Ascain

Friday (September 4th). Ascain. Today, we went for a short ride out into the French countryside. It is unbelievable how nice the drivers are! They wait to pass, they don't honk, they give you plenty of space, and they are very polite. We have seen lots of cyclists every day heading up toward the Pyrenees, so we figure the drivers are used to having bikes around. After the ride, we explored Ascain. It is a very small quiet village. We learned today that the French honor the afternoon siesta - all shops/stores are closed between about 2-5. We had the best goat cheese salad for lunch (we'll be posting food photos later) and decided to try duck. It was all yummy. That evening we met up with the people in our tour group. There are eight people riding, one tour guide, Karl (who rides with us), and one driver,William. Five people are from England (Paul, Mike, William, Karl and Eugene), one is from Australia (Ano), and four are from the U.S. The big shocker is that the other couple (Miriam and David) from the U.S. is from Santa Fe! Not just a small, but a tiny world! We talked about our route and logistics for the next day, then headed off to the hotel restaurant for another fantastic French dinner! More goat salad was had! After dinner, it was off to sleep to get ready for our big first day of riding!