A little gem

DAY 3: We spent the night in Vesoul in a public parking lot – and surprisingly slept quite peacefully. At 10 o'clock we set off. We had planned to cover the 80 kilometers that we couldn’t manage yesterday today and reach Clermont-Ferrand, our scheduled waypoint.

Just to let you know in advance: We didn't make it, but we reduced our deficit to 57 kilometers. Honestly, this doesn’t really matter, but somehow it does, because the overnight stops were planned beforehand and now we have to improvise regarding that. But it's all good, we can handle it.

What isn’t so great is the French traffic management. Over the past few years in France, we’ve been caught speeding at least once. The last time, we received a ticket for nearly 60 euros – we were just 1 kilometer over the speed limit. One kilometer! Our neighbors make a lot of money with their speed cameras – also because their speed limit signs are often confusing. Even for the Navy. Today, we must have passed at least ten of those hellish machines on our 350 kilometers – and those are just the ones we saw.

We would have liked to concentrate on the beautiful scenery that spread out before us under a blue sky and bright sunshine. Endless meadows in a dark, lush green that we don’t have at home in Uckermark – and we do have really intensely green meadows! In Bavaria, the meadows are even greener, but as a new Brandenburg resident, I should not say this out loud...

I, for my part, was thrilled by the landscape and the many animals we saw. I was especially taken by the cows, which were happily munching even in the gardens in front of the houses. In the final meters of our stage, my sweetheart remembered she hadn’t taken any photos of the cattle yet. She pulled out her phone and just managed to get a shot. She just sent me her photos. I looked for cows but only found donkeys...

We are now in Vichy at an official parking spot. Before that, we parked in the center for two hours. We strolled through the city center, which has 26,000 inhabitants and is a little gem, especially for me. We discovered a beautiful park along the Aller, where countless ancient giant trees from all over the world have found their home. Yes, okay, I admit: France has some beautiful sides.