Day 43: Jargeau to Gien, France: A Feeling of Well Being

July 1, 2012

A map we saw later in the day showed that the area of the Loire Valley with the world heritage site designation runs only from Angers to Sully sur Loire. During today we passed Sully, so it's sort of over for world heritage class stuff. There are still towns with great narrow streets, and there are still cathedrals and 11th century churches, but they are just not as thick on the ground as before.

Some very important things remain, though. First, there is the wonderful car free or super low traffic route, normally by the river or in sight of it. Next there is the chance to be out among the fields of mustard, wheat, oats, sunflowers, carrots, etc. There are flowers everywhere, and a sensory underlay for all we have done has been their constant perfume.

Not necessarily always the best architecture

We rolled in to Chateauneuf and went to have a look around town.

We discovered the main shopping street when Dodie spied a young man walking with the telltale baguettes sticking out of his bag. We projected his path backward a bit and soon could navigate just by the aroma from the bakery. As we neared, we encountered more and more people striding off with baguettes. I began to panic. How could there be any left for us?

When (15 seconds of anxiety later) we arrived at the bakery

we found a small lineup. However soon enough Dodie emerged with not only a baguette but also two small other breads (one with embedded walnuts!) and two pastry type things. The pastry things were a pear crumble and a plum flan? (had a special name we don't recall - comes from Brittany).

People are snapping up the baked goods at Chateauneuf. Leave some for us!

One of the best ways to use a bicycle - to pick up your baguettes

The bakery search had lead us to the main shopping street of town, where (despite its being Sunday) we found open two produce stores, a charcuterie, a chocolatier, two more bakeries, and a cheese store.

We found this to be a wealthy town in a lot of ways that count

What blew us away this time (as has happened almost daily before) was the intense good quality of everything we tried. The crumble and the flan thing? they virtually shouted out the knowledge, skill, and care of the artisan who had made them. The strawberries we bought, the artisanal little cheese, the raspberries, etc. each was really at the top of what man or nature has to offer. We left thinking how very rich the people here are, at least when it comes to food.

Down closer to the river we ran into a really giant garage sale. Here again, on a Sunday morning, the people were enjoying a gentle community activity. and out there on the river - kayakers peacefully stroking with the current. And back in the food division, they were BBQing sausages, not hot dogs mind you, but Andouille or Merguez, on a ...baguette!

A giant garage sale, called an attic clearer (vide grenier).

Good stuff for you - Avi, Violet, or Amelia!

While we were sampling the BBQ (research purposes only!) we ran into a couple from Holland. We seem to be now beyond where most touring cyclists are roaming, but there are many people from Holland in campers. The folks we met were in that category, but they had brought Bromptons, so they could cycle as well. Despite the Bromptons being just 6 speeds, they said they were more than adequate for day tripping in this region.

Met a Dutch couple, each with a Brompton.

Back on the trail, it was more sunshine, more fields, more interesting towns. We are getting to striking distance of Nevers, the end of the Loire a Velo. However as far as our six map set of Eurovelo 6 from St. Nazaire to Basel, we are still, I think, on map 3. As we cruised along I began to stress that we might be using up Europe and our time here very fast. No worries, Dodie reassured me, we have still gotten "nowhere" and have lots of time left. Whew!

We wish we were a little later in the season, to see the sunflowers bloom here.

The chateau at Sully sur Loire marks the end of the world heritage zone

A typical house outside St Florent - nice but not heritage material

Bonus Topic

1. Pigeons

Every evening of our time in England and France, that is every evening, we have been seranaded by pigeons in the trees. Their distinctive call seems to sometimes stress one coo or the other, as if they are trying to get you to uderstand. We also think the French pigeons may speak a different dialect from the English, but I guess we don't really know. What they all more or less say is:

Coo COOOOH, coo cuh coo. Coo COOOOH, coo cuh coo

It's a good thing we like birds, or they would be driving us crazy!

2. Weather

The weather has settled down for us, and what a difference that makes. Today we cycled from Jargeau to Gien. Yes, we did encounter some quirks about finding the route, and yes, I am sitting right now at a table out back of one of the rental caravans on offer at the Gien campsite. But I would never dream of spending the (quite reasonable) 30 Euros to actually sleep inside one. Instead I am waxing eloquent about the fields and the baguettes and the one river and river side activities. Compare that to Barry Duff's experience on the exact same bit of trail April 25th of this year.

Today's ride: 65 km (40 miles)
Total: 1,537 km (954 miles)

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