Gutted !!

Another night of not sleeping - this time for a reason!
As we had arrived in Pierrefitte-Nestalas last night and started to hunt down an overnight spot, I started to turn Roxvanne around when she made a weird and not good creaking noise from the steering column. Over the space of another 15 minutes looking for the elusive parking spot, she repeated her noise on a good few occasions.
Once parked up we sorted everything and finally went to bed.
My head however was far from sleep mode as I tried to reconcile driving twice as high into the mountains in the morning, as we had just been on race day.
During the night I thought about breakdowns and recovery, and what the problem might possibly be. Not being car engine mechanically minded, I could only assume it could be hydraulic oils at one end of the scale, to a new engine gearbox and steering rack at the other end. At about 3am I was seeking Google help which obviously just made things worse and secured a sleepless night for me.
Additionally it was very hot down in the valley and Loup was struggling to sleep and I wondered if he had coped with enough - we knew it had been about 35’ up at the race yesterday.
7am took forever to arrive and as I got up to walk Loup, Tre had woken and I mentioned my night’s musings.
By the time I had returned Tre regrettably had come to the same conclusion as me - it was better to get Roxvanne home for a service and overhaul.
This meant no race day in Tourmalet tomorrow - we were both gutted. Our next two days had been ripped away from us - and also for me a chance to return to a former holiday resort and enjoy the high mountains.
So at 8.30am we were sorted and on the road home. Initially a little quiet in Roxvanne but slowly Tre and I broke into conversation and planning for next year if not within the next couple weeks.
The Tour really is an experience, not for everyone I’m sure, but a carnival feel with good vibes and lots of very friendly people.
With literally one short stop and a slightly longer one to give Loup a stretch we got ever closer to home.
Finally home, we unpacked a few basic bits and decided we would sort Roxvanne tomorrow.
We then settled to see the Tours sprint day and then searched yesterday coverage to see if the helicopters had picked us up, particularly Tre on her personal hill top and spangly flower hat . . . fair to say blink and you’d miss it.

Tour De France - we will be back.

As we were travelling, we did our normal album of the day to pass the time.
Earlier in the week I had heard Christine McVie singing - I’d Rather Go Blind - an original song recorded by Etta James, known to me because it was also covered by Paul Weller.
So I suggested . . .
Fleetwood Mac - Rumours
As I mentioned previously, neither Tre nor I had ever listened to this album. It was like a greatest hits album as track after track of well known songs swept by. I had no idea ‘Songbird’ was on that album. We think there were only three tracks that we hadn’t heard before. So - we agreed a strong 10/10 for an album and band that I would never have given time to.

Song of the day -
Gloria Gaynor - Never Can Say Goodbye
https://open.spotify.com/track/1nvWbwYHXGocLrI5…Baca selengkapnya