We left left Bridgewater fairly early and cycled along a canal towards Taunton. The path has barriers placed intermittantly to prevent motorcyclists from using it - only problem is that they also prevent pannier laden cyclists from using it. Because we are so relaxed and positive about things in general we view these obstacles as challenges that only make things more fun and enable us to exercise other muscle groups.

Once again, Illana's gut feel as to the real meaning of the map proved wrong and we got lost. This did not seem too bad at first as we were going down hill. We then started going up hill and Amnon got really cross - even though he was party to the decision as to which way to go. We made our way back onto a secondary shortcut path which went through the worst hills we have experienced so far (we know we have said this before, but these hills supercede any previous hills). We are going through Devon, which has beautiful hills when you are in a car. They are so steep that if one pulls to hard on the handlebars in the effort to pedal, the front of the bike actually lifts off the groud. At 4kms an hour, it often felt as though we were making no progress at all. Because of the slow speed, it becomes quite difficult to control the bike, and once you lose it, it is impossible to get back on as Illana discovered when she lost concentration and ended up in the weeds on the side of the road. The alternative (pushing the bike) is much harder work and is much slower (0kms an hour according to the odometer).

After a lot of hard work, we arrived in a small town called Bampton (pop. 1600). We found a delightful B&B where the inn keeper was thoughtful enough to point out to us that we had 'bicycle grease on our person'. We think he was more worried about his linen than our person. This B&B was really lekker - and in terms of value for money, comparable to what we would get at home. It was great to have a roof over our heads for a change and not to have to put on shoes to go to the toilet.

We walked around the town (which took about 15 minutes), did some shopping, went back to our room and fell asleep at about 8:00 about an hour before dark (and the start of shabbat). Slept soundly knowing that going to the toilet in the middle of the night would involve no logistical complications.

Daily total: 55kms

We woke up late after a wonderfully restful night. We met some really nice Dutch visitors who told us how flat Holland is. We are thinking of making that our next stop.

We slept most of the rest of the day to prepare for the upcoming week of hills.

Daily total: 0km

Got a reasonable start and began tackling the hills of Devon once again. We managed to stay on the map the whole time as Illana has learnt to defer to Amnon's clearly superior navigating skills after the hills of Friday.

We cycled through the outskirts of the Exmoor forest, saw a lot of foot and mouth warnings, a few deer and wild horses and then freewheeled down into a town called Barnstaple.

Found a campsite in the wrong direction about 5kms out of town. This must rank as the worst of all time. Literally on a highway. Come to think of it we were the only people there. We fell asleep at about 8:00, totally exhausted.

Daily total: 68kms

Got an early start (wanted to get the hell out of there). We cycled to Bideford - which is a lot more scenic than Barstaple (big on B's in this part of the world). We had a snack just out of Bideford in a place called Great Torrington - what the great refers to we don't know, perhaps the uphill as you leave the town. We had a breakfast sanck (roll with pringle salt and vinegar chips - highly recommended) on the pavement next to an empty tea garden with a big sign saying 'only food and drink purchased here to be consumed on these premises'. Half way through a garbage collection truck pulled up right next to us and loaded up all the garbage from the tea garden. They really made our breakfast quite unpleasant. When they left Illana said 'good riddance to bad rubbish'.

When we regained our composure after that joke we proceeded on our way. We had to take a detour as a result of foot and mouth. Aparently this is one of the worst F&M areas - few sheep in sight. In fact the entire day consisted of detours, which resulted in us getting to our destination earlier than anticipated. The scenery was lovely - this really is a beautiful part of the country, although there were a couple of mighty uphills (and downhills).

We cycled through Holsworthy, and made our way to Bude - a lovely seaside town which has a feel of Muizenberg in its good days, although that could just be the wind. We found a campsite, had afternoon tea and then went for a walk along the beach. Beautiful sunset, as Bude faces west. We were really tired after a long day cycling, many miles and even more hills.

Daily total: 80kms

We had a late start and messed around in Bude for a while (were a little tired and needed a break). Amnon managed to fix up the pictures and so he was in a good mood for the rest of the day. We had some trouble deciding where our next destination would be and decided to follow a route where a campsite was clearly marked halfway between Bude and Plymouth in a place called Tregadillet just outsite Launceston (the ancient capital of Cornwall).

