Mon 21 to Wed 23: Combourg-Brittany to near Sainte Maure de Touraine-Loire Valley.

July 23, 2014

I am not managing the early starts in the mornings that I would like. The days, hours of daylight are so long this time of year, I'm cycling until after nine of an evening; so supposedly, it isn't easy to be bright eyed and bushytailed at the crack of dawn the following morning. I don't rise until eight of a morning since I've been in France. Though I'm thinking of making an effort to stop earlier in the evening. Say no later than eight. And perhaps I won't be feeling so tired and unable to get up the following morning.

Sunday's poor progress and feeling of exhaustion by the end, I put down to riding with a slight crosswind and headwind, the usual near the channel coast. That wind should drop as I head inland.

Anyway, late start and only fifteen kilometres covered when I stop at a big Super U on the way into Combourg. A do a lot of checking fruit and vegetables, because its one of those places you weight and press the right button with the appropriate fruit or veg, and the stick-on label with the price comes out. Not as easy when you don't know the French for something, or French for the certain variety. Then I've to fine alcohol for the stove. Glad the surgical spirits I had been burning is finished, as it boiled up and bubbled and reduced down to a thick goo, producing a smoky flame and sooting up the pan.

A droplet of water clings to the gear lever of the bike when I look out first this morning. It may have rained in the night, or just a foggy dew. The grey fog clears as I get on the road. My aim to make it well into the Loire Valley by lunch, which I almost achieve, being barely out of Brittany yet. Though the grey skies have given way to blue and the temperature is going up.

There's a huge Super U in the centre of this town. The young check out girl motions to me to put the shopping basket underneath when I've off-loaded my items upon the belt, then commends me on the neat way I've put fruit in one plastic bag and veg in another, putting the labels in an easy to scan row. I see Katherine on her name tag. Not a usual name for a Frenchwoman.

Returning outside to the bike, there's another loaded touring bike leant on the rail for cycle parking next mine, and a rider sitting eating a peach on an ornamental rock seat. I straightaway am drawn to his bike. A Dawes Ultra Galaxy in a nice mat grey and Reynolds 853 badge on the seat-tube. The forks look like cyclo-cross, wide with lots of clearance for big tires and mud, and there's nice shallow drop handlebars. The balding rider when we talk, I notice has the same accent as myself. Paul is his name, from Lisburn, a city to the southwest of Belfast. Paul tells me this is his first serious tour; from home to the southwest of France and back. And as he's left his job, is considering a much longer tour.

There is trouble in Accien, a town by the Loire river I reach later in the afternoon. Near the town centre there's a narrow underpass and the alternative cycle-path isn't too straightforward. I miss the start of the path and have to quickly haul the bike up off the road over a high curb as the road goes down. Then taking the cycle-path which shares a pedestrian underpass, it comes up on the wrong side of the street, which I later find out the reason for, crossing the long narrow bridge spanning the Loire. I'm on the bridge with a line of cars following slowly behind me, a situation made worse by cones and maintains work, when I notice a separate cycling carriageway, a separate bridge for cycling to the left.

Late in the day, already in wine country and temperatures rising higher, I'm setting off from having stopped for a refreshing cold drink, riding through the streets of this town onwards, when two little curly haired kids, a boy and a girl geek out from a first floor balcony and shout down at me, "wooooo!" Nice children. I wave back.

Taking a rest with my Michelin map at hand.

French wine is fabulous. Not only that, its so cheap to buy here. Red wine is good for you, so the doctors say. Wine reduces stress. Well if you're feeling down, drink some, and soon you'll lighten up. There's also nutrition, like iron. And it isn't the only thing that is good in France. The range of fruit and vegetables available in Supermarkets, and cheaper than in Ireland and the UK, meaning it's easy and much cheaper to eat a healthy balanced diet. Fruits like Apricot and Peaches, if they're available, tend to be so much more expensive in Ireland and UK, meaning it's usually cheaper eating unhealthy processed food, like pasties.

Another thing, France is a good beef country. Its the home of the Continental breeds of cows mostly used nowadays. I buy a steak for a little over two euros. A nice lunch cooked in the open air on the Trangia. It got so warm a big flame engulfed the meat, so it is nicely done.

My road follows the north side of the Loire all day until reaching Samour at four when the heat is stifling. It makes me droucy and a little out of town, now on the south bank, I've to find a place in the shade to lay down a while.

The road to Samour alongside the Loire river.

Tractor driver looks on as combine harvester turns.

Houses built into caves. I think used to mature wine.

Today's ride: 346 km (215 miles)
Total: 2,113 km (1,312 miles)

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