Left the hotel in Chatereaux around 9 heading to Toulouse. There was some misinformation on the itinerary, the trip to Toulouse would be a 5hr drive not 3 as stated. We had two buses, for simplicity, one was white the other pink. I was on the white bus. About halfway into our ride to Toulouse the pink bus started having transmission problems. The driver attempted to override the automatic tansmission computer to drive it manually but apparently it was overheating and giving off a burning fluid odor. We decided to stop at the next rest stop and reprogram the computer and look at potential alternatives if that didn't work. It was Sunday, and nobody in France works on Sunday pretty much. It was a beautiful day and apparently vacation season for the French as well because the rest stop was jammed. We went into the rest area and there was a line to both the men's and women's rest rooms. In France whether riding a bike or visiting a crowded rest stop a minimal amount of modesty is sufficient. The door to the men's room was wide open with clear view of the occupied urinals while the women used the stalls in both facilities. No need to go behind a building or go into the woods if doing #1. Find a tree, bush or just turn your back and let fly. Actually, I'm okay with that, although the bathrooms are a different story. In this particular rest stop facility, the toilet was pretty much just a hole in the floor, and this was a modern facility. Oh well, enough of this crap (ha!).
About an hour later after the bus transmission had cooled and the driver felt confident that he had reprogrammed the computer to use the transmission manually we boarded and made our way towards Toulouse. We actually arrived in Toulouse late afternoon and since dinner wasn't until 8 were able to get in a little ride along the canal of about 30 miles. Toulouse is a really pretty city but we really didn't have much time to explore the city since we were leaving the next morning. The ride along the canal was on a bike path. We had to ride a few miles through the city before reaching the canal path but as seems to be the case wherever we went, the roads were great, the drivers very courteous and the scenery beautiful.
No comments:
Post a Comment