Day 20: Chatelain to Mayenne

August 29, 2024

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We walked over to the building which our hostess had said last night would be the place for breakfast. But just to add another slight glitch in our stay here, the door was locked. We had to go rap on the window to get the lady to come and unlock. Why on earth would they have locked their kitchen door, way out here? Was it to keep us from raiding the fridge in the night?

Mr. amd Mrs. Hosts were actually quite hospitable this morning, asking us (as is required in France) if we slept well. But the breakfast offered was the rock bottom of what you find in this country, being one croissant and 1/4 baguette each, hot drink, and commercial yogurt. No cheese, ham, fruit, cake, sweet bun, or even juice.

The plate of bread is for both of us, eh.

It was a shame, because the place really was gorgeous.

Dodie packs up at our beautiful but not so welcoming stay. The bikes sat outside here unlocked for the night. No thief, and not many others, could likely find this place.

We spottred this nice specimen tree on the grounds.

It's a Cedar of Lebanon. This is our second time seeing this famous species - first one was at Ussé castle.

We made our way down the slippy driveway. It's not so bad way out here near the entrance.

And we turned onto the obscure access road. GPS actually makes all this easy, though there are no signs.

Dodie had only pedaled a little way before realizing that her handlebar was askew as was her left brake lever. These are easy to fix, with the tools we have on hand, but it did illustrate that her bike took quite a hit on the driveway yesterday.

We were soon on the road from Chatelain to Chateau Gontier. Again, it was great riding through farm country.

We didn't go in to Chateau Gontier, merely glancing at some of the buildings. I guess we were eager to get on with the day's distance. At this point we had not yet realized that we had misguessed the distance to our stay at Mayenne, and it was going to be a long one.

We picked up the tow path of the Mayenne river. The river and this path would be what we would follow for the entire day.

The crushed gravel surface of the path made for easy, but dusty, riding.

At intervals along the river, sometimes as close as 1 km apart, there were weirs (barrages) and locks, often with former flour mill buildings.

There was also a smattering of lovely stone houses. This one featured a Normande cow, a breed we would love to have at home. They are small and docile, and with those cute rings around the eyes.

Other types of anmals could be seen as well, but these Alpacas were unique.

Every lock had some type of lock house, plus usually a mill building. This particular one got a photo because we had stayed in it the other time we were here - whenever that was!

Some of the riverside buildings were rather large and grand - like this one. Whatever its original function, it didn't seem much in use right now. OK, a little digging reveals this as Château de la Rongère: In the 13th century, the old feudal place of Rongère controlled the river below. This feudal fiefdom has been passed down from generation to generation in the same family since 1294: at that time, Henri de Fougères, Lord of Rongère, sold the estate to Macé de Quatrebarbes who passed it on to his current descendants, the Chavagnac family, to this day.The current castle was therefore built very close to the feudal mound, the only vestige of the old stronghold.Three wings were successively built, Louis XIII, Louis XIV, Louis XV, the first two of which were restored in 1890. A very beautiful "French garden" created at the beginning of the 18th century added to the majesty of the place. Sculptures embellished the site in the 19th century. Like most chateaux today , this is one you can visit for a small fee.

Not all is lovely old buildings, along the Mayenne. Here is a gravel operation.

We reached Laval, which is the major city on the Mayenne before Mayenne city itself. Laval featured a beautiful medieval church, and an old stone bridge. There was probably a modern city, off the river, but we characteristically just stuck to the trail.

Basilica of Our Lady of Avesnières, in Laval

The Old Bridge in Laval is from the 13th century. It was also the only bridge here, until the 19th century.

Looking across at some part of Laval, from the cycle way.

Dodie has been calling the white cattle we are seeing Blond d'Aquitaine, but I think they are too white, and must be Charollais. But this one, now, does fit the bill, I think.

We really do not much mind cycling long kms on a canal, or in this case, a river path, always finding something to interest us. But the sheer act of spinning up 85 kms was getting wearing. We are known to stop for a break, but never for more than a few minutes. So it was good when a rain sprinkle began, and we stopped to put on our rain jackets. Another cycling couple stopped nearby for the same reason, and a chat started up. Now, while we won't just stop and rest for no reason, we are known to chat endlessly. We found that the couple was from Vendée region, had driven to Angers, and were doing an 8 day loop, up to Domfront, and around. By the time we had recited our own planned route, ten minutes had passed. This was just the right amount of rest for us to comfortably complete the run to Mayenne. The couple was also headed to Mayenne, and said they were staying in a hotel. We told them our destination was Chez Josiane, where the rate for the night was just €29. They said they had spotted that but bypassed it, because they mistrusted what they would find at such a low price.

We soon ducked off the Mayenne path, and into the outskirts of Mayenne. After the quiet river it was a bit of a shock, with a fair amount of traffic and a lot of outskirts type retail stores.

We found the chambre d'hotes, and we greeted warmly by Josiane and her husband Denis. Ok, so our place here was just a rather cluttered spare room in their rather cluttered house, with one shared bathroom, but you know what? We feel much more comfortable here in a homely space with a nice welcome, than in last night's gorgeous place, but where we felt we were intruding.

We also spotted a few birds today, including one - the Gray Partridge - that we had been looking for and that scampered off before a camera could come out, the other day. The remaining birds are old favourites, but we still like seeing them.

Today's ride: 85 km (53 miles)
Total: 582 km (361 miles)

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Scott AndersonHey, thanks for the preview! We’ll be biking from Mayenne to Laval with Susan in a few weeks.
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3 months ago

Steve Miller/GrampiesTo Scott AndersonWe really need to coordinate our trips more carefully in advance. Always so near, and yet so far.
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3 months ago