Left the Espace Bernadette Catholic hostel just before eight for a good, smooth ride of just over fifty kilometres, mostly along paved bike trails parallel to the Loire.
We had one mid-morning coffee stop at La Charité-sur-Loire, which has a big ramshackle old Cluniac abbey church in the middle of town which was established in the ninth C, then collapsed, rebuilt, burnt, rebuilt, and modified since. The front courtyard used to be part of the interior nave, some of the walls have extra buttresses thrown up over the centuries, and it’s generally an interesting mess.
We’re staying at another campsite with bungalows, which are common and a great option for our group.
There were plans to bike up the hill to Sancerre proper and see the town, which is apparently lovely, but we’re back to afternoon temperatures over 30 C, so all ambitions evaporated in favour of hanging out in the shade at the campground.
Short day tomorrow as well, so we’re planning a sightseeing ride up to Sancerre in the morning then heading further down the Loire to Briare. A post-dinner tour might also happen, if food and evening cool restores some ambition…
