Vineuil to Jargeau

October 6, 2021

We probably missed out on seeing some great stuff today. We also saw some great stuff today. We saw snakes:

We saw donkeys:

We saw a nuclear power plant up close!

The winds carried on all night and into the morning, so we did our little "breakfast in bed" trick again. Finally, rain no longer threatened. It turned out to be perfect riding weather for the 80% of the time we had a tailwind.

A longish day for us, again mostly spent up on the levee. Several river crossings broke up the monotony. Like I say, it's the good kind of monotony in which you just pedal along cranking out the kilometers.

An early stop at the boulangerie in Muides-sur-Loire led to one of our most fabulous lunches to date. The baguette and desserts we got were out of this world. Here's the place they came from:

The "main" La Loire à Vélo route (it constantly breaks off onto little branches and side trips) takes you across the river to Orleans, down this wide pedestrian/bike promenade which then splits into a narrow bike path and a wider pedestrian path before you cross another bridge back to the south side of the river. I was expecting a lot of traffic lights and such, but the beauty of being next to water is that there are few intersections.

A beautiful bridge with a dedicated bike path

A long ride along the river, and then, surprisingly, a canal, on the southern fringe of Orléans

A less beautiful bridge, but still a dedicated bike path, to return you to the calmness of the levee

We soon passed a recreation area. Even on a Wednesday afternoon, there were plenty of people of all ages out enjoying themselves. That's super nice to see. I'm sure many French people work like crazy, but there are obviously just as many who have achieved a good work-life balance. Every time we encounter a closed shop or campground, I remember that, and it makes me smile a little instead of beating my head against a wall.

The last few kilometers of each day involve a countdown in which we mostly think about getting off our bikes and setting up camp. It's always a treat when the campground is right off the trail, as was the case today.

I tweaked our schedule a bit. We're not quite going to finish this stage on Friday, but we're going to get within striking distance of Nevers, and that's plenty good enough.

Straight from the campground side gate to the trail. Nifty!

A wild château appears from out of nowhere

Somehow I ended up taking more photos today, so here's an action shot of Sunyoung

Another one, this time with the nuclear plant in the background

Today's ride: 84 km (52 miles)
Total: 1,778 km (1,104 miles)

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Michel FleuranceFrom boulangerie pâtisserie, ask for éclair au chocolat or éclair au café or religieuse au chocolat or religieuse au café.
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