Day Forty Five: Cheny to Montargis: (Year 45: 2012)

November 4, 2017

Flash Back to 2012:

When we reached more or less the Atlantic from the Pacific in 2011, we were looking for another challenge, and our gaze turned to Europe. Soon we had gone London to Vienna, and then in the same year Victoria to Mexico in winter. We can remember the routes of trips in 2011 and 2012, but after that they multiplied. We have had to create a list for ourselves to keep them straight.

In 2012 Amelia came to the farm, sparing us the need to cycle over to her

2012 was the year we started with Bike Fridays. We stuck with these "toy bikes" until we had to replace Dodie's this trip.

We were fortunate to have Sandra to drive us to the airport and then be there to help watching the farm. This was our first trip to Europe ever.

In England we clearly met the Queen, but she did not say much.

Josh and Sabrina with Amelia and proto-Evee.

Joshua and Sabrina's family is growing. Evee was born just before Josh's birthday/our anniversary.

We impulsively decided to cycle the Pacific coast in winter. The roads were extremely tough.

Dodie is a notoriously slow cyclist, but she gets there! Her emblem is the turtle, and she often has a stuffed one or key chain with one on her bike.
She is a Speed Turtle, like this:

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Fast Forward to 2017, France:

Our hostess at Les Bains came up with a really nice breakfast, including eggs cooked to order and lots of bread and croissants. But the nicest touch was putting out more Stollen and also some really fine back bacon. It turned out her husband had just returned from the Czech Republic and had brought back these items. It was really nice to share such limited and special stuff.

Yesterday I promised we were done with canal riding and photos, but I must have lied, because here is how we started:

Actually, that only lasted a very short time. But then we were on the river - the Yonne.

Actually, that only lasted a very short time, and the day then resolved into its main pattern - over hill and dale and into a head wind, out in the fields. Headwind is just so darn tiring. It took quite a bit of mental fortitude to keep going in it

Before we really got down to slogging it out we did get a break, at Joigny. It
did not look like much at first, but of course you have to go through junk to get to most old towns. In the case of Joigny, once we had basically arrived at the old town we hit the covered market, which also had the classical clothing and knick knack market going outside. Something that we love at such markets are the chicken BBQ trucks, and this one had two. Unfortunately we had had too good a breakfast and were not yet hungry.

Inside the market building, there were the now expected multiple bakeries, butchers, cheese stalls, fruits, and vegetables. This one stood out, though, because first of all the bakeries had two local specialities. The one is called gougere, and had been mentioned to us at Les Bains. It's a choux pastry with gruyere cheese through it. Super yummy. The other is brioche with praline rose. This is a regional specialty that we really got into in the Spring, after Michel from Nantes had got us looking for it.

At the time that Michel made his initial presentation he also recommended that we go find Mazet in Montargis. Mazet is the famous Montargis maker of praline. More on that later.

The same bakery that had the praline rose also had some unique eclairs. I liked the one meant to resemble a nun. A little risqué, I thought, even in modern France.

The other big thing was the vast selection of cheeses. Some of this was Epoisses. Not that we bought any, because - how to carry it? But Epoisses in an AOC from the town, a little south of Montbard. It is a soft cheese that is apparently really good.

There was lots of other great stuff, with a bit pictured here. Part of that was paella, some but not all with seafood. I find these so intriguing, with their great aromas and appearance - always in giant woks.

Every time we are in a market like this we dream about living next door. We would be so healthy, and life would be so full of flavour. Sadly, we know that once home we will be having to get in the car and driving to the giant supermarket. Yuck.

Joigny had some nice looking buildings, adjoining the river and back up the hill that faces the river, but we knew we had to push on.

Gougere is a really good local specialty

Brioche with praline rose is another local specialty.

Paella. I think this one was labelled cous-cous.

We made our way past the dump and other less attractive bits, and finally were out in the country. But this is where the land descended to villages by little rivers and then climbed back up. We got ourselves totally exhausted. We even had to peddle on the downhills because of the wind, and then push up the up hills.

We had the option of cancelling at Montargis, if we would not be able to make it. But really, there was not a single place to stay along the way. No option then - just slog on.

One encouraging thing was a field of sunflowers. Dodie laughs at me because I expect all sunflowers to pay attention and look my way. But these were very polite and did just that!

At Cudot. Little towns that lack a bakery may often have a bread machine, where the baker deposits fresh baguettes. Clearly this machine is puzzling the three locals.

Our road has not changed much all day. We were able to largely find quiet D roads. They had very little traffic. However many of the drivers that did happen along were going too fast and/or passed to close. It is also amazing what a high percentage will pass on a blind corner or hill.

As we approached Montargis we started to follow our GPS into which we had put the location of the Ibis we had booked. It took us right down the main walking street of town. There were so many people out, it surprised us - until we remembered that this is Saturday. A family walking toward us had a teenager with a shirt that said "Canada", so we stopped to say hello. It turned out she had just spent two months in Ontario on an exchange. The conversation gave me the chance to ask about Mazet it turned out we had just missed it - at the entrance to the walking street. So we turned sharply around and went to find it.

Somehow we had formed the idea that Mazet would have brioche with praline rose, but no. They have chocolates and various boxed praline. All very expensive, I thought. Still I bought a small box - beautifully packaged - so now we will be carrying it because we do not have the heart to rip it open.

The GPS was taking us down the walking street because unusually, the Ibis was set up in a heritage hotel site right in the downtown. We like that a lot. Strangely though, this Ibis lacks some of the amenities we have found at others. For example there is not only no kettle in the room but no coffee even in the lobby. The desk clerk did not want me using hot water from the breakfast room either, so I had to get the restaurant to fill my thermos with boiling water so as to make instant coffee and be able to eat the brioche with praline rose. Life is pretty harsh out here on the road!

Everyone was out shopping and walking in Montargis.

Free praline tasters. Given the prices, one should at least take a few of these. Praline is basically candy coated almond. They sell it a lot in New Orleans, too. Here, of course, its production is a sophisticated craft. Wikipedia makes a distinction between French, Belgian, and American praline.

Today's ride: 75 km (47 miles)
Total: 1,875 km (1,164 miles)

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