Rambouillet

Yesterday, on our final morning in Paris we packed our bags, confronted the lift for the final time (it didn't seem quite so small this time) and assembled in the foyer. The concierge had now become our friend and we exchanged a few jokes before catching a taxi and heading to Gare Montparnasse for our train to Rambouilllet. This is where we will resume our cycling adventure to cycle to Mont St Michel. Although we loved Paris dearly, we were keen to get back out onto the paths less travelled and see some more of the real France.

Rambouillet is a very charming town, situated about 50 km south west of Paris, on the edge of the huge Forest of Rambouillet. It is also famous for being home to the historical Chateau de Rambouillet.

Our bikes had been left waiting for us at the hotel. On first examination we were all vey impressed. The bikes all looked very new and each one had been neatly labelled with the name of its intended rider. After a short test ride we left them securely behind the hotel and went off to enjoy our dinner.

It was only when we rolled the bikes out this morning that one of our riders made a most unwelcome discovery. Back in Australia Gordon had already firmly established himself as the undisputed King of Punctures. He seemed capable of getting a puncture on virtually every ride. He had previously experimented with different brands of tyre and tube, but the punctures always continued unabated. It was obviously some sort of special talent that he must have been born with.

We had all been hoping that Gordon's ability to attract punctures would have been left behind in Australia. After all, these were completely different bikes with different tyres. We were even in a different hemisphere ! What could possibly go wrong ?

It was only when all the bikes had been lined up outside the hotel that we noticed that one of the bikes had already suffered a puncture. And we hadn't even ridden them yet ! Closer examination revealed that the bike in question was bearing the name tag "Gordon". Typical, but not a great start to the day.

Fortunately we had been provided with a couple of spare tubes and, about 30 minutes later, we were finally ready to get underway. We hoped that it would be the only such puncture Gordon would suffer during the remainder of the ride to Mont St Michel. (How wrong we were.)

Our first stop for the day was at the nearby Chateau du Rambouillet. We had to admit that it certainly was impressive and the manicured gardens must require an army of gardeners to maintain. The thick gravel crunched under our wheels as we carefully rode to the front entrance.

The rest of the day was spent riding to the city of Chartres. This city is most famous for its huge Gothic Cathedral. We all thought that it resembled the even more famous Cathdral of Notre Dame in Paris.

Our restaurant for the evening was the L"Esprit de Gourmande", situated right alongside the Cathedral. We had been told that it was a top rated place and so we went in with high expectations, but maybe they were having a bad night. The courses were slow in being served and the time dragged on and on. Although the quality of the food was OK, the staff seemed completely disorganised and had a lot of trouble trying to sort out our drinks bill at the end of the night. It certainly was not what we had been looking forward to.

After dinner we walked around the Cathedral to see the impressive light show which is projected onto its towering walls from a multitude of different angles. The late summer evening was warm and still, and the visual display was stunning. It had been another superb day (although possibly not so good for Gordon).Read more