The day started off promising, with clear skies and a solid breakfast provided by members of the local Varades cycling club.
We stuck fairly closely along the Loire on the 50km run into Nantes and the trail was easy to follow and generally good, although one stretch was unpaved and slightly rough.
Entering Nantes we went straight to the Ile des Machines and met an elephant – a three storey tall mechanical walking elephant, in fact. Photos tomorrow, I promise.
After meeting the elephant we had a very nice reception and lunch laid on by the city of Nantes, good food, speeches not too terribly long, and enough alcohol. I got lots of photos of the folks I’ve been riding with for the last six weeks.
The Nantes hostel is large and quiet, and not too far from the centre.
Eleven of us, the whole Anglophone contingent plus the ride’s solitary German, went out for dinner at a nice Indian curry place. People start leaving as early as tomorrow morning, so it was nice to have a good meal together.
No plans for tomorrow except to sleep in a bit and wander around Nantes on foot! Its going to be a bit odd not packing the bike up…
