We are at Beaumont-sur-Sarthe. Today I walked to Assé-le-Riboul, where there is no campsite, which is why we are in Beaumont.
The first 8 kms of my walk saw me back in la Guiérche, which is where we had spent the night on a very quiet farm camp. I paused in la Guiérche for coffee, then marched on through Souillé, which is where I saw this very interesting velocipede.
As I was coming into Ste-Jamme-sur-Sarthe, I received a phone call from my daughter Karen, in Saudi Arabia. I haven’t seen Karen, or any of my daughters, this year, as they are scattered to the four winds and three continents. She told me that where she is the temperature is in the mid 40s, Celsius. Also that when she went out with friends to a flash hotel recently, there were bottles of water on offer for £140 - each!
A little later, I passed through the 1,000 kms barrier. Unfortunately, there was nothing of note on the spot, nothing to photograph to mark the occasion. I did think of starting a cairn, but there were no stones available. A bit of a damp squib, really, for such a milestone in VBW. But at the exact second that the counter on my Satmap clicked onto the magic number, my phone buzzed and there was a message from Karen to congratulate me. Brilliant timing.
As I walked along the one bit of main road, coming into St-Marceau, a woman in a car slowed down, honked, waved, and gave me a big smile. Almost as if she knew me. It is possible there has been something in the papers. I know Columbia Sportswear have been regionally drip-feeding their excellent press release to newspapers as I have progressed up the country. They have been a wonderful support to me in this enterprise.
Total kms for the day were 24, bringing me up to 1,007 kms. Climbs for the day were a meagre 814 metres.
4 comments:
I also live in Saudi Arabia and I must say there is some mistake with your daughter's water price. Even if it was one tenth of that price it would still be much higher than the general price even in the very best hotels. James Martyn
Well, James, I think that it is you who are mistaken. My daughter tells me that this particular type of bottled water (clearly aimed at people who have too much money) costs scores of pounds even outside Saudi Arabia. We are not talking about the general price, or even general water. This is stuff for people who like to spend hundreds of pounds on a meal, just because they can.
Hi James. I am said daughter (!) and asked how much the water was - mainly because I thought that the bottle was beautiful. I was told that the water is 780 riyals. I was astounded and my friends, like you, thought that I had heard incorrectly so two of them also asked the price and were given the same answer. Shocking, I know - and there is, of course, a chance that the waiter was incorrect - but that is definitely the price which we were quoted. Needless to say, we didn't buy any!
On my life! All this talk about water in the desert You should come to Israel, when we give you water free. Yes, free! We Children of Israel are not Scrooges. "Said daughter" would be welcome here; but just don't mention the Arabs!!
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