Clamency – Corbigny - Chatillon en Bazois
It took me only a few kilometers to realize that the trailer had a flat tire, again. I searched for the next bicycle shop to finally buy a new one, but my off line map isn’t that detailed here in France as it was in Germany and Eastern Europe. When I asked the next pedestrian if there could be a shop here in Clamency, he told me that there could be one in Corbigny (30km) and definitely in Nevers (100km) but not here. So I went on to reach Corigny with the flat wheel because my spare wheel was also still flat.
After 5 kilometers I met a nice lady on a bike and she told me to go back and visit the bicycle garage in the city-center of Clamency!!! So I did and also I promised myself that next time I’ll ask only those riding a bike instead of listening to the next best person on the way.
While I was fixing the wheels I met Phillippe, the owner of the bookstore next door. He was very interested in my plans and invited me for a coffee. We talked about the philosophies of traveling and life in a real French café and soon Pierre, another bookstore owner joined us. Phillippe told me of a nice bar Mont et Marré. I think he also offered me to sleep at his place but I couldn’t find the village on my map, so I moved on.
At Corbigny I found the Lock, Johannes and I slept on my first camino and washed my clothes at the nearby access to the Yonne, like in 2015.
After I left the Yonne to follow the canal to the Loire I saw this nice Lock called Maison de Thé. It was run by an elderly man, definitely a first class Hippie. He put lots of rugs on the street the radio played John Lennon and th whole place seemed like it had stopped the time in the 1960s. I didn’t stop because of the guests he had and the short distance I had made today. Bye bye mister American pie.
The village of Mont et Marré wasn’t really very high up a mountain, as the name was promising, but high enough up the hill to make me skip the bar, too. I wanted to camp next to the Aaron because I don’t like to wash in the canal. Until there I had to ride a few kilometers more and it was already eight o’clock in the evening.
At nine o’clock I arrived at the Aaron and found a nice empty lock with a small garden. “Perfect” I thought. But the river was even dirtier than the canal, the water pipes of the lock were also empty and the soil below the lawn was hard as rock. So I had to clean myself with some moist tissues and I slept on the concrete of the tiny veranda with my tent shoved over the sleeping bag as a shelter against the midgets.