April 18, 2024
Day 72: Saint Florent le Vieil to Angers
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We were somewhat put off 0ur hotel, Le Petit Pecheur, by the fact that we almost could not understand almost a single word the people there said to us. In retrospect we think they might have been speaking Breton, or some hybrid of that and French. We do not even really know if we paid or not. I went to the young man running the desk and said that I thought I still owed for the night's stay. In the exchange that followed, I got him to speak very slowly, put my hand on his shoulder and cocked my ear. But I had no idea what he said.
One great thing about the hotel was that our window opened directly on the Loire. Across the river we had a good view of the Saint Florent le Vieil abbey. This is where the people who were shot in the meadow we passed yesterday had been held. Of course the abbey had a long history prior to the Revolution, and a long history since. Today it is (perhaps boringly) serving as an art gallery.
As we set off up the Loire, our main observations were of how fast the river was flowing, and of how much water there was on the not river side of the trail. There has obviously been a lot of flooding, but perhaps its a normal amount for this time of year.
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The up front two doors small front construction used to be the toilets.
4 months ago
The lan all around is very green, with lots of grass fields, crops like leeks, and many flowers. Wisteria is particularly common, and we see it all over growing wild.
Towns are distinguished by which side of the river they are on. Here, across the river from us is Ingrandes sur Loire.
On our own side of the river we came upon a strange looking set of structures that were labelled as a coal mine and lime furnace. It is from the 19th century.
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Le four à chaux ou chaufour est une catégorie de four à calcination dans lequel on transforme le calcaire en chaux par calcination et accessoirement où l’on cuit la céramique. C'est généralement un ouvrage vertical fixe et ouvert par le haut, mais on trouve également des fours horizontaux et rotatifs.
https://association-ampf-blere.jimdofree.com/dossiers-documentaires/les-fours-à-chaux-de-bléré/un-four-à-chaux-comment-ça-marche/
4 months ago
Somewhere after MontJean and before Chalonnes the track jumps onto the totally agricultural Chalonnes Island. This is where we ran into a "route barrée " . Or usual procedure is to ignore these, until we are forced to admit that there really is no way to pass. In this case, we did not see the reason for the closure, but we came to a very thorough barricade. Ok, so we backtracked and went around the blockage. At the other side there was a similarly convincing barricade, but again no hint of the why. We almost sent me charging along to find the reason, or not, but decided that after all it would not be worth the effort to find out what was going on. Our guess is a flooded road, though that would usually trigger a "route inondée".
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Looking out to the river, swans could often be seen. They are so common that we usually will no longer get their photo.
We stopped for lunch on church steps at Possonieres. Opposite our seat was this fine looking building. It is obvious now that bright white houses with bright orange roofs are a thing of the coast. Here we are into stone walls and dark slate roofs.
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The next four shots are also from Savonierres. They just generally illustrate the appearance of the place. We are definitely not in a "sugar cube" village in Spain any more!
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Other interesting things popped up as we neared Bouchemain and got ready to head on in to Angers.
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Une toue ou toue cabanée est un type de bac servant de bateau de pêche fluvial traditionnel de la Loire, avec ou sans cabane.
Il y a aussi des gabares.
La gabare ou gabarre (de l'occitan gabarra) est un type de bateau traditionnel destiné au transport de marchandises. Deux types de navires sont désignés par ce mot : les gabares fluviales et les gabares maritimes.
11 minutes de visite privée d'une toue cabanée
https://youtu.be/qOqv46ix2y0
4 months ago
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The first you see of Angers are the distinctive round towers of the chateau. The photo shows perhaps six, but around the corner there are more. Maybe ten in total. It's a dramatic design.
Just before crossing the river into Angers, we ran into a troupe of kids on a bike outing. We were interested to see how they were doing, because they were about the size of our own grandchildren. They seemed fine.
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We have been to Angers at least once before, but we never really went downtown. This time our hotel was right in the middle of it. We were surprised at how intricate and beautiful the architecture is. We really loved it, and we've decided to stay an extra day.
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A few years ago I was told names of cities and towns in California are printed on tee shirts and the like just “to name something”, not knowing they are real places/locations not even close to each other.
What do you think?
4 months ago
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FNAC is the French equivalent of Best Buy in North America or Media Markt in Germany. It is quite high priced. We find ourselves in there when one of our electronic pieces has failed, and therefore it is not exactly our favourite shop. Well yesterday Dodie's battery bank failed, so we were sure to track down FNAC in Angers. It happens to be in the middle of downtown, so that was easy. However, the battery banks were about 50% more costly than in Canada. Dodie compensated by downgrading to a 5,000 mah version. That's a small rating we don't even see at home any more. But, it will do the trick. The trick is to keep the Osmand running on her phone all day long.
Near the FNAC was a camera store. I am interested in such stores these days, since from time to time a "better" camera has been discussed for me as a birthday present. They had the camera I have been talking about - the Nikon P950, on the shelf. I was a bit surprised again at how big it is. Not only would that not go in my pocket, it would fill my handlebar bag almost entirely. Also, the disproportionately sized lens strikes me as ugly. But you know what? there is a good chance that the "birthday fairy" will come up with one. Not here, though. Once again, the price is 50% higher than at home.
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4 months ago
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Today's ride: 57 km (35 miles)
Total: 3,526 km (2,190 miles)
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Comment on this entry | Comment | 5 |
I’m glad you had a good visit with Michel. The part of the Loire you are riding through is really scenic, but it seems that I have never ridden along the river , always across it, although I seem to have hit all the towns you’ve visited at one time or another. The slate roofs are easy to explain once one knows that one of the largest slate quarries in Europe was near Angers. I don’t know if it’s still operating, but it was in the 00’s. Great photos of the chateau.
Cheers,
Keith
4 months ago
One important question raised by Steve still reminds : pourquoi la rotation de la lune sur elle-même est très exactement synchrone, (verrouillage gravitationnel), avec la rotation de la terre pour présenter la même face aux habitants de la terre ?
4 months ago
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Pour être bref: c’est de la physique. Pour être moins bref, la lune est plus petit que le la terre, donc il a transféré son momentum angulaire de rotation a le révolution plus vite. Pour être complètement correct, il faut un physicien !
A+
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