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An Excellent Adventure: Building Character Along the Way

It takes character for two young men to travel by bike the length of France, setting daily goals and reaching them, eschewing creature comforts in favor of a simple life, making every action and word count. But it took characters they met along the way to make the trip that much more memorable. In early September, Falmouth Academy 2010 classmates Ben Bianchini and Mike Deasy set off for a fourteen-week adventure of a lifetime.

Having decided to delay their matriculation to the University of Massachusetts, Ben and Mike began their journey to discover France by bike – actually, Surly long-haul trucking bikes, purchased in Falmouth, flown overseas in a box, and assembled in Paris. Mike had spent his junior year of high school in Rennes, to the west of Paris, and has a superb knowledge of the language. Ben, on the other hand, had taken German at Falmouth Academy – which was handy when they met Herman the German – and relied on Mike for translation. The plan was to get to Nice, over 1,500 km away, and then to fly out of Rome by December. Armed with maps delineated with colors to identify safe roads versus major highways, and panniers filled with camping equipment, bike repair items, books and clothes, Ben and Mike chose Versailles as their first stop.

From Paris, they began their trek to what they thought was a “white line” safe road. It turned out to be a highway. They decided to make camp and attempt the trip when it was a little safer, like 3:00 a.m. the next morning. They biked for six miles along the highway. Ben said, “It was a little terrifying, but a highway worker took pity and led us 20 kilometers to a bike path off the highway.”

Versailles attained, they fell asleep under the statue of Louis XIV waiting for the palace to open.

From Versailles, they made their way to Rennes. To save money, Ben and Mike were practicing “Camping Sauvage,” or wild camping as the French define it, having decided only to stay in “very cheap hotels” when they were in major cities. Ben said, “Our main camp site was the edge of a field, preferably near a brook.”

They quickly learned to eschew modern comforts and happily came to appreciate simple pleasures. Ben said, “We discovered that our joy did not come from the big things, but the small, subtle things that we experienced.” Averaging 30 miles a day, with a range of 10 to 60 depending on the weather and the sights, Mike and Ben would pass van Gogh-like landscapes and suddenly a castle would appear on the horizon.

“During the first week, we met a baker,” said Mike. “He was our first character. We woke up really early one morning and were waiting for a bakery to open. All of a sudden, the window opens and a friendly gentleman leans out and asks us if we’d like some coffee, bread or pain au chocolat. He fed us for half an hour before he opened to the public.”

At times, they would stop for a little coffee and book time. Ben had brought classics, like All the King’s Men, The Iliad, and Hamlet. A passion for him, books, 30 of them, made up the bulk of his trip souvenirs! Mike brought a Kindle, which proved to be their only means of communicating.

“The battery lasts for a month,” he said, “so we’d turn it on, check email, then quickly shut it off!”

At other times, to rest or seek respite from the warm weather, Ben and Mike frequented a lot of stone churches.

A favorite pastime for them was searching for hidden architectural treasure. “It was astounding,” said Ben, describing a stone cross set in just the perfect location. “We sat and watched the marriage of the architecture and the sun and mused that something so perfectly situated had to have been done by someone who had studied the sun for days before deciding where to build.”

Mike said, “I loved that in the countryside, you could come across a village that had maybe 20 houses, a town hall, a bakery and then a church right in the middle. Inside it would be so silent, you could feel your heart beat.”

They met “Herman the German” during their first weeks of travel. “We believed in the inherent good of humans and trusted we would not be hurt or have our belongings stolen,” said Ben. “Herman was another traveler, like us. We took his picture, and he took ours!”

Another character they met along the way was dubbed “The Polish Man.” Mike said, “He had traveled a lot, like to North Africa and Eastern Europe, and he really liked what we were doing. Although he had virtually nothing, he was extremely generous. ” Ben said the Polish Man gave them three Euros and took their picture on his phone. 

As they entered Bordeaux, they were coming into wine country. “I can tell you that there is no finer taste than eating grapes right off the vine,” said Ben. Still practicing “camping sauvage,” he noted that vineyards can also be open hunting grounds for birds and even wild boar.

Mike and Ben met Christian south of Bordeaux in the foothills of the Pyrénées. After asking permission to sleep on the edge of his vineyard, “he asked if we needed anything, and even though we said no, he drove into town and brought us all sorts of supplies,” said Ben. “The next morning, he invited us into his house for a breakfast of fresh croissants. He gave us a jar of his homemade prune jam, of which he was very proud. We weren’t too keen on it, but we accepted it. A while later when we ran out of food and had nothing but part of a baguette and this little jar, we certainly appreciated it and discovered it was the best jam we’d ever had.”

Outside of Villefranche de Rouergue, between Bordeaux and Montpellier, Mike and Ben met Manu and Ruth. Mike remembered, “We were camping on the side of the road, and they stopped and invited us to camp in their yard. They let us take a shower. He was a stone mason and had a little vineyard.”

There were only three days during their trip that Mike and Ben had really bad weather. On one of them, they holed up in a café for about five hours awaiting the end of torrential downpours. It was there that they met some wandering grape pickers who invited them to join their group.

“Although they looked a little scruffy and out of place by a few decades, they turned out to be the most generous, kindest people,” said Ben. “They fed us and let us shower in their campers. They offered to let us work with them as they went from vineyard to vineyard every few days. We declined though, intent on continuing with our journey.”

As they approached southern France, Ben said the countryside transitioned from grapes to olives. “The colors of the landscape were just gorgeous. We became very in tune with nature and really appreciated the simple things. The days were very warm but the nights were chilly.”

Heading towards Montpellier, Ben and Mike experienced the zigzag roads in what they called the “Clash of Mountains,” where the Pyrénées met the Alps.”

It was here that Mike and Ben invented their own character, “The Mountain Man.” “As you go on with only your thoughts for company, you have to devise ways to keep your mind occupied. We came up with this persona who would take us in when we were exhausted and feed us fresh croissants.”

As the weather started to get colder and grayer, Mike and Ben spent a whole day biking uphill in the rain. Not finding anywhere to buy food, and being tired and frustrated, they just pulled off to the side of the road and set up their camp – not following their own rule of camping where they couldn’t be seen.

“But,” as Mike said, “there didn’t really seem to be anyone around for miles – until the police pulled up, their headlights pointed straight into the tent as they woke us from our exhausted sleep.” Mike’s pronunciation was a little off, due to his lack of sleep, and he exclaimed that they were terrorists – instead of tourists! After some sweet talking, the boys were allowed to continue their journey.

As they approached their destination of Nice, they realized they were a little ahead of schedule, so figured they’d venture further into the Alps. “While heading into the heart of the mountains, we were told to check in at the fire station before going ahead. They wouldn’t let us go into the mountains because the roads had closed due to snow. We were crushed,” said Ben.

But they made it to Nice and stayed two nights before grabbing a flight to Venice and then Rome, spending a few weeks in Italy with relatives and heading back to Falmouth.

“The best thing about our trip is that there were so many people who helped us out,” said Mike. “Some people were mean, but there were way more who helped with directions and questions.”

“It was a tremendous experience,” said Ben. “I think anyone can do this. You don’t have to train, but it is recommended. We liked riding bikes. We had an idea and followed through with it. We had little money, but a lot of heart.”

Mike agreed. “You have to be willing to do anything. You get into the flow and it gets much easier. You won’t be ready for a situation until it faces you.”

He said, “The coolest thing for me was writing letters and postcards and really discovering the power of the written word. Without electronics, you learn to make every word count.”