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| My campsite for the night in Tarare, France. |
I actually slept quite well overnight. I just had to lie like a mummy, on my back with my legs together and my arms tight against my body, I couldn't move around much or I would have lost heat and gotten cold.
After surviving the night though, I felt like I could survive any type of weather I would encounter, I was fearless.
After surviving the night though, I felt like I could survive any type of weather I would encounter, I was fearless.
The first thing I do after I properly wake up is sit up in the tent, and as I did this, my head brushed the inside of the tent and made a scraping sound. I realised that, instead of the usual condensation, the whole inside of the tent was covered in ice!
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| Ice on my beanie that was stuck to the inside of my tent. |
I hadn't expected that. Hmm, it really was a cold night. I'm not sure what the minimum overnight temperature was, but it must have been less than -5 °C considering it was -3 °C at 8 pm yesterday evening.
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| My campsite for the night in Tarare, France. |
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| Frost on my tent. |
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| Frost on my handlebars. |
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| Frost on my handlebars. |
I ate the usual cereal for breakfast outside, with my gloves on. There was lots of ice in the long-life milk, it was half frozen despite the fact I'd kept it inside the tent with me.
I packed up and hopped back on the bike. I was keen to get going actually, because I needed to warm up again. As I rode up the main street of Tarare, I noticed the digital display on the outside of one of the shops reported the temperature: -3 °C, and it was almost 10 am. The road was steadily climbing and I could tell from the contours on my map on the iPhone that I still had a lot of climbing still to go.
Not long after I headed off, it started snowing! The first snow I'd seen in Europe - it was going to be an interesting day. It kept snowing on and off, drizzly at times but heavy at other times.
I packed up and hopped back on the bike. I was keen to get going actually, because I needed to warm up again. As I rode up the main street of Tarare, I noticed the digital display on the outside of one of the shops reported the temperature: -3 °C, and it was almost 10 am. The road was steadily climbing and I could tell from the contours on my map on the iPhone that I still had a lot of climbing still to go.
Not long after I headed off, it started snowing! The first snow I'd seen in Europe - it was going to be an interesting day. It kept snowing on and off, drizzly at times but heavy at other times.
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| Snow! Climbing on the N7, Les Grandes Roches, France. |
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| Snow! Climbing on the N7, Les Grandes Roches, France. |
It was pretty cool riding up the mountain in the snow, and because I was exerting myself riding the loaded touring bike up the mountain, I was actually quite warm and even had to strip off a few layers.
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| A view from the climb near Chez Parié, France. |
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| A view from the climb near Chez Parié, France. |
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| Riding up the N7 approaching La Chapelle, France. |
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| Near the top of the climb, on the N7 approaching La Chapelle, France. |
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| Near the top of the climb, on the N7 approaching La Chapelle, France. |
Eventually I got to the top after an hour and twenty minutes. It was very windy and cold!
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| Col du Pin Bouchain, in La Chapelle, France. |
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| At the top of Col du Pin Bouchain, in La Chapelle, France. |
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| Ice on the barbed wire. At the top of Col du Pin Bouchain, in La Chapelle, France. |
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| Ice on the barbed wire. At the top of Col du Pin Bouchain, in La Chapelle, France. |
Then it was a long (and cold) descent for the next 25 kilometres, all the way into a town called Roanne. I took a long stop at the supermarket there and stocked up on food, and made and ate lunch there as well, consisting of the usual baguette with salami, tomato and cheese.
It was still snowing when I headed off from the supermarket at about 2 pm. And back on the bike, I noticed my front tyre was going flat - what a drag! I did a lap around the town in search of the tourist information centre, which was always a good place of refuge because it was heated, there were toilets, water and people who gave you useful information - just about everything I needed.
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| The water in my drink bottles kept freezing due to the cold temperatures. |
I was completely fed up with getting punctures and still in search of that elusive tyre to replace the original stock tyres which were constantly puncturing, so I asked the staff at the information centre where the bike shop was, then rode off to find it a few blocks away. Unfortunately it was closed because the owner was off on his lunch break, so I had to wait around for 20 minutes or so for him to get back.
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| The bike shop is in the centre of the picture with the blue and yellow sign. In Roanne, France. |
While I waited I hopped on my iPhone and researched hostels in Paris. I decided to book one online there and then, which was the first time during the trip so far that I'd actually booked a hostel in advance.
