An uneventful trip to get here is counted as a bonus this days. A hop skip and Cardiff Vueling et nous sommes en Paris. Our pigeon French is immediately tested by the collecting taxi driver. His gesticulations means he has room for us not our bikes. Our gesticulations are multifunctional. A) That’s the fastest anyone has blown a tip. B) Where you can stick our bike boxes to get them to the hotel. He has tumps of room.
By happy coincidence Gergo and his wife Estzer are outside the hotel. We haven’t seen Gergo since 2019: Estzer has turned up from Hungary as a surprise. He’s our tour leader, she’s the important background accommodation coordinator.
We’re staying in NE Paris near a canal. To be more accurate I’ve no idea where we are, a dot on google maps. So today Barbara tests the word “rest” with a 12 mile explore. That’s after a brain testing online meeting: some researcher had hunted me down from the organ donation work I’d done 10 years ago and wanted insights.
So we had a good explore, including back up to Sacre-Coeure Montmartre. Paris is more racially diverse than Wales. Good cake shops and cafes.
Bikes safely reassembled, met some of the riders and the rest of the team including the ever helpful Balazs. He’s looking forward to hearing my singing once more…….
Travelling reflections 