Gendarmer-weeee!

Day 11
Distance: 105.08 km, Top Speed: 48.3 kmph.

I passed through Tolouse today, and had a surprisingly good time cycling through the heavy traffic in the city centre! It was somehow satisfying to weave in and out of traffic, all the while overtaking the majority of people stuck in their cars. I decided to take my camera out and take a few photos while I was on my bike. It was a fairly overcast day, and keeping your eyes on both the camera and the street at the same time was harder than I thought, but I ended up capturing this little gem. The policemen weren't too pleased.

On the way out of Toulouse the road I was on somehow turned into a motorway without me realising. Oops. I was only on it for about 2km, and nobody seemed to care.

About an hour later I was well clear of the city and then, something incredible happened. A hitherto inexperienced phenomenon:

Actual sun on my actual face! I forgot I even had the capacity to feel!

The word "bask" was invented for what I did next, which was to find a supermarket and lay spread eagle on the concourse outside, with Camembert and a dirty big grin smeared gloriously all over my face.

I continued south into the countryside, feeling more like I was cycling in Spain than in France. I unsuccessfully asked a local if I could camp in his garden and ended up sleeping under the parapet of a nearby construction site.

The moon was so bright it cast well defined shadows. I fell asleep to the sound of crickets, with an approximate 1:1 ratio of astonishment and annoyance at how loud and sustained their chirping could be.