Day 19: Nearly Vitry Le Francois to Bar-Le-Duc. Wild Boars Ahoy!

Day 19: Nearly Vitry Le Francois to Bar-Le-Duc

Up early today to avoid being detected although it's a Saturday it's harvest time so could well be rumbled. Halfway through packing up I car comes down the track but luckily doesn't stop and carries on into another field. As I get ready to go a find the owners of the squeaking from last night. It's a fox, no two foxes, no again it's a family of wild pigs/hogs/boar dark grey brown in colour and stripey and very hairy. I stay for ages to try and get a good shot of them and I'm eventually rewarded. I wont win the under 5's wildlife pic of the year but I'm very excited in having seen them. I also see another creature, if you know what it's called leave a comment below. It's the colour of a red squirrel about 30cm/12” long and very thin. About the size of half a large chorizo sausage.??

I leave well chuffed and have another wildlife encounter just up the road. A bird has been hit by a car but is still flapping a bit. Not having Maddys Mum and her legendary shovel about, I have to deal with things myself. I circle round in the road and try to run over it. I wobble a bit and miss and have to go round again. The heavy bike makes a crunch as I put it out of its misery and its head gently floats to the ground. Yin and Yang dear people Yin and Yang. By 9'clock I've covered 20km and I pass a very inviting river. A remember where it is and go into Vitry Le Francois for supplies.

I come back and manage to find the track down to the spot I'd seen earlier just as an old boy is pulling in to do some fishing. There is a tiny pebble beach the size of three towels that slopes in to the lovely water. A few days of hot weather has left me a bit sticky and I change into my swimmers and get straight in. Oh my god, it's bliss, it;s about 25 degrees all ready and this is perfect. The current is so strong I manage about 6 strokes before getting swept downstream. Old boy standing hip high in his waders laughs. I go get my stinky clothes and give them a wash (no wash powder just water) and lay them on the bank to dry in the sun. I whip up a snackrell and an espresso and kick back and chill in the sunshine. Within about 15 mins I'm dry and burning and have to don tshirt to avoid any repeat of the heatstroke fiasco. I stay here for about 2 or 3hours waiting for my clothes to dry. Anything thats still damp I tie to various bits of my bike. I get some right laughs off the old girls as I'm cycling along, pyjama bottoms blowing in the breeze. The lady in the T.I. Tells me of a canal path I can take to my next destination. It's just perfect. The local pharmicie displays 30degrees on its sign and I float along the path in pure delight. The tarmac is flat and smooth and big enough for a car. Clothes drying in the breeze, passing bonjours from boats and other cyclists and plenty of fish, herons and birds to engage with as I pedal my merry way. Afew hours of the heat later I find the shade of a tree and have some more food and put away the now crisply dry and clean washing.

Wash day has never been so much fun. I now know what the sign for a canal path is and work out where I will stay the night. There are so many camping opportunities on the canal path, what with little hiiden patches of grass and other people camping and fishing, no one will care.

After a feed and a rest I'm off again among the fishing lakes and files of sweetcorn and sunflowers. My aim is to get just past Bar De Luc and on to a different canal there and hopefully find more of the same to set up camp for the night. Although I've spent quite a lot of time laying about in the sun today I reckon I should be good for my destination. The miles on the canal path just fly by, but when I leave and head North at St. Dizier it's back to natures rolling hills and this late in the day after a beating from the sun they seem a bit harder than usual. I perserve and keep going listening to a bit of music to gee me on. I stop in a layby and pick up some windfall apples to have with breakfast. Sunset is at 20:50 today. Time however is passing by quicker than anticipated at this slow pace and as I eventually wheel into Bar Le Duc I take a wrong turn and head for the Haute Ville rather than the Centre Ville. This turns out to be a blessing indsiguise as I get to descend through the older part of town and with the sun starting to go down the light on the bluff pastel buildings zig zagging down into the valley is quite beautiful. This is great but where am I going to get a beer from it's Saturday you know. Luckily a tiny shop is open and I purchase one tin of Amsterdams finest Navigator and go in search of the canal a happy man. Ive got water, beer and food. There is nothing else , surely? I find the bridge crossing the canal only the canal is a bit different here. More like a river. I look for the path but have to make do with riding alongside on the road, I'm so interseted in looking for a spot I forget I'm driving on the wrong side as a Police car comes towrds me. As they beckon to me to drive on the other side I shout Peche Peche as if telling them I have seen a fish will make it all ok. They drive on. The road ends and I follow a tiny trail to the waters edge. Another pebble beach and it looks like a regular hang out point by the remains of the fires that have been here. Undeterred and with darkness on my side I crack open the navigator, fire up the super noodles and get to work on the tent. The tent is at such a jaunty angle sloping towards the water that I have to put all the luggage on that side to stop me sliding off my matress. As It goes the jauntiness makes for one of the best sleeps yet.