I am lying in my bed, watching out of my little opening in the tent how another thunder is passing by. It is bringing the very long awaited rain into the region, as the dry summer is a big problem I found everywhere since I started my journey.
Mní Wičóni – Water is life
That Lakota phrase has ever been a true sentence and so it is today. This sentence I often saw written on the big water towers when I was visiting the Standing Rock Reservation in 2019 with our youth group. With a happy and a crying eye I welcome the rains, as it also means that I will be cycling most probably wet, but I am very happy to see the water coming, as it is painful to see so much dried out land. Especially today, when I passed an impressive waterfall, completely dried out. But more on that in a bit.
A lot has happened the last days and I want to give you again an insight into my recent adventures.
Auvergne
I was starting to get more used to the steeper slopes and the hights I was overcoming with all my gear attached to my bike. When I was a teenager I always enjoyed the climbs, but with so many kilos you need not only endurance, but also quite some strength. The awaited rain was coming and gave me my new challenges. Yet I have to say, if you stay warm and cycling, it is not too bad. I was finally in the more lower mountains and enjoyed whatever was coming.
Many people I meet keep asking me, wether I have an electric bike to drive to Portugal and are stunned when I tell them, that the only power supply I have are my two legs. It would be a great compilation of facial expressions I could make out of it.
As I was continuing I kept falling in love with the ever changing architecture especially in the villages and towns. Especially when they kept their traditional style – that’s what catches my eye.
Luckily it stopped raining during the second part of the day, but it changed to a very hot, humid climate as the water evaporated because of the strong sun. As time was passing by and I got over some more hills I got finally some sight over what was waiting for me the next days.
I was very happy when I found a very nice french family that hosted me for that night in their garden. After I had to deny their offer to eat pizza with them we spent the evening drinking very nice vine on their terrace. They had a very beautiful young dog that watched over me and who greeted me the next morning.
Greeted with a nice coffee I could start into my next day. I was getting ever more tired from all the riding, but also ever more excited to meet the highest mountain of that area, as I found out that evening it was called Puy Mary and was an old volcano. It became my new landmark and I continued my way.
That day had me looking around many times, stopping to take pictures that I can’t all share with you, but I went for example through an old mining area where I could see some old structures they used.
In the evening I found a very nice place to to sleep right next to a river in the centre of a village that looked very romantic with it’s beautiful old stone houses. I was always very lucky to find a good place to sleep. I feel always very guided in that search as it is not easy to find always good spots for the night.
The day after I decided to rest, it was also fitting to the normal week structure, it was Sunday. I had planned to go to a nearby camping place, but as I searched for a place where I can eat my picknick I found another marvelous place just under a bridge where I spent the whole day in the sun and took care of many things.
Besides resting and sunbathing I cleaned all my clothes, sorted out my equipment and wrote some diary. As I planned I got to bed early so I could get up and leave before sunrise.
Monday early morning was the moment where I covered the last distance before I would get to the two summits I wanted to visit. Puy Mary and the close by Puy de Sancy. It was a stunning light that morning dancing with the mist that gave me a huge inner push up the mountain.
I had another 35km to get there and then I wanted to take a hiking trip over the two peaks of about 10km. All of this had to happen before 17.00 as that was the time when the forecast expected a lot of rain, wind and thunder.
So I did my next fasting test and did all of that fasted. I drove up the hill for 3 hours, locked my bike, changed clothes and went hiking. The only thing I then also took up on the 3 hours hike was the jacket and my water bottle. It felt again really crazy what I could do with my body in the fasted state.
The view was stunning and I really enjoyed the hike in that space. To all sides I had an amazing panorama to look at. I even got a private top gun stunt scene as a jet pilot was practicing his Tom Cruise flying skills around the mountains.
So I came back from the mountain at lunchtime and felt super happy that my timing worked out and I still had a time window to get out of the higher altitudes and find a good spot to camp before it would rain.
After I left the mountains I got pretty sad. I don’t know why but I was so excited to be on that mountain and all it took to slowly get in it’s direction over the past days. And then it was over. 20km I nearly didn’t need to paddle, I went down the road and all the achieved hight slowly went by.
That night I slept in a forest as I couldn’t find a better solution and I was happy I didn’t get too scared of the forest with all it’s noisy creatures and the thunder.
As I got off the mountain I continued my way in a completely different surrounding compared to the other side I came from. The forest was different, the houses were different, I entered a new region.
I also observed a rapid change in humidity, the country became much more dry. Even in deep green forests the water stopped to flow. It is a serious situation, some people are aware of it but it is so difficult to imagine how we will manage to get into the path of real solutions.
I shortened a few parts at the end as it is already time to go to bed for me and I am running low in battery. Wish me luck – I hope my legs recover tonight, they got a bit sore throughout the days.
I hope you enjoyed my new diary and I wish you all a great time until we meet again.
Best wishes,
Eiko
