Day 2: Auxerre: 15° – SIM Card Sorted!

I was still operating fairly well when I finally made it to 10:00 last night and shut things down. I managed to get a reasonable amount of sleep last night and today I’m still functioning pretty well. Maybe the Jetlag won’t be too bad this time?

As is usually the case, the first day of these walking trips usually involves a few chores. Before leaving home I found the location of an SFR cell phone retail outlet in the city. Actually, it was outside the city, but it was a really nice walk to get there.

It was early, but the sun was up and trying desperately to burn through the clouds. It didn’t really have too much success, but at least it wasn’t raining. That’s supposed to begin late this afternoon.

The riverside pathway soon turned into a road before becoming a quiet bike lane. The water was utterly still, and the calls from the waterfowl drifted across the water from the trees running along the south side of the bank.

I eventually turned inland and away from the river passing through a commercial area on my way to the mall. I found the SFR shop only to discover that they didn’t have access to the data plan that I had found online before leaving home. However, not all was lost. The young woman who was serving me stepped up big time. Although she didn’t speak any English, between the two of us we managed to communicate sufficiently to find a solution. She was able to provide me with a Sim card, which gave me a French based telephone number. She then went online and found a tabac shop (cigarette shop) where I could purchase a data plan. I walked the highway back into town and made my way into the center. It turned out that the shop she’d identified was closed on Mondays which often happens in France. So I wandered the streets looking for another similar shop, eventually finding one. There I was able to purchase an 80 G data plan for 30 days for the unbelievable price of just €14! I think that’s the best priced data plan that I’ve ever purchased anywhere in the world. It means that I shouldn’t have any trouble posting my blog or finding my way, as long as there is a cell tower somewhere in the region.

After picking up a few groceries and a couple of other items at the pharmacy, I took a look around the old part of the city. Even though quite a few places were closed, it was still pretty interesting. A typical French town.

I even poked my head into the cathedral for a few minutes.

It was a typical 14thC French church with some nice stain glass windows.

After deciding that I’ve had enough walking and site seeing for the day, I wandered back to my hotel to get sorted out for tomorrow and to write this post.

I have to catch a train a little further eastward in the morning, and from there it’s a 10 km walk into Vezelay. If it’s raining heavily tomorrow, as forecast, I understand there is a bus that runs up to town in the morning and I’ll likely take that. That’s about it from here.

A shout out to my good friend Louise, who is facing something of a challenging day tomorrow. I’ll be keeping you in mind, and I’m sure things will go well.🌞🌻

Tomorrow will either be a quasi-stage 1, or just another train/bus ride experience. I’m hoping for the former! Either way, I’ll provide my next report from Vézelay. I’m looking forward to arriving there and truly getting underway!

Cheers!

Geoff☀️