What a day!

The day began well. The sun was shining and everything was packed away smoothly when I noticed that my back tyre was a bit flat. No problem I thought - just pump it up. That's when I heard the hiss of escaping air and I discovered the hole in the tyre. My cycling couple neighbours helpfully suggested Decathlon in Toulouse which was 20 kms away.
So I unpacked the bike and a greasy handed hour later I had repaired the puncture and the hole in the  tyre (as best I could) and I was on my way.
The cycle path by the Canal du Midi was like a motorway for bikes and runners and walkers. At first like crocodile Dundee I said "bonjour" to everyone but soon reduced it to a nod.  The middle of the day was pretty flat boring and uninteresting countryside as the cycle way followed first the Canal du Midi and then the Canal de Deux Mers. My one good piece of luck was when I met an old lady on a bike who directed me to a bike shop for a new back tyre.  Near the end of the planned day and looking forward to a hot shower in the municipal campsite at Bon Encontre when bang! The back tyre blew out . Nearly crying I put on the new tyre and headed for the campsite (which didn't exist except on the Internet)

The mayor in his wisdom decided not to open this year. Never mind I had passed lots of campsites so a few miles at most  and I'll find another I thought optimistically.
 Thirty miles later it was getting dark and I had not passed a campsite or a hotel or a chambre d' hote. I was on the point of knocking on a door to ask if I could camp on their garden for the night  when a sign appeared as if by magic from the gathering gloom. Only four kms promised the sign to a chambre d'hote (B&B)
It was almost dark when I tentatively inquired if they had a room. I held my breath while he gave a Gallic shrug and said that normally there would be no problem but there was a special party and all ten rooms were full but like the innkeeper in Bethlehem he took pity on me and offered me an attic room which was just perfect.(it had a bed)  I was offered the use of the family bathroom and told to treat it like home. Better I was to have dinner at the family dinner table. I nearly cried with relief - my hosts were generous and brilliant. It would have been easy to turn me away. Perhaps the fact that I was totally knackered was in my favour.

 I cannot recommend too highly "les tilleuls de la voie verte" or  praise too highly Sylvie & Claude Frisson www.chambre-dhote-gite-tilleulsdelavoieverte.fr

Surely it can only get better tomorrow?