We waited until it started raining before we started packing up, and left Bude at about 3:00 in a fine drizzle. Very soon this turned into a heavy drizzle and about 10kms outside Launceton into quite a downpour. Having learnt the dangers of wet shoes we quickly took refuge in the Countryman's Inn and waited for the pub to open under some shelter. After about half an hour, they let us in. We had some tea (Illana had hot water), thawed and when the sun came out, continued on our way up and down more hills. Amnon got lucky and hitched a slipstream behind a tractor. He whizzed past Illana on the next uphill. She thought he was being towed.

We arrived at the very, very small town of Tregadillet at about 7:30 after taking on the Launceton hill (very steep). Amnon went into the Square and Compass to ask where the campsite was located. Unfortunately it had closed. Lucky for us one of the local farmers was in the pub and he offered us the use of his fields a couple of yards down from the pub with the condition that we leave it as we find it. Very nice of him indeed. Unfortunately no facilities. Lucky there were some at the pub. Real value for money accommodation.

Daily total: 45kms

We left our makeshift campsite once the early morning drizzle abated and made our way to Callington on the way to Plymouth. We stopped in at the first pub to fill our waterbottles. Amnon managed to get them to half fill the bottles despite their resistance (they wanted us to put something in the charity box before they would give us anything. Amazing what happens to the friendly rural folk when the weather is bad). That kind of coloured our view of the place. We had lunch and left.

We cycled along to Plymouth with heavy traffic and found a very nice campsite 10kms from town. We showered (relief) and then caught the bus into Plymouth (enough with the bikes already) and spent the evening window shopping , walking around the Barbican and walked to the shul which looks pretty deserted.

Got back to the campsite and went to sleep.

Daily total: 55kms

Big day for Tony in the UK. We along with 42% of the country didn't vote. Woke up to a magnificent day so Illana decided to do some washing. By the time she had finished washing some socks and underpants the sky had completely clouded over. Rode into to Plymoth and got caught in a downpour. We had to take refuge under a tree for a good 20 minutes before we could continue.

Spent the day walking around Plymouth. A very nice town with a beautiful Marina and lovely beach pools but the worst internet connection in the UK. We spent some time investigating options for Shabbat as the Bournemouth community did not overwhelm us with their generosity or hospitality. Decided to make our way as far along the coast as possible. Amnon came up with the idea of hitching after we found out that a train ride to Bournemouth would cost ?7 a piece and would take a good many hours - not quite value for money.

Daily total: 15kms

Got a relatively early start, but no matter how efficient we try to be, we can only manage to pack up in 2 hours. Anyway, hitching for us was a new experience and we didn't quite know what to do. Amnon came up with the idea of cycling along the main expressway between Plymouth and Exeter (along a bicyle path in what would be the breakdown lane in SA) until we got to a laybye. This we did and after a few minutes a guy in a camper stopped for us. He had recently been stuck in France and so could identify with our predicament (he thought we had a puncture or something). He took us all the way to Newton Abbott and we cycled from there to Torquay - a very lovely sea side town. It even has a Jewish community, although after a phonecall we established that they discontinued services in December due to lack of demand. Only 6 Jewish men live in the town.

We made our way along a walking path along the coast. We wondered whether bikes could go there and soon discovered that they could not. Many, many steps later we found ourselves in a lovely field overlooking the sea. Almost worth it.

We carried on along the road (enough schlepping bikes where they shouldn't go) and finally ended up in Dawlish. It appears quaint but it reminds us a little of the famous caravaning locations in SA - something like Hartenbos. The locals have not endeared themselves to us. As we cycled past a few of them on our way into a local funfair, Illana overheard one fellow comment to his friend; 'her legs are bigger than his'.

We will spend Shabbat here. Campsite has everything we need.

Daily total: 50kms

Shabbat in Dawlish Warren was restful. The campsite was so full that we could hear our neighbours snorring (woke us up in the middle of the night - we got them back when we got up early on Sunday). The site, called Peppermint Park, is enourmous and has modelled itself (rather crudely) on Club Med, with a club, entertainment (Hawian evenings, Kareoke, a Pepp-up evening for post 40's, bingo and so on - very sorry to have missed most of this as Friday night was the last night) and heated in-door and out-door pools. It appears that this part of the UK is not renowned for its gentility. We don't know anyone who would wear any of the T-shirts on sale here, and even the cycle shop across the road from Peppermint park is called Braking Wind.

