France!

Hello from Angouleme, France. It has been a wet, windy, hilly and cold 5 days. But do not feel sorry for us; besides Bob crashing in England; he had a small problem with a curb, the curb won! But he rode away with a smile on his face and only a few little bumps; Sherry got bit on the foot by a dog within the first 10 miles in France; on day 2 Sherry had a big crash which she rode away from but had some really BIG scrapes and bruises and maybe a broken arm?!?!? But she is a pretty tough cookie and we are still pedaling...........

On day one in France we met a lovely woman at the auto parts store who invited us to stay at her home: How's that for French hospitality! She even cooked us dinner and breakfast and refused to take any money! It was a wonderful first day in a strange country where we don't even know the language.

The past three days we have put in some good miles, although if it was up to just Bob we would have gone even FURTHER! 400 miles of hills, wind (15 -25 MPH head winds) rain and cold. I think we already mentioned the riding conditions but we feel they warrant repeating.

Tonight we find ourselves in the most amazing town. Angouleme is very quaint, the bulk of the town is accessible only by foot. It is especially wonderful as this will be our first night not spent in the tent, rain, wind, and cold! (oh, I think we already mentioned the weather)

Camping in France is really very nice. The campgrounds are well equiped, clean and quiet: And most importantly they are very inexpensive: So far we have kept our daily budget to under 20euros/day! But not tonight...............we are really going to treat ourselves well tonight: Poor Bob's sleeping pad developed a LEAK! We attempted a repair but alas it did not work: He has spent 4 nights on the cold hard ground! Tonight he gets to pick which side of the bed he is going to sleep on!

The laundry is done! Blog site updated! E-mails answered! Showers taken! So good bye for now we are on our way out the door to have some PIZZA (our first dinner in france not cooked on a campstove) and oh yes some MORE wine: Wine is the one thing we have not gone without! Lots of Frances version of 3 Buck Chuck but much better can be found at any store! And we have been trying out a different one each night!

We have lots and lots of pictures to share but right now our growling stomachs take precidence!

Some interesting tidbits

1.4 dollars = 1 euro

Camping per night = 6 euro's
1 french bread baguette = .20 euro's
A nice bottle of vino = 3.50 euro
A new sleeping pad = 27 euro's!!!!!
Laundry = 3.50 for wash, and 4 euro's for a dry.

Oh, and the French people seem very friendly to us when we tell them we are American!!! That was a surprise...... I guess it is okay to start buying yoplait yogurt and Evian water again!!

Bon Soir!!!

Bob and Sherry