You are courageous, I am adventorous

A very happy girl in the French forest.

Day 6, Sunday: 81 km, Meilhards to Aubusson.
What's new: I love this!
Tool of the day: My super rain jacket from Sherpea!
Hero of the day: Susi. Susi. Susi.
Soundtrack (listen to this while you read this post): Mighty oaks - Just one day Danke Laura! Fürs Logo-Design und dieses Lied.

When I woke up this morning, anxiety kicked in again. The window was wet from the rain, and I was still traumatized from the long and exciting day yesterday. "God, you need to be strong for me", I prayed and thought of the donkeys.
(Yesterday's blogpost updated. Go, read it, it's a crazy story) :)

Having breakfast with Susi, Francois and the two little ones was comforting and heartbreaking at the same time. I want to go cuddle on the couch and watch KIKA, too! But it felt so good to speak German, and Susi gave me my laundry she washed and dried and that was a happy moment. While I had my coffee, I felt that my spirits were coming back.

"Tu es courageuse" is a sentence I heard a lot these past days. But when Susi told me this morning how eight years ago, she decided to marry the man she loved, Francois, and move with him to the French countryside for good, I realized: I might be adventorous, yes - but the people I have met along the way are brave.

The thing is: I don’t have to do this. This is only a thing of two weeks, not a decision for life. I don’t risk anything. If my bike gets stolen, if my body hurts, even if I just don’t feel like it anymore – I can just get the train. I know my parents will always have my back and not heistate to hop into the car and come pick me up right where I am if there's a problem. 

Yes, I know: This is a big adventure and I know I am not an "Angsthase".

But courage to me is to make a decision that changes your whole life. A decision that changes everything you have done so far, and no going back (or no going back without being terribly hurt). Decisions like that terrify me! If you have ever made such a choice, let me tell you this: "You are courageous, I am adventorous."

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Today was (physically) the hardest day I had so far - and (emotionally) the best! I had so much fun, I felt like Louis Armstrong on his tour de france: On drugs. I smiled like a happy penguin, even though it rained on me all day. At one point, I felt like I was swimming when I flew down a hill and all the rain splashed into my face. And there was never (!) a flat part of the street - going up and down all day by myself in a 50-kilometer-long hilly Forest. 
And because it was Sunday, it was "treatday" and only 80 kilometers were on the plan. Now trying to get my stuff dry and off to dinner with a lovely British couple I met in town.
 

Going downhill again. No one out there, just me and my bike.