We hit a warm spell on the way to Lyon.
13/12/12
We were sorry to leave our lovely hotel in Dijon, and Dijon itself. It is a really great place to visit and stay if you get the chance. We warmed up the bike, which took quite some time, and rolled out of the stables just after eleven on our way to Lyon.
The weather was kind to us. It was six degrees below zero at eight o'clock. That's bloody cold. The temperature had climbed to one degree by the time we left. I can cope with that...for a little while.
I thought if we could manage fifty kilometres before our first stop I'd be happy. We had ridden eighty Kilometres before I had to defrost my thumbs, so I was ecstatic. We were sitting on 130 kph today so it appears that going faster doesn't increase the wind chill effect like I thought it would. It must just be the time I'm exposed to the cold. Anyway we enjoyed a little break and some food and got back on the bike.
We made it all the way to Lyon in the next leg. That's about 130 km. It wasn't that big a deal. When we left our road stop the temperature was up to five, and steadily rose and sat on around nine for the rest of the ride. It actually cracked double digits at one stage, ten degrees. It was heaven, and the first time in about five weeks we've seen double digits. Hopefully that's the last of the freezing cold.
It's funny, twelve months ago, if you invited me out for a ride and it was only going to be four degrees, I would have laughed at you. Now? No problem. Where are we going?
I was having technological difficulties all day today as well. The Tom Tom wouldn't talk to the intercom, and then the intercom voice activation decided not to work either, so Suzanne and I couldn't talk to each other. Tucked away in the warmth of our hotel room in Lyon, I think I've sorted it. Who knew instruction manuals could be so handy? It surprised me.
I did have a bit of a dummy spit today. Why? Well this is what happened: the Tom Tom / intercom issue, the Tom Tom was VERY slow to give directions on the screen making me miss turns, Suzanne and I couldn't talk to each other, the first hotel the sat nav took us too WASN'T THERE, the next hotel was too expensive, the next hotel was full, and so on... I actually set the sat nav to go to the next town I was so aggravated. Luckily Suzanne saw a Best Western sign, and here we are. As far as my experience of Best Westerns goes, this is a very nice one. Not like the ones at home.
We dumped our gear in the hotel room and walked down to the Christmas Market in the square. It was very nice, but certainly didn't have the atmosphere that the one on Brussels did.
After a bit of a wander around and some window shopping we found an amazing second hand / antique shop. Have a look at the photo I took through the door...
After staring into the huge pile of goodies in that shop we made our way back to the hotel, via a quiet little bar, and enjoyed the comfort of very comfy, warm bed.
Tomorrow's target was Montpellier, but a mate has put us onto a little village called Pezenas which he says has the best Saturday markets ever. You'll have Suzanne to deal with if they're not Pete. I've checked the weather and it's around nine or more for our entire trip tomorrow, so our plan is to put 360 ks under the BM's wheels tomorrow and spend the weekend in Pezenas. I hope it's not too hot!
We were sorry to leave our lovely hotel in Dijon, and Dijon itself. It is a really great place to visit and stay if you get the chance. We warmed up the bike, which took quite some time, and rolled out of the stables just after eleven on our way to Lyon.
The weather was kind to us. It was six degrees below zero at eight o'clock. That's bloody cold. The temperature had climbed to one degree by the time we left. I can cope with that...for a little while.
I thought if we could manage fifty kilometres before our first stop I'd be happy. We had ridden eighty Kilometres before I had to defrost my thumbs, so I was ecstatic. We were sitting on 130 kph today so it appears that going faster doesn't increase the wind chill effect like I thought it would. It must just be the time I'm exposed to the cold. Anyway we enjoyed a little break and some food and got back on the bike.
A little lunch stop planning check.
We made it all the way to Lyon in the next leg. That's about 130 km. It wasn't that big a deal. When we left our road stop the temperature was up to five, and steadily rose and sat on around nine for the rest of the ride. It actually cracked double digits at one stage, ten degrees. It was heaven, and the first time in about five weeks we've seen double digits. Hopefully that's the last of the freezing cold.
It's funny, twelve months ago, if you invited me out for a ride and it was only going to be four degrees, I would have laughed at you. Now? No problem. Where are we going?
I was having technological difficulties all day today as well. The Tom Tom wouldn't talk to the intercom, and then the intercom voice activation decided not to work either, so Suzanne and I couldn't talk to each other. Tucked away in the warmth of our hotel room in Lyon, I think I've sorted it. Who knew instruction manuals could be so handy? It surprised me.
I did have a bit of a dummy spit today. Why? Well this is what happened: the Tom Tom / intercom issue, the Tom Tom was VERY slow to give directions on the screen making me miss turns, Suzanne and I couldn't talk to each other, the first hotel the sat nav took us too WASN'T THERE, the next hotel was too expensive, the next hotel was full, and so on... I actually set the sat nav to go to the next town I was so aggravated. Luckily Suzanne saw a Best Western sign, and here we are. As far as my experience of Best Westerns goes, this is a very nice one. Not like the ones at home.
We dumped our gear in the hotel room and walked down to the Christmas Market in the square. It was very nice, but certainly didn't have the atmosphere that the one on Brussels did.
More Christmas Markets.
They're big over here.
After a bit of a wander around and some window shopping we found an amazing second hand / antique shop. Have a look at the photo I took through the door...
Do you think you could ever find anything in this lot?
After staring into the huge pile of goodies in that shop we made our way back to the hotel, via a quiet little bar, and enjoyed the comfort of very comfy, warm bed.
Tomorrow's target was Montpellier, but a mate has put us onto a little village called Pezenas which he says has the best Saturday markets ever. You'll have Suzanne to deal with if they're not Pete. I've checked the weather and it's around nine or more for our entire trip tomorrow, so our plan is to put 360 ks under the BM's wheels tomorrow and spend the weekend in Pezenas. I hope it's not too hot!
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