Day Seventy Six: Neuville to Mayenne: Living Like Royalty

June 11, 2017

The day started with a bit of a heart stopper for me. The mill building we slept in had no wifi, so I was using the network at the creperie across the way. To show Dodie last night's blog I had to take the tablet over and load the page. That meant carrying it on the bridge over the lock.

Samsung has made the Galaxy S2 so slim and so slippery that I needed to be extra careful not to drop it in the drink. So as I crossed I was clutching it tightly and looking down at it. Bang! My right elbow hit a crank arm used for opening the lock and protruding into the walkway. I bobbled the tablet, and in the long second your mind gives you in such cases I thought about how unfair it would be to drown the thing after having tried to be so careful, and about how this was our last real link to the internet.

Fortunately I was able to stop the bobble and clutch the prize. The crowd would have cheered, had anyone been around!

Looking out the kitchen door at the mill building. Don't drop anything into the river!

Lucien and Evelyn came over at 7, bringing the baguettes and other fixings for breakfast. Evelyn had already told us that they would get the baguettes the night before, because the baker only comes at 8:30. Since breakfast was only baguettes, croissants, coffee and hot chocolate we realized later that we should have either passed or just asked them to leave the fixings with us. That way we could have made our escape much earlier.

As it was, we got to chat again with this nice couple. It was actually Lucien that had to cut out early, because as mayor of Neuville he had duties associated with today's election of federal deputies.

I was a little afraid to ask, but did learn that the two were supporters of Macron. We have yet to meet a hard core LePen supporter in France. We hope we never do.

Almost more than yesterday, the ride along the canal was a matter of hard packed path in front of us, river/canal to the left and fields or cows to the right. Rather than being boring we found this relaxing.

The water of the river was very still at this point

Of course the pattern was broken up in various ways. For example, Evelyn had told us of a walker who had slept somewhere nearby at Neuville and who had set off at 6. In due course, we ran her down. It was Marie Danielle, a lady who appeared to be about our age. She had set out from her home near Angers and was walking to Mont St Michel. That would be a short jaunt, since last year she had walked to Santiago. Once again the Santiago-alumnus thing kicked in and we reminisced together about the Camino. Marie pointed out that her doctor had advised against cycling, due to her varicose veins. So her response was to walk the 1500 km!

Marie Danielle. She beats the how to leave early problem by simply not eating. Tough lady.

The 630 km Velo Francette only has eight major towns along its length, Laval being one of them. The Mayenne runs through the middle of Laval, so sticking to the path we managed to blow right through without necessarily seeing a whole lot. One thing we did not see was any bakery, whether opened or (this being Sunday) closed. That spared any debate in the team about whether to pick up anything and have a coffee break. That's good, because a strong faction held the opinion that our bags were already stuffed with food. The other faction discounted that because the food was all healthy stuff like broiled chicken and tomatoes.

We did however at least spot the church of Avenieres. It's a good example of romanesque architecture but with gothic arches. The fancy spire was added in 1534 and rebuilt in 1873. From the river we could see other interesting buildings. Though we snapped some photos we have no idea what we were looking at.

Before long at all we were back to our country tour, with occasional chateaus to look at, plus interesting mill or other buildings at the locks.

We also found a very attractive type of toffee coloured cows. Like the Holsteins, though, they did not seem much interested in working, or even posing, since it was after 10 a.m. quitting time. They sure are cute though.

Each of the locks had something to look at - like this building and weir

The toffee cows - tired from a short day's work.

We ourselves were also beginning to think of quitting, and were looking at the listing for the Grand Hotel in Mayenne. Internet did not work for us, so we could not find the cost. (Would have been 77 euros, cheapest in Mayenne turned out to be the Traveller's at about 44). But a lady had alerted us to the possibility of sleeping in a chateau, and we spotted it - a very obvious sign along the veloroute.

The sign directed us up a steep but short hill, where we could see the back of the chateau. I scampered up and was dismayed at first to see white clad waiters or chefs clearing up what had been an outdoor tea. White clad waiters could spell lots of euros, but I approached one of them and asked if he knew the cost to stay here for a night. He said, ask the boss, and indicated another white clad fellow.

The boss turned out to be Jean-Marie, who was not a manager but the actual owner of the whole super impressive place. Jean-Marie quoted 79 euros, way less than I would have thought. We chatted for a short bit and I think in that time it was revealed that we were returning from Santiago and that Jean-Marie was a big walker and had also walked to Santiago, That may have had an effect when he phoned someone internally and found, I think, that the 79 euro room (probably in the dungeon) was not available. So he put us for that price in a 120 euro room.

