Help Given

[Andy500]

I was on a 40 mile bike ride lost in the wilds of Brittany today when 1/2 way round the ride my rear tyre exploded. i carry a spare inner tube, but it wasn't any use as the rear tyre had a big hole.

The French clearly love cycling and cyclists as in less than 5 minutes of starting to walk without any idea of how to get back to the holiday cottage a French man in a van pulled over to help. I barely speak a word of French and he didn't have any English so we communicated via sign language. As soon as I mentioned the name of the village I needed to get back to he picked up my bike and put it in his van gestured for me to get into the van, then he took me directly back to the village.

I gave him some money for his time and fuel but he was extremely reluctant to accept it From the sign language I gathered he is also a cyclist and just wanted to help. What a gentleman, he saved me a couple of hours of walking. There are some really nice people in the world.

 

[ZIZAG]

Well Andy . What a great story
It still proves ,that there are some lovely decent people about .
How fortunate you where to meet someone like that .

 

[livpoksoc]

fantastic to hear there are some nice people out there, I don't think you'd get that in Blighty too often!

 

[apollo179]

Good story andy.
What first helped me into cycling was when on one of my first rides i got a puncture and another cyclist (lycra clad) stopped and literally walked me home advising me all about puncture resistant tyres and clips , and apologising that he didnt have his own punture repair kit with him because he was only commuting a short distance to work.

 

[Globalti]

The French are kindly and hospitable when you meet them out of the cities.

As I've written in other posts, once drivers can see the reason why you are hitching I'm sure many would offer you a lift. When I used to hitch a lot a climbing rope draped through the rucsac lid made all the difference.

 

[ufkacbln]

Always good to hear...

Some years ago this happened to me and I bodged a repair with a piece of fertiliser sack.

When I got home I bought a set of "tyre boots" but have never ever used them.