It started off badly and went from bad to worse.
It rained. Torrentially. I can deal with rain, as can Richard, but when a passing lorry caused him to take in a mouthful of something disgusting and he started to projectile vomit (think the Exorcist), we threw in the towel. Par le train.
The train journey to Montpelier was reminiscent of India according to Richard. People, babies, buggies, bikes, luggage everywhere. No chickens though. We arrived about 6pm which should have been plenty of time to find a campsite. Of course not. We spent 3 hours going round in circles trying not to join autoroutes. I'm sure Montpelier is a beautiful city but it's not designed to be navigated by bicycle. We finally arrived at a campsite 3 miles from where we started after cycling 15 miles. It was shut. The next nearest site was 15 miles away and it was dark. I nearly lost it with the particularly unhelpful waiter in the campsite restaurant, which was open, when he refused to help.
We decided the only option was to break in. Which wasn't difficult as the entrance was only blocked to cars. We found the least obtrusive spot and set up camp. Most annoying is that each pitch had its own private shower and toilet. Except they were locked. We peered in threw the window
A trip to the bar complex was the only thing to do. They had stopped serving food. We couldn't go to the restaurant due to our earlier altercation. So crisps and the worst red wine I have ever tasted accompanied by bizarre Butlins style entertainment.
We planned an early morning escape attempt so went to bed early. By 7am we were packed and ready to go and in disguise so we wouldn't be recognised by the French camping police.
We were free and things can only get better.
22 miles (we were on a train most of the time)
40 max
2 hours 40 mins (mostly cycling in concentric circles)
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