Lapalisse to Beffes

Wednesday December 15, 2010

My campsite for the night in Lapalisse, France.

My tent foot-print visible in the snow.

A water feature in the park near my campsite in Lapalisse.

Because of the sub-zero temperatures over-night, I again had all my spare clothes piled over the top of my sleeping bag for a few extra layers of insulation. I had a pretty good sleep, it wasn't as cold as the previous night, and it was quiet and secluded.

I woke up at about 9:30 am, ate breakfast in the tent and took a while to get going. It was snowing when I hopped out of the tent.

I got on the road at about 11:30 am. It was snowing on and off and the riding was quite pleasant, there wasn't much traffic. 

On the road, the D898, Route de Moulins, near Les Brunets, France.

A dam covered in snow. On the D989, Route de Jaligny-sur-Besbre, France.

After about three hours on the road, I got to a town called Moullins where I stopped for lunch. I bought some bread from the bakery and ate it with the usual cheese, salami and tomato, by the church. Once I'd stopped moving to eat lunch though, I got cold pretty quickly, so I didn't hang around; I got back on the bike to warm up again.

Not far out of Moullins I was on the main road again, the dreaded N7. The traffic was just crazy, it was so busy and there was no shoulder, and it seemed like there were more trucks than cars! For fear of being killed, I took a detour at the first opportunity. I breathed a sigh of relief after that; I was on much smaller and quieter roads, with barely any cars. The route was a bit more round-a-bout, but well worth it I'd say, more pleasant and less dangerous. I had to guess as which road to take at some of the intersections because I didn't have much detail on my map, but luckily I guessed right. It also started snowing more heavily, and the snow continued as the night descended.

Enough snow had settled on the roads for them to start becoming slippery. This is on La Doué, approaching Les Fougeries, France.

It was dark by the time I rode into the next town, a town called Nevers - and still snowing too. I spent a while looking for Wi-Fi and a restaurant to eat tea. I eventually found a Wi-Fi connection, and responded to emails and downloaded maps on my Motion-X GPS app. Then it was on to the restaurant for a delicious pizza, which cost €8.40. 

Pizza for dinner again, in Nevers, France.

I also had to ask one of the waiters if she could change the water in my drink bottle, since all my water had frozen due to the cold weather.

Before riding out of town, I downloaded some more podcasts and ate lots of cake which I had with me.

I rode for another hour and stopped in at a Maccas to use the Wi-Fi to check my Twitter, Facebook and the weather. I must say the forecast was rather bleak, with lots more cold weather and snow on the way!

I kept riding until I found a suitable campsite by a canal, set up and got to sleep at around 2 am.

My route for the day, Lapalisse to Beffes.

Overview of my route so far from Rome.

Ride Stats:

Lapalisse to Beffes

Distance: 134 km

Average: 17.0 km/h

Maximum: 42.9 km/h

Time: 7:51:55

Total Ascent: 643 m

Total Descent: 778 m