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| Date | Starting Place | Ending Place | Author | Last Update |
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| 05-19-08 |
Niort, Poutou-Charentes, France |
Angouleme, Poutou-Charentes, France |
ray | 02-19-09 16:10:12 |
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Maxime had to be out of the house by 7am and so was I. We got up about 6:30, I showered, we said our good byes, and I left. I rode around a bit to find something to eat. I found a boulangerie and got a pain au chocolate and a bagette, of which I ate about half. I had to ride through the middle of Niort's downtown and then through the rest of it on my way out. There weren't any stores open so I didn't buy any fruit or vegetables. It took a while to get past the main ring road riding on fairly busy roads with lots of trucks. At the first town I came to, Aiffres, I saw a large boulangerie with an oven in the front window. I stopped to watch the baker who was putting loaves in and taking them out of this large oven. He had a metal wheel that turned a circular baking shelf inside the oven. It was full of all kinds of breads and he was constantly moving, inserting, and removing loaves. Another baker was busy rolling up bagette dough an bringing them over to this guy. I watched the whole operation for about 10 minutes while I munched on a warm bagette. After Aiffres, the route become more rural but there were still many trucks on the road. I was on a small road and couldn't understand why so many trucks were using it. Eventually, I came to a huge set of buildings that clearly were a distribution center. The truck traffic stopped when I passed it. I was now riding past farm fields on deserted roads. For the first time, I started seeing my favorite European wildflowers, red poppies, on the side of the road. This lead to a wildflower photo-frenzy.     This field flashed by though an opening in some trees. I had to stop, go back, and take a picture of it. I don't know what kinds of plants these were.  There were pretty pictures everywhere I looked.  This photo provides a good idea of the landscape I was riding through. It also shows how well the roads are marked and the ever-present religious statues.  This is a field of peas, all tethered to one another.  By this time, I was seeing pretty patches of road side flowers every few feet and I didn't want to stop and take pictures of all of them. So, I started looking for the "ultimate" wildflower photo. This is the last one I took this day.  When I started my ride, I rode by wheat fields that were just starting to bud. Now, I was passing flowering fields and the tassels looked alive as they oscillated in the breeze.  The route was flat and went in and out of trees most of the day. It seems I could have taken this picture on any day I had ridden so far!  In the middle of these trees was a slow flowing river.  I crossed the Charente river for the first time near Amberac. The Charente goes to and flows past Angouleme, my goal for the day.  More than once, I passed trees planted in rows. I don't know what kind of trees these are or why they were set in rows. I didn't see any fruit on them and they were way to tall to be picked if there was any fruit. The only thing I could think of was that they were being grown for wood.   I would cross the Charante river several times as both of us meandered toward Angouleme.  Just like the wildflower shots earlier in the day, the river views kept getting better.     It was just after 6pm and I was in high spirits. The sun had been out all day, the wildflowers were beautiful, the ride across the Charante had been wonderful. As I rode into the outskirts of Angouleme, I found myself on a busy two lane road. As the cars were coming in both directions, I decided to go up onto the sidewalk where there was a multiuse path. I took the curb cut at 15 mph but the bike didn't make it up the 2 inch high lip and I went down hard, taking a tremendous blow to the left side of my chest. One moment I am feeling great and the next moment I am picking myself off the ground. Several drivers stopped and were calling "C'est Va?" and other French phrases I couldn't understand. I got up holding my left side and noticed that my elbow was bleeding. I got out of the street and sat down on a low wall on the sidewalk. My chest hurt a lot but I was having no trouble breathing and was concentrating on my bleeding left arm. It was at this point that I learned that it is no possible to see the end of your elbow. What's more, in order to see it, I had to fully bend it, which made the gash bleed more. From what I could see, it was about a 1 inch split right at the point of my elbow. There was also a 1-inch in diameter deep scrape just above it (toward my hand). I held my hankerchief over it to soak up the blood. After a couple of dazed minutes, I got my bike off the street and didn't see any damage