Melle to Aulnay – 33km
26C
Terrain: undulating road and off-road.

A beautiful day for many reasons.

I left Christiane and Daniel Cornuau with a packed lunch and a smile on my face, really lovely people.

Then I watched the sun finish rising as I started on my way, stunning.

Sunburst and sunflowers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lots of quiet relaxing roads and just feeling the sun on my skin, happy days. Added bonus, I managed to shave a few kilometers off my route by finding a short cut.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Made friends with this gorgeous little chap on the way, a slightly lost hunting dog.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I reached Aulnay at lunch time, sat myself down in a café on the main square and a cyclist also taking a seat for lunch started asking about Bob. Turns out this chap is called Yves, is from Canada (Quebec) and is super awesome. It was an honour to sit with him and share lunch on his 72^nd birthday. He looks amazing and on top of that cycles 10,000km a year! Top that! He regularly goes for rides of over 100km, love this! Inspiring to say the least and on top of that an interesting guy to chat to.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Plus, anyone who says “Don’t change, you’re beautiful” is a winner in my books. Happy birthday Yves.

Before heading off, he recommended visiting a church called Eglise Saint Pierre d’Aulnay so I obliged, wow!

The church itself is beautiful (it dates back to the 12^th Century) and is surrounded by a very old cemetery.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My favourite part though was the adjoining garden, so zen and just stunning with various sculptures, elevated herb gardens and messages from Mother Theresa dotted around the place.

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Life is an opportunity, benefit from it”

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Life is sorrow, overcome it”

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Life is mystery, know it”

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Life is too precious, do not destroy it”

 

 

 

 

 

 

The translations above are what I seem to have found. I’ve also just learnt that these quotes are from a beautiful poem called “Life”.

So I sat and just absorbed the beauty and calm that surrounded me. Moments of bliss.

Thank you for the recommendation Yves.