Pedalitis

I started writing this from the little Internet cubicle of the Ibis Hotel in Chateauroux, a small town between Orleans and Limoges. I was typing very slowly due to the infuriating transposition of keys that gives the French keyboard its unique personality!

Having traveled nearly 600 miles since leaving home yesterday morning, we’re now heading south on the A20 motorway, somewhere around Limoges. Paul’s driving while I tap out this entry on the iPhone.

Chateauroux was a typically pleasant small French town where we found a small, inexpensive bistro and enjoyed a good dinner. Poached eggs in kidney gravy is not the kind of thing we eat at home and is indicative of the different palette of the French.

The weather is fantastic – it will reach about 20 deg C today and there’s not a cloud in sight. If I get two weeks of this, the ride will be amazing.

We’re aiming to get at least as far as Perpignan today and may even go over the N2 into Spain then head to the coast to find a seaside hotel for tonight somewhere north of Barcelona. We’ll travel the two hills that I need to tackle during the first two days of the ride – the N2 over the Pyrenees and the C61 from the Spanish coast to Saint Celoni. It will be the first time I get a true sense of the scale of the challenge.

In the meantime I’ve noticed some play in the front wheel of the bike and I’ve developed a cold. So far, so good!