We stayed overnight near Versailles, just 10 miles from the Eiffel tower, so today was going to be a breeze. We made a leisurely start at 9:30am and at the very first junction it all went wrong. Half the group turned left and the other half turned right. Rolling to a halt both groups wondered what the other group was doing. After a few minutes of discussion and very close inspection of the maps we finally came to a consensus on which way we should go.
Traffic was busy, very busy. This was a shock after several days where we had hardly seen a car at all. It was the Monday morning rush-hour. We gritted our teeth and kept going.
Another forest. The Bois des Fonds Marechaux. Back to the car-free experience we had grown used to. Crossing a busy road we found ourselves in the Foret Domaniale de Fausses Reposes on a quiet road that took us to the idyllic suburban village of Marnes-la-Coquette. Next we were into the Parc de Saint Cloud, a more formal park with long avenues and fountains.
We arrived at a fountain and our first views of Paris, with the Montparnasse Tower just visible through the haze. After Ian’s map blew into the fountain, he made Helen climb in and retrieve it. She seemed to enjoy paddling in the mud at the bottom so maybe Ian didn’t have to coerce her too much to get his map back.
Next it was downhill all the way through the suburb of Saint-Cloud to our first sight of the Eiffel tower and our second crossing of the Seine. This was on an old footbridge that used to be the aquaduct that brought water into the centre of Paris.
As we passed through the Bois de Boulogne there was one mile to go. John took over the lead at this point as he and Angela had done some reconnaisance on their last visit to Paris just a couple of weeks ago. The roads were busy but we kept together and in no time we reached our destination. The Eiffel Tower. We’d done it.
It was just before 12:00, and the first drops of rain fell as we stood under the tower. As the rain started to intensify we found a nice Thai restaurant for a long and well deserved lunch. The rain eased off and as Ian, Helen, Steve, Simon and Stephanie set off for an early train back to London the rest of us went to the Seine to dip our wheels in.
