Pompeii

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Remember me?  I think that last time I filed a blog I was in France.  Well, guess what?  Yup, France again.

To bring you up to date: I led a 'camino' from Bilbao to Santiago then a top to bottom of Portugal.  Next was a Pisa to Sicily trip during which I went to Pompeii (though that is not the reason for the song) and got shot (ok, technically not actually shot but you would never know looking at the scar).  And now I am back in France checking out a section of route from Paris to Klosters in the foothills of the alps.  

I have covered a creditable 160 miles in 2 days and am in Bar-Sur-Albe in the middle of Champagne country.  And now I can reveal the reason for the song.....it is Bastille Day (if you can't get the link there is no hope for you).

Naturally, being a public holiday, France is closed in a way that citizens of most countries cannot begin to imagine.  If 'being closed' is ever an Olympic event the French are a cert for gold.  I am staying on a campsite in a 'pod'.  This turns out to be like a cabin (or shed as we call them).....only smaller.  I had planned to eat on site where I was promised a fixed price feast for €15 but on closer inspection this appeared to require eating at trestle tables with hoards of tricolour waving Frenchies.  So instead I have braved the rain and found a restaurant that, inexplicably, is open.

Tomorrow I have 102 miles to ride and 5000 feet to climb. Bugger.




Sent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone.

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