Dave, le anglais qui voudrait oublier

I met Dave at the Gueret camping ground. The manager had let both of us know of the presence of another English speaking cyclist. I went over to his site and started to chat. Soon I knew the basics of his story as he mine. Dave was around 40 and came from about 100 km north of London, he had been in France cycling since January this year, he had "issues" at home and he loved listening to the cricket.

I was most impressed with the fact that he cycled through the winter. This year had been a particularly severe winter in France. Dave was a strong believer in fate and told me a story about escaping a major Atlantic storm that had killed about 50 people. This, he attributed to a chance encounter and warning from another Englishman. He was an advocate of "wild camping" and this is what he mainly did so even being in a municipal camp site was a rarity. He had another story about being caught in the Alps with snow falling and a bicycle that was unsafe to ride. Here he was saved by two samaritans in a van.

We got on well for a while and discussed sport and politics quite easily. But reasonably quickly we lost interest in each other. A common language and interest in sport weren't enough to sustain the relationship. We shared a meal cooked (really more warmed) on his little stove. Even here, my choice of cheese was a point of difference. Dave had very simple food tastes.

It probably wasn't helped by my suggestion that he go back to England to deal with his issues. These issues are not for detailing here but, as can be expected, related to both home and work. Dave seemed a gentle soul and it was clear he wasn't ready for whatever confrontations were related to returning. Dave would rather sit out the rain in his tent listening to the cricket on the radio.

After two days of solid rain, I finally got away from Gueret early on the third day. Dave was still in his tent listening to the radio when I left. He poked his head out of the tent and we shook hands wishing each other all the best.