Poitiers to Angles sur L’Anvin

June 12, 2024

Today as we left Poitiers we had a bad start; Dave fell over as he was getting started on the bike from our hotel. It was on a small pitch on cobbles and he forgot to turn on his juice or downshift. (Honestly, I think he just wasn’t focused because we were all chatting). He was fine, although he banged his wrist that he has been nursing a bit with arthritis, but there were no consequences other that of his wounded pride.

Our ride today was to Angles sur L’Anvin, one of those plus beaux villages. The ride continued with the rural theme, with us seeing well-kept fields with barley, wheat, beans, and a few crops we have been unable to identify. After some google research we did figure out it was rapeseed. (See pic below).

Weather was dry but blustery. We stopped in Chauvigny for lunch, and our charming waiter with competent English somewhat laboriously explained the formula midi options (three courses) before we asked for the carte to order a burger for Dave/ Jill and chicken burger for Eric/Melinda. From the trays we saw carried by with the waitstaff, we are pretty sure about 90 percent of the diners ordered the full meal deal including dessert and coffee. Very different habits.

We had seen this crop everywhere, growing like a weed across the countryside, but we had no idea what it was. Later we learned that it's rapeseed, the source for Canola oil.

Out of order pic of Angles. The handrail looks very low because additional cobblestones were laid on top of the street after flooding, but the handrail was not replaced.

The ruins in the village of Chauvigny where we stopped for lunch.

We rode by a ruined chateau on the way out of Chauvigny and up to a plateau and then wound up on busier roads for most of the afternoon ride, the D2 . It wasn’t annoying, as there was not that much traffic, the shoulder was wide and we tend to dawdle less in the afternoon.

We passed this moto-cross park after lunch.

Angles appeared out of nowhere and is perched on a ridge just oozing with French charm, lots of flowers, well-maintained stone buildings and for those buildings that aren’t well-maintained, they are decaying gracefully! A scenic fortress ruin looms over the town along with a waterwheel on the river. Our inn was in that scenic mode; the Lyon d’Or had parts originating from the 11th century, and the building was creaky but presented well and was oozing charm. It came with a friendly dog, Titov, who wanted to play fetch constantly with his beat up chew toy, but who eventually settled down beside our table when we had a drink in the courtyard.

We literally came around a corner and came across Angles sur l'Anglin.

At dinner we very much enjoyed a rather unusual wine varietal unique to the Loire, Pineau D'Aunis. The owner was very excited that we ordered it.

We had time to stroll around before dinner and explore. The town only has a population of 350 and not much was going on. It’s still early in the season. A great time to tour in France.

Today's ride: 55 km (34 miles)
Total: 1,505 km (935 miles)

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