Like the Rhine, the Rhone is a transport waterway; the long-tailed cargo ships sail day and night. Nevertheless, I find sleep. It is raining and it has become noticeably colder. As soon as day breaks, I take the next barge up and head for a marina near Valence.
Wonderful, I think. Here I find a petrol station and finally a toilet. There is even a shower and it feels good to let the warm water spray over me. – A secretary is present and we quickly strike up a conversation; she lets me cook something in an alcove and gives me tips on the surroundings. Here I can also take out my laptop and do some work in the dry and warmth.
Later, I grab my bike and ride to a nearby shopping centre. And I notice how divided and irritable this society continues to be: already along the Atlantic coast I could eat something in some restaurants, but not in others – Corona has regional blossoms. Here, it seems to be particularly strict again; in the office, masks are officially obligatory, unless we are unobserved in a marina… In the shopping centre, I try to get lunch, but even in the self-service, there is nothing here without a ‘passe sanitaire’!
Nobody understands what exactly is going on, everybody shrugs their shoulders, complains more or less clearly, but the government has the majority of the population under control.
I drive back; when the rain starts again, I cover my cabin with the cover I brought with me (somehow rainwater seems to get in otherwise, and I don’t like that at all), say goodbye to the nice lady, and drive on. On and on. My days seem to consist only of driving – I want to go on, home.
Shortly before Lyon, again at a lock, the game from the night before repeats itself: moor, eat, sleep. No surroundings worth seeing, no toilet, no electricity.
Am I ill-prepared or just naïve? But I don’t like to plan, I don’t like to anticipate everything, I want to be surprised again and again – as I have been for the past half year. So I continue, upstream, deeper and deeper into the continent. Everything around me is miserable; it’s autumn, even in a figurative sense. – The everlasting summer that I have been experiencing in every way since May is now definitely coming to an end.