People of Europe: The Good Samaritan

Our first day on the cycling tour had its frustrating moments. As I mentioned in my previous post about that day, Mark and I chose to do a part of the route backwards, something we really enjoyed and no regrets doing, but it put us a bit behind, and we were pretty much on our own come early afternoon. Everyone else was ahead of us.

So, coming out of Cruseilles - the town where we had had lunch - we got a bit lost. Mark's Garmin was saying to go one way, and my map was indicating that we should go another way. As we stood at the side of a highway leading out of Cruseilles, trying to figure out where we should go, a middle-aged man (who was probably younger than us), trotted across the highway and said in broken English, "You look a bit lost."

The city hall in Cruseilles. Mark and I had sat on the bench in front to each our lunch. There is a patisserie (bakery) next door, where Mark got a sandwich and I bought a small quiche provencal (pictured below). Then we each had an almond croissant for dessert.

I showed him the map and indicated the route we were supposed to be on, which was a teeny road leading out into the countryside from Cruseilles. He looked, nodded and said, "I have car. Come, follow me. I show you."

Wondering if we had heard correctly, we crossed the highway behind him. He got in his car, where a woman - presumably his wife - was already seated. He then made a u-turn and headed up a fairly steep hill, indicating with his arm out the window that we should follow him. We did. His car disappeared from sight, but after we made it up the hill, we saw that he was waiting for us. He then headed up another hill, and again we huffed and puffed up the hill after him. 

Eventually, he pulled over and indicated that we were on the route we needed. We profusely thanked him, then I asked him if I could take his picture. Both he and his wife smiled in delight, and the result was the photo pictured above.

There are kind people all around us. We were blessed to be reminded of that on Monday.