Tag: Europe

Not the best day on the road to Nantes.

Overcast but not actually raining when we biked to breakfast, but alternating between drizzle and proper rain the rest of the day.

Mid-morning I blew my rear tire, apparently by overstressing the rubber near the valve – I had neglected to pump air into the tire before breakfast and an underinflated tube flexes more.

We found a disused tractor shed to change the tire out of the rain, at least.

Fifteen minutes later, the new tube was flat. Probably grit inside the tire from that tractor shed. I borrowed one of Terrance’s spare tubes, changed it under a tree, and off we went.

Half an hour after that, just on the edge of Chateauneuf-sur-Loire, the latest tube blew.

This time I walked the bike to a cafe about two kilometres down the road and broke out the patch kit. Something had pushed right through the tire into the tube, so after a coffee I put a patch on both the tube and inside the tire, then had a second coffee, partly to thank the cafe owner for use of his terrace for bike repairs!

Naturally all three punctures happened on the rear wheel, which is much messier and more awkward than the front to deal with…

The tube in the bike seems to be holding, as is the patch on the second tube, but I’ll still be off to a bike store tomorrow for extra tubes.

After the flats and the rain we arrived at the hostel just south of Orleans wet, tired and irritable, in no condition to go back into Orleans to sightsee. We’ll see some of the city tomorrow, at least, and dinner at the hostel was really good, by far the best hostel meal we’ve had all trip.

Short and fairly straightforward ride up the Loire today to Sully-sur-Loire.

Enroute we had a quick look at another chateau at Saint Brisson sur Loire, this one with a collection of replica medieval trebuchets on the grounds that they apparently fire into a nearby lake on special occasions!

Sully is home to one of the really famous chateaux on the Loire, entirely surrounded by a moat and with classic pointy tower tops.

Lodging for the night was another gym floor, but this was improved by the fact that the property backed right onto the back end of the moat around Sully chateau, so we had a good spot for picnic dinner.

After yesterday’s heat, it was a bit of a surprise to wake up to rain and a solid overcast in the morning.

Checkout time at the camping bungalows wasn’t until 1000, so Martin and I left our bags behind for a quick trip up the hill to see Sancerre proper in the drizzle.

Great views of the Loire and the hills south of it from the top of Sancerre, but the chateau wasn’t open yet.

By the time we got back to the campsite and loaded the bikes up for the forty-five or fifty klick ride to Briare it was raining properly and solidly, and it kept that up all the way to Briare. Mild temperatures, at least, so it wasn’t too unpleasant.

Briare has the longest canal bridge in Europe, carrying the Loire Lateral Canal across the Loire itself. It’s a spectacular piece of 1890s engineering, in which M. Eiffel of Tower fame played a role.

Staying in a salle municipale tonight, which basically means camping in a big hall with forty+ other cyclists. Lots of room, at least!

A really short day tomorrow, not even forty klicks to Sully-sur-Loire, so hopefully the weather improves and we can do a bit more sightseeing.

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…