hamster wrote:Riding in NE France two weeks ago I was amazed how hard it was to find drinking water - the little villages are completely closed up in daytime and there are no shops, bars or tabacs. The only thing I could see were ponds with bright green water.
Same here, I've had a couple of issues in Brittany earlier this month. Carry 2 bottles on the bike and in this sort of weather it is not enough.
Searched around village churches, one did have a couple of taps which were disconnected and only offered a few drops. One village was all closed up with only an open door of a Tabac showing life, I went in with a couple of bottles to refill, but the man inside wasn't willing, but did explain there were public toilets near to the Marie, fortunately these were fine. Another occasion sneaked into a campsite late morning to re-fill.
Another occasion we stopped in the shade of a hedge to rest on an extremely hot day, a man came up and just informed us that the library building opposite had toilets and water round the back, very welcome.
So there can be water but it often seems well hdden, I would never have found the water by the Marie or library above, neither were signed or obvious.