Day 11; Mousse au Bloc de Frein
Day 11; Mousse au Bloc de Frein 75 km
Chartres 09.00 with some drizzle.
Within a few miles we were outside town heading for Versailles. In Rambouillet the drizzle changed to more serious rain and we took refuge in a restaurant. On the table next to us were other refugees, a German family who were on their way to the Atlantic coast. These cyclists looked so smart and clean that the rest of the day we were discussing how on earth they managed to look like that in these conditions.
After our usual caffe creme we decided to get going, the beauty contest was already lost to these Germans and we’ d better show them what a real cyclist was up to. By now the rain was pouring from the sky.
Before Versailles there were two short climbs and descents; Ben had more and more trouble using the brakes in the rain. When we arrived in Versailles there was no braking left and inspection at the hotel learned that the shimano brake pads had completely disappeared and changed into a substance that looked like Mousse au Chocola.
At the hotel we were soaked, we had a wash from yesterday that was far from dry, we were cold and covered in mud and there was a tandem that needed new brake pads. It took quite some time to get it all sorted. The repair on the tandem was done in a -3 floor underground parking, the kind of parking were people usually get murdered in movies.
At 18.00 we were ready with our little duties. Despite the rain still pissing down we went to see the Grand Palace* and the Hotel des Etrangeres et de la Marine where the USA got it’s independence. We ended up at a Chinese for a nice meal, afterwards we went straight to our hotel to warm and dry up once more.
* tomorrow 14 th of July, the storming of the Bastille. You can easily understand why the French were finished with their King. The size of this palace is enormous.
