First Day in France

Well we are now safely in Grisolles but it has been a pretty long day. We left Ssandton on the Gautrain which was great except for the fact that a few things like lifts and escallators were only programmed to work while the World Cup was on.Then the long day started with a true South African queueing experience for the Air France Airbus 380 Double Decker. After an hour and a half of pushing Richard and Celia's bikes and all our luggage through the miles of queues we eventually got through but the flight was delayed which meant we missed our connection in Paris and things went from bad to worse. The people from velomondo delivering our bikes had 3 hours to kill, waiting for our re-scheduled flight, which they chose to spend at Ikea! But still managed to be in good moods when they met us. And even after we had managed to destroy one tire (pumping it up) and then realising we had left all Richard and Celia's medicine kit in their van, they were still cheerful when they were called back to the airport after they were an hour out of Toulouse. And the 4 of us were in fair spirits. Then we had to brave the highways of France to get out of the airport!! I can only say these French motorists are amazing. A few hooted at us when we found ourselves on a freeway traveling at about 10km per hour, but otherwise they gave us a wide berth, stopping if they had to wait till it was safe. It was amazing to just be cycling along here in France. I am a bit disappointed to find I only have about 6 words left in my French vocabulary but it seemed to be enough to ascertain there was no hotel in Grenade sur Garonne. But they were prepared to fill up our water bottles to get us through to Grisolles, about 10 km further on. It was still hot when we arrived here at about 7pm (I think it got to about 30) so we sat out on the verandah and had a couple of beers - very civilised. Then delicious dinner and end of day one in France. I am a bit apprehensive about tomorrow as I think Richard and Celia are planning to get to Argens which is 90 km away! But it looks like I am connected to the internet here which is a miracle. I  wonder if all the places we visit will have wi-fi. Haven't managed to be able to send messages yet though as this laptop is still having trouble sending although it can receive, and the French sim we bought is a dud so far. But we are receiving emails and texts fine.
I haven't looked at photos yet so will add some tomorrow if I get a chance.

Waiting for medicine at Toulouse Airport

                                                            Dinner at Hotel