Just a little drizzle of rain
today here and there with plenty of patches of sunshine. 12 - 22 deg.
We couldn’t have wished for better weather this tour; it’s been perfect really. I got up early, before daylight, and after a nice coffee in bed, started sorting my gear out for packing in various locations.
Yesterday arvo I cleaned the bike and took the pedals, seat, and other items off ready for it to go in the box. The stuff I can’t carry on, tools, helmet, and sharps etc, go in a pannier I put in the box with the bike. I carry on one pannier with my clothes in it and my handlebar bag with stuff for the plane. I then went and put my bike and parts in the box, which the owner had left in his garage for us. He trusted us with a key. It was a few doors up the street. As it had rained overnight it would have been awkward packing it up in a wet courtyard with no cover. I left the box unsealed as we have time for another wander around Lyon before we need to go to the airport.
So, after our porridge and more coffee we headed out to walk the 7 km to Lyon city. With a few stops on the way it took about an hour. Had a look at Lyon Cathedral which is yet another magnificent place of worship in France. They have so many. There is a Treasury in one of the chapels and the contents are quite impressive. Surprisingly it’s all owned by the people of France. The streets around the Cathedral are very old, dating back to medieval times when silk production was in full swing in Lyon. We had to have one last French croissant (almond) and a coffee before heading back. As we had to be out of the apartment by 1400h we had to hot-foot it back, shower and do the final pack up. I put the last of my stuff in the bike box and sealed it up. Sadly, Bob didn’t have to worry about packing his bike. We finished all this and was out of the apartment at 1358h, good timing.
A chicken salad and a nice prune bread stick from our famous bakery around the
corner filled the gap for lunch. We still had a couple of hours to kill before
our taxi would arrive at 1700h, so we went for a walk around the local
neighbourhood. You haven’t got to go far to find some old stuff in France. Just
up the road we found the remains of a Roman tomb dating from the 1st century;
now that’s old! It just looked like an old block of stone and if it hadn’t been
for a sign we wouldn’t have known the difference. The drizzle put a dampener on
our walk so we retreated to the garage where we dug out some camping chairs and
chilled out till the taxi arrived at 1700h. He was spot on time and made it to
the airport in record time, despite the peak hour traffic. More waiting and
wandering in the airport then finally boarded at 2100h. A long flight ahead,
time to switch off, relax and enjoy the downtime.
Lyon to Dubai - B777 aircraft, luckily, I ended up with three seats to myself.
Although I didn’t want to sleep, I had no choice and fell asleep soon after
they took my dinner tray away. I woke up as they were handing out snacks for
brekky. We touched down a good 30 minutes early. Had a huge coffee with Bob at
Costa (which we used to visit regularly when we both worked in London) and a
good chat about the tour and our plans for next year.
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