24 May, 2015

Oh dear – another miserable start to the day – damp and grey.  Jackets definitely on today.  No solar panel either. On a better note, I’m going to ride without plasters covering saddle sores for the first time since the first day of the tour.  Let’s hope I won’t be needing then again tonight.

We’re starting with a really steep climb up past the château high above the river.  The view would be magnificent if it were not for the mist obscuring the river.  As we cycle along we see a crop in a field that we have never seen before.  It is a type of clover but I have no idea what it would be used for.  It does look beautiful – a dark red carpet.

We manage to cover the best mileage yet before lunch (45 km), mainly because it is so cool.  However, by early afternoon the sun has come out and the day becomes hot, humid and energy-sapping.  Our average speed drops dramatically.  We’re back alongside the river again.  We’ve been surprised at how little boating activity there is on such a large river, but we did read an information board that said the flow of the water is too eratic for navigation.  The only boats we see are traditional flat-bottomed sailing boats moored here and there.

One thing we don’t much of in these parts are shops, so we haven’t been able to stock up our supplies for a couple of days now.  All the villages are picture perfect, with the only businesses being craft-type workshops, wine stores and boulangeries.  Collecting baguettes is a national pastime in France.  There is nearly always a queue out of the door – still, it is a good job there are at least these places to keep the calorie count up.

 

As we walk into Beaugency to find a restaurant, we cross the Loire our a long stone-built bridge.  Looking off the bridge in the middle of the river we could see hundreds, if not thousands, of terns and gulls nesting on the sandy islands in the middle of the river.  A board explained the different types of birds in the colony, but in French the names of the birds mean nothing to us as each language has its own names for different birds.  I’m only just starting to get to grips with the names of birds in Spanish, let alone French.