Riding in the South of France. With a puncture

Riding in the South of France. With a puncture

When we wake, hear the birds and see the sun. Side our fears are done. All the good times just beun. Well, this is the campsite. These are the sparks. They’re really big. So, uh, even with my little tent, that’s what you get. Although, I paid for electricity and there was no electricity in my plot and my cable, there was no way it was going to reach that far. about three clocks down. It’s a little bar cafe thing. As I said yesterday evening, um, yeah, I’ve got repetitive strain. I’m surprised I haven’t got it in my left hand. It was a bit crampy yesterday, but um yeah, my left I guess it’s shin the muscles on your shin and your calf cuz you’re tapping down and bringing up constantly. I had a little bit of like my leg almost gave way the night before when I was still in Italy in the in the Alps. Um but I kind of walked it off. Seemed all right. Slept okay. But last night I walked down to the lake. I didn’t take you with me, but I walked down to the lake in my flip-flops and the pain. But but it wasn’t too bad. Uh had some dinner. Obviously did the filming with you or just before I did the filming with you. Oh my goodness. It was proper pain. And I don’t mind a bit of pain. Um yeah, I don’t mind a bit of pain. That was luckily I got some anti-inflammatories and I knew what I needed to do. I just had to do a lot of stretching. But yeah, uh we’re going to have to see how it goes today. But I think it might change my plans for the long ride home. I think I’m going to just sort of spend a couple more days down here tonight, maybe tomorrow night, which is tonight is Monday. Um, tomorrow night being Tuesday night, then Wednesday morning, I’ll start the uh the long ride home. So anyway, enough winging. What have we got today? We’re going to go around um this this lake here. I’m going to put that the name of it up there because I keep forgetting Saint something or other. Uh you see there’s a lovely village the other side. And I tell you what, last night I didn’t get the camera out in time. just as I was filming uh or just as I was preparing to film just my end of sort of day bit a bloody great boat plane flew over. We’re talking a sort of 1950s60s50s probably type boat plane flew over. I’m guessing it landed cuz it came over twice and then I didn’t see it. It went quiet. So, uh that’s the lake down there. Look, see if we can find a spot where it’s a bit of a viewpoint. I tell you what, I have noticed a lot of these viewpoints, they put trees over them, don’t they? Here we go. Look at that. Oh, I got I got a feeling the drone needs to go up. Look at that. And the water is crystal clear. It’s really nice. All right, let’s turn the old bike off. Heat. Heat. So this car pulled up. I think they might even still be here. They moved further down strangely. Uh they let their little Chihuahua out or whatever it was. It had a right over there and absolutely no intention of picking up. I gave her a strongly worded look. It doesn’t work here, does it? Somebody will stand in it later. There’s another one right there. Look. So they obviously do it regularly. Perhaps they don’t have laws like we do. Kind of have to pick it up, do we? Which I think is the uh polite thing to do. All they did was move their car further down. Yeah. Oh well. So, I’m just going to mess around locally, you know. Um, I can’t believe it’s actually 10:00 and um, yeah, it’s 10:00. Usually I’m on the go. I’m away by uh, half past 8, 8:00, but I’m definitely on a chill day, I think. I don’t know if you can make out the color on the GoPro of this water. It is crystal clear and aqua blue. Oh, there’s a dam down there. Look, maybe it’s not an actual lake. In fact, it was, but not as big as this. Oh, I can feel the wind now. The drone kept coming up with wind warnings. But I tell you something, that Mini3 Pro is absolutely awesome. I never worry about the wind anymore. When I first bought it, I was nervous about putting it up, but that thing can really handle it. It does tell you beware there’s a wind, you know, strong winds because the engines are obviously working more to keep it stable. I wonder if I can get all the way around. Let’s see if anybody does though. But a lot of that in in France sort of abandoned houses. I guess a lot of people move to the cities for work and the traditional sort of way of living no longer exists, whatever that might have been. It’s still sad though to see these these places empty. Jean Marie. So, it’s Monday. All the shops