October 9, 1993
To La Cherite
Another very flat day, downstream along the banks of the Loire, under beautiful skies - the first day in a week tht we spent most of the day cycling without coats or long sleeved shirts.
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The morning again was dominated by the problem with my chain. I started the day with the bike in a higher gear, having decided that yesterday's adjustment was unsafe because the wheel was insecurely set into the stays. Unfortunately the higher gear left too much slack in the chain, resulting in a very tempermental ride - fairly frequent slippage and binding, and finally leading to the separation of the chain. I had great difficulty getting the chain back together the first time because the pin was set in at an angle. I was practically beside myself when, finally successful, I discovered that I had connected it on the wrong side of the frame. Fortunately, the second reattachment went much more smoothly.
On the plus side, this was a much more natural gear to ride in. I seemed to finally have hit on the right combination in Nevers, when I succeeded in adjusting to the correct tension in this gear. The remaining 40k of the day were mechanically uneventful, as we steamed along at about 25 kph.
We failed again today at our main tourist goal here, to visit the interior of a chateau; but we succeeded in others. We began the day with the 30k ride to Chevenon, a chateau site according to the map and my memory, arriving there at 11 in spite of the broken chain incident; only to find that it is a inor chateau and not open to visitors. oh well - on to goal mumber two: biking another 10 miles to Nevers, we visited the main book store in the city to try (as we hae in every decent sized bookstore for the past three days) to find titles in English. What luck! There was exactly one: The Gift, by Nabakov - apparently previously specifically ordered by someone who the failed to return for it.
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Our visit to Nevers, a very lovely monumental city, had several memorable moment for us in addition to locating a new book:
- We had an interesting but brief conversation with a youngish English speaking man with family in San Francisco;
- We had an entertaining and again brief conversation with a non-English speaking man who wanted to hear about our trip and to describe a previous ride of his own.
- We watched a man playing his bagpipes on the banks of the Loire.
- We enjoyed a visit to St Cyr cathedral, with its intriguing and colorful modern stained glass windows. Designed by five or six different artists in generally abstract patterns, they are a part of the restoration of the cathedral from World War II damage.
- And, finally, we got to see the inside of a chateau - however, we found it totally uninteresting. The Nevers Chateau, beautiful and impressive from the outside, has a single tower open to the public which is primarily a modernistic museum.
The rest of the day's ride, 40k to Le Cherite, was a delight once we escaped the traffic of Nevers - more lovely riding along the Loire and its canal; beautiful blue, warm skies; and above all, a normally functioning one speed bicycle. We pulled into our stop for the day shortly after 5, again settling for a room which required our presence at dinner; and then walked out to explore the intrigues of Le Cherite.
This small town is a delight to wander through. It has a lovely 12th century church (its bright, fairly modern windows cast a rose hue on the stone inside in the low evening light) and the extensive ruins of a former chateau or fortress - which besides being interesting in its own right has some wonderful overlooks of the city and the Loire. As we waited for dinner we stood on its ramparts watching the sun set across the river, listening to the cathedral bells chiming to announce Saturday evening's service.
Dinner, our third or fourth complete meal in the past week, was wonderful but very filling. It included a huge tureen of a delicious bean-based potage, fried cauliflower, grilled steak (Rachael) and chicken with mushrooms (Scott), desert, and a half bottle of red wine. This has got to stop. After this week we are starting to lose our hard earned trim biker's profile!
Today's ride: 80 km (50 miles)
Total: 2,446 km (1,519 miles)
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