Day 4: but I thought there was no portaging on this trip!

Route: Versailles to Fays-les-Etangs
Distance: 62km + ? 10km on account of getting lost
Ride Quality: Pastoral*
Accomodations: Le Clos B+B in Fays-les-Etangs

*pastoral here means 2 things: first, that we are finally into the french countryside complete with rolling hills, open farmland, and quaint villages; second, this acronym- Pain Ass-Sore Tough-going Overcast/Rain Always Lost

We awoke this morning in Versailles at the Hotel Royale to rain. This wasn't a huge surprise because the forecast in France (literally all of France) for the next week is rain! This was almost a relief seeing as we both got a good sunburn during our 2 days in Paris; our albino winter skin has not yet sloughed off in preparation for summer, I guess.

The other good news of the morning was that we didn't get bed bugs from the hotel last night. Or at least, not that we know of. Overall, it was a decent hotel, probably better than its 2 stars made it seem but it was telling that without even talking about it, upon arrival we both went to the bed and check under the linens around the mattress and box spring for bugs. None found! And that being said, I'm happy to give the Hotel Royale a good review. :) They were also very kind in storing our bikes in their private courtyard overnight, which was really nice.

Our day began well enough by riding through the car-free paths of the royal forests. As warned by our online research, the paths were poorly signed (not a big surprise after seeing the signage on the roads!) and therefore prone to causing confusion. So despite feeling perpetually turned around, we enjoyed the shade and birdsong (so.many.birds!!) and things felt pretty good.

After emerging from the forests, we made our way northwest along the edge of the Seine to Triel sur Seine, which sounds like a lovely place. Indeed, the village was beautiful but it was here that we made the first of a series of unfortunate errors. Instead of crossing back across the river, we stayed right and ended up climbing the most ridiculous hill you've ever seen. Some research after the fact has revealed that this hill is notorious, climbing over 170m in elevation over 2 miles of persistent incline. It was midway along this hill that Penguin and I switched who was pulling the trailer but by the end, we were both walking anyway.

After Triel sur Seine, we decided to abandon our recommended route for the one the Garmin proposed, which seemed much more straightforward and direct. This was all well and good until the Garmin directed us onto a major highway. We bailed off the highway onto a service road by means of some interesting acrobatics over a very deep and lushly overgrown ditch and then decided to abandon the Garmin in favor of Penguin's cell phone GPS. This set us off on a very pleasant route through the countryside and we were feeling really great up until the phone directed us to take a road that became a hill that became a dirt road through a field, which subsequently dwindled into a goat trail and then a muddy swampland exactly like the worst portages in Algonquin.

Too committed to turn around, we persevered - scampering along the edge of the path while driving the bikes through the worst of the mud, which came up to the axles on the wheels. All this, and it was pouring sheets of rain.

What we thought would be a 1.5km slog became a 3km death march and when  we finally reached terra firma (read asphalt) again, we swore never do that again. My shoes were so caked with mud that even after scraping them clean with a stick and using the entire contents of a water bottle to wash them, I still had a hard time clicking in and out of my pedals.

Subsequently, when the GPS led us to yet another off-road adventure through pastoral France and we elected to turn around and find another route, I couldn't unclip and promptly ate asphalt. I fell on my outstretched arm and landed hard enough that I was worried I'd broken my wrist.

Two things of great importance happened at this point: first, I lay on the ground long enough that a sweet elderly french lady came out of her farmhouse to make sure I was okay and Penguin promptly diverted her by sadly explaining with a warbling voice that, obviously, this was not the asphalt kind of road that we had hoped for - and she replied only with laughter. Second, on ascertaining that I had not actually broken anything, I mentally congratulated myself on not thinking immediately following the accident 'how am I going to scrub tomorrow?!' (my usual first thoughts after causing bodily damage to myself), which clearly shows that I'm fully in vacation mode.

After we were back on the bikes and on our way again, things slowly improved but we were both pretty spent. Altogether, we spent 8 hrs getting from Versailles to the Feys, arriving at 5.55pm (5 min ahead of my predicted 6pm arrival time when I'd looked at the route in the morning).

The B+B in the Feys is a gem and definitely made for a soft landing after a long day. We arrived just as yet another downpour began and the owners whisked us inside to an attic room with timber and plaster ceilings and a very comfortable bed. After a hot shower, they fed us as much dinner as we could eat and we're now carefully washing the mud off our gear and looking forward to a good sleep. Secure (and dry!) housing for the bikes means we'll sleep with good peace of mind, too.

We loved the wooden beams and rustic attic nature of our room at Le Clos. It made the perfect soft landing after a tough day's ride. 

All in all it was a tough day but now that it's done and we're mud-free and dry, it's really starting to feel like our honeymoon.

Cheers!
Saroja