As if train travel in France is not stressful enough, we were informed after standing for some time in the queue to buy tickets that person's travelling with bicycles must book tickets online. Sounds easy enough, doesn't it? No, it wasn't. At 12.47 today we were on the train to Paris.
Throughout the journey nobody checked out tickets! The journey just over three hours seemed long, especially as the coffee machine we were sat next to was out of order. A late arrival in Paris, just after four is not the ideal time to begin cycling. We were tired and reliant on Google maps to take us out of the city to tonight's campsite. Traffic around the Louvre was light, but a taxi still managed to almost knock John from his bike. Our route out took us along undulating paths through wooded parks. Then onto roads, steep and long. We still felt as fit as fleas, from our cycle over here a few weeks ago, well as fit as fleas with dodgy knees and hips!
Camping Beautiful was our destination. We arrived just before eight when the reception closed. We'd been cycling for three and a half hours, and it felt like it. Camping Beautiful was run by an oriental lady who was more than happy to relieve us of almost thirty euros. We were a mere thirty minute metro ride from Paris, hence the cost. We ate salads whilst the mosquitoes ate us. Tomorrow our holiday would begin, two long days of travelling had taken its toll, but we thought for a couple in their sixties we'd started well. Should be a doddle from now on!
