October 5, 2021
Montlouis-sur-Loire to Vineuil
The rental tent turned out to be worth every cent. Rain started at 5am, increased in intensity, then started tapering off at 9:30. That's when we made our getaway, with a dry tent, dry clothes, and dry bikes. The remaining drizzle fizzled out after an hour.
We managed to keep our spirits high based on the weather forecast of partly sunny skies for the afternoon. When we encountered dirt trails, the muddiness slowed us down and made our bikes rattle with the noise of sand rolling around between wheel and fender. Paved trails and roads were perfectly fine and not slick at all.
Lunch was the highest priority upon reaching Amboise. We crawled up a hill to what was supposed to be a grocery store, but instead only offered curbside pickup. Then we had a bit of trouble finding the next place down the road. Once we had our provisions, we were very eager to find a place to picnic. We rode around Clos Lucè, which turned out to be a very walled-in affair, so we coasted past the touristy old part of the city, thinking that returning to the riverbank would give us the best chance of finding a table. No luck. We continued to follow the route east out of town. Sunyoung was riding on fumes, so we set up our little tarp next to a barren field. No table, no view, but we made it work.
Shortly after lunch, we crossed paths with an a Canadian bike tourist heading the other way. I always view this as an opportunity to swap info about good places to stay, what to watch out for, etc., but he said he was wild camping, and didn't offer us any advice for our eastward journey. He was weird and fun and harmless. A good guy to chat with but probably not someone I'd ever choose as a touring partner.
The route took us up through farm country, with the occasional cute little village. Sunyoung had been dragging her heels all day until we found this lovely coffee stop right off the trail:
The caffeine buzz lasted until we reached Blois, or rather reached the view of Blois from across the river:
This looks like the kind of city that would be very fun to explore. Our campground is a ways beyond, so it's unlikely we'll backtrack to it tomorrow. Let's just put it on a bucket list for a future trip.
The nights are continuing to get colder, yet here we are camping again, and planning to camp again tomorrow night. I guess we're just gluttons for punishment. I'd like to make it to Nevers in three more days. That might be pushing it. We'll see.
Today's ride: 69 km (43 miles)
Total: 1,694 km (1,052 miles)
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https://www.cycleblaze.com/journals/knees/day-nine-nevers-to-vitry-sur-loire-a-lucky-find/
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