The perfume

Following in the traces of the book "The Perfume" by Patrick Süskind.

Tuesday, May 24, 2005

Argent update

I think I must have been a bit tired yesterday, when writing that nothing special had happened... A good nights sleep has refreshed my memory. Even though we are equipped with two legs, we are maybe not supposed to use them that much? After all, they do fit quite well in the sofa too.

Anyway, here are some details on what happened yesterday. As I approached Argent, I did what I had said the day before I would never do. I took a shortcut. The thing is, a sign suddenly turned up saying "this way to Argent". It was not indicated on my map, where the route I was following did a wide turn in the woods. So I decided to take my chances on the mysterious route. It worked out quite well, except it ended up three kilometers from town, on an asphalt road, which turned out to be the main road into Argent. So, I decided to take my chances again. This time going off track, using my compass. Of course, on the way there had to be an obstacle. It was not the kind of obstacle you would see in one of Lars Monsens (norwegian explorer) films, i.e. a huge river you have to swim over with your dogs in -60 degrees, with wolfes waiting on the other side. No, this was a one meter wide ditch, just wide enough so I couldn't jump over with a backpack. But when your biggest adventure normally is crossing the street in Oslo, this was one huge leap on the adventure scale. So I did like I've read and seen so many times in books and movies, I put a rotten tree over the ditch. And, I have to disappoint you. It worked, and I didn't fall in! I finally found what I was looking for. The old closed down (I hoped) rail road. I had seen this rail road on the map since several days. Next to it was written in bold "velo rail". 'velo' is one french word for bicycle, so I immediately thought it was possible to cycle on the rail road in some kind of dressin. So, several days ago, I started asking people if they could confirm this. Most people just shook their heads. They had never heard about that rail road, and at least not about "velo rail". The tourist offices were no better. It was somewhat clear that no matter what "velo rail" was, the brand making had gone seriously wrong. My last hope was in Sully sur Loire. This was really close to the "velo rail" text on the map, and also where the path I followed took of in another direction, to come back to the rail road here in Argent. I asked the reception of the camping in Sully. "Yes, yes" they said and started running around collecting brochures. You could bicycle along the rail road. "So it's not some kind of bicycle on the rail road itself" I asked. To this question they paused for a moment, looked at me, looked at each other, and then we all started laughing together. The joke of the day, bicycle on rail road, ha ha. Well, that was several days ago. Now I was on the rail road in the middle of the wood and walked along it. I was thinking to myself it would be possible to cycle along it with a heavy duty off road bike. A bit further on, a small sign which must have been destined for the bikers said: "1 km to Argent". And then a bit further on, a new sign read "cyclo dressin stop". I got this mixed feeling of being right, but that it didn't do me much good. A bit like what it must feel like when you are overrun by a truck, but you had the right of way.

When I arrived in Argent, I asked two old ladies whether they could recommend me a hotel. I also, of course, asked them about the "velo rail". "A-ha", one of them said "that must be the sound we hear every wednesday!". They thought it had to be some kind of dressin they said, but they weren't sure. In any case the rail road station in Argent was shutdown. But the rail road started in Aubagne, so that was probably the starting point of the dressin too, they meant! The two old ladies turned out to be 83 and 85 years old. I asked what the secret of staying so fit was. The answer was "When we feel like walking we walk, when we feel like sitting down we sit down, and our husbands are in the churchyard, so we only have to worry about ourselves."

I am going to Aubagne now, to solve the "velo rail" mystery.