Jean-Marie did try to sell us on the evening meal, which he would have thrown in for a total of 160 euros. I did look at the menu he proffered, and had to tell him that escargots, foie gras, and raw tuna were not our thing

He seemed ok with this, since Canadians are an exotic breed anyway. He said he had met another actual Canadian on the Camino, and spent a long time paging through his smart phone for a picture of this apparition.

Jean marie then walked me down to the garage, where we stashed the bikes in a huge space and he explained how to use the door lock. We would be able to spring the bikes loose at any early time. But in case of problem, said Jean Marie, just call me - and he gave me his phone number. Wow, what great service from the boss.

Jean Marie recounted to me that the chateau had been built in 1667. It probably was taken over by the state during the revolution, but at the beginning of the 20th century it went to the church, which ran an agricultural college here. During WWII it was occupied by the Germans. I am not sure what happened after that, but Jean Marie came to operate the retaurant. He eventually bought the place. That is, he bought the main chateau, the former farm house, and chapel. He then himself built two other buildings in a matching style. It is one of these that we are actually in.

Once you are inside, the building looks rather modern except for a few heavy beams.The room is also huge.

Even though Jean Marie is an informal kind of guy ( for example I noticed his heavily scuffed shoes) you are aware that this is a place where you can spend 160 euros each if you choose the wrong things in the restaurant. So when I sat on the bed and then noticed that this made the immaculate starched white sheets dirty, the equally immaculate bathtub got pressed into service to first wash us and then most of our clothes.

Dodie notes that her side of bed remained perfectly clean throughout!

Dodie and Jean Marie. He was a very nice and interesting man.

Part of our room. In some hotel rooms we need to plan ahead so both do not want to walk in the one foot margin from end of bed to the wall at the same time. In this room there were 15 feet from the end of the bed to the next wall!

The main chateau is only used for meetings. It did not seem particularly grands inside. We still wonder what is in all the other private (and clearly closed up) chateaus we see all along the route.

The bikes have a grand room to rest in, and lots of company. Those other bikes are all available on loan to guests.

One of the buildings put in by Jean Marie in the style of the originals on the property.

A Note on Branding

Before we came on the present trip we were aware that Tricia and Ken had taken a veloroute from Angers north. And we had read the Alstons, who seemed to often head from Paris toward Mont St Michel on a route verte. But though we knew of these things, they did not impact our brains quite in the same way as they do when that route through Angers is the VELO FRANCETTE and when that route from Paris is the VELOSCENIE. In each case there is a website, downloadable tracks, and a great Ouest France guidebook. There is no doubt even a tee shirt!

That makes these routes much more attractive. We have the tracks now and of course the Francette book. We are looking forward to finding a place to buy the Veloscenie book. Then we will delight in charging all up and down and across them both. In practical terms that means arriving tomorrow in Domfront, where the two intersect, and figuring a way to charge off madly in all directions.

Our time is growing short and we do want to play with Didier in Paris a bit, so there is no telling where we will actually go from Domfront - west to Mont St Michel, north to the D Day beaches, or east to Paris? Tune in and see!

More on the Camino

As you can see in today's report, people who have walked or ridden the Camino seem to have a greater reaction than they might for just any other route. and they feel a comraderie with one another.

Here below are some words written to us by Trisha Graham about the Camino, which we think are very worth sharing. Trisha and Ken walked the Camino three times before becoming too "weak" and having to do it by bike!

"Hi Dodie and SteveI was very pleased to hear from you. It really has been with great interest that I have followed your pilgrimage across the Camino. I wondered what effect it would have on you as you could got further along the journey. Certainly your increasing involvement with it was very obvious. To me the comradery of the whole experience is something that makes it so special. I remember particularly when we were staying in the enormous Albergue (250 beds) at Ronsevalle there was a shelf and on it there was a notice 'leave what you no longer need and take what need' this to me epitomises the whole spirit of the Camino. I was unprepared for the emotional feeling at the mass at Santiago hearing the words" two pilgrims have arrived today from New Zealand", listening to the beautiful singing of the nun and shaking hands with all our fellow travelers. We walked on to Finisterre which continued the experience then got a bus back to Santiago . On our return there was another group of recently arrived pilgrims, no longer did we feel part of it. I do hope that with Dodies knees repaired you will be able to walk it. We would love to walk the Camino del Norte but until I get my other knee done that is completely outside the range of possibilities. Maybe Donald Trump should walk the Camino, it may make him a little less egocentric and more inclusive."

Today's ride: 59 km (37 miles)
Total: 3,712 km (2,305 miles)

Rate this entry's writing	Heart	1
Comment on this entry	Comment	0