It’s wonderful what a nights rest will do . I reflect on blowing up yesterday. Despite my knowledge I succumbed to Heat exhaustion. Just subtle changes to start with then the smallest hill seems difficult. Must be the bike , put a bit more lube on the chain , must be the ice cream I had after lunch ! Then you realise your pulse does not go down after stopping cycling …. Then the penny drops you’re trying to lose heat . Very hard to do in 35 degrees. Anyway as Ceri described yesterday with careful stops and rests in the shade I get to the chateau .
Anyway today could not be more different, we arrive in Brantôme in the Dordogne about 2pm after the usual 06.30 start. Some cloud cover makes all the difference. Couple of long hills with some delicious long downhills too . 400 miles comes up soon be half way. Both of us cycling well today . Ceri has become addicted to coffee. Double espresso followed by a café au lait .
What a classic Neil/Ceri day full of twists, turns and surprises. We started off before dawn as usual, cycling up hill, singing with the larks as we watched the glorious sunrise. About 5km in Neil realised he’d left his credit cards at the hotel! We didn’t want to cycle that hill again, so we decided to keep cycling and I emailed to ask them to post them on. Amazingly, there was a bar open early Sunday morning in Lessac with a few ruddy faced characters propping up the bar sipping their first Rose of the day as we enjoyed our coffees and croissants. With no reply to my email, I called the hotel. The wonderful lady from the hotel found the cards, jumped in her car and drove a good 15 minutes to find us, leaving her hotel in the hands of the cleaning lady. Wow. What a kind lady – great fun too.
So on we cycled following our chosen route through the absolutely beautiful town of Confolens where lots of extremely fast cyclists wizzed past us smiling and waving as us tortoises. Neil got that familiar buzz and decided to follow their route instead of our flatter route. I warned him about the hills but he’s so super enthusiastic now he didn’t worry. He’s amazing. So up and down we cycled on our detour generally along the river Vienne. It felt like the best cycle day yet as we crossed the river at various bridges. Then inevitably, Neil stopped and hung precariously over the edge of a particularly high bridge trying to find a spot to swim. It all looked pretty dangerous to me, so I took out my phone and found a nearby campsite on the river guessing we could swim there. It was beautiful as we enjoyed our picnic and swims and we stayed far too long but it was worth it.
There’s very little accommodation in this area so after a lot of searching with maps and internet last night we found a chateau for tonight with yet another great restaurant. Because of the delays and swims, we ended up cycling for hours in the 35deg heat of the day up and down hills and we knew we’d be in trouble. I was OK as I could keep my heart rate down by pressing turbo on my bike. But Neil was cycling with no help up those hills. We stopped very regularly whenever we found shade and waited for Neils pulse to calm down, both of us swigging loads of water. Neil wasn’t exhausted but he was overheating.
But he has this uncanny knack of finding bars in the most obscure places! We found one full of British ex-pats who’d had a ‘few’ with their Sunday lunch. Some were interesting but not all!! So we moved on faster than we would have liked and carefully cycled the final 5 miles. This chateau is beautiful but our room is on the top floor! Hilarious! We lugged our stuff up, the grand circular staircase then immediately had cold showers and rested, looking forward to our supper. What an eventful day! We’re off course, but that’s fine. It’s all a great adventure and we’ll probably be a bit more sensible tomorrow!
I dropped the roll!Some of us arrive in style with bikes at the entrance Others come by helicopter and have to use the back door And here’s the dining room. Only 2 couples staying. Would be hard not to meet them!
Leaving Mont St Michel, I can see why 8,000 people a day visit it . Morning mist enhances its other s
Worldliness maybe something between Harry Potter and sleeping beauty . Cycling long distances for me reduces everything to simple matters, how far today , how is my bike , where do we turn left , have I got enough water . Very prescient today as it’s a scorcher . What a surprise as we leave Pontrosson to see our new friends Leslie and Jonathan. They are 20 years our junior. They gradually pull away , it seems very easy to follow the book from one D number to the next . Calamity we take the wrong D road and meet our friends doubling back ! Then I have a mechanical with my pannier rack . All fixed with a luggage tie . Rolling French countryside with fecund farms is the order of the day . Water becomes the issue , no fountains or running streams. I steal into two farmhouses to find taps . Ceri navigates beautifully for us . I adopt her modus operandi of not knowing how far to go . She shepherds me well as I am flagging and demand frequent rests in the shade , she readily agrees. Vitre finally comes into view . I am desperate for a beer . Pasta and bed to sleep at 9.30 . A truly lovely day but very hot
Reductam ad adsubam probably miss spelt but it’s what it means to me . My understanding is that everything is reduced to the simplest
Cycling for me epitomises this . From my first Raleigh bicycle
£19 19s 9d my world changed . It was red and had Benelux gears and there were 5 . My first cycle tour was around the dales at Christmas 1967 I think .
