July 5, 2010
Bourbon-Lancy - Paray-le-Monial: How much further?
We're up early and on the road. The search for breakfast brings no positive results and we get on the bike path, resigned to our fate of once again riding on an empty stomach. When we finally do get breakfast, we enjoy it all the more.
We are now riding on a lovely bike path created on a converted rail bed. We aren't passing through any villages so we detour off to find a bakery in St. Aubin. We don't see any cafés or bakeries but we do see someone with a baguette tucked under his arm. We ask directions and he sends us to the little train station on the disused railroad line. Instead of selling tickets, bread is sold there every morning. When we ask where we might find a cup of coffee to go with our pastries, the cheery sales girl tells us there aren't any cafés in the area. But she has a coffee machine and offers to make us a pot. She even has milk in the fridge to go with it. The coffee is on her, she says, and wishes us a good trip.
We follow the path along the Canal Latéral and it's a lovely ride.
In Digoin we cross the Loire on a historical and elegant pont-canal, canal bridge. Here we have a picnic in the shade and watch the boats as they glide by on the bridge over the Loire.
In Digoin we finally part with the Loire which will now head south as we continue towards the east along the Canal du Centre. We ask ourselves, now that we have "done" the Loire, what our goal is? How much further do we want to ride? All the way to Munich? We're not sure since many days along the Loire have been tiring instead of inspriring and we're beginning to drag our heels.
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We look at the route to Munich and I shudder at the thought of climbing up from Lake Constance at the Swiss-German border. We think perhaps we could ride to the German border and then take the train. I know that there will be some beautiful areas to pass through along the Doub River and there is a bike path that sticks very close to the river banks, i.e. doesn't go over hill and dale. Before we set out on this trip, I had even prepared GPS tracks as far as Strasbourg.
The campground in Paray-le-Monial is tip-top. We spend the late afteroon looking around town and checking out restaurants for our evening meal. We are both feeling low on energy tonight. Janos is very tired, I have muscle pains. We again ask ourselves how much further do we really want to ride.
Today's ride: 47 km (29 miles)
Total: 1,330 km (826 miles)
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2 years ago