should be open, right? I guess. I hope you can hear all that popping. All right. Oh, I’m not limping now. Oh, look. She’s doing all right, is she? Is it a she? I don’t know. Anyway, let’s have a little look over this lake and then I’m going to have a proper coffee. You know, one of them French ones that’s better than an instant. That’s the one. Take out my ear plugs. Do you want to go have a look? I’ll show you that water. It’s just beautiful. It’s gorgeous. I mean it is literally crystal clear. Yeah, coffee. I think I reckon I’m due a chill day. What do you think? You know, people uh comment to me all the time or have done several times that I push too hard and don’t take enough time to take in my surroundings. And um it you’re right, but I kind of it’s the ride I’m enjoying. I love the ride. It’s about the twisties. It’s about the just the awesome places that you can go and ride to show people. Yeah. you you go there, ride the SS1, for example, in Italy, you’re going to have a mega ride, but you could just ride there and spend time there, couldn’t you? So, uh, yeah, that’s why I do what I do really. But I am trying to stop a little bit more. There you go. Coffee time. It’s not a bad spot for a cappuccino. I’ve left my helmet and everything on the bike. Do you think anyone heard that? I’ve got the keys, but I left a spare set over there as well. Oh, do you know I’ve traveled through France quite a bit now and um agitates me is the right word. It agitates me that I don’t speak French. I can speak a little bit but it’s not enough. You know, that’s about the limit. play with. But anything else? Yeah, this fluff’s going tonight. What a lovely little spot. And and that’s just me turning around and uh just following the lake round and deciding to turn down this hill. Quite pleased I did. Perhaps I should have camped here last night. It would have been easier, wouldn’t it? But that campsite I was on was huge. But it was quiet. No ear plugs last night. And amazingly, I woke up feeling really tired still at 7:00. Maybe I overslept, but um yeah, another campsite. I would recommend it. It was good. But there are plenty around the lake. Right, let me finish this coffee and I’ll see you on the bike. Well, that was the most enjoyable chill. Uh I am a little bit worried about my left leg though cuz uh just walking back over to the bike face directly in front of me. Um it’s painful. But look at that lavender. Oh, smellvision if you had it. This picture’s taken in the lavender. Oh, in other news, not so good. I noticed this morning that uh I’ve got a slow puncture in my rear wheel. Now, it is slow cuz I I had pumped it up a couple of days ago and it was quite low this morning. Um I just sat there looking at it going that looks a bit low. And when I checked it, it only had um 15 PSI in it. So, I have pumped it up and it’s uh it seems to be holding okay, but I think I need to keep an eye on that. Now, I do have the tools to change it. However, I would have to lay the bike down on its side to get the back wheel off cuz it doesn’t have a center stand. Right now, I do have um one of those uh sort of extendable levers that you put I’ve just gone past it again. Anyway, um I do have one of those levers that you um that you can put under the swinging arm and then lean it over onto the side stand. However, the side stand on this bike, as some of you may or may not know, is pretty uh diabolical. It seems to be too far forward and too short. The bike leans right over and can be quite um Oh, yeah. Just stop the car right on the bend. Um there’s a carp there. Oh, something. Anyway, so I’ve got recovery. I don’t want to fuff around doing it myself. If I didn’t have recovery or if I was in a position where I was miles from any big cities and la, of course, I’d lay it down, you know, pat it out with all my bags, lay it down on its side. It’d be easy to then to get the back wheel off and then I’d have to and it’d be the first time I’d ever done it on a motorcycle. Watch plenty of YouTube. I have got the bead breaking, you know, so on and so forth. It’s a a job I don’t want to do, but I could, I’m sure, eventually get it done. However, what is the point in having a recovery insurance if I can’t use it? So, I’m going to be heading down towards Fu again today, I guess. And um yeah, I’ll head down to Fu and check it again. I’m going to check it before I get down there. Yeah. So, what that guy’s doing there, look, is uh he’s taking in the the harvest of uh lavender. And yeah, what I could smell is nothing like what I can smell here behind him. Check it out. I didn’t realize I climbed so high. Heat up here. Right. The le the road’s less traveled. Look, I doubt many cars come up and down here. