Day 74: Jargeau to Beaugency: Joan of Arc central

October 3, 2015

We warned the owner of the Cheval Blanc that we would be wanting to get our bikes and leave at 7:30. This seemed to be a stretch for him, but he agreed to be up for it. We noticed from our window that the bakery nearby was lit up early, and as we passed along the main street we found the butcher, the fruit store, and others also ready for business.

The bakery was a "Banette" and I was interested to try their baguette, now that I feel sensitized to the question of whether Banette is any good. We got one with some seeds in it, but it was not necessarily a "multigrain". We both felt it was excellent.

At the end of the commercial street was the church and the mairie, as it expected and proper. You may be relieved to know that we have no description of the church to present here. Church description holiday! (but watch out, we are heading for Orleans, just a few km downriver).

By the church (hey, "no church description" still permits "by the church") was a statue of (yes) Joan of Arc. The sign nearby says that after liberating Orleans, Joan moved on to fight here at Jargeau. She got hit in the head by a rock thrown by a Brit (which strikes us as very rude). The statue depicts Joan holding her head. Anyway, that's what the sign claims.

Reaching the river, at the bottom of the town, we were soon back cycling the dike. Even though the dike or the by the river path or the forest by the river path may sound a little boring, it is actually a large part of what this part of the ride is all about. After all, how can it be "La Loire a Velo" unless you spend some time just cycling beside La Loire!

Both the car driver and cyclist have abandoned the effort, and must have gone for a coffee.

Of course the other part is the presence of interesting villages and towns along the way. Already we have hit quite a few: La Charite, Briare, Sully, Jargeau are just some of the places, each with a lot of visual appeal and its own significant slice of history. But that has just been the warmup. Next on the route are Orleans, Beaugency, Blois, Tours, Saumur, Angers, and a host of others. This is the UNESCO world heritage part of the river, and it also contains a minimum of 50 mind boggling chateaux.

Chateaux, however, are mostly down the road in terms of this story. Right now it's all about Joan of Arc. Actually, before Joan of Arc, it's about food! Orleans may be the city of Joan of Arc, but we discovered it is also a city with a market on Saturdays!

The market is in a space by the river, with a nice roof structure to ward off rain. This is nowhere near the cathedral, so we relied on the GPS to find the correct quai. Under the long roof, vendors were arrayed to the left and right, leaving a narrow corridor. We lead our bikes through this, slowly, slowly, due to the crowds. Here we found that the French people were very polite, and anyway many had their own carts or baby buggies. Still it was excuse me, and waiting for an opening, just like in Canada. We walked end to end to see what was available, and then back, to make some purchases.

During the walk, I got picked up by first one and then another (and another..) persons, with the Usual Questions and Comments: are you from Canada? Are you cycling the Loire? How far have you come? I have visited Canada, you know, I went to Toronto, Niagara Falls, the Rockies, etc. My daughter lived for a year in Edmonton... etc. etc. Well have a good trip, bon continuation, bon courage! It was great. We felt really welcome and accepted here (just as everywhere in Europe).

Dodie could not resist some more of those "Canada" apples, or more great bread, etc. etc. We also got some chinese dishes and some samosas from an oriental looking fellow, and of course BBQ chicken and potatoes. It was all great, of course.

On the back of one of the vendors. clearly this is not the only market in the region

Next we pushed up the hill to the massive St Croix cathedral. This place has a lot of good cathedral fittings on the outside, like a lot of those mini spires with bumpy sides. It is a little weak though, in not having an insane number of carved figures in the facade. Inside too, it was very impressive, but then the cathedral field is full of impressive buildings. One unique feature inside was the use of flags. These are probably flags representing dukes and the like, but to us it was the colourful effect that was good.

Naturally the cathedral had a Joan of Arc chapel, though we found it a little hard to locate. The chapel incorporates a general war memorial, which makes sense, since Joan was after all a military figure. There are also plaques there from the British and the Americans, noting how many of their soldiers are buried on French soil.

In the end, one of the best parts was the gift stall at the back end. The lady there was very kind, and asked a lot of questions about the bike tour. We also bought a child's primer on Joan of Arc, great for us, and a map of all the chateau coming up, and a map of Joan of Arc's travel around this region.

Back outside, we found that the cathedral has two Joan of Arc statues, and that the cathedral faces the broad Joan of Arc avenue. Just down the avenue I noted the Joan of Arc bakery. That completed the Joan of Arc activities for the day! (except for reading the primer in the bath tonight).

Much of the stained glass told some sort of story with religious/political themes

Really all the rose type windows in churches are great

How about a Joan of Arc iPad cover? Mouse pads are passe!

Story of Joan of Arc - just the right level for us.

The Joan of Arc bakery - looks like it might be permanently closed, though

Front view of the cathedral from Joan of Arc street

Another interesting kind of architecture, just beside the cathedral

One of the Joan of Arc statues outside the cathedral

Coming down from the cathedral we found that Orleans has a goodly car free or mostly car free zone, and that the people were out strolling or sitting at cafes there. We also found one of those push button self cleaning public washroom units in the middle of a square. Came in very handy, once we figures it out!

The population enjoying mostly car free streets in Orleans

Back at the river, it was the familiar story of crossing a bridge and being back on the dike, or forest path. As we headed along these toward Meung sur Loire, we picked up first one and then another couple on bikes. In their turn, they cycled beside us and went through the UQs. Because of the longish cycling time, the conversations extended, into topics like hotel prices in various countries of Europe, good cycle routes and guide books, the Shengen agreement, the effects of the European Union, etc. etc. This made the kms go by, but as the topics strayed further from our normal, we began to have to reach for vocabulary. I was glad to see that even French people may not quite know the words for "gear ratio", "sprocket", "crank arm" etc. that were needed for some of the subjects we touched on!

Outside Orleans on the way to Meung, a real nun. This is a very uncommon sight these days.

We had thought about staying at Meung, but decided to push on to Beaugency, just 8 km downriver. Still we needed to do a quick check out of Meung. So we started at the bakery (for strength), and passed by the church and chateau. We were surprised to see that the Chateau is hosting a Barbie and Ken try on medieval clothing event. Well, I guess in a certain way it fits.

Our GPS and maps displayed at least four ways to get to Beaugency. We began by following Loire a Velo signs, but these soon disappeared and we found ourselves on a rough track by the river. We backtracked, used the GPS, and eventually got onto a good path. Beaugency, of course, has its own bridge and this one was quite unique, with two or three different styles of arch. Our hotel, the Relais des Templiers has a Crusades theme. We were a little surprised to find that the building is only a couple of hundred years old - a relatively new build!

We are not sure which of the many chateaus coming up we will actually stop by. We have the idea, though, of definitely including Chenonceau. This is not on the Loire per se, but on the tributary, the Cher. We will have to bypass Blois to head down there. For tomorrow we have no idea how far we will get. We will just head off and see what happens. Stay tuned!

The marked path to Beaugency peters out. Backtracking reveals where the signs went weird.

following the GPS to our hotel in Beaugency.

Today's ride: 57 km (35 miles)
Total: 3,617 km (2,246 miles)

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