August 13, 2011
A start along the Loire: An easy day and we camp!
Last night's hotel was great. It was very close to the station and the old centre of town, although we were once again into spiral staircases we were on the first floor so we lugged up the bags in no time. Our bikes were securely locked away in a garage out the back.
We set off early and first visited the cathedral. It was nearly destroyed by fire in the 1970s and has since been completely restored. This gives a completely different look as the stone is very white. Inside , unlike Chartres, it is very light and gives the impression of huge soaring height.
We found our way out of town easily despite the massive number of road works in the central city and were soon on the Loire a Velo. This is a route of 800km which will take us all the way to Never. It is on either dedicated cycle tracks or very quiet roads. Often the track is lovely smooth asphault but what I like even better is the fine white gravel. Of course the going isn't as good but the sound of the crunching gravel under your bicycle wheels reminds me of the romantic sound of vehicles on cobbles .
We stopped at the little town of Ancenis for a coffee. The bar was opposite a market and we watched all the locals arriving with their baskets and filling them with wonderful fresh produce, we bought peaches. The coffee, 2.8Euros for a medium cup was awful. It was very bitter and what was even worse had a strange smell, it made me wonder if the 'coffee' produced from acorns in World War 2 smelt like this.
The going was easy today because the westerly we had been plagued with continued but our direction had changed and we were now travelling east. At Montjean sur Loire although it was still only about 2pm there was a good looking camping ground so we decided to call it a day. The wonderful thing about this camping ground that anyone who has camped in France will appreciate is the each pitch has a picnic table with seats. Camped next to us is a French family with 2 children. Dad is pulling a huge trailer of gear and Mum and the kids much less. The small boy gets along very well but there is a slight problem with the teenage girl who has decided cycling is not for her (perhaps she needs a horse!). They have done 4 days of what is to be a month's trip as far as Orleans travelling about 30km a day.
Today's ride: 69 km (43 miles)
Total: 223 km (138 miles)
| Rate this entry's writing | Heart | 0 |
| Comment on this entry | Comment | 0 |