Day 70 (can you believe it) – Gussainville to Metz (France)

Large map encompassing my trip to date included (May take a while to load) – pretty crazy when you look at it as a whole.

Day 70 – Gussainville to Metz (France)

KM – 58.4

Avg – 17.1

Saddle Time – 3:24

I awoke to the sounds of plates cluttering and cats hovering around my tent (cheeky take my food and piss on my tent little things). I’m feeling a little ‘listy’ today meaning that I am going to list a lot of things so be prepared….

The first list is what I was thinking about in my tent last night – all the noises I have become accustomed to in my tent at night or along my travels somewhere

Cows (All types of Moo’s – I can almost speak Cow now)
Foxes – Scampering around the tent looking for food – I’m smarter than that little buddies although I think the borderline I made with my own pee is working hahahaha ( i should try that for cats too)
Sheep roaming around the paddock moving fences to get at food on the otherside
Cats (Feral and house either peeing on my tent or looking from a distance for scraps – sometimes when wild camping you see animals eyes when looking with headlamp – can keep you alert sometimes hehehe eg foxes and cats)
Hopping mice (and normal)
Dogs (Most annoying thing when bike touring – you can’t stop anywhere without a dog barking or hearing them in the background)
Freeways in the distance
Deer jumping right past your tent scaring the crap out of you at night or seeing them in the fields in the morning
Wolves in the far distance
Wind and rain
Hedgehogs coming up real close and making weird noises
Squirrels (they go really fast then stop then really fast again)
Birds (big ones making massive noises in trees when flying away late at night)
Bats – scary little click clicks

I think that’s it – some weird noises in the tent sometimes i tells ya.

Ok now back to it – I walked inside the house in the morning and there lay before me a breakfast for champions…..that’d be me. I couldn’t be bothered getting my camera but it was worthy of a photo – would’ve been the photo of the day actually as the scenery was really nice today but the clouds and rain spoiled it. So i’ll spell it out for you in the way of a showbag guide (another list)

1 x Extra large cup for coffee (not a toy)

1 x Extra humungous oversized pot of coffee (Not suitable for children under 18)

4 x Boiled eggs (unpeeled)

2 x Large baguettes (already sliced and not suitable as a flotation device)

5 x Assorted jams (flavours will vary)

4 x Sliced meats (Assorted types and will vary on season)

5 x Horr horr horr Croissants (said in funny French accent)

Butter in a lully lil cup with a lully lil knife (also not suitable for children)

Sugar Cubes (Individually wrapped)

Price: $8.00 Eur (No discounts)

I tried paying more but they wouldn’t let me and didn’t want to charge me anything for the camping so I just threw some money on the table and also gave them an Australian flag to say thanks (I hope they’d treat the flag as a present hehehe) Thanks to my sis for that. What an awesome breakfast and I was set and ready to go…it was a really nice house too – doesn’t look like much from the outside but inside was so historic, warm and cosy – hard to leave – I wanted to ask if I could rent a room there for a while it was so awesome.

Today was pretty good actually. I stopped at the boulangerie’s (Patisseries) along the way and ate my way through the little towns of France with Macaroons, little cakes and sandwiches to die for – real cream, real custard and fresh goods – so nice. It was an easy 60km apart from a few big hills – up 2-300mtrs and down and then back up again a few times (in the rain and headwind) and then the sky opened up a little just enough for the sun to peak its head through a little and away went my rain gear and I enjoyed the next 20km until I hit the town of Metz. This town is crazy – No word of a lie but there is roadworks on every single road in the city and I cycled ten kilometres through it to get to my hotel. Everything was one lane and crazy traffic. I read a blog from about a year ago stating about the traffic and it must still be going on. At least their improving the surface I guess but I won’t be taking my bike out tomorrow. I am in a Formula 1 hotel and the shower and bed will be VERY welcomed let me tell you. It’s pretty cheap and I get to take my bike into my room which is great. I plan to stay here two nights so I can do some research and relax…time to cleanse the body also hehehe. I need to start looking at how to get my bike back to Australia and how much further I want to go and which way. I might go for a bit of a wander but that’s about it.

Wonder what list I can do next…perhaps a list of all the strange looks I get from people………………………….

Redman – OUT……………………

The weather has been bad for a few days hence crappy photos – Plus crappy photographer 😛