{"id":18357,"date":"2017-09-08T12:37:29","date_gmt":"2017-09-08T12:37:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/snailpacecycling.co.uk\/?p=18357"},"modified":"2017-09-08T12:37:29","modified_gmt":"2017-09-08T12:37:29","slug":"day-271-val-de-meuse-to-champougney","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/snailpacecycling.co.uk\/wordpress\/2017\/09\/day-271-val-de-meuse-to-champougney\/","title":{"rendered":"Day 271 – Val de Meuse to Champougney"},"content":{"rendered":"

Day 271                                                     16th April<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

52 miles (Val de Meuse to Champougney)  average speed 10.7 mph Top speed 36 mph<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

What was meant to be a short day turned into rather a long one. I was up at 6.45 and cooked bacon and eggs in a baguette for brekkie. The gas ran out just as I’d made my 3rd tea; so perfect timing. Everything went perfectly for the first two hours and it even stopped raining for long enough to pack up, but as I went to leave I soon realised I was under-dressed for the weather so I donned another pair of trousers and my fleece. It still wasn’t enough and I stopped after a mile to put on a jumper and a wind cheater. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"

Is this wrapped up enough?<\/p><\/div>\n

Despite the wind and cold and occasional rain I was making good progress and stopped at a small village for a drink as I couldn’t find anywhere open for coffee and spotted a skittles lane with table and chairs for a rest.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"

Skittle alley<\/p><\/div>\n

I was just beginning to think my chances of finding a supermarket open rather remote when a van’s horn was blowing at the house behind me. I went to investigate and found the bread delivery lady, who kindly let me have a fresh baguette for 1.03\u20ac . Strange pricing structure as she will be giving out change at every stop. Back at the table I followed the sexual activities of three beetles with interest. Then got back to very long ups and downs which were the story of the day.
\n<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

After lots more ups and downs I finally reached Neuf Chateaux where I tried to find the campsite in the rain so that I could get some cover for lunch or even stay there if the rain were to continue, but my bad luck with campsites continued with this one <\/span><\/span>locked up too.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"

Camping closed<\/p><\/div>\n

So I had lunch in the football stadium under a tree and checked out my next option which was 8 miles away. At least it had stopped raining and I would get to see the birthplace of Joan of Arc. Lots more ups and downs and a very long tree lined avenue took me there just as the rain got heavier. I went straight to the campsite but this one was closed too. It doesn’t open until 1st May. I could have ducked under the rope or found a spot nearby, but there were quite a few people about so I went for a coffee to deliberate.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"

Another campsite closed<\/p><\/div>\n

I decided to carry on for a while, until I found a place to wild camp just off the road and in the shelter of a pine forest.<\/p>\n

\"\"

My final choice: wild camp in a pine forest just off the road.<\/p><\/div>\n

Wild camp in a pine forest just off the road.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Day 271                                                     16th April 52 miles (Val de Meuse to Champougney)  average speed 10.7 mph Top speed 36 mph What was meant to be a short day turned into rather a long one. I was up at 6.45 and cooked bacon and eggs in a baguette for brekkie. The gas ran out just as I’d … [Read more…]<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[945,944,943],"class_list":["entry","post","publish","author-ermintrude","post-18357","format-standard","category-spc_blog","post_tag-champougney","post_tag-day-271","post_tag-val-de-meuse"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/snailpacecycling.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18357","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/snailpacecycling.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/snailpacecycling.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/snailpacecycling.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/snailpacecycling.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18357"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/snailpacecycling.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18357\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18424,"href":"https:\/\/snailpacecycling.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18357\/revisions\/18424"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/snailpacecycling.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18357"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/snailpacecycling.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18357"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/snailpacecycling.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18357"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}