We walked along the beach and managed to sleep in the afternoon despite a visit of the grandparents of some other neighbours who have a toddler. Walked across to Star Cross which is a preferable place to stop in this part of the world. Pity we found out so late.

Got up at 7:00 to a bright day and went along to Star Cross to catch the ferry to Exmouth. By 9:30 the day had turned overcast and very windy. So much for a bright day. Got off the ferry at about 10:30 and started cycling towards Sidmouth. On the way, we noticed a footpath that appeared to follow a 4x4 track. Illana was keen for a bit of off-roading, so we took it. The first bit was tricky, but manageable. Then we got to a couple of obstacles over which we had to carry the bikes, panniers and all. Not an easy task. Illana fell over on one of the paths - very sore for body and ego. Beautiful views of the sea though. Then we got to a field path that was too steep to cycle - too difficult to control the steering, focus on keeping the front wheel on the ground and cycle hard at the same time. Pushing was exhausting. Then, over the second last obstacle, the gear cog of Amnon's bike stabbed Illana's knee. First bloody wound, but no serious damage.

After 2 hours and 5kms we eventually reached Sidmouth. Very nice indeed. Cooked up some lunch on the beach, rested our sore and weary bodies for a while and continued on our way to Weymouth, from which we planned to take a train to Bournemouth.

At about 6:00, we passed through Lyme Regis, a town with a terrible hill. We had already done over 50kms and we realised we were never going to make it to Weymouth (another 40kms down the road). Given that we were nowhere near a train route, hitching seemed the obvious alternative. We found a laybye half way between Lyme Regis and Bridport and within a couple of minutes our bikes were in an empty trailer and we were on our way to Bournemouth with a cabinet maker from London who had just bought a holiday house in Lyme Regis. He dropped us about 10kms out of Bournemouth at about 8:30.

We cycled into town, found a reasonable B&B near the city centre and collapsed from exhaustion. Got all the grease, mud and blood off our persons in a hot bath.

Daily total: 84kms

Woke up late and cycled into Bournemouth. A very nice place - kind of gives you a sense of what Sea Point could be like if it was cleaned up. We cycled past some magnificent homes that could easily have been in Hyde Park. Wonder why more people don't live here.

We found a campsite just ourside Poole with the hardest ground to date. Had to borrow a mallet from a neighbour and buy some new tent pegs in town. Still feeling the effects of the mamouth ride yesterday so we are riding very slowly indeed.

This campsite was very expensive (15 pounds a night) but was a much classier version of Peppermint Park. That night we went looking for the heated in-door pool to rest our weary bodies - turned out to be closed, so we went to see what entertainment was on offer; They had a kids show where they had two teams of 3 kids each on stage, boys versus girls, all about 6 years old. The one game they had to play was to see who could say 'one smart fellow, he felt smart.Two smart fellows, they felt smart. Three smart fellows, they felt smart, they all felt smart together'. We challenge each of you to say that quickly, and then imagine how the 6 year olds did. After we laughed at the kids, they had the stars of the old Moscow state circus, who were really good. One of the guys was a contortionist juggler who juggled 5 balls standing on one leg with the other leg behind his head. Many other masterful tricks too numerous to mention here.

Daily total: 35kms

We decided to get a ferry to France and thought we would spend the morning walking around Poole. All was going according to plan until we tried to unlock the bikes that Amnon had secured to a pole the night before. No luck. Amnon tried the right comination several times and they systematically tried every number from 1400 - 1800. No luck; Eventually he went to call security to cut through the cable. Illana had a go while he was gone and fluked it. We didn't have much time left, so we booked our ferry to St Malo (sounded like a nice place) and did a few chores.

The ferry ride was uneventful although we managed to avoid any queues both when we embarked and disembarked because we were on bikes. We found a campsite very nearby, set up the tent and walked around the town for a couple of hours. The campsite has very sparse facilities so we plan to leave soon.