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. I was hoping to find a sort of snack place or somewhere to eat where I could try some snails. I’m not into the frog’s legs. You can keep them. Not that I’m adverse at eating frog. It’s just uh you’re paying a paying a premium for very very little meat. Right. So, uh yeah, I have eaten frog uh snails before. Um garicky. That’s something else apparently that wards off the old mosquitoes. Lots of garlic coming through your skin. A bit free camping. Oh, hang on. Perhaps I’m not. I’m not all the way around it yet. Wow, look at that. That’s just shocking. Oh, awesome. And I can see a Brit up in front. Look, holding everybody up. Oh, three Brits. four including me. That was next level. I really hope that you could see it, but there was a cure cars behind us cuz of those uh Brits going really slow. Yeah, that is just next level. I wish I was here with my family now. I’d have definitely stopped the car, got out, got off swimming gear on, rented a little pedal thing to paddle up that gorge. to get some uh footage of that, wouldn’t it? Goodness. You know, bit of drone footage. Yeah. Right. Like I’ve missed that opportunity. Cue that footage. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. N. Heat. Heat. Okay. So, what did you think of that? Was it? I bet it’s made some of you though think, “Jesus, I want to get myself on holiday there.” Whether you’re on a bike or whether you’re in a car, get yourself here. I Yeah, there’s so much to do. So much to do around here. And uh if you can afford it, you might be able to get that boat pain to bring you straight in and land you on the lake. Yeah, I couldn’t. I think this is where I came on. Is it almost 10 m? Yeah. Fold it right up to the brim though. Not supposed to do that. Yeah, it’s all right. Yeah, that looks all right at the moment, but it’s only 20 mi since I pumped it up to 35. Good morning and welcome back to the channel. Um this is just a a well the bike has been collected today uh is the next day and uh I’m wandering around to get coffee and try and get some signal cuz I’ve lost all my UK data roaming. So it’s a problem. I’m now on the town Wi-Fi. So I’m hoping I’m getting something. But I thought I’d just show you the old town of Fu. That’s lovely. So, yeah, he didn’t speak much English. He’s took the bike and um he’s took the bike away and he was very unclear about when I’m going to get it back. I have said very very latest I must have the bike back early tomorrow morning. I’m not sure he understood, but uh anyway, I will be hot footing it back towards Cal tomorrow morning. Um had a good night’s sleep last night, but I’m in accommodation, but actually the beds are up in the attic space and it’s 4 foot, so I hit my head two or three times on the beams. Yeah, it’s a bit of a crazy setup. I don’t think it’d be legal in the UK. But um look at that clos down center. And once it’s returned, I can then plot my trip back toward Cala and see if the little hell can handle getting thrashed up the motorway for hour upon hour upon hour. Uh two days of it. But I’m intending to get off the motorway and uh and show you a little bit of the lovely French countryside that is between here. Let’s walk in the shade. Between here and uh Cala, certainly in the southern part, the first half of the trip should be really nice. Uh and I’ll find somewhere interesting, I think, to camp. But I was more comfortable, I’ll be honest, camping than I was in that apartment. But it is cheap and I can’t complain. Uh can I? Yeah. But so, uh, that’s what’s happening today. Um, I thought I’d just let you know. I’m back into the sun. Thought I’d just let you know that the bike’s been collected. They took the inner tube. It’s not costing me a penny. More than happy with that. The only concern is when I’m getting it back. Uh, I did try and find where the where it is yesterday. So, um I’m just um yeah, I’ve got some idea where they are. Let’s hope they bring it back. Otherwise, I’ll have to I don’t know, take a flight back to the UK. Never mind. But anyway, when we wake, hear the birds and see the sun side. Our fears are done. All the good times just begun. Oh, we know what we have. Let’s hold on tight. Found what we’re looking for in life. Call us crazy, but things are finally right.

Today I take the little Herald around the beautiful Lac de Sainte-Croix.. And with a slow puncture