on it. I dug my first aid kit out of my panniers and quickly realized that none of the band-aid like pads I had would close the cut on my elbow and that it would likely need some stitches. While I have never had a serious rib injury, given the pain I was in, I guessed that I had broken one or more ribs. I didn't really know where to go so I straighten the handlebars and began riding. At the first intersection, I saw a man waiting to cross the street and called him over. I pointed to the cut and he told me to go to the nearest pharmacy, which was right down the street. When I arrived there, he was standing in front of the place and motioned me inside. The pharmacist motioned me toward a sink in the backroom. Unfortunately, she didn't speak much English and my French didn't include such words as "hurts" or "elbow" and "ribs." All I could is point (and drip). She applied some liquid to the cut and it immediately stopped bleeding. She then wrapped my elbow in gauze and taped it. When she was done, she called a nearby doctor to ask if he could see me. When she returned,I looked down and saw a huge (tennis ball?) sized hematoma growing out of my hip. This scared me a bit. By this time, it was 7pm and closing time at the pharmacy. But, the pharmacist, a very kind young woman, said she would watch my bike and wait for me to return from the doctor. I walked the few blocks to the doctor and sat in his waiting room not quite knowing what to expect. There was one person ahead of me and after about 5 minutes the doctor asked me into his office. The room was much larger than a doctor's examination room in the US. In addition to a table for me to lay on, it had a large desk, book shelves and a large glass case of medical supplies. He spoke just a bit of English but I was able to communicate to him my problems by pointing. He felt my ribs, said that he thought three were broken, and suggested an X-ray. I asked if there was anything to be done for them and he said nothing could be done but that it would be good to know. Then, he examined the hematoma, stuck a syringe into it and pulled out blood. He pointed to it and said in clear English "This is no problem." Next, he unwrapped my elbow, doused it with Bactadine, and sewed two sutures into it. He soaked a cotton pad with more Bactadine and then taped it to my arm. He said that the ribs and hematoma would be better in 20 days and that I should have the sutures out in 8 days. When he was done, we walked over to his desk and he asked for 22 Euros. I gave it to him, he wrote me a receipt, and I got up to leave. I asked where I would get an X-ray. The doctor said I would have to go to the hospital. He again suggested one but didn't insist or called the hospital to make arrangements. I didn't want to do this and decided to skip it. I walked back to the pharmacy, calling my wife along the way to let her know I was OK. While I walked, I considered my options. Since I was meeting people in Avignon, it made no sense to abandon the trip and fly home. I had another two weeks until I needed to be in Avignon so there was no reason to take the train directly there just to hang out for two weeks. The best way forward seemed to be to keep riding my bike, if I could. I was real sore and had no idea how bad I would feel as time went on, so the best course of action was to wait and see. I did decide not to ride the next day and to hang out in Angouleme and rest. I returned to the (now closed) pharmacy and the pharmacist sold me some bactadine and bandages. She gave me most of a roll of tape, even though I tried to convince her to charge me for it. I thanked her as much as I could, checked my bike out, packed up everything and left. Outside the pharmacy, I called Teri, my host in Angouleme. I left a message and decided to ride into the town center while I wanted for a return call. I was pretty shaky and very careful not to fall a second time. By now, my elbow was throbbing and every little bump in the road hurt by ribs. It was about 2 miles of tough riding to get to the base of the hill that holds the Angouleme city center. I managed to pedal the bike up to the main square. I called Teri again and got her this time. She directed me to a small square nearby where she would meet me. I took this picture as I waited for Teri. Note the huge bump on my left hip. I didn't realize it at the time, but I was about to become a main character in a Franz Kafka novel.  