tree for our breakfast stop. It was complete with non-stop dog-barking and workmen hammering. Can you spot David Bellamy?

THEN we cycled around the corner, through a really pretty village, Mouzon, with an enormous ancient church, cobbled courtyard, bakery, and over the river Meuse (majestic) with benches beside. Grrr.

So by 1.30 we were ready for a coffee stop, and found the one cafe open in the whole area, with an exceedingly nice man. Over a petite omelette/frites/salad, he explained that France is always closed on Mondays, sometimes Tuesdays, and if it's raining, or someone has a headache....this is how it is!! 

We consulted our maps and decided to take a detour, a lesser main road, almost parallel, and possibly even losing us a couple of miles reaching our destination for tonight - Marre.

And so it was. We arrived at a very unusual group of buildings, some round huts with conical roofs, and decamped to our ground floor room. It has dark pink doors, Tiffany lamps, a huge wet room, branches on the wall as handrails, lovely flimsy curtains by the French windows, and a helpful streetlight right outside those windows. I think we may be awake and up early tomorrow!

Today was a bit tough, especially for me, as for some reason I felt a little sad and down. Catching some of the terrible news about the migrants, hurting for the tiny drowned boy, one amongst thousands, and just wondering what is life all about. Thinking about our children and 2 grandchildren, little Daisy and baby Oliver, and missing them all, and remembering we are so lucky. 

The map below shows where we are up to, with 430 miles done.