Day 17: Angers to Nantes

August 26, 2024

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Joe and I took the oppotunity for a slightly premature victory celebration, though at this stage we had not yet returned to Nantes. We did all cycle 350 km, sometimes in slightly dicey traffic conditions, with some hills, some rain, and some heat, and survived!

These cyclists look pretty smug, as they get set to put themselves and the bikes on the train back to Nantes.

However, before any project of retrieving our bikes from the parkade and finding our train could proceed, we all needed to walk back downtown in search of the Quernon chocolate store.

I had inferred that "quernon" merely meant a hunk of slate, so that the quernon candies, dressed up in blue chocolate, were just mweant to look like slate hunks. Basically that is right, but (in translation from French wiki) quernon is more complicated.

For what it's worth: "The quernon is the side of the slate schist where the querning is carried out. The action of querning consists of splitting a block of schist into regular pieces called repartons. The querning is carried out along a plane perpendicular to the plane of fissility by introducing a wedge called a "bouc" into a notch previously made with a saw. From the repartons, the splitter then extracts the slates."

The actual candy, or chocolate, was invented in 1966. You can see in the photo that it is mostly toffee.

Quernon, plus "slate" coloured macarons.

The shop has quernons in all sorts of packaging. It's quite a fun idea.

With the quernon research done, it was time to move on to a bakery. According to Google, there are 30,000 independent bakeries in France. If we would check out three per day, it would take almost 30 years to review them all! The Grampies might be weakening a bit in this endeavour, but Josh and the kids still have the energy (and appetites) of youth. Josh was saying that three per day might be a wimpy standard.

I never get tired of looking at great bread.

The parkade had a bike storage room for which we got the key from the hotel. It worked out well, and we emptied the room of our bikes, with no problems or losses.

Once we had the bikes, they needed to come back the one block to the hotel, and get loaded with all the gear, in order to shift over to the train station. The kids let the adults get on with it, hanging out in the hotel breakfast room.

Once we shifted to the train station, there was a further longish wait, for the track of our train to Nantes to be announced. A couple of trains to Nantes actually left while we waited around, but our train would be the special Loire a Velo train, with the added bike car and someone to load the bikes in and out.

Waiting at the station. Dodie and Joe found a sort of card game called Dobble, that helped the time pass.

With the track announced, we moved our whole show to the platform. The train then proved true to the promise, with lots of room for bikes and someone to put them on and off.

A short ride from the station put us back at the bike rental, Paulette, where it had all started, 14 days earlier. I think a lot was seen and experienced in this time, and no (permanent) injuries! After ditching the bikes, we quickly returned to the nearby bakery, which some would count as the true emotional starting point of the expedition. Josh picked up some stuff for breakfast, because he and kids need to fly to Barcelona too early to wait for breakfast at Le Spot.

After the "Kiss and Cry" early tomorrow, Grampies will immediately high tail it back up the river, beginning a 4000 km "serious" spin around France, Netherlands, Belgium, and Spain. While we obviously can not replicate the flair and excitement brought by the Grands, and the great photojournalism of Joe, it will still be fun. So stay on board with this blog!

And here, from Josh, a rare photo of Grampies with the grands. It's rare, because I (Steve) am usually the one holding the camera, while riding.

Today's ride: 5 km (3 miles)
Total: 373 km (232 miles)

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Jacquie GaudetI guess I'm a mean mom because I would have made the kids pack their own stuff.

Congratulations on completing the first overseas trip with some grands!
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2 months ago

Annette SchneiderIt would be interesting to hear what the kids really thought of their adventure after being home a couple of weeks. Anyway, great reading here on all counts. (says Grandma from her knitting chair, lol)
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2 months ago

Steve Miller/GrampiesTo Jacquie GaudetDodie was a "mean mom " also, but it is different when you are just the grandparent, especially when an actual parent is present.
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2 months ago

Steve Miller/GrampiesTo Annette SchneiderWe also would be interested in the kids' take on their part of the trip. Hopefully our daughterinlaw will send us their accounts as they tell them to her.
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2 months ago

Laurie MarczakDon’t be too lonely without all the extra company! Although I imagine the decrease in logistical stress will be compensation…
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2 months ago

Kelly IniguezThat was a fun read. Thank you for sharing Part 1 with us.
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2 months ago

Steve Miller/GrampiesTo Laurie MarczakWe will miss them all, but yeah, in many ways it ix easier with just us two.
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2 months ago

Steve Miller/GrampiesTo Kelly IniguezIt was a hoot, but Part 2 will be fun also.
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2 months ago

Ardell SiegelCongratulations on making wonderful memories with your grands! It was a really enjoyable read! Looking forward to the rest of your trip.
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2 months ago

Steve Miller/GrampiesTo Ardell SiegelThanks Ardell. We had a fun two weeks, but it will also be good to get back into our usual duo cycling rhythm again.
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2 months ago

Karen PoretWill miss Joe’s “take on things”..and his photos..hint, hint, Steve ;)
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2 months ago

Steve Miller/GrampiesTo Karen PoretWe offered to keep him with us, but he wants to see his Mom and all his friends. Go figure! Steve will have to focus more on horsey and donkey butts.
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2 months ago

Suzanne GibsonThe younger generation were certainly a refreshing and lively addition to our CycleBlaze site. It was great that you took them along and shared them with us. Now you can enjoy your twosome again.
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2 months ago

Steve Miller/GrampiesTo Suzanne GibsonIt was good fun to be with the grands, but there is a reason why parenthood is generally for younger people. We will enjoy going at our own pace, and especially the quietness.
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2 months ago