(C) Camping Plage du Midi
Mileage today : 197 miles
Total mileage : 675 miles
Oat cakes, 'brunch' bars and water for breakfast, I got up before 8am, after a very peaceful night but it was still after 9.30am before I was on my way and it had started to rain again.
The plan had changed slightly. I made a short detour into the centre of Reims to find a bike accessories shop. The weather forecast for the next week was not looking good. I had forgotten my plug in phone charger and although I had brought a fold out solar panel with me to keep my power brick charged, the possibility of a full days sunshine while camped was looking very slim indeed. I needed something I could wire to the bike battery to charge my brick while I was riding as a backup. €25 later I had a very nice, waterproof unit which even had a auto mode on it meaning it would only charge if it sensed the engine was running. Very handy for a bike with no kick start. Last thing I wanted was a flat battery.
Onto the motorway and although it was now sunny I still had the head wind. Stopped for fuel and lunch at a services and met the English couple I had travelled on the train with. They were heading south, no planned route, just looking for hotels or B&B's at about 4pm each day around the area they had ended up in.
It wasn't long before the motorway changed to major roads then minor roads and the sun came out. It was now enjoyable, riding little roads thru farmlands past fields of vegetables and sunflowers on the turn as the season comes to an end.
Occasionally a little village would appear, always centered around a church, there never seems to be anybody living in these places and half the buildings look deserted and abandoned but somebody must live there.
No supermarkets, no visible shops and more importantly...no petrol stations! The sat nav said 108 miles to the 1st one on route after filling up on the motorway and I was beginning to get a bit worried as the reserve light came on but thankfully it turned out the station was were it was supposed to be so crisis averted. It must be the only petrol station and garage for the entire area.
I had picked the campsite in the Parc natural regional du Morgan , one of Frances 1st regional parks, in Burgundy, with it's lush green forests and clear water lakes, to maybe get a days walking in and maybe even a bit of Geocaching (treasure hunting basically) as I was staying 2 nights. The sat nav had said 4hrs riding but it took a lot longer than that. It was almost 6pm by the time I arrived and the dark clouds had been following me.
The campsite has over 100 pitches, arranged in terraces, sloping up from the shores of lake Settons. With a bar, small shop,fast food shack, covered swimming pool, play areas, tennis courts,out door table tennis areas and boat hire ; in the height of summer I can imagine it being a very noisy, popular place.
As it was , there were 5 campervans on it and soon to be, my tent. The bar was open for 1 or 2hrs depending how busy it was, no food available and no rubbish bins! They had been collected and not returned. The site only had another 2 weeks of opening before it shut for the winter so they probably were not bothered. €12.50 a night and pitch were you like. At least there was plenty of hot water in the showers which were clean and tidy.
Pitched up on the softest pitch I could find, which was still patchy with gravel and stones to give campervans and cars good traction as the rain started. Had a long, hot shower then soup and sandwichs , sat nestled in the porch of my tent, listening to the rain.
All the pitches had a large tree in one corner or another. Not a bad idea offering a bit of shade at least for part of the day. During summer there is probably enough noise to keep them away but now, out of season, I think the birds must have taken great delight perching on the furthest out reached branches they could find to crap all over my tent in the morning ! Too annoyed to think about taking a picture, I spent a good hour cleaning it all off.
Of course breakfast was now more like brunch after cleaning the tent. As the sun was now out, for a short while anyway, I had coffee, hot dogs with tomato sauce to cheer myself up.
The weather was too changeable and another front was coming in so I stayed were I was. I fitted my new USB charger to the bike battery and ran the cables into the top box so I could charge my power brick while riding. Adjust the chain and generally pottered around till it was early evening. The potatoes I had brought from the previous campsite went into the pot with a tin of mixed veg and the last of the hot dogs then it was another early, rainy, night.
The rain got heavier, the wind stronger and the air pressure graph displayed on my watch showed it had dropped like a stone. The 1st of the weeks big storm fronts had hit so it was time to put in the ear plugs and pretend I was Scott of the Antarctic huddled in my little tent.
