Here's comes the sun.... not quite
So yesterday John and I were discussing Peter Moore's book Vroom With a View about his trip through Italy on a restored Vespa. Every day he seemed to run into some stranger in a bar and get invited home for dinner or to stay the night.
I commented that it was a little far fetched and that these days people don't invite strangers into their homes anymore.
Anyway... I left John's place this morning under the promise of blue skies. It started out that way and I had a lovely ride down to Villebois-Lavalette where I stopped for petrol and a toilet break. It was morning tea time so I pulled into a Super U, filled up, used the facilities and parked Henry in front of the supermarket. I saw an elderly man admiring the scooter but thought nothing of it.
I went inside to buy a sandwich and drink and just then the elderly man came up to me and asked if I was Australian.
"What gave it away?" I said, "The flag sewn on my jacket or the sticker on the topbox?"
He laughed and we got chatting. Bill was a 78 year old Welsh born Englishman who had married a French lady and moved to France 10 years ago. He was the great great grandson of the Australian explorer Charles Sturt. He asked me all about my trip and said he had travelled in a van around Australia. We chatted on and on for about twenty minutes and then he invited me back to his house for lunch.
I accepted without reservation as Bill was old-skool gentleman! I abandoned buying a sandwich and waited outside for Bill to finish his shopping. The heavens had opened up and it was bucketing with rain but we could see it was just a passing storm. We waited out the storm then Bill led me back to his house in the hills.
Yes it did occur to me that I was taking a risk and Bill admitted later that when his wife found out that he had invited a strange Ozzie chick home, he would get an earful from her.
Marie was out but we were greeted by a totally lunatic but very good-natured dog.
We had a lovely lunch and chatted on and on into the afternoon. We exchanged email addresses and took photos and I departed about 2.30pm.
I finished my trip to the coast and apart from two completely mad drivers trying to kill me, the ride was uneventful. The closer to the coast I got, the more populated it became and the busier the roads and towns were. I was quite tired and very grateful to find a delightful camping ground in Bourg right on the riverside.
I set up the tent and went back into town to raid the supermarket for dinner. Egg salad and smoked salmon was on tonight's menu.
The park next door to the campsite overlooked a duck pond so this is where I am now sitting to type up the blog. No internet of course.
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