Saint-Denis-de-l'Hôtel to Ouzouer-sur-Trezee

June 6, 2023

Heart

Comment

We got away from the hotel this morning at about 8:30 to grab some breakfast snacks from the boulangerie before we got back on the road. The decision for our route today went backwards and forwards between shorter distance and bike path several times and as we stood at the boulangerie and watched the traffic on the road we decided the bike path was a much better option.

And what a great decision the bike path was. Once we crossed the very busy bridge back to the other side of the river we were back on the elevated smooth paved trail. The biggest obstacle we had was the other cyclists we needed to pass.

Riding a tandem is very different from a single bike or half bike as we like to call them. Dorthy, our bags and us come in at over 440lbs when we are moving down the road. So rapid acceleration and deceleration is not something that happens often. We start slow and wind her up. Once up to cruising speed we can travel along nicely but slowing down for obstacles is something we try to avoid. I am sure we appear unfriendly to many as we come from behind and quickly pass with not much more than a bell ding and a bonjour.

Swans on the Loire. We saw a big flock nesting on the islands in the middle of the river.

Todays ride was one of those days were we could wind Dorthy up. Perfectly smooth surface, flat and no head wind yet. When we have these days we just eat the miles up with what seems effortless riding. We put in a good hour before we came to the next town and need a coffee stop.

Another hour of riding and we arrived at the Abbaye de Fleury. The abbey was originally started around 630 AD but at some point got disbanded and the reformed in 1944 by a group of Benedictine monks. The abbey has 25 monks that live and work here now. Unfortunately there was some sort of service going on so we could not go inside.

Abbaye de Fleury. If only I could have got them to move the car.

Back on the bike path we came across the same four French people we have been bouncing along with for the last couple of days. We would pass them on the bike path only to have them pass us again at one of our many stops. This time however they were spread across the path and one of them who spoke english explained to us they had found a phone on the trail and they believed it belonged to an Australian. They had seen the kangaroo on our jerseys so flagged us down in case we knew the other Australian. No such luck but it was a nice thought.

After Sully-sur-Loire we got back on to the perfectly flat and smooth bike path and powered on. The headwind was light, the scenery was picturesque, the trail was smooth and we were rolling well. It was one of those perfect bike touring moments.

As the day warmed we even got some shaded sections.

Madelynn had looked up another boulangerie for lunch in a small town and we went slightly off route looking for it. We found it but it was closed and did not look like it had done any business for a while. All was not lost though as we actually had been carrying enough food and there was a very nice covered table in the park opposite complete with water.

After we devoured the food and our rack bag got considerable lighter I took a walk around the park. First stop was to pay my respects at the First World War memorial then onto the church that had sections dated back to the Roman times. It is amazing how old some of the churches are that we are passing.

First World War memorial. Every small town park we have been in has one. Not that you can see it in the photo but this guy even has a nice French mustache.

Church at our lunch stop. Some parts of the building are from Roman times.

For our afternoon entertainment someone provide some Scottish highland cattle. The one below was very friendly and I think if Kathy could have made it through the bramble she would have been able to pat him.

Our afternoon was spent cruising on the last of the loire velo that we would see. We still had great bike lanes but ended with one small section of gravel before we came to the Briar canal.

Komoot lied, There was not supposed to be any unpaved trail today.

On to the next bike path, the Briare canal. We are on this one for a couple of days until we reach Fontainebleau. We started at the Briare aqueduct which was and incredible sight, over 2000 ft long bridge with a canal right down the middle. We even got to see a canal boat cross.

My girls stop for a last look at the Loire.

Tourist barge crossed the canal just after us.

We could not check in until 5pm so we took advantage of the ice cream stop on the canal.

As we left the ice cream stop we started riding off only to feel that soft squashiness on our front wheel that can only mean one thing, a flat tire. Maddie swears she heard a "swoosh" as we rolled away and that was our tire going down. There was no swoosh, she was just on a sugar high from the ice cream.

While I set to fixing it an Australia guy spied us from the road, parked his car and came down for a chat. By the time I had the tube replaced he was still wanting to chat but as we had another 5 miles to go and food to pick up we had to push on.

The last five miles was again just perfect riding. Nice smooth bike trail, water views, shade from the sun and no cars.

Our b&b for the night was out in the country and we had a beautiful terrace to enjoy the evening and eat our dinner on.

Maddies desert plate. I had a photo of Maddie holding the plate here before but I was told to remove it.

Today's ride: 46 miles (74 km)
Total: 420 miles (676 km)

Rate this entry's writing	Heart	1
Comment on this entry	Comment	0