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Published: July 15th 2011
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Gerri on the Dance Floor
Gerri and other campers show their moves at the Bastille Day party at the campground near Roanne. Last night was spent at a campground near Roanne, France. It was Bastille Day in France so the campground was having a special evening. 43 campers signed up for an evening of dining, singing, and dancing. First course was a round of sangria for everyone, with seconds and thirds for those who had emptied their glasses too quickly. Then a meal of various salads and a meat and tomato quiche of some sort. And finally a tart type desert. All of which were very different from what we think of as picnic food in the US, but quite good.
After dinner, the campground owner kicked off the singing with a karaoke of some French song. A number of others followed, singing other French songs. Be assured that neither Gerri nor myself embarrassed ourselves during the evening; however, we couldn’t resist the dance floor, which was crowded with adults and children. One woman in a wheelchair was having a great time.
This morning found us lingering in the tent until 7:30, when it began to warm up a bit. By 9:30 we were hopelessly lost in Roanne, but we had a pannier full of food, having found a grocery store
Lock on the Canal du Centre
This is the downstream side of one of the locks on the Canal du Centre. during our wandering. Though we never did find the road we were looking for out of town, we did eventually find a suitable substitute and headed north. Upon reaching Paray le Monial, we joined the Eurovelo 6 Cycle Route. (EuroVelo is currently made up of 12 routes across the continent, totaling over 66,000 km, of which about 45,000 km is already signed and ready for use. The EuroVelo routes are made up of existing and planned cycle routes at regional and national level. Eurovelo 6 goes from Nantes, France to Budapest, Hungary.). The section of the route that we rode today and will ride for the next two days follows the Canal du Centre. We saw some pleasure craft on the canal but no commercial vessels. We also saw lots and lots of cows. All of them white. Hmmmm . . . no integration of cows in this area of France.
We are camped this evening near one of the towns on the Canal, Palinges. We walked into town looking for a restaurant and found one, only it did not open for dinner till 7PM, so off to the market we went to buy us some dinner. A great
Along the Canal du Centre
Some friends we met as we rode along the canal. salad, taboulleh, French fries, beer, and a cantaloupe turned out to be our evening meal. We topped it off with a package of frozen ice cream cones from the market. It is such fun to improvise!
This campground, though a bit more expensive than many, offers free Internet access, a nice room to hang out in, and a free washer. Gerri took advantage of the washing machine and did up the sleeping bags. European laundry facilities, however, are weird. She did the bags on the RAPIDE cycle; they finished in about 45 minutes. She then did the clothes on the regular cycle and they took nearly 2 hours just to wash and rinse. Sure hope they dry before it gets dark.
Though today was about 80 kms., it was an easy day (once we got “unlost” in Roanne). Tomorrow we continue north and then east as head towards Switzerland.
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