August 12, 2016
An easy day: Chauvigny to St. Benoit
Yesterday's long ride and the rather bad hotel bed left me wanting a quieter day today, so I only rode to St. Benoit, on the edge of Poitiers. It's a nice old town, not many buildings but what is there is very old. The 12th century church takes pride of place, but best of all the campground was almost empty when I arrived. Empty except for a large group of preteen kids, grouped together at one end of the campground. I strategically placed my tent at the other end and went off in search of lunch. A bistro on the main square in town provided me with cucumbers in cream, pork chop and white beans with apple tart for dessert. Back to the campground to do laundry, which I hung on the bushes to dry, moving it with the sun. I sat in the laundry room with my iPad and wrote a couple of journal pages, but due to the slowness of the wifi I didn't add pictures. Laundry dry, it was time to eat again, this time at a restaurant across a small river. The kids were there paddling about in kayaks, but it was a well supervised outing, and they dutifully put the boats away and went off to eat somewhere else.
The restaurant was a strange mix of Maroccan and French cuisine, with a multiethnic staff. The food was OK, but not great. There was a young man playing guitar and singing in a soft tenor voice. He was pretty good, but I seemed to be the only one applauding. He sang mostly English language songs, maybe to please me, but it was a nice evening for it. I went back to the tent fairly early. And the kids were already back, too. I wasn't to hear a peep out of them all night. Kayaking must take a lot of energy at that age.
Today's ride: 35 km (22 miles)
Total: 284 km (176 miles)
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