A Long Way From Cluny

I am sitting in McDonalds in Aix en Provence waiting for the batteries to pack it in. The only plug I could find doesn't work and the manager told me politely, but with a hint of smugness that there are no others.."desolee"even though the wifi is "gratuit et illimite". OK how do they plug in the vacuum cleaner!!!I sat in this spot because it was by the plug but it was also in front of the kung fu panda display of toys for the happy meal and I have had to endure the glares of the jeunesse for getting between them and the kung fu panda and his gang. I am not enjoying Aix en Provence and I know this is churlish because as we speak it is 35 degrees outside. But , well, I got off to a bad start and I surmise that they are so overrun by tourists that they don't have to make any effort. The first unpleasant surprise was that the TGV station is in fact 10 km out of town. At the TGV station there was no map and certainly no veloroute. The only road was a freeway which was exremely dangerous and scary. I arrived at the tourist information shattered and dehydrated. They sent me off to the camping with a glass of water which was kind but reasonable considering my dramatics." Je suis pres du mort parce que le seul route est un freeway. Il est tres dangerous." no idea if this is french. They weren't at all concerned though for the overall issue of the velotouriste. C"est la vie ...ou mort! Then at the camping the lass, who on the phone from Paris assured me that there was an immense camping area and no need to book sent me on a wild goose chase up this enormous hill to find a non existent camp site AND a spanish man on a bike nicked the last one! Betrayed by one's own. Any way I returned to the office where she assured me that there was a site just back up the hill. I voted for a look see in the "little car" before trudging back up the hill. Indeed there was a site concealed by a Dutch couple who were having their lunch on it. It was high up with a lovely breeze , bringing cool and dust with the delightful roar of the freeway day and night. I wont go into the humiliation at the Office of Tourisme by Jerome 2 days in a row. I gave Jerome a second chance but today I asked him for places I could onto wifi. He sent me to a bar which was the definition of sleazy (no I was not mistaken because Jerome drew the spot on my map himself and the bar owner checked it was correct) and where the owner had never heard the term weefee and referred me to one of his customers ...a young man in dreadlocks who was really too stoned to assist though he did speak english and was very pleasant.

Well, got that off my chest. After Cluny I headed down the rest of the Voie Verte to Macon. The ride was beautiful and high above the valley of the Saone in the vine covered hills. The are a few huge rocky outcrops, Vergison and La Solutre (which look rather like Chamber's Pillar) and lovely villages clinging to the side of hills. Unfortunately the veloroute ends outside Macon so I went to Macon to see if there was one along the Saone but alas no and alas the valley is much less attractive so after spending one night at a friendly but grimy artificial lake for watersports...like pedalo riding.. I headed back to the other side of the Saone and into the hills. It rained. Well, it often rains for a while and if you stop you will never get anywhere. That actually is Damian from Holland's rationale for the Dutch riding rain , hail or snow. It didn't stop but neither did I because it was cool and I had my Dutch trousers covers, so I ended up high in the hills at a blessed restaurant eating steak with morello mushrooms. It was a stupendous little restaurant with beautiful views even in the rain and it lifted my drowned spirits. I ended up in Beaujeau at the Anne de Beaujeu hotel a drowned rat ..but the room had a bath. I hope it wasn't the mushrooms but I had gastro and the ride the next day which I got started on before the gastro manifested was very slow. I pushed on because there was no alternative through pine forests , farms villages edging closer to Lyon and conked out at Oinght. The spelling is correct. Look it up on the internet . It is gorgeous. Pierre and Monique run a B&B there . They dont affiliate with the Gites of France organization as Monique explained because too much red tape. I think also because they charge a little more than the usual. Monique explained that after all the bed is electric and the view out the window is rather special. Besides Monique makes all the breakfast jams. I was just interested in lying down and sleeping . I totally recommend the place though. The view, the town the area. Monique spoke French to me. I probably understood 20% but it was confidence building and she attempted to understand my French. The breakfast was scrumptious , what I ate of it but I was still queasy. Then I had the lovely ride DOWNHILL all the way to Lyon