France Bicycle Trip 2018

21 st Day 2018 Marciac to Auch             I will be meeting Isabelle and Marie-Line on Thursday around noon in Moissac.   With luck I should be there by early afternoon.             By morning I was warming to this place.   No creatures emerged from the pond.   “The Creature from the Black Lagoon” was one of two horrors films I attended.   The other was “The House of Wax” with Vincent Price.   Both gave me nightmares for weeks and increased my bedwetting ten fold.   My Mom finally drew the line and I totally agreed.   It was either agree or the orphanage. One of the problems was we were living in a two bedroom house and my brother and I slept in the basement.   The switch for the only light was at the top of the stairs.   I had to hurry through a gauntlet of imagined dangers as sped through the darkness, down the stairs, and un...

20 th Day 2018 Morlaas to Marciac             Another Oklahoma sky!   Not even a hint of cloud in the pale blue ceiling.   Having depleted my food stores with only coffee and nuts left, I am patiently waiting for Express U to open at 9.             What a joy filled ride today!   The Dutch couple left while I was finishing breakfast.   The terrain was like the hand of a giant with his fingers spread wide, up and over the knuckles and through the valleys between.             My first stop was at the Tourist Office in Lembeye.   They assured me that there were campgrounds in the next two towns.   The town square is more of a trapezoid.   I picked up a small pizza and an Orangina at a nearby bakery and feasted at one corner of the trapezoid.        ...

19 th Day 2108 Lourdes to Morlaas             Good heavens!   Sunshine in the evening and in the morning.   The hiker was off by 7.   I need him to pack for me.   He had everything condensed in to a medium size backpack.   Tom, the other biker was equally careful.   His tent, bedroll, and mattress were neatly packed in a duffel rack extending out horizontally from his seat post.   His clothes were packed in a handle bar bag.   Altogether, the bike and equipment remained very light.   He is tackling the high Pyrenees today, a yearly favorite of the Tour de France.   No electrical assist for him but he is in his early thirties and looks like someone out of GQ.             I paid one more visit to the sanctuary as I left the city.   I am thankful I did because the peace and calm that I remembered had returned.   A la...

18th Day 2018 Arudy to Lourdes             I should amend my comparison of restaurants in France and Spain.   The restaurants in Spain are gathering places for the men of the village.   As another single male I fitted in nicely.             My beloved daughter Charlie could not have designed a better biking road for her 74 year old father pulling an overweight trailer.   There was one steep ascent at the start that I pushed up.   After that it was a baby coaster ride that would have not scared a three year old.   The road rose, fell, and twisted through meadows, forests, and villages.   The church in one has a 12 th century crypt.   I am continually fascinated by the once deeply religious fervor that dominated this area.   Towns of less than 100 have churches that hold 500.           ...