Daily total: 5kms

We walked around St Malo, which has a beautiful old walled city. Illana practised her French on some unsuspecting locals who appeared to understand her most of the time. Amnon is learning new words at a rapid rate (pain, sortie, accueil, bon soir etc) and figuring out the currency.

When we got back to the campsite, Amnon noticed another pair of cycling tourers. Turned out they did parle anglais as they were from Australia. Yes, his name is Bruce, but hers is Maggie. They are retired although you wouldn't know it and they have spent about 5 weeks in France. Gave us some good tips on camping (for example, toilet paper can be a sparse commodity) the locals in general (always do the bonjour / au revoir thing or people may take it personally - a great challenge for us to be so friendly) as well as some cycling tips (carry spare spokes)

Daily total: 10kms

Got a very late start, took ages to get out the city but we finally got on the road to Mont St Michel, the home of a very well known abbey which we had never heard of. The ride took us along the coast, past some picturesque scenery. We made good progress despite our late start (and Amnon not feeling too well). We then suffered a set back when we landed up on an off-road track (encore - despite agreeing never to take one of those again) through a nature reserve. Horrible, especially for Illana who fell off at least 5 times, sustaining bruises and bicycle grease markings all over her person. Put her in a bad mood - at least Amnon was at hand to blame.

Got to a campsite where we decided to try a bungalow. Pleased with our decision as it is a bit chilly. Plan to see the sights of the town demain.

Daily total: 70kms

We slept well with a roof over our heads and went to visit the abbey at Mont St Michel (or St Mont Michel if you are Amnon). Very impressive stuff with many tourists. We saw the abbey itself as well as surrounding rooms - in all a very drafty place. Can't imagine how the monks in the 1500s kept warm in winter.

We left Mt St Michel at about 2 and made our way towards our next destination which kept changing en route. Enfin and after another puncture by Illana (4 3 to Amnon) we arrived at a little town called St Server de Calvedos. The route took us through a lovely forrest and many quaint French towns. St Sever was not in our guide book so we didn't know where to stay. There was one hotel that used to have one star (it had been scratched out) which did not really look like an option. We stopped at a garage and asked the attendant to pump our tires (pshsht in French) and then asked him if he knew of a gite nearby. He did and phoned the farm - very nice of him indeed. The owner of the farm came to fetch us and we followed her home at 20km an hour. The accommodation was really nice and half the price of the UK B&B's. We were exhausted so we made a quick Friday night meal (pommeau makes a very good substitute for kiddush wine) and went to sleep.

Daily total: 73kms

Got up late and had a lazy day. In the afternoon we walked around the local towns. Very good rest.

Happy Father's day to Charles and Ray.

As usual we got a late start. Amnon went into town to do some shopping and to get some cash at a distributeur automatique du billets. Managed all on his own. Only mananged to leave at quarter to 11 with the weather looking a little ominous.

About half way at a place called St Martin des Besaces it started raining really hard - hail as well. Lucky we had found some shelter in the town square. Got a bit wet and had to wait out the storm for over 2 hours.

Finally we were back on our way to Bayeux. After another 2 hours we arrived there, found a campsite and warmed up.

At the campsite we met a couple from Holland who were backpacking through France. We chatted to them for a while about the strange toilet habits of the French - no toilet paper and a general shortage of toilet seats. At this campsite the men's pisoirs were outside the toilet block. Tres interesant. The backpackers were a little more sensitive to weight than we are - they tear out each page of a book as they read it to save on weight. When they left, they gave us a bottle of wine that they had not managed to drink - again to save on weight. We don't drink the stuff but we thought we might find a kind Frenchman who would appreciate the bottle as a thank you for a good deed so we took it along with us.

See the sites tomorrow.

Daily total: 73kms

Got a leisurely start and went to see the famous tapistry of Bayeux - which recounts the story of William the conqueror/bastard (depending if you are French or English) and his battle for the crown of England with Harold who ended up with an arrow in his eye. The tapistry is 900 years old and is quite remarkable. We then went to the cathedral - quite stunning. Because there is so much to see in the city we only managed to leave at about 5 - which was fine because it only gets dark at 11. We thought that the modis operandi of leaving later in the afternoon might be more efficient as we can never get an early start anyway and the museums close at about 7 so it seems to make sense to cycle after 5. We cycled allong the Normandy landing beaches which look like any other beaches except for the memorials.

