Much-travelled bikes

Much as I loved my bikes, the time comes when one must admit that slow-moving 67-year-old flat-terrain mountain bikers in spray-ons look just a bit silly.  I bought the rainbow Cinelli bike second-hand in the late 1980s, and used to go for a ride in the early hours along the Medway valley, returning just as the alarm clock went off.  It went out to Paris with me in 1991, and while I was living in Neuilly and working in Boulogne, I used to cycle to work, rapidly building up a modicum of fitness.  As for the purple Trek bike, I bought it in the USA for about $700, when the pound was worth $2.  It came back as my second piece of BA luggage, and eventually found its way to Paris on a biker friend's roof rack.  From there it went with me to Brussels, and I spent many a Sunday biking along the riversides.  Thence to Zürich, where I failed to work out the cycle path route to work.  I only once did the circuit of the Greifensee from the Dübendorf flat, pausing for an ill-judged beer and burger.  Well, we delivered both bikes yesterday to Le Roc, where honorary nephew Martyn and Tracy will give them a lot more use than we have lately.

The drive to Le Roc and back has just about convinced us that we are not long distance drivers any more.  Sunday's drive was not bad, since the Toulouse kamikazes were probably well stuck into their pre-prandial Sunday pastis when we hit the rocade, but it didn't help that I was fretting about the dwindling stock of AdBlue, an additive that mitigates the damage that burning diesel does to the enviroment.  On RTFM (reading the manual) I discovered that if the AdBlue tank goes dry, the car won't start.  Well, having failed to work out how to refill at the aire in Avignonnet-Lauragais, I did a quick bit of googling.  Cutting a long and rather dull story short, we rang the VW and SEAT dealer in Agen before we left Le Roc for home today and called in on them do the top-up.  Delightful reception from young Julien Clément, who turned out to have family in a village close to Lagrasse, and who was pleased to have a chance to deploy some very good English.  Pujols VW-SEAT, Avenue du Midi, 47000 Agen.  Highly recommended.  (But why are all the cars in the VW showroom grey, black or white?)

Today's drive was horrid. But at least free of AdBlue fretting, and Martyn did the last bit.  After lunch I set about the oleanders, which have been getting a bit too big for their boots.  I've also packed most of the kitchen stuff that we need to take home, run the dishwasher a couple of times with stuff we're leaving, and cleaned the shelves that they go back on. 

More of the same tomorrow.  Ô joy.