Saturday July 2, 2022, 47 km (29 miles) – Total so far: 825 km (513 miles)

It was cooler today and so much easier to cycle. We did 50km and could easily have done more, whereas on the hotter days we were petering out after only 30km.

We left our little cabin at 10am just as it started to spit with rain, then it stopped and started with drizzle all day but it was quite nice for a change.

The highlight of today was a bridge with a canal running across it. The bridge was designed by the same people built did the Eiffel tower.

We arrived at our camp at 3pm and it bucketed down with rain. Thankfully there was a big marquee there so we sheltered under it while we waited for the campground to open at 5pm, in no rush to set up our tent in the rain,

Under the marquee was a swimming pool and in the pool was a giant fish. No idea why there was a fish in a swimming pool, but it seemed mean.

After 30 minutes, the rain still hadn’t let up and the thought of sitting around for 2 hours in the cold and wet didn’t appeal, so the search for a hotel began. It was a Saturday night and a festival in town and everything was booked out.

We found a chambre-d’ote which was nearby so Mike called them and thankfully they had a room and it was only a 10 minute cycle ride. The lady didn’t speak a word of English and she was trying to tell me something. She put it into her phone to translate and held it out for me to view. There were now two languages written that I couldn’t understand. She’d translated into Dutch!

Anyway, our room is massive with a double bed and five single beds. Reminds me of some of the places we stayed in on camino. But we have it all to ourselves and our own bathroom too.

We walked into town and ate out at the only restaurant there.

You can follow our journey on YouTube here: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAP03_iOV9QrtahRxRPBTVB9ZTNOmdizn