19 May, 2015

At least it isn’t raining this morning, although it is cold and there is a very strong, gusting wind.  We make steady progress towards the Loire – our turning point when we start to head eastwards.  By lunchtime, there it is in front of us, the Loire estuary, a fast flowing, muddy brown expanse of water.

We’re back on the Eurovelo 1 again.  For a short time the Eurovelo 1 and 6 follow the banks of the Loire together before they separate, with the Eurovelo 1 continuing north and the Eurovelo 6 continuing to follow the Loire.  This is the cycle route that will take us all the way to Slovakia.

The good thing about turning eastwards today is that the wind becomes a tailwind pushing us along.  So far we have had cross-winds the whole trip because we have been travelling north.  We just hope the wind direction stays the same, giving us a tailwind for the rest of the trip.

The cycle route takes a path right alongside the river most of the time, even when passing through Nantes, which is a big city, we do not lose sight of the river.  After Nantes we are back into farming countryside riding mainly along farm tracks.  There are gangs of workers in the fields picking salad crops.  We are getting back into the swing of spotting the cycle path signs, which, as I have said before, are posted in some strange places and are not always obvious.  On one occasion I had spotted the sign at a T-junction ahead facing the track we were travelling along, but when we reached the junction it wasn’t there.  Ken thought I had been hallucinating, but I knew I had seen it.  I got off the bike and searched in the ditch – there it was; a tractor had driven by as we approached the junction and it must have knocked the sign off!

We are using a new set of maps now, which are specifically for cycle touring so we have the camping sites marked along the route.  The first site we pass is closed, not opening until 15 June.  We are suddenly concerned that we may struggle to find somewhere to sleep.  However, our fears are unfounded as we find a really nice site at the village.  We think we may take a day tomorrow to catch up on washing etc.  The weather forecast for tomorrow is not too good either, so another good reason to take a day out and hope for better weather the next day.