On our trek across Spain and France we have ridden past a hundred fields of sunflowers, every flower with its brown face looking down forlornly at the earth, every field except one. Today we rode past the only one where their bright yellow faces gazed up at the sunshine. We were the ones who were forlorn, introspective and saddened, but the sight of those flowers lifted our spirits.
It was as if that field of sunflowers in full bloom, had been placed there deliberately to pull people back to the beauty of life after the horrors of what they had seen a few miles down the road in Oradour-sur-Glane.
It’s the second time I’ve been there and no less moving. I thought that it was a place my biking buddies should visit on our route north, but started to question that decision as I witnessed the effect on them. Jenny reassured me that even having visited the place she would still have wanted to, which eased my feeling.
but I think colour brings it to what we saw today,
which is what society needs to wake up and see.
It was good to escape Madame Fawlty even though her establishment, in the right hands, could be such a lovely place. I must admit to receiving a smile from her as I departed, probably because she had now got our money, or to boost the reviews for the place!?
We headed north along the B road through miles of corn fields in the Vezere Valley, it was just perfect, no traffic but demanding enough for us to keep our wits about us. Despite it being a cloudless sky it surprised me how the temperature started to drop from 12c. The icy air breezing over my bike jeans made my thighs particularly cold as I watched the temperature drop to 6 degrees! It didn’t really detract from the enjoyment of the sweeping bends and at least with the heated handlebar grips on ‘hot’ I could keep most of my digits functioning properly!
One of the beauties of motorcycling is that you absorb your surroundings much more than in a car, yes the cold and the heat, but also the sounds and smells. The 6c accentuated the steam rising from the huge piles of dark brown manure which the tractors were in the process of distributing across the fields, just breathe in that lovely countryside ‘fresh’ air!
After our visit to Oradour-sur-Glane we continued north towards the Loire. France seems to pretty much close from 2pm but we were lucky enough for the staff at a Leclerc supermarket to take pity on us and give us lunch at about 2.15. The remaining 100 miles to Saumur had to be done without a break due to France being closed all afternoon 😖
Awful part of what the Germans did 😱.
So – France is shut – can’t tell you what my auto correct changed shut to 😜. Not good if you’re planning a holiday there😫x
🤣 Just in the afternoon, probably having a siesta after a two hour lunch with wine!
Oradour-sur-Glane
Good call Brian a tribute to those lost,never to be forgotten 🌻 🌻