Canterbury to Rome Day 14 – to Charleville -Mézières
It was a very nice day when I woke up in Montherme. This was spoilt when I dislodged a filling in a tooth while flossing. It must have disturbed the nerve as it was very sore.
Heading on to Charleville -Mézières
I packed up and headed on down the river to Charleville.
I had got it into my head that it would be easier to get the tooth fixed in Luxembourg. I headed to the railway station the buy a ticket for the train. As it turned out, there was no space available for the bike.
As I was discussing options with the SNCF bloke, I told him that I need a dentist. He told me that his dentist was not too far away and wrote down his details. He also sorted out a ticket to Luxembourg via Metz for the next day.
Tooth Fixed
It took me a bit of time to find the dentist. I pressed the bell on the door. I nurse appeared wearing a face mask. I told her that I “needed to see a dentist”. She clearly didn’t speak English. I pointed to the missing filling in my mouth. She motioned for me to come inside. This involved unloading the panniers off the bike.
Almost immediately I was taken into the dentist’s surgery. He spoke very good English and asked me what the problem was. He had quick look in my mouth and said “I can fix that, I just need you details”.
I gave him my British Passport. He asked if I was related to Jonny Wilkinson. I told him that I wasn’t, but the mere fact that I had the same surname seemed to be in my favour. This bloke seemed to be big rugby fan and we talked about the forthcoming RWC.
The procedure cost me EUR 33.74. This is less a quarter of what my Sydney dentist would charge. I am not sure if French dentists also get paid by the government. If they don’t, they are not going to be able to afford multi-million dollar houses in Mosman anytime soon.
Camp site near the river
With my tooth fixed I rode to the camp site very close to the centre of the city.
It was a short walk back across the Meuse River back into town for a meal. I found a really good restaurant just of the main square.
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