If you have any interest in biking, try it in France. The drivers are extremely courteous. They wait behind the cyclist until it is completely safe to pass. I have struggled up mountains in the Pyranees, many of which had no shoulder, just a steep drop. Even if I am riding three miles an hour up a steep grade, drivers patiently crawl behind me until they can clearly see that it is safe to pass.
France is well-signed. Each crossroad, even the tiny ones, have small black and white signs showing which town the road goes to and how far away it is. We have also seen signs with tiny bicycles on them indicating that the road is a bike route.
On one such bike route, I passed a neat little farm. The couple who farmed it responded to my "Bonjour!" with big smiles and the question "Ca roule?" (Does it [the bicycle] roll?). "Yes", I replied in my best high school French, "but slowly!"
Here in Brittany it has rained every day that we have been here, which doesn't make for fun riding. No matter, as I am getting over an injury and not cleared for strenuous activity. The exciting thing at this home exchange, however, has been the appearance of the first adequate loaner bike.
The general rule of thumb for me has been that home exchangers who are as passionate as I am about bike riding don't lend the multi-thousand dollar bikes that those of us who are insane about biking tend to buy. By definition, a bike that a home exchanger eagerly offers is almost always a crummy department store model, and usually very old and in poor repair. I always appreciate the offer of the loaner bike but I am almost never able to use it.
The bikes at this home fit the mold, with the exception that one of them is newer than the rest and doesn't appear quite as dangerous. I have enjoyed the short, injury-respecting jaunts that the rain has occasionally allowed. There is no better way to connect with France than on a bike.
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