We have been waiting on some rims from home, we didn't bring enough of the right kind. They have been chasing us from across the country from one hotel to the next. Fed Ex France just can't seem to get them to us. They arrived 2 days late for starters. By that time we had moved on, and now they seem to be perpetually 2 days behind.The lads are staying upright for the most part, so we spend a lot of our time driving and waiting on rims. In Satilleau, we waited for a while on Fed Ex, and decided that if they had not shown by 11AM we would go for a ride and hope the rims would be there when we got back.
The ride was like all the others we have done - GREAT.
Though the drive from Gap to Satilleau is a flat, boring, crowded drive on the A6 and A7, Satilleau is very hilly, and very nice to ride.
The road above is about 4 minutes out of town. The truck route is on the left. Ha Ha.
Here is John, sporting a Mapleag jersey, climbing past a farm.
We had been riding for 30 minutes or so when my phone rang. It was Anne, calling to say that the rims would not show up that day. I happened to stop next to a pasture, and there happened to be some cows there. This being France, they of course had cowbells on. They were also very twitchy because there were a lot of flies around. Halfway through our conversation, Anne says "it sounds like there are cowbells in the background - what is that?". Well, we are at Le Tour after all.Eventaually, the road turned to gravel, and it was getting on 1 oclock, so we turned around. But first I asked John to get a glamour shot of me:
Our hotel that night was in Chaudes Auiges. It is a small town in a deep valley, and has hot springs. The town was crowded with people taking the cure. I got the impression - from standing in line behind people at our hotel, that the national health service will pay for your hot springs treatment if your doctor prescribes it. There was a lot of official paperwork being shuffled around, and lots of stamping and signing.Chaudes Auiges was tres quaint. Steep windy streets, ancient looking slate roofed homes, and the most amazing backyard garden I have ever seen. John and I were out strolling around after dinner and I peeked over a wall into this:
the photo does not do it justice. It was a small garden, maybe 20x40 feet and chock full of garden gnomes, other statuary, bridges, signs, and handmade furniture. Literally wall to wall.
TRES GNOMES!
Here is a representative photo of one of the buildings. Slate roof, stone construction, maximum quaintness. The garden shed is up top and the house part is below. The whole town was crawling with old buildings. Not falling down mind you, just old and lived in.
There were also saints in town, in their own little second story cases. Maybe this one is the patron saint of happy hour. I waited for the neon lights under him to come on, because I thought it would make a better photo, but the bar closed while it was still light out. It looked like a slow night.
Speaking of saints, we drove past a town named after our Blessed Saint Flour. Lord love him, or her. I don't know if croissants and pain chocolate would even be edible without his (or her) divine intervention.
I almost forgot, it looked like there was quite a rock show coming to Aix-les-bains. Mika, Paul Weller (formerly of The Jam), even ZZ Top. We couldn't stay, but we did get a chance to hear the Gypsy Kings. They were either practicing their entire show, or doing a very long sound check in the the beautiful city park just down the block. Even better live than in recordings.
Au Bientot!
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