The Maison de la Nature was open today so we hopped back on our e-bikes to try the 11 kms from Rosnay.
I’m still trying to get used to the 5 power levels of assistance available on my e-starli E28. Most of what I’ve done, which is very little, has been on power level 1. That gives you a bit of a kick to get going and then sort of peters out. When you’re actually cycling, level 2 doesn’t seem to do a lot better but level 3 does.
Francine, whose Raleigh bike has just 3 power level settings, seems to leave me standing, which is not how things used to be on traditional bikes. I think I need to go from level 1 to keep up.
We zoomed off and arrived at the Maison de la Nature. It took a while but we eventually found somewhere to lock up the bikes and set about looking for some nature.
There wasn’t a great deal. Odonata were a bit scant, apart from some Broad Scarlets (Crocothemis erythraea) and what was becoming the dragonfly du jour in these parts, White-tailed Skimmers (Orthetrum albistylum). Perhaps most interesting were swarms of frogs blowing out their cheek pouches and croaking loudly after a spot of reproductive fun.
Scintillating it wasn’t. After wandering the boardwalk and track down to the birders hide, we decided to head back. This is where things began to go wrong.
Francine had used (bloody) Google to find a cycle route back to Rosnay. “This looks as though it would be more interesting”, she remarked, chirpily. Shunning the road route we had used to get here, off we set.
We started well enough on another road. Then the route dived off piste and we were soon on a rough grass track. At first it was not a problem but, with the spring rain that France had suffered, it descended into an occasionally boggy quagmire. The going was slow and arduous and, frankly, our e-bikes were not built for it. Fun it wasn’t.
We came across a group of walkers with a lady trying to have a peaceful wee behind a hedge. I averted my eyes, poor lady. Eventually we came to the end of the off-piste section and re-joined a proper road.
With some relief we eventually came back into Rosnay and back to the campsite for a welcome glass of refreshment.
We won’t be doing that again.
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