Day 13 - Lundi 22eme Avril 2013

Start - Montceau les Mines
Finish - Chalon sur Saone
Distance - 78km
Time - 5 hours
Total - 1028km

I had a breakfast at the hotel and spoke to two Australian guys who were here on business and also a Japanese couple who were cycling in the opposite direction from Basel to Nantes. It made a nice change to have conversation in English again. The breakfast included an attempt at bacon and egg but the bacon was a bit stringy and the scrabbled egg tasted as if there was some semolina mixed in! I ate it anyway on principle that it was the first time I had had the opportunity to have bacon and eggs and it was paid for. I also ate the muesli and the pastries and stuffed an apple, some bread, pastries and biscuits in my pocket for later on. I have big pockets!

My route today was a short one so I didn't set off too early. The weather was cool and cloudy again but it warmed up and became brighter when I arrived at my destination. My route was mainly by the Canal du Centre and I was waiting to pass the 1000km kilometre stone. I have attached a photo of my map and cycle odometer showing 999km as I thought that it would revert back to 0 when I passed 999 but it didn't, it showed 1000 and by the time I realised I had done more than a 1000 so the photo opportunity was missed. Never mind, I will live.

Whilst on the road I was overtaken by a tractor and trailer that had a maximum permissible speed limit of 25kph. In my opinion it was clearly exceeding the speed limit because my cycle speedo told me I was doing 25kph. Old habits die hard so I tried to keep pace with it for around half a kilometre so that I could provide the local gendarme with evidence of a crime and to get the perpetrator brought to justice. Unfortunately I didn't have the legs to keep up with him and therefore another farmer has got away with flouting the law! (I hope Bruce and Dot don't read this bit). There would have been a problem anyway because my bike speedo would need to be calibrated over a measured distance (is this too much detail, probably).

I hung around in the town of Chagney for lunch. I actually went into a chemist shop and bought a toothbrush. The girl was very surprised when I took the wrapper off in the shop and went straight to my bike and started cleaning the crank with the toothbrush, well it is cheaper than buying a special brush at a bike shop. My lunch was moules et frites (that's mussels and chips to those who don't speak the lingo). They were very nice in a blue cheese and onion sauce, just the thing you need to keep you going!

On to Chalon. It's a big place and before I went into town I went straight to the Premiere Classe Hotel I had booked on the Internet. The reception was unmanned and I had to use a very dim screen that looked like a bank cash machine to get an entry card. The machine was unbelievably dim and it was only a process of luck and random pressing that I got it to issue me with an entry card that gave access to the building and to my room. There is nowhere for my bike so I think it will be coming to the room with me. It's not as nice as Premier Inns in the UK but it will do and it is reasonably priced. It is a room for 3 persons because its has a double bed and a bunk bed over the top. It's strange but true.

I dumped my bags and set off to town. You will probably have been able to guess from the name that it is on the river Saone which I will be cycling up tomorrow but I don't think you will guess which English town it is twinned with? Think of somewhere that has style and culture with beautiful old buildings, yes, you are right, it's St Helen's. The old town of Chalon is large and beautiful. Well worth a visit. A nice waiter took a photo of me outside one of the many churches.

I will admit to actually enjoying looking around foreign supermarkets when I am on holiday. The hotel is very near a large supermarket so I went to look even though I didn't really need anything. I actually bought one tomato and two bananas. The woman in front of me at the checkout bought a book called 'Cinqante nuances', can anyone tell me what it's about? I think it's a detective novel because it had handcuffs on the cover!

Photo 1, My odometer/speedo and map showing 999km
Photo 2, Chagny square where I had my lunch.
Photo 3, Chagny brickworks, reminded me of the story about how Accy Nori's got their name!
Photo 4, View over the Saone to the Cathedral at Chalon.
Photo 5, Cathedral Square at Chalon
Photo 6, Handsome chap outside one of the many churches.