Day 1,540

The back’s back

Now regular readers will know that Tom occasionally suffers from a bad back. Super painful and debilitating but usually a few days' rest see him right. As we had set off to ride the magnificent Gorges de Galamus, he mentioned his back was playing up. A mile later, there was no ‘play’ about it, he was in agony. It was so bad I was given the GoPro to film our ride. Now that's bad! After just 5 miles Tom simply couldn't force himself to ride any longer and did a part climb, part fall off his bike into a convenient bus shelter. Google Maps to the rescue, I spotted that there was a restaurant with rooms, La Taverne, in the very village we were in, Cubiéres-sur-Cinoble. I left Tom, and as the village was tiny, just 18 people live there, soon found the restaurant. It was barely 10am, but the owner Michelle soon grasped the situation. I explained we had little cash, Tom needed rest, could she put us up and feed us for a few days, all in a mix of English, Spanish, the odd word of French and lots of mime. She could!

The wonderful Michelle and her Tavern

Tom hobbled around and went straight to bed. We spent the next couple of days resting, getting to know Michelle's best friends as we sat eating and drinking, but Tom's back didn't improve. So with Michelle's help we got a taxi to Perpignan and an Airbnb near the medical area of the city just in case Tom didn't get any better. A few days before Tom had just about knocked himself out by walking into a low ceiling. We think the force of the impact had jarred his neck and perhaps given him a whiplash injury. After a very long but smooth taxi ride, we arrived safely at our Airbnb. The wonderful host family let us check in very early and even offered to run us around for shopping. People are so kind. At night we discovered a Pizza Van, which was exactly that, a van with a wood burning pizza oven in it, awesome! The time in Perpignan helped Tom’s back improve, and we set off after a few days' rest to explore more of France. 

After getting out of the city we were soon back in glorious cycling countryside. Tiny picturesque villages, mountains looming over us, stunning valleys, virtually traffic free roads and our favourite, a voie verte, or Greenway. We rode for miles on a disused railway line, through lit tunnels, stopping for a coffee and croissant etc. and playing at being tourists.

We visited a bell museum, situated in the old railway station. It gave a fascinating insight into a disappearing way of life. Tom’s neck was still stiff and painful so we kept the days short, staying mainly in campsites and the odd B&B. 

The next day Tom had a surprise for me, something I'd mentioned years ago I'd love to see, so we were heading towards that ... but you'll have to wait until the next fascinating instalment to find out what it was!