Wednesday 24th April 2013. From Fourques sur Garonne to Moissac.

As the first rays of sunshine illuminate our tent, the bird tweets start tickling ours eardrums. Our couscious mind slowly regains control over our unconscious,  and when we finally open our eyes, we wonder whether the sun or the birds is behind our waking.

We pack our stuff and, as promised, we ring  Joseph and Marie’s doorbell so as to take the breakfast together. Good morning Joseph, good morning Marie! (Matteo is awake but staring at the cartoons on the TV) . We come inside and again we are surprised and touched by their generosity …

“I’ve made coffee and there’re also few croissants for you “

Coffee, croissant and the company of such nice persons … There is nothing better for breakfast! Energy for the body… and, even more, for the spirit!

We are about to leave when Leo realizes that the left side of his luggage rack is broken and the other side is about to break. We can not turn a blind eye on that, the smallest shock would completely break the rack and the wheel would simply be blocked. Fortunalty Joseph has more than one trick up his garage and he comes back with a solution. We insert thin metal rods into the framework and we are ready to ride again!

We can now get back on our way along the canal, but not before taking a picture of our savior !

We hope that you will like this picture, thank you Joseph !

We stay head in the clouds for a while, filled with happyness after of such a meeting. As the sun is slowly raising to the zenith, we go down to the canal. We find the same atmosphere than the day before, peaceful and harmonious, that only the canal locks do not mind to disturb.

Canal locks … and us !

Without any look at the road signs, we know we are approaching Agen. Countryside looses his depth and little by little the banks of the canal get industrialized, we pass more and more people… The canal goes over the Garonne river (yes, “over”, it is not a typo. There is a bridge holding the canal which goes over the Garonne!) and we arrive at Agen. We need to enter in the city to buy some food. After a day riding in the tranquility of the canal, we find cars and trucks again… The feeling is strange. It is like we don not belong to this world anymore. Even walking streets seems restless to us. We feel like strangers. This normal life is not ours. Our life is now a nomad life. We cross the city as if we were flying over it. Perhaps this is what travelling means ? Be free of any habbits and discover the world with our own vision.

We buy some food and immediately get back to our canal, leaving cars and trucks behind us.

After our lunch break, we get back on our saddle direction Boudou. Joseph and Marie mentionned this village the day before:

“You’ll see, you’ll have to ride uphill, but then you’ll have a wonderful point of view !”

In order to save our battery for the coming hill, we ride the next 20km without electric assistance. One behind the other, we take turns to face the wind which is oppressing us from the morning. Finally, the sign “Boudou” appears… We leave the canal, turn on the assistance and start ascending. And we are not disappointed, neither by the hill (hard!) nor by the assistance (which stood!). The view is not exceptionnal (the landscape is flat) but it does not matter, we defeat our first real hill, we are proud and so snap away at the panorama!

The descent is fast, and before you can say “fast”, we find our canal again. We pass Moissac around 8pm and notice a house a bit further down the canal. There we meet Patricia, her daughter Celia and son Aurelien. While she is showing us where we can plug our batteries, Patricia proposes a deal:

“You can also pitch your tente in the gardon, but on one single condition… Do you like eggs?
– Uhh, yes…
– So tonight each of you will eat 2 eggs. This week, one client bought less eggs than she usually does, so I have loads in the fridge!”

You can imagine that we do not hesitate long before we accept! Our tent is hardly set up that the cats start playing a game of hide-and-seek between the tent membranes… Aaaah, let’s hope they do not bare their claws! We try vainly to shoo them away when Patricia arrives with her broom, the ultimate weapon which makes them all run off. We follow her in her house and sit down around the table with all the family. What’s on the menu? Fried eggs! Claudio, Patricia’s brother joins us later and we spend our evening discussing the future of our world, talking about cultural exchanges, current agricultural system…

For the third time since the beginning of our journey, we are welcomed with open arms. This time, we could not take a photo, so we only have our words to thank you… You welcomed us with simplicity and nature worth all the immoderations. Thank you, simply.

******************