We cycled an easy 50kms to a campsite outsite outside Caen. This site is a 4 star facility with a whole lot of things that we would never use - a swimming pool, tennis court and so on. Illana went to ask for a hammer (mateau) because the ground was very hard, and on her way out the office she bumped into a retired Dutch couple who have a house in Hout Bay. They invited us for a drink at the bar where we had a three language conversation in English, French and Afrikaans (Afrikaans is a great conversation starter with Dutch people - but we can't understand the response we get). One of the French people was gloating over the recent defeat of the Sprinboks by the French. Illana thought he was talking about bowls and spent a good deal of time explaining that no one in SA cares about bowls - it is rugby that is the big sport. Funnily enough it was Amnon who was the only one who understood what was going on. That made Illana think that many of the conversations she has are probably about something she has absolutely no idea about.

Daily total: 50kms

We cycled into Caen allong the canal by the campsite and made our way into town. Spent a few hours orientating ourselves and trying to find the tourist office which turned into a fair challenge - Amnon's fault. Decided to go the Memorial museum by bus. Spent about 10 minutes waiting for the bus until we realised that we were on the wrong side of the road. Finally made it to the museum which traces the history of the WW2. Spent a good couple of hours there as there is so much to see. The region is full of memorials and famous battle sites. Near our campsite is the Pegasus bridge which was captured at the begining of the landings in June 1944.

After the museum we went back into town and went to one of the abbeys (enough with the abbeys already - all have stained glass windows, choirs, naves, organs etc). Amnon got a puntcure which he fixed on the side of the road (not keeping score any more). Found an excellent bike shop where we purchased additional necessaries using mime and a lot of pointing. Given how late it was, we decided to stay in Caen encore un nuit.

Daily total: 30kms

Left Caen and continued on our way to Honfleur at the mouth of the Seine. We cycled allong a lovely route past beautiful beaches. Cycled through Douville and Trouville s/ mer and were tres surpris to find a supermarch?avec a section replet with des produits cacher pour pesach. Turns out the area is a local Muizenberg only 2 hours from Paris.

We arrived at Honfleur and found a campsite right near the town where the showers were 8 francs a piece. Went into the town, walked around the old basin (for yachts) and went to the Eric Satie museum - Eric was a famous local. The museum was a little too surrialist for us although we now know that he was an odd character who had hundreds of umbrellas and pairs of shoes.

Back in the town we saw another touring couple who had brought their dog allong for the ride. Tres amusant we thought. Back at the campsite Amnon introduced himself to them and we struck up a conversation for a couple of hours and got to know Muffin well.

Daily total: 55kms

Failed once again to get an early start and were on our way to Rouen by 10. Had a mamouth day ahead in terms of milleage, but because we are basically cycling allong the Seine things are fairly flat. Amnon got us lost after about 70kms but we were soon back on track and found our campsite after pestering a few locals. The campsite was a little too noisy - too many kids and inhabitants outside the campsite. After all the cycling we were a little faitgu?

Daily total: 90kms

Cycled into Rouen without really knowing where we were going. Finally found the touristique area and asked where the shul was. Made our way there and were persistant enough with the rabbi (in a mixture of French and Hebrew) to secure an invitation for shabbat meals. We then went to find a hotel nearby and found one with 1 etoile. On first inspection it appeared to be clean although this turned out to be true only in a minimal sense.

Rouen is famous as the place that jean d'Arc was burned at the stake. We went to the old market to see the spot where this occurred and went to a museum nearby to see the story of Jean. Quite amazing to think that she was killed before she was 20.

After wondering around aimlessly for a while we went back to the campsite although we actually had no idea how to get there. We found a cyclist who Illana asked for help. He was kind enough to cycle the 6 kms with us to ensure we got back safely. Very nice of him - a candidate for the wine but alas he was on his bike.

