Eating Nutella from a Jar - Southern France

Those were the days! Cycling through different countries, sleeping in a different town every night, making 50-100 km a day felt liberating and romantic. Our bodies looked as fit as never before and we could afford to eat Nutella straight from a jar. We would each just grab a spoon and dig into the chocolate goodness for energy and comfort. We had no worries of calorie count, carbohydrates or fat. We were fearless, strong, adventurous. Everyday we would pick up where we left off the evening before. But as a Polish saying conveys, there are no roses without thorns. This incredible way of travelling had a lot of moment of doubt, frustration and fear. Mostly when flies tried to stick to our sweaty faces, the hills were too steep at the foot of Pyrenees, and there was no hope for rain. We had sun from Portugal to Sardinia. No breaks from the burning heat.

France was a comfortable country to cycle through. First of all, it was incredibly easy to find a public ground to hide for the night. In every little town we were able to buy fresh cheese, baguettes every morning. People were always curious about us. They would ask where we were from and where we were going on that day. They wanted to know how the cycling was going and were we would stay for the night. They would often corner us resting by the entrance to stores, mostly LIDL. Conversations took place all in French! I really have no idea how! We don't speak a lot of French!

The countryside of southern France has an unrepeatable charm. I don't need to sell it to you. Every Hollywood movie about that part of the world is truly not lying about its beauty. It is so simple and natural that it looks like a fairytale land! Lots of flowers, trees, beautiful riversides. One night that I remember so well was when we found a cozy sleep in a pine forest. The needles offered a lot of comfort for our tired backs. It was one of the best  night sleeps of the entire trip. Quiet, away from the crowds, and soft! When we woke up, opened our tent we were greeted by bunnies hopping around. It felt like a story from a book!

Then another day we cycled by a busy road. Lots of cars and noise. But at one point we noticed a lot of pink dots in the distance, in the marshy waters. To our disbelief they were Flamingos! Another day in France offered a rare look of wild horses feeding in a conservation area. Dreamy landscape. It was the same place where we found ourselves on a ash - coloured sand beach. It would continue for km. We couldn't get to the end of it! We almost gave up thinking that we were lost. When out of nowhere a car road appeared and we were saved! This day was particularly distressing because pushing a bike that weights 30 something kilograms through deep sand was not an east task.

Once traffic, busy road. tiring day, long hours. almost at the end of the day we were looking for a place to pitch our tent. We made a wrong turn and before we knew a cop pulled us over. He rush towards us from the car. He looked very angry. Red face, saliva spitting. Almost rabid rage! He started screaming at us in French. Waving his arms in the air furiously! We had absolutely no idea what that was about but he was taking it so personally it had to be very serious! We managed to squeeze a few innocent, shy words in French in between his loud speech, "Sorry. Sorry! Do you speak  English?" The genius of a cop he wasted no time. Just sucked in more air and repeated everything in English, with the exact same enthusiasm! His face was almost purple. Now that is how seriously cops in France take their job! After a while he came down and escorted us with his patrol car... to the highway exit. Yes, by accident we ended up on a busy highway. Luckily, there was a big traffic that day and this policeman found us, plucked us out and put us back in safety of a country road.




France is a place were people are intelligent, curious and good, the food is beyond expectations, forests are safe to sleep. And cops are there to serve and protect, not just punish! Thank you mister police officer for letting us go unpunished for our ignorance. But it was a really a long and tough day. And all we wanted to do is find a place to sleep. Anyways, thank you for letting us go safely unpunished. You are the best French policeman we know!