Skim vs. France - Tuesday - Day 4

If Sunday was a test then today was a low. It rained for most of the day, a hearty test of character when almost your entire day is spent outside. Well with this flip of the script it should stop me from banging on about the the lack of water at least! With the rain hard in you loose much of your vista and without being able to look around and say (or at least think) Wow, the cycling becomes so much more of a chore. Negative thoughts that are usually easy to keep at bay with a quick 'shut up and check this out.' are the first to come lurking to the forefront.Niggles and aches that spoke gently but persistently on previous day were complaining much louder today, namely my saddle contact area (gooch) and dodgy left knee.

With visibility low navigation becomes increasingly hard, doubled by the fact that you need somewhere dryish to get the map out. Town navigation is hard enough as no French is set up with any common sense, much is a huge part of their charm and character nut Mon Dieu! When the road map you have shows you nothing but roads going in and out with the interconnecting roads in the town mere guess work of direction and one way systems all you've got to go off is road numbers most of which are only shown on the way out of towns, it's downright perplexing. I got lost twice in Chateau-du-Loir only to find that when I eventually did get out onto my desired road the D10 that whilst making my way down this changes number, sans turning or junction but only for a little bit when it reverts to it's previous number. Now normally I probably wouldn't have noticed this but having got lost twice already it was the last thing my fried and depressed mind state needed.

One sight that did cheer me up was the most hilarious cycle lane ever. It was only about three hundred meters long and I'd say a foot wide from the curb, followed exactly and by exactly I mean right angles some empty parking bays that were bookended by six inch high concrete curb. The diagram provided just to the left may be an artists impression but is no exaggeration; it gave me a good chuckle.

Some time after a tree sheltered lunch, as it started to smash it it down once more I'd started to notice that my back wheel was feeling a little spongy and every now and then would give me a little shimmy to the left. It was an odd feeling that filled me with no small amount of dread and as I was also coming up to a section of the map that looked like I would need some savvy I decided to find a camp site early this day and after only a sixty miles of riding, my shortest day yet one was discovered. Setting my things off my bike not setting anything up as it's still quite early I flip the bike to have a little look at that wobbly wheel. Gash pony! Some of the spokes are seriously waggle dance loose. Truing a wheel isn't fun at the best of times, massively satisfying when done but still quite a stressful process, doing so in a damp field where you're miles from the nearest town and don't speak the lingo, by jingo it gets you in a fluster. Yet it also focuses the mind to a point where you must get it right, with the rain holding off so I can try to dry out a little I sit down to the task. I have to say, not a bad job in the end of it and I'm glad I caught it when I did so at least now I can keep an eye on it. Now, with no local folk having a look around, I set down for the night time for dinner, tea, pipe, relax and bed. Here's to a better tomorrow.