Once we had packed up we went back to our hotel. On the way we spotted a bicycle shop and we thought it a good idea to stop and see if there was anything we didn't have that we needed but didn't know it. As Amnon was getting the bikes to rest nicely against the shop window, his fell over. This happens regularly, but this time there was that bottle of wine (see Bayeux above) which shattered and threatened to spill all over the tent and sleeping bags. We had to unload the pannier, open it up on the pavements of Rouen and do the necessary cleaning up. Once that was over, we went to the hotel and got ready for shul.

The shul in Rouen was rebuilt after the war and is a sephardi shul. The service was mainly the same although there were a couple of additional verses here and there and everything is chanted together by the community. We got a special welcome by the rabbi and after the service people introduced themsemves and invited us over for meals. One of the children (Jeremy - 5 years old) asked us where we were from and then said in French `ìf you are from Africa why aren't you black?'. He was also very proud to learn to say ``me too` in English to the amusement of the community who now have a nickname for him.

Supper at the rabbi was wonderful. Communication took place in Hebrew, French and English supplemented by miming and pointing. The food was delicious. Yosef, their child (4 years old) taught us that a cashew is a bataeu or la lune depnding on which way you hold it. He was amused to learn that chickens in SA say cock'a'doodle'doo and not coccoricco as they do in France.

Daily total: 30kms

Went to shul and Amnon got an aliya. In France they are very friendly so you get 2 kisses, not just a handshake. The sermon was in French although Illana thinks she understood some of it and that we got a mention again because we had told the rabbi how wonderful things are in SA from a jewish perspective (availability of kosher food, restaurants etc).

Went to the rabbi for lunch (not a far walk as his apartment is in the same building as the shul). Again a wonderful meal with the Dafina - sephardi cholent. Most of the community is from Morocco, with some from Algeria. After a nap we went to Laurent (one of the young doctors in the community and the father of Jeremy) and his family for coffee. Jeremy and Josef were very keen on SA espcially after Illana had told them about all the animals. Jeremy asked what we eat in Africa and Illana said `beaucoup de frittes, bon bons et glaces`. The two of them were quite happy to come and join us on our bicylces. Jeremy got his book of animals and we went through it identifying all those that we have in SA. Lucky there were picutres. They were a little disappointed that we don`t have dinosaurs and mamoths. The men went off to shul and Amnon attended a shuir in French. They got back at about 10:30. Shabbat came out at 11 and we had the longest havdala in history (about 20 verses each accompanied by a chorus of Eliyahu hanavi - apparently a speciality of Laurent). All in all shabbat was wonderful. Sydney and Naomi (another young medical couple) explained how the kashrut guides work and gave us great tips on Jewish sites in Paris and then walked us back to the hotel.

Daily total: 0kms

Went back to Laurent to use the internet for a while and Amnon helped set up the internet site for the shul. We only managed to leave Rouen at about 2:30 in the heat of the day. Summer has definately arrived and it is hot (chaud). The ride was slow because of the heat but once again mostly flat and allong the Seine towards Paris.

At about 8 we came to the first campsite identified on the map. This turned out to be a gypsy commune (we think) and so we asked if they knew where a campsite was. The chief came to help us. He had about 3 teeth left and his breath indicated he had had a very relaxing day. He gave us instructions and while telling us to go gauche he was pointing with his driot hand so we decided to use the map again. We reached the next campsite on the map at about 9 to find it was a residential trailer park. By this stage Illana was getting very cross. We decided to stop for supper in the town and continue to the next campsite on the Michellin map this time at a little town called St Illiers de ? (most of the places here are called st something de something or le/a something de st something). We got there at about 10:30 and bargained the price down from 85 Francs pp to 50 because we were not going to make use of any of the luxury facilities (swimming pool, bar etc) aside from the toilet paper and toilet seats between then and our departure the next morning.

Daily total: 95kms

Because of Amnon`s faffing we only left at 10 by which tume things were starting to cook. Had a short but faily unpleasant ride to a campsite outside Paris in a place called Maison Lafitte. Very, very hot. Unfortunately no swmming pool.

