Day 36 Week 7 Day 38
Wed, 12. Apr 2023
87km
170m
180km/h
2270km

Day 37 - from Valence to Marmande

What a day! I got going pretty early, as I needed coffee, and frankly, cigarettes. Valence d'Agen is quite a nice little town and everything was there, plus the morning pain au chocolat. I asked for the first time during this tour whether I could take a picture of somebody. This old gentleman was just too good to pass. Beautiful little bike, great outfit and a very happy smile. Turns out he's 92 years old and runs the bike shop on the other side of the square with his wife. The shop is there for 80 years. He told me that if I have troubles with my bike I could come to him. Little did I know.

Day 37
Day 37
Day 37
Day 37
Day 37
Day 37

Got started, got good views of the local nuclear plant and passed this old abattoir. I could go on for hours about these, won't here. In a nutshell, I think it would be great if we would still have them, the abattoirs.

From the beginning it was clear that it would be a rainy day. So I was glad to have the bridges along the canal to cover when it's raining heavily. On the canal route I found it hard to find some food as they're usually not going through the villages, but just pass them. So at around 3pm I was looking up a bakery and was ready to go. But. Flat tire. Front wheel. No bridge in sight. But then Kévin came along, fully dressed in rain gear. Offered his help. Gladly took it. Super nice guy, reminded me of an old friend of mine from Amsterdam. We quickly checked as well, whether we could find the reason for the flat. Too quickly. Continued biking and around ten kilometres in, another flat tire. Front wheel. Same procedure again. But this time I checked very thoroughly to see what the reason was. A little piece of glass in the tire. Removed it. And pumped it up. Now, another the surprise. The valve came out every time with the pump. I called my brother, that's what I do, but couldn't really help. Two people came along and I asked them whether I could use their pump. Didn't work. And sometimes I'm a bit proud of myself. Because one thing that I'm not bad at, is fixing things. So I thought a bit, and used finally the valve from the broken tube. That worked.

Made it to my camp ground.

Day 37
Day 37
Day 37
Day 37
Mood: happy :)
Hibernating