Day 70: Bourbon-Lancy to Decize

September 29, 2015

Last night as we walked just down the block to the little restaurant, we stopped in at a very small bakery, that was just closing. The baker and his wife were there, with one (of three) little daughters. We were mainly interested in scoping it out for breakfast for the next day, and asked the opening hour. When told it was 6 a.m., it now being past 7 p.m., I advised the man to go right to bed. This produced a quirky smile, and some further conversation.

The man said he needed to work so hard, but could not make much financial progress, due to high taxes, which he said were in support of the social security system. He would like to invest more in his business, he said, but could not get ahead enough to do so.

So this morning (though not at 6!) I duly reported back to the bakery. There were several forms of baguette, and I chose one he called "country style", mainly because it was darker than the other styles, and I was reacting to the very light one from the market in Chagny.

I told the man that I was reluctant to launch into such a complicated topic in imperfect French, but still I asked him for his assessment of Banette. Again the quirky smile, but no passion. I think he does not face direct Banette competition here ( the bakery around the corner is also an independent). With a little encouragement the man did give his Banette analysis, surprisingly focussing on criticizing their flour, which he termed "industrial". I asked about the guidance they provide bakers in shaping, rising, baking, etc., and again, the quirky smile.

It reminded me of one time at work when we were interviewing for a statistician position. My boss asked the candidate - who turned out to be a very shy absolute statistics genius - what the boss thought was a real trick statistics question. The man just looked at him, and could only manage a quirky smile.

My brief interview with the baker had one more bit - I mentioned that I thought the baguette at the restaurant down the street was atrocious. This produced not the smile but a big sigh. He said he thought the people running that restaurant were amateurs, not artisans, and that he had given up on patronizing them. He then grew concerned, and cautioned not to go squeal about his opinion. I assured him that we were leaving town, heading for Nantes. Presumably, those restaurateurs do not read this blog!

Overall, we formed a picture of a great in his way, but feeling frightened and put upon, little man. We loved the guy. and his baguette - super! Dodie also said her croissant was the best ever, dripping with real butter flavour.

Baguette from the little bakery near our hotel. No Banette here.

We took the obligatory spin around the quite compact medieval old town. Though small, it offered lots of good photo ops. Surprisingly, the church is outside the walls, but no problem as we managed to wander outside as well. The church was normal, as these things go, but as usual there was some nice and unique stained glass. One piece portrayed what we think is probably the cathedral at Lourdes, a stop we have yet to make (not crippled enough).

Old buildings in the medieval part of Bourbon Lancy

The town wall is still there in many parts

The lady at the hotel suggested that we cross the Loire and head to the D15, which is a suitably small road running to Decize, between the Loire and the Canal laterale. Reading our own blog from four years ago, we learned that La Loire a Velo thins out in terms of available services and general interest, even before Nevers, and I guess we would have to agree. On D15 there was little to look at, just a straight road. Four years ago we had used heavy terminology like "Saskachewan" in describing this region as seen by bike.

We are generally easy to please, though, and in this case appreciated seeing all the Charolais cows. Charolais is one of the most popular meat breeds in France, together with Limosin. They have been around this region since the 8th century. It's too bad we did not get to Charolles, where there is a museum of the Charolais breed.

95 percent of the cattle in the fields are white Charolais here, but there are a few exceptions. One herd was dark red. The landlady at our B and B tonight told me what they are, but I did not properly catch it in French. Maybe I will ask her again tomorrow.

Three of zillions of Charolais that we saw today

Not all cattle here are white. These are Aubrac - tougher than Charolais outside.

D15, a little boring but it got us there

We must be getting hungry, Dodie was very interested in these roadside mushrooms.

Although we had thought that we had both beat any cold viruses, Dodie was affected today and did not have full power. So we decided to stop at Decize, rather than push on to Nevers. We very seldom stop early or take a rest day, and when it happens it is quite a liberated feeling. Suddenly there is time to wander around a town, consider more than the first place that we come to as a place to stay, and the chance to maybe work on the blog before being totally exhausted.

Usually, of course, the blogging suffers, as we use all our time wandering around the town.

This time, at Decize, we came first to the hotel at the marina, which wanted 64 euros. Dodie thought it would be a good idea, since it is right on our exit route for tomorrow. But I had spotted the Bel Air on the other side of town, for 32. So we compromised by going into town to talk to Tourist Information. Tourist Information said sure, take your pick. So we compromised by going back to the marina. The hotel there now declared that it was full. Rather than go back through town again, we settled on a nearby B and B that tourist information had also pointed out. It is called La Maison Maringue, and for 65 euros gave us a large and well appointed room, plus breakfast. The owner, Mireille, also has two lovely Borzoi's (Russian Wolfhound). They are a bit mischievous, and quickly ferreted out some (empty) food bags from the bikes and chewed them up. Only then did they reluctantly agree to pose for their photo:

The two mischievous wolfhounds. Thats Guimauve on the left and Fantasia on the right.

Decize is a small town that thankfully lacks ugly modern exurbs. You go over a bridge and are in an environment of narrow and often hilly streets, with old buildings and a couple of churches, nunneries, and such. It is not overwhelmingly large, and we were able to push the bikes up and all around it in an hour or so. One irritant is that there is no pedestrian area, and there are just enough cars circulating around the town that one always seems to be trundling behind you, applying pressure for you to clear the way. Often there is not really room for pedestrians and cars on the same street, though most are one way.

This Citroen is not parked, it is coming along a street.

There are two fruit stores near the square with the Tower, and we found a good selection of apples. There was a Russet variety (that they called Canada Grise) that was the same as Dodie used to eat with her father. Today (September 29) would have been his 104th birthday. In his honour, Dodie bought a bag full of their mutually favourite apples.

The former Minime convent, rebuilt in 1621.

Inside the Saint Are church in Decize. It has been rebuilt a bit, but seems very old.

Pope Francis in this poster seems to be encouraging us.

The Grampies have at last returned to the Loire!

Reading again our old blog, from when we were going the opposite direction along the Loire, we see ourselves lamenting the thinning out of services. That means we can anticipate an improvement, as this time we are heading west. The next bit, about 66km to La Charite (we are planning to bypass Nevers) may yet be thin on supplies. so we are planning on dropping in to an Intermarche we noted nearby. I am looking forward to that - so many grocery items to look at, so many heavy things to recommend we buy. It will be a fun way to start the day.

View from our B and B, shows the bridge with Decize in the background.

Today's ride: 44 km (27 miles)
Total: 3,338 km (2,073 miles)

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