Took a train into Paris (more expensive than accommodation) and found a fantastic kosher Italian restaurant (`why not French`? you ask. Felt like a pizza and we are sure not to eat the fancy French stuff). Great to eat in a restaurant, excellent food at a very reasonable price. Walked allong the river and saw some of the famous sites. Paris is too busy for us and the Metro is not a pleasant place to be during rush hour on the hotest day in June. Got back to peace and quiet at the campsite at about 11. Luckily there was no hot water by then or they turned the temperature down (all the showers here are push-button with no temperature control so you take what you get) and we were truely refreshed for a well deserved sleep.

Daily total: 55kms

Spent the morning in the supermarket and the local post office where we access cyberpost. The internet connection is good although it tends to bomb out periodically - only if you forget to save which is what happened. In the afternoon we decided to go to Palace at Versailles. This is about 25kms away. Once again it was tres chaud and so we stopped for a swim in the fountain in the centre of St Germain which was on the way. By the time we got to Versailles it was 6 and they had just closed the palace to visitors although the gardens were still open. Very annoying.

The ride back home was really easy. Funny how we didn't notice the uphills on the way there. Given the weather we decided it would be an ideal time to do the washing. As we had not bought the jetons pour la lavage at the campsite, we loaded up the panier and cycled down the road to the local LavClub for a quick wash. By the time we got back it was about 11 and trust our luck, a storm was brewing. Lots of thunder and after about half an hour a real storm broke. That will teach us to do the washing without sechange. Anyway our tent survived and we remained dry.

Daily total: 50kms

Today we planned to meet Laurent in Paris for lunch so after the necessary faffing we were en route by 11. After a very succesful navigation we arrived at the appointed restaurant right on time. After waiting for Laurent for 45 minutes we decided that his job (cardiologist) was probably not the cause of the delay and that we should call him. Turned out he was also waiting for us at another branch of the same restaurant. Sped through the local arab-ish market and the red light district to get there and join him for the tail end of his pizza.

Once we had finished lunch we cycled into the area of the Jewish museum, locked up our bikes but once again arrived there (after searching for the place for a while) just before closing. Decided we would have to come back and after some promenading, got back to where we had left the bikes, only to find that someone else had got there first (stolen, vol? gone, caput, no more bikes for the holiday, oy vay - Nice place, Paris, we must come back en velo. Ho hum). Reported the matter to the gendarmes. Now we know what we will be doing tomorrow. We will have to take a train home tonight.

Went to Rue de Rossiers to get something to eat but felt too depressed to sit in a restaurant so we got a take away fellafel and shwarma for Illana and Amnon respectively. Amnon dropped his supper on the pavement and then felt even more dejected. Not a good day du tout.

Daily total: 33kms (one way)

Started the day by walking to the post office to check emails. The went off to a big decathlon shop a train ride and long walk away. Walking takes a long time. Decided which bikes we were going to buy but the shop did not have one in Illana's size. Have to go to another store tomorrow.

Daily total:0kms

Got a very early start and were at the bike shop before it opened. Got the bikes and all the choses we needed except the most imporant chose - the porte bagage. Took ages for them to assemble the bikes and attach everything to Amnon's specification. Illana had to cycle (better than walking) back to the first Decathlon shop to buy the carriers while Amnon commenced packing up at the campsite. Illana had a small argument with the manager because he charged her 90 Fr to fit the one carrier onto her bike. In the end she told him to take it off her bike because she was not going to pay, thinking he would back down. He didn't and had to spend more time taking it off the bike. Very stubborn. In the end Amnon did a fine job back at the campsite.

Caught a train to the campsite in the Bois de Boulogne outside Paris and got ready just in time for shabbat. Very full site on a very busy road. Noise of the traffic drowns out the noise of the neighbours.

Daily total: 10kms

Went to a chabad shul - the nearest one to the campsite - a walk of about hour and a half. Amnon got an aliya (didn't have to kiss anyone this time) and was invited for lunch by the rabbi. Turns out his wife Sarah is the niece of Rochel Goldman - small world. Had a wonderful time and excellent meal. The rabbi and his wife have 5 daughters who had a good time teaching Amnon some french basics. Multi lingual lunch - rabbi/rebbetzin to guests in English, rabbi/rebbetzin to children plus singing in Yiddish, children to children in French, benching in Hebrew. Finished lunch at 5:30 and walked back to the campsite. Had a drink with some Australian travellers we had met the previous evening and went to sleep.

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Play soduku.