More Adventures

Our notoriously unreliable maps told us we would find a supermarket a small town no more than eleven or twelve kilometres away, so what better way to while away an entire day thought we, than to go off on a bit of a foraging mission.

Off we tootled down the canal tow path on our brand new bikes, mine with a slight maladjustment of the front derailleur which kept two thirds of the gears out of my reach.

"Tow Path" in this very rare case is a euphemism for "bit of land that's been slashed" and after eight kilometres or so our unpracticed legs were starting to feel quite unpracticed. It was hot, and one of us had suffered a teensy graze on her knee after discovering that her bike finds is very difficult indeed to stay upright and stationary unassisted, but we carried on barely daunted, eventually finding our road.

Two kilometres on tarmac seemed like heaven, and when we found the "supermarket" it was in the form something which admittedly did carry the bare necessities of life but somewhat fewer of them than a well dressed corner store would expect to offer.

It was however, on our exit from the store a tiny bit of serious daunting began.

A thorn had pierced a tyre and flattened it entirely.

With a tidy imitation of a Gallic shrug, I pulled out tyre levers and self adhesive patches, which I had cleverly concealed on my person, having less cleverly failed to realize that the patches were self adhesive "requiring the addition of glue".

Conversations in a foreign tongue ensued, and a lovely chap gave us a tube of glue which was past its use-by date, and a tube of silicone sealant both of which failed to have any more stickativity than the aforementioned patches.

The temperature was now hovering menacingly in the mid thirties and we could have easily become borderline grumpy, but instead we bravely soldiered on. Back to the nearest lock we marched, a few kilometres with groceries and bikes, to hitch a boat ride for the remaining eight.

A charming German couple on their rented canal boat seemed happy to have us aboard, and we were glad to play a small part in their continued happiness!

So here we are, tired, happy, mostly undaunted and with two new bikes to fix, half a world away from an election at home. Life just doesn't get any better.