But I digress it’s that simplicity of it all
Food , road surface , wind , rain, energy level , sleep …do it again
Everyday you focus on the next town and its name , will it have bread , what does it look like . How is my partner . Nothing else matters
Today was a case in point , set off before dawn … so hot … no time for breakfast . We find a Routier cafe which evokes such strong memories of my parents searching out one in various towns . The maître D’ greats every lorry driver with affection and is too . Towns and names whizz by . We meet a lady in supermarket car park and talk . 40 mins later we meet her again in a village where we have two oranges and great her like a long lost friend . The weather continues to decide our day . All done by 14.00 . Ceri thinks she has gone to heaven….air conditioning. I get a swim across a lake
Reluctantly we left our beautiful chateau and cycled off in the dark mist again. The sunrise was beautiful, the fields bigger, the hedges lower and it’s still very rural with the sweet smell of silage wafting o er us as the huge tractors drove past us along the country lanes – all so familiar to us from Devon. It became far too hot to even contemplating walking around the Roman remains in Sanxay, so we chilled on the shady grass in the centre of town and cycled on. When we arrived at Lusignan, we headed straight to Intermarche to buy a lead to charge Neils lights and a power pack to charge our phones as we are both using them for navigation. From now on we’ll be much safer cycling in the dark and no more chatting up bar owners to charge me phone. The meal in our Chapeau Rouge hotel was as wonderful as advertised. Then straight to bed as it was so, so hot. I saw the kick off of the France NZ World Cup rugby match, then fell promptly asleep. Neil made it to half time before zzzzzzzzzz.
Best cycling in the early morning. I have never seen so many sunrises in succession! Ceri has a mechanical, turns out brakes were rubbing due to wheel alignment issue. Turn bike upside down and a bit of pushing and shoving and all fixed. For me today was filled with disappointment as I had imagined a lovely breakfast after a slog up a hill . Only place we could find was the French local Mensa branch ticking into first wines of the day . Lunch will be better with a medieval village and a market square I imagine. Well it is but entry to said village was all new town and without signage . I realise I’m heading for low sugar irritability. Bonking is not just a sexual phrase! I recognise it and Ceri takes over and gets a super meal deal which we eat by a river . Both of us fall asleep. I decide we need a treat so we are a fabulous chateau with a 4 poster bed , full of faded grandeur but just what we need . Pizza and early bed beckon
We set off before dawn as usual, following the river towards the Loire. The battery on Neils front light was empty so he could barely see a thing cycling along dirt tracks in the dark. The connection to my back light had broken, so my front light led the way with Neils back light served us both. Anyway it wasn’t long before daylight crept up on us and we were safe again. We became rather wonderfully chilly as we cycled through the mist floating across the river and fields. It all became rather mystical.
Angers had fantastic cycle lanes throughout, with mown grass under the tram tracks. It’s reputedly the greenest city in France and certainly felt that way. Having cycled through it before we skipped the city centre this time and stopped for our coffee and croissant breakfast as a roadside cafe, greeted by jovial chaps enjoying themselves. Cycling along the Loire brought back fond memories of a previous trip, spotting familiar cafes etc. As we headed south enjoying mile upon mile of vineyards, the day was heating up reaching 34, so we stopped in the shade of a church yard for our picnic and a rest. Every cemetery is full of beautiful graves adorned with flowers and the ever important running water. We’re constantly filling our water bottles …. no more urinal fillups for me thank you!
Finally we arrived at Montreuil-Bellay. What a beautiful place! I’d booked a 15th century hotel run by the lovely Nathalie. She recommended a restaurant but all were closed Sunday-Wednesday. That’s something we need to consider as we travel. We walked over the old stone bridge past the huge castle walls with the sun setting over the river. It was stunning. Eventually we came across a hotel serving food which ended up the best meal on our trip! Fantastic mushrooms! Then home to a very welcome bed.
The river before dawnIt was dark. Our clever iPhone make it look daylight Pushing the bikes up over the bridge
Bed very early wake up 05.45 leave in the dark , lovely fresh feeling to it all . Cycling I suppose is like all sorts of travel …what’s behind the next corner , sometimes quiet contemplation I find but mostly having a buddy close by makes for a comment or a decision on a fork in the road . I have given up being the route master , that’s just the kind of guy I am . We had a very minor 10 minutes when we disagreed. It all ended with a lovely snacks breakfast on a church bench . Tractors aplenty in this rurally idyll today much like home and lo! we find Okehampton and Wiveliscombe twin towns
Our cunning plan is to get to a river and follow a bike path which we do , it was only partially successful as it was out in the open more than we realise . I play games with myself and go slowly in the shade and speed up in the sun . We both need no persuading to have a swim in the river Mayenne. I stand on a bramble . Ceri like Androcles removes it later . She finds a super chateau just off the ‘ Chemin de Halage’ you might be wondering what I contribute to this venture…well truth is not a lot just someone to have a chat too about Leeds United or when will I get a beer 🍺
Ceri's Blog with Neil 