June 29, 2010
Checy - Cheateauneuf-s-Loire: Friends
It's only a short ride to Chateauneuf-s-Loire where we are going to meet our friends Ineke and Jaap. The campground custodian assures us we can follow the bike path along the Loire all the way, only 15 km. Shorter than on my map but I have no objections.
We pack up our wet tent - it rained during the night - and set off without breakfast. We just haven't gotten into the habit of carrying provisions in our panniers. We figure the terrain we are traveling is densely enough populated, we aren't in the wilds, we're not even in the USA where everything is so far apart. We should have learned from experience by now that it's a good idea to have some rations, but we haven't. So we leave on empty stomachs as so often.
We ride the path on the dam. The Loire is wide and has many sandbars and little islands covered with shrubs, in the morning light a picturesque scene.
After about 10 km our path ends abruptly, we are standing in front of an impenetrable thicket. The Garmin City Navigator map shows a road but in reality it looks like a road never existed here. Google maps also show a road. If you enlarge the map below you can see it. Puzzling, but the solution is simple. We backtrack.
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Of course this was all a good thing, backtracking and leaving the river, because we now pass through St-Denis-de-l'Hotel where we have a splendid breakfast of baguettes with ham and big cups of café crème. We then cross the river to Jargeau and shop for supplies in the supermarket. Maybe we have learned our lesson? For a day or two, anyway.
It's no longer far to the campground in Chateauneuf-s-Loire where our rendez-vous with Ineke and Jaap is to take place. We have just finished setting up our tent when Janos's cell phone rings. And if we look towards the entrance of the campground we can see the callers - Ineke and Jaap have just arrived.
We last saw each other in Den Haag over a year ago and it's a joyous reunion. Later we celebrate with melon and prosciutto and an apéro. The apéro is a bottle of sparkling wine our Dutch friends brought all the way from home for the occasion!
Today's ride: 23 km (14 miles)
Total: 1,042 km (647 miles)
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