L’Ill Did I Know (August 31)

After “Vive-ing” la France yesterday only to end up LEAVING la France shortly thereafter, today’s goal was to return to France and stay there. No, not forever. But for the duration of this journey – the end of which is rapidly approaching. That said, coming up with a route to return to France proved a little more challenging than anticipated.

When I went to bed last night I THOUGHT I had all the maps I needed on my eTrex 20 to guide me all the way to Lyon. However, as I attempted to create a route this morning it would seem I missed a section (maybe more, but one for sure). As a result, I didn’t get moving as early as originally planned this morning. On the upside, I eventually downloaded all the necessary sections and was only about 45 minutes behind “schedule”. I wasn’t too concerned. Had it not been for the delay I would’ve been on the road shortly after 8:00 which is much earlier than usual. Side note: The map “sections” I mentioned come from website that allows you to download free maps for Garmin devices (I don’t know if they work with other GPS units). Anyway, it’s a great tool that has worked well thus far. Of course, when using a GPS it’s always best not to follow it blindly. Anyway, if you have a Garmin and want to try it, well … here’s the link: http://garmin.openstreetmap.nl

Once I finally got pedalling again, things went very well. Seriously. Other than a lot of nice scenery along a canal path, there’s not a whole lot to report on today’s ride. Okay, well … I could certainly do with a few less tree roots causing less than pleasant obstacles on the path. I won’t lie, I may have cursed at a few of them. That said, I still like trees. Roots? Well, apparently they’re a necessary evil.

Apart from the route along the canal, the town of Neuf-Brisach was memorable in that it had a large fortress surrounding the entire city. Not something you see every day. I didn’t stop and explore it as much as I would’ve liked as it likely would’ve taken at least a few hours to tour it properly. As such, I noted the name and I vowed to read about it after the fact. Which I did. And now I wish I had wandered around the wall a bit more. Sigh. Next time. I mean, it’s been around for over 300 years so hopefully it will still be there for a while longer.

My attempts to find a reasonably priced campground in France went significantly better today and I ended up at Camping de L’Ill in Mulhouse. Side note: From what I can tell, Mulhouse is pronounced “Myluz” – it’s French after all. Anyway, the campground is pretty nice and rather crowded. I note that only because it’s my understanding that peak season ends today for most campgrounds which means camping fees will be cheaper from now on. Although, it also means some campgrounds will be closed from now on. We’ll see how that affects my plans.

This campground is an improvement over last night’s accommodations in that I have WiFi access – although only near the main office. Considering there are a few picnic tables in a covered area next to the office means I have a little bit of a home office at the moment.

Even though this is my first night in France, I kind of feel like this European journey of mine is already over as work is starting to creep back into my life and, more specifically, into this evening. And by “creep in” I mean consume entirely. Part of that is because of the somewhat slow WiFi connection which makes for rather slow uploads and downloads – although, as campground WiFi goes, this place is pretty good. However, the big question is whether or not my uploads and downloads will finish before my battery runs out. Side note: The 2.08 GB file I’m attempting to download is not nearly done and the battery is at 34%. I tried to download the file at the campground last night but to no avail.

As best as I can tell, there isn’t anywhere for me to plug in my devices so I’ve dimmed my screen and closed all unnecessary applications. That said, I’m attempting to multi-task by doing work related tasks and blog related tasks. The two don’t go together very well so I’m essentially just writing bullet points that I hope to transform into brilliant sentences later. But likely not tonight. Sigh. Those last sentences were clearly not brilliant. Sigh (again).

And speaking of charging my devices, I need to buy some AA batteries for my Garmin. Despite not using it at all during the early portions of this tour I’ve found myself using it a LOT since leaving Cambridge. I certainly don’t trust it blindly but when it works, it works brilliantly and saves a LOT of time – especially when navigating through cities and towns. Anyway, Moritz had given me a couple of batteries before I left but after a rather taxing day (or two) of GPS use those batteries are nearly done. But thanks again to Moritz.

By the way, today was another absolutely beautiful day to be on the bike. And earth. Sunny. Hot. Calm winds. It’s kind of funny that I forgot to mention the weather. It’s become a bit routine (in a good way). At the beginning of this journey, I pretty much assumed it would rain every day. And generally it did. Now, I pretty much assume it’s going to be sunny and hot every day. And pretty much, it is.

Today’s totals:
Distance travelled: 122.14 km
Ride time: 6h 1m 21s
Average speed: 20.28 km/h
Maximum speed: 33.56 km/h