When Teri arrived, told her about the accident and asked if I could spent an extra day at her place to recuperate. She said that would be OK. It was then that I noticed that she smelled of alcohol. She also looked disheveled and like she'd lived a hard life. She chattered away, saying that she didn't get my message because she didn't have any money left on her phone and couldn't retrieve it. Her place wasn't bige enough for my bike and we would have to wait for her friend Boo to return before I could put my bike in his place. She had sent him out to search for me. The walk to her place was short and I took my bags off the bike while we waited. Boo, a 40-something Algerian, arrived soon thereafter and took my bike for safekeeping. Once in her place, I was shown upstairs where I would be sleeping and left my bags there. I could barely get up and down the stairs and once all this was done, I sat down on the couch, exhausted. Teri gave me a glass of wine to drink. I sat there in a bit of a daze with a tired throbbing body. Teri blathered on incessantly. At one point, she told me that she was a little psychic and that she "knew" something had happened to me. Boo returned and Teri informed me that Boo was a healer. With this, Boo put his hand on my injured ribs, moved them around a bit, and then made a quick movement. He than told me that he had "moved the nerve" and that it would now feel better. I began to realize that things were spinning out of control. As soon as Boo was there, the drinking started in earnest; theirs, not mine. Teri was brought up in Ireland, so spoke fluent English. Boo spoke a bit of English but insisted that I we only converse in English. Both of them drank and smoked heavily. All the smoke made me cough, which was incredibly painful. In fact, I couldn't actually cough. I would exhale as strongly as I could, wince alot, hold my side, and hope I didn't have any involuntary spasms. Boo carried a notebook of CDs with him. He viewed himself as some kind of DJ and was constantly monkeying with the CD player. Every once in a while, he would say something and then slap me on the side. He was so clueless, drunk, or both, I had to repeatedly tell him to stop hitting me. After about an hour, Teri started telling me that she was afraid I was going to die at her house and that I needed to go to the hospital. I said that I had been to see a doctor and that I would prefer to wait a day and see how I felt the next morning. She launched into several complaints about doctors, saying that they were "only after your 22 Euros." She then asked me what the doctor had said to me and that she used to "be married to a doctor" and knew alot about these things. By this time, I was beyond being shocked by anything she might say and did my best to keep up my side of the very minimum of conversation. Both her and Boo kept pointing at the hematoma saying it was a serious problem. She continued talking (she rarely stopped) alternating between saying that the doctor I saw didn't know anything, I needed to go to the hospital, I was going to die at her house, etc. For the most part, I tried to ignore her. I tried to say things like "I just saw a doctor and he said the bump isn't a problem," and "I, too, am concerned but I want to wait and see how I feel in the morning before doing anything more." Eventually, she starting saying I was being stupid, that her concern for my health was more important than my concerns, and I had to go to the hospital right then. At this point, I got angry and said, in very clear language, that we were talking about my health, I was very concerned about my body, I wasn't going to hospital, and I didn't want to hear anymore about it. This interaction made the room silent and affected the atmosphere in the room. Boo got agitated, got up, and left. In a couple of minutes, Boo returned with my bike saying that I couldn't keep the bike at his house. Teri began freaking out, saying that there was no place for the bike in her house (this was true). I offered to leave, but Teri said I was her guest, I didn't have to leave and was welcome to spend two nights there. I showed them my bike's special fittings and proceeded to take my bike apart and find out of the way spots for the two halves. Boo and Teri has some words in French that I didn't understand. The rest of the evening was a bit strained and Boo started making fun of me whenever his smoking would make me cough. I was way past hungry and when it was clear that I wasn't taking them out to dinner (there were several broad hints), Teri pulled a pizza out of the freezer baked it, and we ate in silence. When I finished eating, I announced that I was going up to bed. Teri said they'd be up late and hoped it didn't keep me awake. I limped up the stairs and managed to get my clothes off. My "bed" for the evening was a mattress on the floor with sheets I couldn't be sure had been changed lately. But, I was in no shape to complain. Getting down onto the bed was easier said than done, however. It took me about 5 minutes to get down on all fours, another 5 to get turned over on my right side, the only position that didn't hurt. There was no chance that I could turn over and I had to be careful not to end up in a position that hurt but that I couldn't get out of because of the pain. It was a hard night's sleep but I managed a few hours of slumber. |
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