September 12, 2021
Baignes-Sainte-Radegonde to Saint-Emilion
| Heart | 0 | Comment | 0 | Link |
Grateful for the opportunities to meet new people, for safe passage through hunting grounds and for the good and bad of a day on cycle-tour.
This morning's early departure was postponed by a delightful social encounter.
Last night, when a young family arrived on bicycles at the campground shortly after us we nodded the usual, polite hellos, but then this morning, as we were in the final stages of packing, we started a conversation that lasted over an hour. Mom, dad and the three children were on an overnight bicycle camping trip from their home in Cavignac, 40 kms away. The kids were about 6, 10 and 12 years old and full of questions. They reminded us of travelling with our own children at that age, experiencing the joys and challenges of a simple camping trip, and just like ours, the children were good family ambassadors setting the stage for the parents to overcome our reticence and actually talk.
Leaving the campground at 11am we continued on the paved rail trail and came upon people of all ages walking and cycling their way to a local celebration, the Festival de la Voie Verte. It was an idyllic Sunday in the country, family event with activities including juggling and balance walking for all to try, a small merry-go-round, puppet show, ponies to ride and old-fashioned bicycles to borrow. The cool shade of the trees on either side of the trail made for a perfect place to picnic and spend the day, but we needed to get some kms done.
Starting to get hungry we planned to stop in the next town, but being a Sunday in rural France, nothing was open. We dug deep in the food pannier to find some nuts, two stale cookies and an orange which would get us to our destination for the night, where presumably we could get some groceries or a meal. However, on arriving, it turned out to be a very isolated spot and le "snack" was no longer serving food this late in September, so we pressed on the 30 km+ to St. Emillion.
Nothing open at the next town because everyone was at the mini-carnival ... where there was a food truck! I didn't know they sold Kraft singles in France, but I'm sure that was in the jambon fromage panini. We had to remind ourselves that eating some really bad food in France makes the rest seem even better. The next part of the route was rough scrubland made particularly unnerving as hunters were out and the sound of gunfire was all around us. We like to wear our neon bike shirts so vehicles will see us, but we were doubly glad of Steve's neon orange that passed for hunting protective wear today.
We were definitely lost when we came to the busy A89 at Les Artgues-de-Lussac, so Steve plotted a new route direct to St. Emilion. Luckily, we had to ride only a few minutes with the heavy traffic before we turned off into a series of verdant vineyards interspersed with church steeples poking up from towns in the distance. It had been another 60km+ day in the 30C+ sunshine, so we were beat when we coasted into our nicest campsite yet. Steve had a swim before dinner and then we sat at the outside patio (thankfully, they were still open) for supper. The bad news was that the campground closes for the season tomorrow. The good news is that we have found a B&B for the next two nights in St. Emillion.
Today's ride: 69 km (43 miles)
Total: 606 km (376 miles)
| Rate this entry's writing | Heart | 10 |
| Comment on this entry | Comment | 2 |
3 years ago
3 years ago