In the bike shop I asked if he had the tyre I needed (26x1.5) - unsurprisingly he didn't, the closest one he had was a 26x1.85, which was a much larger diameter than I wanted, but considering how difficult it was going to be to repair a puncture in the middle of nowhere in the snow with fingers so cold that I couldn't move them, I decided I'd purchase it anyway, €16, it would have to do. I rode back to the tourist information centre to change the tyre in the warmth and shelter, and took the opportunity to charge the iPhone as well. Although I charge it as I ride with the dynahub, it only charges quite slowly so if I use the phone a lot and don't get many hours of riding in, then the battery gets down a bit.
While changing the tyre, I frustratingly accidentally pinched the tube, so had to repair another puncture as well, so it ended up taking a while.
In the bike shop I asked if he had the tyre I needed (26x1.5) - unsurprisingly he didn't, the closest one he had was a 26x1.85, which was a much larger diameter than I wanted, but considering how difficult it was going to be to repair a puncture in the middle of nowhere in the snow with fingers so cold that I couldn't move them, I decided I'd purchase it anyway, €16, it would have to do. I rode back to the tourist information centre to change the tyre in the warmth and shelter, and took the opportunity to charge the iPhone as well. Although I charge it as I ride with the dynahub, it only charges quite slowly so if I use the phone a lot and don't get many hours of riding in, then the battery gets down a bit.
While changing the tyre, I frustratingly accidentally pinched the tube, so had to repair another puncture as well, so it ended up taking a while.
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| About to replace the front tyre in the Information Centre in Roanne, France. |
I also ate some more bread, and got stuck talking to a few old French dudes who were admiring my bike.
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| Two French blokes admiring my bike, in the Information Centre in Roanne, France. |
Their English was poor, but with effort we were able to converse. They asked me lots of questions and I showed them some photos and talked about the tour I was doing; they were quite impressed, and particularly fascinated by the bike. They told me how the two of them had done a cycle tour of New Zealand when they were younger. They seemed like they'd been best mates for most of their lives.
They also mentioned that the snow today hadn't been forecast so it was quite surprising that it was snowing today. Lucky me!
By the time I was ready to go, it was almost dark. I knew I had to keep going because I was running out of time to get to Paris and then London before my plane would fly out. However the two French blokes insisted on showing me where the hostel was, and they walked me there. We investigated whether there were vacancies, of course there were at that time of year. It was going to cost about €20 for the night, and I was very tempted to check in, but I somehow resisted the temptation. I thanked the two Frenchmen kindly for their help, and was on my way. I should have planned it better though, I could have left Lyon earlier a few days ago, then I could've ridden all the way to Roanne yesterday and stayed in the hostel last night instead of camping in the freezing temperatures of Tarare.
Anyway, I headed off, stopped at the bike shop again because I remembered I was running low on patches, then I rode out of Roanne in the dark, and the snow continued. I was on one of the main roads, the "N7" called Route de Paris as there didn't seem to be any other options, and it was very busy with no shoulder; it seemed to be a major truck route too. I felt particularly endangered! I rode for another couple of hours and stopped in a town called Lapalisse at around 8 pm - tea time. It was a nice little town with, had a good vibe, a stream ran through the middle and the town looked pretty covered in a blanket of white snow. The only shop that was open seemed to be the pizza/kebab shop, thankfully! I ate a delicious pizza and large chips for €10, good deal. I stayed in the comfort of the shop for a while, there was a group of young blokes hanging out in there as well, but I wasn't interacting with them. I did some blogging on the iPhone.
I decided I would camp in Lapalisse, so I briefly explored the town and found a large park by the river. It looked like a perfect spot to camp, with lots of trees and grass. I found a spot which was somewhat sheltered by a tree and fairly out of sight, set the tent up there and got to sleep just after 12:30 am.
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| My route for the day, Tarare to Lapalisse. |
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| Overview of my route so far from Rome. |
Ride Stats:
Distance: 95.24 km
Average: 16.9 km/h
Maximum: 48.1 km/h
Time: 5:37:30
Average: 16.9 km/h
Maximum: 48.1 km/h
Time: 5:37:30
Total Ascent: 841 m
Total Descent: 933 m
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