July 14, 2022 to July 15, 2022
Charleville Mezieres
Another early start with more success today, it was really pleasant speeding along the cycle paths in the cool morning until my pedal hit a stump in the ground and I fell off right in front the first person I'd seen all day, little bit awkward...
Carried on until reaching Charleville Mezieres, the largest city I've reached so far. Eager to explore and find some food I headed though town, all the restaurants and cafes i passed were closed though because of Bastille day, the only places open were in the main square where prices were €20+. Eventually I settled and cooked up some mussles and tortellini in the park. Life isn't all so bad...
Was getting pretty late and still needed to find somewhere to camp. I cycled out of the city and it was all still really developed. I took a chance and cycled up a hill away from the path where I found an old unused building. I pitched my tent behind it and washed in the stream. I felt so fresh until I realised it was just downstream of a cow field.
The next morning I carried on towards Belgium, my first new country! The road got pretty rocky but it was nice to be on my own in the forest. I considered how I can lighten the load by only keeping the essentials and making traveling off road smoother. Filled up my bottles from a hose outside a garden centre only to find out that it tasted like cow shit, I cleaned them the best I could and filled up later on.
The French sim card I bought at the start annoyingly didn't work anywhere but France, even though the man in the shop told me it would work throughout Europe. I found a local smokey bar where I used their wi-fi and figured out what to do, calling many different numbers who didn't speak English and getting redirected all over the place. Eventually I accepted I'll have to buy a new sim and go without service for a while.
Carried on until I got hungry and cooked up a speedy omelette (scrambled eggs) on the side of the road and carried on until finding another forest to camp in.
Today's ride: 170 km (106 miles)
Total: 10,300 km (6,396 miles)
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